Mîm

The last of his people

Mîm belonged to the Petty-dwarves, a stunted and secretive kindred, outcasts from the great Dwarf-cities of the East, who had come into Beleriand long before the Sindar and had delved the first caves of Nargothrond and the halls under Amon Rûdh. The Elves, not knowing what they were, had hunted them like animals, and by the time of the wars against Morgoth the Petty-dwarves had dwindled to three: Mîm and his two sons, Khîm and Ibun. Mîm was old, bent and long-bearded, with a lasting hatred of Elves and a grudge against the Dwarves of the East who had cast his people out, and he had never given up the belief that Nargothrond was his by right.

Capture by the outlaws

In F.A. 486 Túrin, leading the outlaw band he had joined after fleeing Doriath, was camped in the woods south of the Teiglin when his men caught three hooded figures carrying sacks of roots. Two escaped; Andróg's arrow struck one of them in the dark. The third, Mîm, was taken. To buy his life he offered the outlaws what they most needed, a secret and defensible home, and led them up the bare stony hill of Amon Rûdh to his hidden halls, which he called Bar-en-Danwedh, the House of Ransom. There they found Khîm already dead of Andróg's arrow. Túrin swore to make amends and to pay a ransom of gold when he could, and Mîm, who had expected to be killed, accepted the outlaws as his lodgers, though he cursed Andróg and forbade him the bow.

Bar-en-Danwedh

For two years Mîm shared his house with Túrin's men. He was unwilling, sour and sometimes malicious, but he taught them the paths of the hill and its lore, and in the long evenings he talked with Túrin, who alone of the outlaws treated him with courtesy. He told of the making of the halls and of the Petty-dwarves' history, and of the wild roots that were the only food he had. When Beleg came to Amon Rûdh in the winter, bearing the Dragon-helm and the lembas of Melian, Mîm hated him at once, for the Elf saw through him and the outlaws valued him more than they had ever valued the Dwarf. From Amon Rûdh Túrin and Beleg made the land of Dor-Cúarthol, the country of the Bow and Helm, and for a year the Orcs of Morgoth were held back from the west of Beleriand.

The betrayal

That success was the ruin of Bar-en-Danwedh. Morgoth learned where the Helm was, and his Orcs took Mîm and Ibun when they were out gathering roots in the autumn of 489. To save his life and his son's Mîm led the Orcs by the secret stair to the top of Amon Rûdh, asking only that Túrin himself be spared, since he was the one who had kept his word. The Orcs came down into the halls in the night; the outlaws were slaughtered or captured on the summit, Túrin was taken bound toward Angband. Beleg lay wounded and bound among the fallen, and Mîm came to kill him with his own sword, but Andróg, though dying, rose and drove the Dwarf off before cutting Beleg free with his last strength. Mîm fled, and his hatred of the Elf turned to fear.

Nargothrond

After the fall of Nargothrond in 495 and the departure of Glaurung from its ruined halls in 499, Mîm at last came to the place his people had made. He found the caves empty except for the dragon's hoard, and he sat down in them as their master, alone with the gold that he considered his people's inheritance. In 501 Húrin, freed from Angband and wandering with the weight of his ruined family upon him, came to the doors of Nargothrond. Mîm challenged him, and when Húrin named himself and Túrin, and Mîm admitted who he was and what he had done, Húrin killed him on the threshold of the halls he had claimed. Húrin took from the hoard only the necklace of the Dwarves, the Nauglamír, and left the rest.

Legacy

With Mîm the Petty-dwarves ended. He is the one figure in the tale of the Children of Húrin who is neither Elf nor Man nor plain enemy, and his mixture of grievance, cunning, self-pity and a wary respect for Túrin makes him one of the most particular characters in the First Age. His halls under Amon Rûdh gave Túrin his brief lordship of the Bow and Helm, and his betrayal put Túrin on the road that led through the death of Beleg to Nargothrond and its fall.

Slain by Húrin at the doors of Nargothrond in F.A. 501 for his betrayal of Túrin.