Tarlang

Tarlang was a giant mentioned only in some legends.^[1]

History

Tarlang belonged to a group of giants who lived in Elder Days in the region between the White Mountains and the Western Sea.^[1] According to folkore, Tarlang and his kin were raising the White Mountains as a wall, in order to prevent Men entering their land. Once while he was carrying a heavy load of rock, Tarlang stumbled and, falling forward, died breaking his neck. Due to his size, his fellow giants used his corpse to complete their wall. This etiological myth was used to justify the names of some locations of Gondor: Cûl Veleg and Cûl Bîn were his load of rock, Dol Tarlang was his head, the rocky massif in front of the latter was the rest of his body, while Tarlang's Neck was where his neck had broken.

Etymology

Tarlang means "Stiff Neck" in Sindarin.

References