The Encyclopedia of Arda - Bard I (original) (raw)

Dates Race Culture Family Meaning Uncertain2 Titles Indexes: Alphabetical: B Men About this entry: Updated 7 January 2009 Updates planned: 1 The Bowman of Lake-town A descendant of Girion the Lord of Dale, Bard slew the Dragon Smaug and refounded Dale under the Lonely Mountain. Notes 1 We have no definite date of birth for Bard, but we know that he slew Smaug in the year III 2941, so he was extant at that date. At that time he seemed worldly but still physically strong, so if we assume he was roughly thirty years old, he would have been born in - very approximately - III 2911. 2 The connection of Bard's name to the tradition of medieval tale-tellers and troubadors seems obvious, but as an originally Gaelic word it doesn't fit easily into the linguistic pattern established for the Dale-men. A more likely source is Old English, where the name would mean something like 'wise warrior'. That fits better with Bard's character, too, though Tolkien himself doesn't offer a definitive origin for Bard's name. See also... Arkenstone, Bain, Bardings, Barrel-rider, Black Arrow, Brand, Dale, Dale-men, Dragon of Erebor, Dragon-shooter, Dragon-sickness, Dragons, Fire-drakes, Girion, Great House, [See the full list...]King of Dale, Lord of Dale, Men of Dale, Men of the Lake, Men of the Long Lake, Moneybags, Mr. Lucky Number, Smaug, The Bowman, The Dreadful, The Impenetrable, The Waste, Yews, Your Magnificence Indexes: Alphabetical: B Men About this entry: Updated 7 January 2009 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2008-2009. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.Powerful, professional, affordable - Find to how our DISC personality profile can benefit your business.