Barahir son of Bregor was lord of the House of Bëor, the first of the three houses of the Edain, and dwelt in Ladros in the north-east of Dorthonion. His wife was Emeldir, and their son was Beren.1
In the Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame, Morgoth broke the Siege of Angband. Finrod Felagund was cut off in the Fen of Serech and would have been taken or slain, but Barahir and the bravest of his men came to his rescue and made a wall of spears around him. In gratitude Finrod swore an oath of enduring friendship and aid to Barahir and all his kin, and gave him his ring as a token.1
Dorthonion fell to the enemy, but Barahir would not leave it. He sent the women and children away, and with Beren and eleven others he lived as an outlaw in the highlands, a thorn in the side of Morgoth. Sauron hunted them for years in vain, until one of the twelve, Gorlim, was snared by a phantom of his lost wife and betrayed their hiding-place by Tarn Aeluin. Barahir and the rest were slain there while Beren was away.2
Beren buried his father and took back the ring from the Orc who had cut it from Barahir's hand. Finrod's oath and the ring later bound Finrod to Beren's quest for the Silmaril. The Ring of Barahir passed down the ages to the heirs of Isildur, and Aragorn gave it to Arwen.2,3
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Appendices Tolkien's own appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and Tolkien's late writings on the Elder Days, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's papers.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 18, “Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin”
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 19, “Of Beren and Lúthien”
- Appendices The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I (v), “Here follows a part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen”