Tuor
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Tuor is a fictional character of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. He is the grandfather of Elrond of the Half-Elven and one of the earliest ancestors of the Men of Númenor and their first ruler after the War of the Ring—King Elessar, or Aragorn. Like Aragorn, Tuor was one of the few Men who married one of the Eldar.
Tuor's story is one of many told briefly in the 23rd chapter of The Silmarillion. An early unpublished version is found in The History of Middle-earth. In Unfinished Tales, we find the start of a more mature and complete narrative, which Tolkien began after finishing Lord of the Rings. Sadly, it gets no further than Tuor's first sight of Gondolin.
[edit] History
Tuor was a great hero of the Third House of Men, the only son of Huor and Rían. He was the cousin of Túrin Turambar.
Huor died in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in F.A. 471 (right before Tuor's birth), and Rían died two years later.
Tuor was first fostered by Elves, then captured by Easterlings, who had been sent there by Morgoth and who cruelly oppressed the remnant of the House of Hador.
Tuor later escaped, and lived the life of an outlaw. He was ordered in a dream by the Vala Ulmo to go to Gondolin, in order to warn the King Turgon. Passing through the old Gate of the Noldor (Sindarin Annon-in-Gelydh) into Nevrast, Tuor found arms and armour in the ruins of Vinyamar which had been left there centuries ago by Turgon at the command of Ulmo, then met Ulmo himself at the coast of Belegaer. Ulmo gave him a message for Turgon of Gondolin, and also sent him Voronwë, an Elf of Gondolin, to guide him.
Passing through the Fell Winter, Tuor and Voronwë eventually arrived in Gondolin, where Tuor remained, and eventually married Turgon's daughter, the Elf Idril Celebrindal. This was the second union between an Elf and a Man, after Beren and Lúthien. Their only child was Eärendil the mariner. Tuor was one of the leaders of Gondolin during the sack of the city by Morgoth, and with his wife and son and a remnant of its people escaped to the Mouths of Sirion. Tuor eventually built the ship Eärramë (Sea-wing) and sailed to the West with Idril, and it was a tradition under the Eldar and Edain that they arrived in Valinor, bypassing the Ban of the Valar, and that Tuor alone of Men was counted as Elven kindred, still living there now. In a letter Tolkien indicated that Tuor's 'conversion' was allowed by Eru as a unique exception and offset to Lúthien's assumption of a mortal fate.
