Presumed genealogy of Iorlas (though note that all we can say with confidence is that he was the uncle of Bergil, and so he may have been the brother of Bergil's (unnamed) mother, rather than his father Beregond).

A Man named by Pippin's young friend Bergil as his uncle. Almost nothing certain is known about Iorlas, but it seems reasonable to guess that he was the brother of Bergil's father Beregond, and was probably a citizen of Minas Tirith like the rest of his family. One thing that can be said for sure is his age at the time of the Battle of the Pelennor (when Pippin revealed to Bergil that he was twenty-nine years old, Bergil remarked that he was therefore the same age as his uncle Iorlas). Iorlas' name, then, is apparently intended as ironic, because it contains the element iaur, meaning 'old'.

Notes

It seems clear that ior- comes from Elvish iaur, 'old' (here meant with a degree of irony because, while he seemed old to his nephew Bergil, Iorlas was in fact only twenty-nine years old when he was named).

The closing -las element is harder to interpret. It would typically mean 'leaf' (as in Legolas), but it is hard to fathom what a name meaning 'old leaf' might signify. The root-word las could also mean 'listen', but this hardly helps to clarify the meaning of the name. The Elvish ending -as operated as a noun-forming suffix, and perhaps this is in action in Iorlas' name, but in such a case it is hard to understand why he would be named Iorlas rather than Ioras (which would essentially mean 'old one').

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Updated 28 March 2025
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Iorlas

An uncle of Bergil

Notes

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