Bëor

The man once born as Balan (perhaps in Eriador) was one of the people who sought to reach the Gods in the West. With his sons Belen and Baran and his people, they met Dwarves and Avari before eventually crossing the Blue Mountains in First Age 310.

One night as they slept in Ossiriand, the Noldorin King Finrod Felagund, eldest son of Finarfin, came upon Balan and his people and enchanted them with his music as they woke up. Finrod quickly befriended the Men and advised them to settle in Estolad in the realm of the Noldorin Elf-lords Amrod and Amras, the sons of Fëanor.

In First Age 311, Balan left with Finrod for his kingdom of Nargothrond, where he served as his vassal until his death. Bëor's eldest son, Baran, ruled the people of Bëor in his stead. The friendship of Bëor and Baran with the Eldar led to the creation of the First House of the Edain, which produced some of the greatest heroes of the First Age.

Balan was called Bëor by the Elves of Nargothrond, which meant "vassal" in Taliska, the language of the people of Bëor. When Bëor finally died at the age of 93 willingly, a very old age for men at that time, he was given the epithet the Old.

In the introduction to The Grey Annals, Christopher Tolkien stated that they were written in the 1930s. This work was laid aside while J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, after which he returned to his work on the elder days. In Tolkien's later writings the coming of the Edain over the Blue Mountains was relocated nearly a century earlier, which occasioned a large-scale overhaul of the chronology and genealogies.

In the older Grey Annals, Bëor was born in 370, met Felagund in First Age 400, and died in First Age 450. In the new version Bëor was born in First Age 262, encountered Felagund in First Age 310, and died at age 93 in First Age 355.

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