During the Second and Third Ages of the Sun, just to the north of the Black Gate through the Mountains of Mordor and south of the evil swampland of the Dead Marshes, there was a wide, treeless plain called the Dagorlad, which in Elvish means 'battle plain'. In the year 3434 of the Second Age, this was the site of a mighty battle (called the Battle of Dagorlad) in which the last Alliance of Elves and Men overthrew Sauron's army before going on to destroy the Black Gate and the Dark Tower of Mordor itself.

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Dwarf king of Grey Mountains. Dain I was born in the year 2440 of the Third Age of the Sun, and became king of the Grey Mountains in the year 2585. Shortly after, Dragons invaded the gold rich Dwarf-realm and Dain I - along with his son Fror - was slain by a Cold Drake while making a last valiant stand at the gates of his own halls.

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Dwarf king of Erebor. Called Dain Ironfoot, he was born in 2767 of the Third Age of the Sun in the Iron Hills. After Thorin Oakenshield died of wounds sustained in during the Battle of the Five Armies, Dain Ironfoot was named his rightful heir, and became King under the Mountain. He ruled there until the War of the Ring when he was slain during the Battle of Dale.

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One of the many settlements of Northmen west of Mirkwood in Rhovanion was the ancient city kingdom of Dale, just south of the Erebor, the Lonely Mountains. In 2770 Smaug the Golden, burned it to the ground and seized all its treasures. Smaug was eventually killed by a descendent of the kings of Dale, called Bard the Bowman. Bard rebuilt Dale and became the first in its new line of kings.

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Those numbered among the Dark Elves were all the Elven-folk who never beheld the ennobling Light of the Trees of Valar. These were the Avari - the Silvan Elves of the East, and those of Mirkwood and Lothlorien - and the Eldar who never completed the Great Journey, the Laiquendi (Green Elves), the Falathrim and also of the Sindar (Grey Elves) - who inhabited Beleriand until the end of the First Age of the Sun, when all the Elf-realms of that place were lost at sea. The Dark Elves, or 'Moriquendi' in the Elven tongue, were counted a lesser people than the High Elves of Eldamar, who were the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri. Yet, by the reckoning of Men these Dark Elves were magical and brilliant things. For they were immune to pestilence and aged not with the passage of time. They were wiser, stronger and fairer than Men and their eyes always shone with the light of the Stars. In the first years of the Sun, it was these Elves who taught all Men speech and many other arts and skills, that they might live in Middle-Earth and raise themselves above the station of beasts of the wilderness.

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Northwest of the Mountains of Mordor, between the wetlands of the Anduin River below Rauros Falls and the Dagorlad battle plain, was a haunted, desolate place called the Dead Marshes. Through three thousand years of the Third Age, the wetlands of the Dead Marshes spread eastwards and swallowed up that part of the battle plain which contained many of the graves of the Men and Elves who died during the Battle of Dagorlad at the end of the Second Age. In the Third Age, after the Battle of Camp in 1944, much of the Wainrider army was driven into the Dead Marshes and perished.

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In Mortal Lands of Arda there were many spirits who, because of some righteous curse or evil act of sorcery, were bound to Arda longer than was their right. The Barrow-wights and the mighty Ringwraiths were such beings; unquiet souls inhabited the Dead Marshes, where floods disturbed the graves of Men and Elves who had fallen at the Battle of Dagorlad near the Black Gate of Mordor. The 'Red Book of Westmarch' also tells of those known as the Dead Men of Dunharrow, who haunted the labrynths of the ancient citadel of Rohan. Those were once Men of the White Mountains who in the Second Age of the Sun had sworn allegiance to the king of the Dunedain but, in time of war, broke that oath and betrayed him to the Dark Lord Sauron. Thereafter all the warriors of the White Mountains were cursed as oath breakers and became wandering ghosts who could find no rest. Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the rightful heir of the king of the Dunedain summoned the Dead to fulfil the oath they had broken long agoand indeed they appeared, pale riders on pale Horses, yet they proved to be a mighty battalion of mighty Men. They rode with Aragorn to Pelargir and made war on the Corsairs of Umbar on land and sea and they slew them and made them flee in terror. Thus the Dead Men of Dunharrow gave victory to Aragorn - the heir of the Dunedain kings - and were redeemed by this act. Their souls were released and, before the eyes of the great living Men, the vast form of a great pale army faded as mist in a wind at dawn.

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Of all the Elves the most famous in the songs of Men are the Noldor, who are called Deep Elves because of their great knowledge of the crafts taught them in the Undying Lands by Aule, the Smith of the Valar and Maker of Mountains. In Eldamar, these Elves greatly loved to build with stone and they delved deep into the mountains for it. They were the first to find the bright Earth-gems and they were first to devise Elf-gems that were brighter still. These Elves wrought the Great Jewels - The Silmarils - and also made the Rings of Power.

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Dunedain lord of Gondor. Denethor I became the Tenth Ruling Steward of Gondor in 2435 of the Third Age. Denethor I became the Tenth Ruling Steward of Gondor in 2435 of the Third Age. During his rule Sauron spawned the Uruk-hai, and in the year 2475 they overran Ithilien and sacked Ogiliath. Boromir, his son, led an army against the Uruks and was able to retake Osgiliath.Unfortunately during the struggle the city was almost entirely destroyed and its stone bridge broken. Denethor I died in the year 2477.

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Dunedain lord of Gondor. Denethor II, son of Ecthelion II, ruled Gondor from 2984 until the War of the Ring in 3019. He was the twenty-sixth and last Ruling Steward of Gondor. He married Finduilas, the daughter of the Prince of Dol Amroth. Finduilas gave birth to two sons, Boromir and Faramir, but died only a dozen years of marriage. Although once a noble and wise man, after his wife's death, Denethor II became an increasingly solitary and secretive ruler. After Boromir's death and Faramir lay in a coma Denethor's iron will was at last broken. In mad despair he attempted to take his own life and that of Faramir. Gandalf was able to intercede and prevent Faramir from being burnt alive, but wasn't able to save Denethor II.

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Elven king of Doriath. Son of Beren and Luthien, grandson of King Thingol and Queen Melian, Dior had the blood of three races in his viens: Edain, Eldar and Maiar. Born and raised in Ossiriand in Beleriand around 470 of the First Age, he married the beautiful Sindar princess, Nimloth, and she gave birth to three children: Elred, Elurin and Elwing. In 505 Dior became king of Doriath after Thingol's murder. After the deaths of Beren and Luthien, Dior inherited the Nauglamir, the necklace that contained one of the Silmarils.The Noldor sons of Feanor, who considered the Silmaril their birth-right, attacked Menegroth. In the ensuing battle both Dior and Nimloth were killed.

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The tower, port and city of Dol Amroth was one of the five great cities in Gondor. It was the largest city in the fief of Belfalas. It was ruled by the princes of Dol Amroth, whose banners were blue and marked with a white ship and a silver swan. Dol Amroth was built by the legendary Elf-king Amroth, the star-crossed lover of the Elven princess, Nimrodel. Until Amroth's death in 1981 of the Third Age, the Elves of Lothlorien sailed out of Dol Amroth to the Undying Lands in their magical white ships.

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During the Third Age of the Sun, when the vast forest of Greenwood the Great slowly became such a dark and haunted place that it was renamed Mirkwood, an evil fortress was built in its southwestern part. This was Dol Guldur, the 'hill of sorcery', and for a thousand years an evil power called the Necromancer lived there with legions of Orcs and many evil and haunting spirits. The Nazgul later took command of Dol Guldur and used it as a base for campaigns of terror against the free peoples of the North.

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Dwarf of Thorin and Company. Dori set out on the Quest of the Lonely Mountain in the year 2941 of the Third Age. After the quest, Dori swore allegiance to King Dain Ironfoot and settled down in Erebor.

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In the Second Age of Starlight, the Grey Elf King Thingol and his Queen Melian the Maia, founded the Sindar kingdom of Doriath in the great woodlands of Beleriand. Later the lands of Beleriand proved to be the primary battleground between the Noldor Elves and Morgoth the Dark Enemy in the disastrous War of the Jewels and so Queen Melian wove a powerful spell of protection about the woodland kingdom of Doriath that prevented any evil being from entering and Doriath became known as the Hidden Kingdom.

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On the western shore of the Inland Sea of Rhun there lived the Dorwinions. Of all Northmen, they were the most easterly and they were far famed as makers of the finest and strangest of wines. By trading with many of the people of Middle-Earth, the Dorwinions became prosperous, for even the fine sensibilities of the Elves was nourished by their wines.

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Werewolf Lord of Tol-in-Gauroth, Draugluin was the sire and lord of the Werewolf race, which came out of Angband to terrorize Elves.

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During the time of the War of the Ring, there was an ancient forest some thirty miles north-west of the White Tower of Gondor that was inhabited by a strange tribe of primitive people called the Woses. This woodland was called the Druadan Forest. By the Third Age, Druadan had become to mean 'wildman', but it was a corruption of the Druedain, the Elvish name for the Woses during the First Age of the Sun, when they were allied with the Edain. After the War of the Ring in which the Woses aided the allies of Gondor against the legions of Sauron, King Ellessar of the Reunited Kingdom gave control of Druadan Forest to the Woses, commanding that no other may enter it unless they wished them to do so.

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Druedain or Druath was the Grey-elf name for the primitive Wildmen of the forests, The Woses. By the Haladin they were called Drugs, by the Rohirrim Rogin and by the Orcs Oghor-hai.

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The most loved bird song on Middle-Earth is that of the nightingale, which the Grey elves call Dulin, the 'night singer', and Tinuviel 'twilight maiden'. For, like the Elves themselves, the nightingales are delighted by starlight and bring forth the most beautiful song and joy into a dark world.

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In the playful Hobbit poem 'Errantry', a part tells of a ferocious race of winged insects. They are named Dumbledors, but nothing more is told of their origin or history.

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The histories of the Dunedain, the Men of Westernesse, begin at the start of the Second Age of the Sun, for the Dunedain were the remnant of the Edain of the First Age.These people were honoured by the Valar and given a land that lay in the Western Sea between Middle-Earth and the Undying Lands. This place was called Numenore or Westernesse in the common tongue of Men.

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One of the most ancient and mysterious fortress refuges on Middle-Earth, Dunharrow was a part of Rohan during the War of the Ring. It was one of the main refuges during various wars for those in the vale of Harrowdale beneath it. Dunharrow appeared to be almost impossible to attack successfully as it was approached by a switch back road up the steep cliffs of the mountains. Each switchback doubled sharply back on the lower one, and at each roadside turning were huge round stones in the shape of squatting pot bellied men. It was a monumental piece of engineering, and snaked back and forth in a high pyramid of roads until it reached a wall of rock at the top through which a gap was cut and an incline leading onto the Hold of Dunharrow. This was a high, broad and well-watered alpine meadow on which many thousands could encamp themselves in times of war.

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Before the Dunedain came to Middle-Earth and made the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, there lived a tall, dark haired people in the fertile valleys below the White Mountains. for many centuries, it is said, they developed a civilisation apart from other people and built many great fortresses of stone. No history tells of the fate of these men of the White Mountains, yet they vanished and only those descendants named Dunlendings remained in their lands.

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Dwarf king of Khazad-dum. Durin I was the first and eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves who were conceived by Aule the Smith in the Ages of Darkness. King Durin I' realm was Khazad-Dum, the greatest Dwarf kingdom, which was found beneath the Misty Mountains. After the destruction of Beleriand at the end of the First Age of the Sun, the histories of Elves and Men primarily tell us of the Dwarves of Durin's line. Durin lived to such a great age that he was called Durin the Deathless. The name was also reference to the belief that he would be reincarnated seven times as king of his people, and each time he would take the name Durin.

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Dwarf king of Khazad-dum during the eigth century of the Second Age. During his time the Dwarves of his realm cut the caverns and tunnels of the realm all the way through the Misty Mountains, from east to west, and built West-gate, allowing trade in precious materials with the Elven-smiths of Eregion.

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Dwarf king of Khazad-dum. Durin III was the Dwarf king best known for his friendship with the Elven smiths of Eregion during the sixteenth century of the Second Age. He was given the first of the Seven Dwarf Rings by Celebrimbor. Not long after, the War of Sauron and the Elves forced the Dwarves to close their doors on the world. Khazad-dum became known as Moria, the 'dark kingdom'.

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Dwarf king of Moria. Born in the year 1731 of the Third Age, Durin VI was ruler of Moria in 1980 when his people were delving after a mithril lode deep beneath the roots of the Redhorn mountain. Tragically, they broke into a sealed chamber and released a horrific evil spirit called a Balrog. Both Durin VI and his son Nain I, were slain by the demon during the following year, and the Dwarves were driven forever from Durin's kingdom.

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Dwarf king of the Last Kingdom. Believed to be the seventh and last incarnation of King Durin, his coming signalled the last kingdom of Dwarves of Durin's line.

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Dwarf of Thorin and Company. Dwalin was the son of Fundin and the brother of Balin. He went on the Quest of the Lonely Mountain that re-established the Dwarf Kingdom under the Mountain of Erebor, where he remained until the end of his life. It was the second such quest for Dwalin, for he had been a companion of Thrain II the Dwarf king exile, a century before, on the disastrous journey to Erebor which led to the king's capture and eventual death.

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In a great hall under the montains of Middle-Earth Aule, the Smith of the Valar, fashioned the Seven Fathers of Dwarves during the Ages of Darkness, when Melkor and his evil servants in Utumno and Angband held sway over all of Middle-Earth. Therefore Aule made Dwarves stout and strong, unaffected by cold and fire, and sturdier than the races that followed. Aule knew of the great evil of Melkor, so he made the Dwarves stubborn, indomitable, and persistent in labour and hardship. They were brave in battle and their pride and will could not be broken. The Dwarves were deep-delving miners, masons, metal-workers and the most wondrous stone carvers. They were made strong, long bearded and tough, but not very tall, being four or five feet in height. As their toil was long, they were each granted a life of about two and a half centuries, for they were mortal; they could also be slain in battle. Aule made them wise with the knowledge of his crafts and gave them a language of their own called Khuzdul. In this tongue Aule was called Mahal and the Dwarves Dhazad, but it was a secret tongue unknown, but for a few words, to all but Dwarves, who guarded it jealously.

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