The leader of the first Men to enter Beleriand, and the first to speak with the Eldar. Balan and his followers were discovered by Finrod Felagund, travelling in the eastern vales. When Finrod set out again for his lands in the west, Balan entered his service, and remained his faithful vassal until his death. Thus he earned his much better known name, Bëor, which was the word for 'vassal' in his own language. After that time, the leadership of his People was taken up by his elder son Baran, through whom Balan was the ancestor of some of the greatest heroes of the Edain.
Notes
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The name Balan comes from a Mannish culture, and is nowhere interpreted (indeed it may not have a specific meaning). It is not to be confused with the Sindarin word Balan ('one of the Powers', the equivalent of Quenya Vala). Balan the Man received his name before he ever encountered the Sindarin Elves, so the name cannot be derived from their language.
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2 |
Balan's younger son Belen never makes an appearance in the published Silmarillion, though his existence is implied by one reference to Baran as Balan's 'elder son' (Quenta Silmarillion 17, Of the Coming of Men into the West).
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- Updated 26 December 2011
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