Q: What Happened to the Island of Balar?
ANSWER: The island of Balar was originally part of the island that became Tol Eressëa. According to The Silmarillion the easternmost end of the island broke off when Ulmo used it to bring the Noldor and Vanyar to Aman. There was another, smaller island (unnamed so far as I know) to the northeast of Balar closer to the Mouths of Sirion.
According to “The Annals of Beleriand” (also known as “The Grey Annals”) Ossë and Uinen dwelt on the Isle of Balar during the years between the departure of the Noldor and Vanyar and the departure of the followers of Olwë to Aman. In this version of the legends it appears that some of Cirdan’s folk (the Falathrim) remained on Balar throughout the First Age.
Some of Finrod’s people from Nargothrond built a refuge on Balar (presumably a fortress of some type, maybe in the highlands) during the early years when the Noldorin kings were strong and powerful. After the cities of Brithombar and Eglarest were overthrown (the year after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad) Cirdan and his people fled to Balar and remained there throughout the rest of the First Age.
Remnants of the Eldar and Edain fled the destruction of the great realms in the last centuries of the First Age. By most accounts they settled near the Mouths of Sirion or in Arvernien (to the west of the river). Voronwë referred to that area as the Lisgardh (“the land of reeds at the Mouths of Sirion”) in “Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin”. In that same story Voronwë tells Tuor that Turgon’s people had built dwellings upon Balar after the Dagor Bragollach. Christopher Tolkien notes in his commentary on this story that the idea of Turgon’s people maintaining an outpost upon Balar was rejected (by JRRT) and therefore he (Christopher) did not include this reference in The Silmarillion.
After the fall of Gondolin and Doriath survivors from both lands gathered in Arvernien, where they were ruled by Tuor and Idril Celebrindal until they sailed away; from that time forward their son Eärendil and Dior’s daughter Elwing ruled over the Elves and Men of Arvernien. When the Fëanorians slaughtered the inhabitants of Arvernien Gil-galad and Cirdan took the survivors back to Balar. Except for small bands of Elves wandering in the deep woodlands there were no further settlements of the Eldar on the mainland. However, sufficient numbers of the Edain remained in Beleriand that they were able to march with the Host of Valinor at some point during the War of Wrath.
We hear nothing more of Balar after the destruction of the Arvernien but Gil-galad and Cirdan do not build new cities until the first year of the Second Age, according to “The Tale of Years” in The Lord of the Rings. The sequence of events established by the texts leaves us with three possibilities:
- Balar remained intact and inhabited until well into the Second Age
- The Eldar abandoned Balar at the beginning of the Second Age and never returned there
- Elves and/or Men settled on Balar at some later point
But there is no indication that Balar existed in the Third Age. Hence if the island was not destroyed in the tumults that ruined most of Beleriand then it was probably destroyed in the cataclysm of Numenor’s destruction (although it’s conceivable Tolkien simply forgot to tie up the loose end as he apparently did with Gildor Inglorion).
If Balar was inhabited by Elves in the Second Age they most likely acknowledged Gil-galad as their king and the island was part of his realm. Since Tolkien does not mention any men settling on the islands west of Lindon (of which only Tol Morwen and Tol Fuin are named) it seems unlikely he intended Men to settle on Balar. At most some Edain might have dwelt on Balar until about Second Age year 82, which is around the time a note in The Peoples of Middle-earth implies the last ship would have left Middle-earth for Númenor.
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