Halbarad

Halbarad Tolkien's legendarium character Aliases Leader of the Grey Company Race Men Book(s) The Return of the King

Halbarad is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Halbarad was a Ranger of the North. He was the second in command of the Dúnedain behind Aragorn and also the leader of the Grey Company. Halbarad was among the Rangers who guarded the Shire. He said of the Hobbits "A little people but of Great worth are the Shire-folk. Little do they know of our long labour for the safe-keeping of their borders. Yet, I grudge it not."

In response to a message sent to Rivendell by Galadriel, Halbarad led the Grey Company comprising 30 Dúnedain south to the aid of their kinsman and chieftain Aragorn. With them rode Elladan and Elrohir, the sons of Elrond. They caught up with Aragorn at the Fords of the Isen in Rohan in the early hours of March 6, 3019. Halbarad brought Aragorn a message from Arwen as well as a standard made by her, which Aragorn asked Halbarad to keep with him for a little while.

Halbarad accompanied Aragorn to a chamber high in the Hornburg, where Aragorn looked into the palantír and revealed himself to Sauron. That morning Aragorn decided to take the Paths of the Dead under the White Mountains and Halbarad and the Grey Company went with him along with Gimli and Legolas. When they reached the entrance at daybreak on March 8, Halbarad said "This is an evil door, and my death lies beyond it. I will dare to pass it nonetheless...".

At midnight Aragorn summoned the Dead to fulfil their oaths, and Halbarad unfurled the standard, which appeared black with no device on it in the darkness. The Grey Company and the Dead Men of Dunharrow passed through the lands of the South to Pelargir, where they captured the fleet of the Corsairs of Umbar. Aragorn dismissed the Dead and the Grey Company sailed up the Anduin.

When they arrived at the Battle of Pelennor Fields on March 15, in the midst of the battle Aragorn's standard was once again unfurled, but now it was seen to bear the emblem of the White Tree of Gondor and the seven stars and the crown of Elendil. Halbarad carried the standard onto the battlefield, where he fell.

Adaptations

Halbarad was voiced by Martyn Read in the 1981 BBC Radio 4 series of The Lord of the Rings.

The character and the entire Grey Company are omitted in both the Rankin-Bass animated adaptation and Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Return of the King, where much of his function is fulfilled by the expanded character of Haldir.

In the 2009 British fan film Born of Hope, an unofficial prequel to the story of The Lord of the Rings, young Halbarad is portrayed as a child and later as a youth by Lars Mattes and Ollie Goodchild respectively.

In the Lord of the Rings Online video game, Halbarad is in command of Esteldin, the hidden Dúnedain city near Fornost, while Aragorn is away. He leads the defence of the North-Downs and later leads the Grey Company south through the lands of Eregion, Enedwaith and Dunland. Halbarad also appears in the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game as a usable Hero for the forces of good.

In the 2011 video game Lord of the Rings: War in the North Halbarad commands the Ranger outpost at Sarn Ford, which is overrun by the Nazgul in their hunt for the One Ring in The Shire. Halbarad witnesses a meeting between the Nazgul and Sauron's second-in-command, the sorcerer Agandaur, then later in the game sends the players on a mission into the Barrow-downs.