Queen Berúthiel

Queen Berúthiel is a minor fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.

Mention in Lord of the Rings

The Cats of Queen Berúthiel were at first mention used as a cognitive estrangement device in an off-hand remark in the Lord of the Rings. In The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn uses Berúthiel's cats as a byword for navigation in the dark:

This suggests that Berúthiel and her cats have passed into popular legend by the time of the War of the Ring.

Story in Unfinished Tales

Outside of the brief reference in Lord of the Rings, Berúthiel was first described in Unfinished Tales. She was of Black Númenórean origin, from "the inland city", somewhere south of Umbar. Her marriage to Tarannon Falastur, the twelfth king of Gondor, is believed to have been arranged for political reasons. She is described by Tolkien as "nefarious, solitary and loveless", and she and Falastur never had any children. Queen Berúthiel had ten cats. The cats were her slaves whom she used as spies. Queen Berúthiel was feared and reviled in Gondor, and at last her husband the King banished her from the realm. She was last seen aboard a ship, with all her cats, sailing away into the southern seas.