Things of Middle-earth
Errand-riders of Gondor
Type: Miscellaneous
Other Names:
errand-riders of Denethor
errand-riders of the lord
Description:
Messengers with swift horses, in the service of the Stewards of Gondor.
[In] the sixth circle, outside the walls of the citadel, there were some fair stables where a few swift horses were kept, hard by the lodgings of the errand-riders of the Lord: messengers always ready to go at the urgent command of Denethor or his chief captains. But now all the horses and the riders were out and away.The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 1, Minas Tirith
[The] people of the City used horses very little and they were seldom seen in their streets, save only those ridden by the errand-riders of their lord.The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 1, Minas Tirith
[The] Lord of the City had beacons built on the tops of outlying hills along both borders of the great range, and maintained posts at these points where fresh horses were always in readiness to bear his errand-riders to Rohan in the North, or to Belfalas in the South.The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 1, Minas Tirith
[Said] Pippin[,]... 'I saw the beacons last night and the errand-riders; and Gandalf said that it was a sign that war had begun.'The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 1, Minas Tirith
Presently the captain of the Guard thrust aside the curtain. 'A man is here, lord,' he said, 'an errand-rider of Gondor. He wishes to come before you at once.'
'Let him come!' said Théoden.
A tall man entered ... [The] man was a stranger, though as like to Boromir as if he were one of his kin, tall and grey-eyed and proud. He was clad as a rider with a cloak of dark green over a coat of fine mail; on the front of his helm was wrought a small silver star. In his hand he bore a single arrow, black-feathered and barbed with steel, but the point was painted red.
He sank on one knee and presented the arrow to Théoden. 'Hail Lord of the Rohirrim, friend of Gondor!' he said. 'Hirgon I am, errand-rider of Denethor, who bring you this token of war.'The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 3, The Muster of Rohan
Hirgon the rider of Gondor was there..., and beside him stood now another man, like him and dressed alike, but shorter and broader. ... [He] was speaking to the king.
'It comes from Mordor, lord,' he said. 'It began last night at sunset. From the hills in the Eastfold of your realm I saw it rise and creep across the sky, and all night as I rode it came behind eating up the stars. Now the great cloud hangs over all the land between here and the Mountains of Shadow; and it is deepening. War has already begun.'The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 3, The Muster of Rohan
[Soon] Elfhelm returned. 'The scouts have found naught to report beyond the grey wood, lord,' he said, 'save two men only: two dead men and two dead horses.'
'Well?' said Éomer. 'What of it?'
'This, lord: they were errand-riders of Gondor; Hirgon was one maybe. At least his hand still clasped the Red Arrow, but his head was hewn off. And this also: it would seem by the signs that they were fleeing westward when they fell. As I read it, they found the enemy already on the out-wall, or assailing it, when they returned -- and that would be two nights ago, if they used fresh horses from the posts, as is their wont. They could not reach the City and turned back.'The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 5, The Ride of the Rohirrim
Contributors: Elena Tiriel 21Oct06
