Character Bios
Daeron
Meaning: shadow man
Location(s): Doriath
Race/Species: Elf
Type/Kind: Sindar
Dates: First Age
Description:
Daeron was the most famous minstrel and chief loremaster of Doriath, who devised the written alphabet known as the Cirth, or Runes:
[Daeron] it was that made music for the dance and song of Lúthien, before Beren came to Doriath; and he had loved her, and set all his thought of her in his music. He became the greatest of all the minstrels of the Elves east of the Sea, named even before Maglor son of Fëanor.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 19, Of Beren and Lúthien
Of the long years of peace [in Doriath]..., it is said, Daeron the Minstrel, chief loremaster of the kingdom of Thingol, devised his Runes; and the Naugrim that came to Thingol learned them, and were well-pleased with the device, esteeming Daeron's skill higher than did the Sindar, his own people. By the Naugrim the Cirth were taken east over the mountains and passed into the knowledge of many peoples....
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 10, Of the Sindar
The Cirth were devised first in Beleriand by the Sindar, and were long used only for inscribing names and brief memorials upon wood or stone.....
But in Beleriand, before the end of the First Age, the Cirth, partly under the influence of the Tengwar of the Noldor, were rearranged and further developed. Their richest and most ordered form was known as the Alphabet of Daeron, since in Elvish tradition it was said to have been devised by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath.
The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E, Writing and Spelling: Writing
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 4Nov09
