Baldor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Tolkien character. For other uses, see Baldor (disambiguation).

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Baldor was the heir of Brego, second king of Rohan. At the feast to celebrate the construction of Meduseld he made an oath to enter the Paths of the Dead and was never seen again. His remains were discovered by Aragorn during the War of the Ring. His mail-clad skeleton was seen lying next to a stone door with a broken sword beside him. There are marks of his fingers on the door, indicating that he died trying to open the door. Why he wished to pass through is unknown.

Later, Tolkien revealed Baldor's fate in an article in Vinyar Tengwar.

"The special horror of the closed door before which the skeleton of Baldor was found was probably due to the fact that the door was the entrance to an evil temple hall [of the same Men of Darkness to which the Oathbreakers presumably belonged] to which Baldor had come, probably without opposition up to that point. But the door was shut in his face, and enemies that had followed him silently came up and broke his legs and left him to die in the darkness, unable to find any way out."