Ioreth & The Houses of Healing | Tolkien Explained

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]It is the great infirmary of Minus Tth where those who were sick or wounded would be tended by healers of the realm.

[00:00:09]While it would most prominently feature in its own chapter of Return of the King, we see hints of its wider history and structure. We also meet some of its workers and leaders, including an interesting old woman with a keen memory. Today on Nerd of the Rings, we cover Yorith and the Houses of Healing.

[00:00:32]The first we hear of this infirmary comes after Denithor's descent into madness and his attempting burning of Phamir. Gandalf and Baragond take the young captain of Gondor away from Wrath Denan upon a buyer, which is somewhat like a stretcher. They pass into the high circles of the city and on to a set of fair houses. Under normal circumstances, this is where those who were grievously sick would be cared for.

[00:01:04]However, with the siege raging below, it is instead filled with the hurt and dying from battle. These houses of healing are located in the sixth of the seven circles of Mina Tith near the southern wall of the level. There is a garden about the houses and a green sward with trees. And we are told this is the only such place in the entire city. But even as Gandalf and his companions came carrying the buyer to the main door of the houses, they heard a great cry that went up from the field before the gate and rising shrill and piercing into the sky passed and died away on the wind. And though they did not realize it at the time, this cry was that of the witch king finally meeting his end. After standing in thought, Gandalf turns to Baragond and Pippen, who had taken Phamir to the healers. At last, he spoke, "My friends," he said, "and all you people of this city and of the Western lands. Things of great sorrow and renown have come to pass.

[00:02:19]Shall we weep or be glad? Beyond hope, the captain of our foes has been destroyed. And you have heard the echo of his last despair. But he has not gone without woe and bitter loss. And that I might have averted but for the madness of Denithor.

[00:02:41]So long has the reach of our enemy become. Alas, but now I perceive how his will was able to enter into the very heart of the city. Gandalf goes on to say that Baragon should be sent to guard over Phamir within the houses of healing and to be by his side when he awakes, if he should awake. But Phamir would not be the only notable person taken to the houses of healing. For upon the battlefield of the Pelanor, Pippen would find Mary wounded by the black breath of the Nausegoul. Likewise, Aayowan would also be discovered, suffering from the same malady. Thus, all three heroes would be laid in beds within the houses of healing and tended well. Here we are told that while the lore of these days was not so great as the glory days of Gondor, their leechcraft was still wise and skilled in the healing of wound and hurt. Now, a quick note on the term leechcraft here. While there is indeed a history in ancient medicinal practices of using blood sucking worms, leechcraft in this medieval sense is a term referring to the art of healing in general. While we are told that Aayowen and Mary suffered the worst, there were actually many who were sick from the effects of the nauseoul and the Gondorans had called this malady the black shadow. Those affected fell slowly into an ever deeper dream and then passed to silence and a deadly cold and then would die. This clearly indicates that this was not the first time Gondorans had been so poisoned by the ring wraiths. Meanwhile, there was Phamir who burned with a fever that would not lessen. And it is here at the moment when these three heroes seem on death's doorstep that we would meet a memorable healer of Gondor. The elderly Yorth at one time lived in the valley of Imlo Meloui in the southern Gondorian land of Lassarn. At some point Yorith had moved to Minus Tth and so served as a healer in the houses of healing.

[00:05:06]Amusingly, the name Yorith in Cinderin literally means old woman. And indeed, by this time in history in early 319, she was the oldest woman serving in the houses of healing. As she looked upon the face of Phamir, she wept, and she said, "Alas, if he should die, would that there were kings in Gondor, as there were once upon a time, they say, for it is said in old law, the hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so the rightful king could ever be known." Gandalf, who stood nearby, said, "Men may long remember your words, Yorith, for there is hope in them. Maybe a king has indeed returned to Gondor."

[00:05:54]And so it is that Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Alendil, would come in secret to the houses of healing. He goes first to Phamir, whose situation is most dire. Here I must put forth all such power and skill as is given to me. He said would that Eland were here for he is the eldest of all our race and has the greater power. He then calls for Yorith and he said you have store in this house of the herbs of healing. Yes, Lord, she answered but not enough I reckon for all that will need them. But I am sure I do not know where we shall find more. For all things are a miss in these dreadful days. What with fires and burnings and the lads that run errands so few and all the roads blocked. Why, it is days out of count since ever a carrier came in from Lanarch to the market. But we do our best in this house with what we have as I'm sure your lordship will know. I will judge that when I see, said Aragorn. One thing also is short time for speech. Have you Ethylas? I do not know. I am sure, Lord, she answered. At least not by that name.

[00:07:10]I will go and ask of the herb master. He knows all the old names. It is also called King's Foil, said Aragorn. And maybe you know it by that name. For so the country folk call it in the latter days. Oh, that said. Well, if your lordship had named it at first, I could have told you. No, we have none of it, I am sure. Why, I have never heard that it had any great virtue, and indeed I have often said to my sisters when we came upon it growing in the woods, King's foil, I said. It is a strange name, and I wonder why it is called so, for if I were a king, I would have plants more bright in my garden. Still, it smells sweet when bruised, does it not? If sweet is the right word, wholesome maybe is nearer. Wholesome verily, said Aragorn. And now, Dame, if you love the Lord Farir, run as quick as your tongue and get me King's foil, if there is a leaf in the city. Shortly thereafter, the herbmaster of the houses of healing would enter, who shows a similar chatty quality as Yorith. Thereupon the herbmaster entered. Your lordship asked for king's foil as the rustics name it said or aas in the noble tongue or to those who know somewhat of the valinorian. I do so said Aragorn and I care not whether you say now Asa Aranon or Kingsfoil so long as you have some.

[00:08:43]Your pardon lord said the man I see you are a law master not merely a captain of war. But alas, sir, we do not keep this thing in the houses of healing, where only the gravely hurt or sick are tended, for it has no virtue that we know of, save perhaps to sweeten a fouled air, or to drive away some passing heaviness. Unless, of course, you give heed to rhymes of old days, which women such as our good Yorus still repeat without understanding. When the black breath blows and death's shadow grows and all lights pass, come ethylas, come ethylas. Life to the dying in the king's hand lying. It is but a drogle, I fear, garbled in the memory of old wives. Its meaning I leave to your judgment, if indeed it has any. But old folks still use an infusion of the herb for headaches. Then in the name of the king, go and find some old man of less law and more wisdom who keeps some in his house," cried Gandalf. Finally, Burggill, Baragon's son, would come running into the house with six leaves of king's foil. Aragorn comforts the lad, who wept at seeing Phamir's condition. Then taking two leaves, he laid them on his hands and breathed on them. And then he crushed them, and straight away a living freshness filled the room as if the air itself awoke and tingled, sparkling with joy. And then he cast the leaves into the bowls of steaming water that were brought to him, and at once all hearts were lightened.

[00:10:20]One by one, Aragorn heals Phamir, Aowen, and Mary. And days later, as the army of the west, led by Aragorn would depart for the black gate, the three would be left behind to heal. Aayowan would beg the warden of the houses of healing to be discharged. This warden, who would have been the chief healer in the houses, was in charge of all within their walls. Rather than release Aayowin, he would take her to the gardens. There in the coming days, Aayowen would meet and fall in love with Phamir. And the warden looking from his window at their meeting was glad in heart. And it is here that word would come by a great eagle to Mina Tith, proclaiming that the army of Gondor and Rohan had won the battle and that the ring and Sauron were destroyed. Phamir would then go to the warden saying, "Here is the Lady Aan of Rohan, and now she is healed." And the warden said, "Then I release her from my charge and bid her farewell, and may she suffer never hurt nor sickness again. I commend her to the care of the steward of the city until her brother returns." But Aayowan said, "Yet now that I have leaved to depart, I would remain, for this house has become to me of all dwellings the most blessed." And she remained there until King Aomare came.

[00:11:54]Phamir and Aayowin were engaged to be married, a joyous occasion in these houses that mere days earlier were a place of despair and fear. No doubt these houses would continue to operate in the days to come as they had for centuries before. In a period of great blessing under Kingar, they could no doubt return to their purpose of treating the sick. And while we cannot say for certain, perhaps they would do so with a healthy supply of ethylas.

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