From Farmer Maggot’s loyal guard dogs to the monstrous Wargs that hunted down the stories’ heroes, canines were quite common in Middle-earth. Felines, on the other hand, were quite rare. J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings mentioned cats a few times, usually in the form of metaphors, and Peter Jackson’s film adaptations featured only a single cat, that being a black cat who lounged in The Prancing Pony. However, in an earlier draft of Tolkien’s legendarium, cats were far more important, and one of them took the place of The Lord of the Rings‘ greatest villain: the Dark Lord Sauron.

The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two collected old drafts of Tolkien’s legendarium. One of the chapters was “The Tale of Tinúviel,” which told a version of the Beren and Lúthien story from The Silmarillion. In the final version, Beren and Lúthien were the first instances of a mortal man marrying an immortal Elf, which made them important to Aragorn and Arwen, especially since they were the pair’s ancestors. In “The Tale of Tinúviel,” they were both Elves, or Gnomes as Tolkien sometimes called them in his early writings, but this was not the biggest difference; instead of Sauron, the main antagonist was Tevildo, the Prince of Cats.

Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on October 12, 2024: The Lord of the Rings is expanding into new territory, drawing from ancillary works about Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien. Prime Video’s The Rings of Power aims to explore the events of the Second Age, while new spinoff films continue to flesh out certain characters in Tolkien’s story. However, the strangest parts of Tolkien’s legendarium have yet to be explored in depth. This article has been updated with additional information and conforms to CBR’s current formatting guidelines.

The Prince of Cats Imprisoned Aragorn’s Ancestor

Sauron’s Predecessor Had a Long History With Aragorn’s Family Tree

Tevildo was a powerful minion of Melko. Among other duties, he hunted meat for Melko and oversaw its preparation by other servants. According to legend, he was either a cat possessed by an evil spirit or an evil spirit that assumed the form of a cat, similar to Ungoliant taking the form of a spider in The Silmarillion. Tolkien described Tevildo as “coal-black” with eyes that “gleamed both red and green” and “great grey whiskers… as stout and as sharp as needles.” He always wore a golden collar that granted him magical abilities, calling to mind the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings. Though Tevildo resembled a house cat, he was large and strong enough to contend with the likes of wolves and hunting hounds, as were the many other villainous cats who served him. This was due to a secret spell that Tevildo learned from Melko.

Like in the published version of The Silmarillion, Beren had been tasked by his beloved father to steal one of the Silmarils from the Dark Lord. Melko captured him during his attempt to do so and sent him to work in Tevildo’s kitchen. Tevildo immediately hated Beren because he could smell that he preferred dogs to cats, so he tried to make Beren’s life miserable. On Melko’s orders, he could not cause severe physical harm to Beren, but he still found ways to torment him. He set impossible tasks for Beren, such as attempting to catch some magical mice that Tevildo kept in the castle to hunt for sport. When he inevitably failed, Tevildo deprived him of food and sleep, driving him into despair. As was the case in The Silmarillion, it fell to Tinúviel to rescue Beren from the clutches of evil.

Lúthien Had a Clever Plan to Defeat Tevildo

Tevildo’s nemesis was Huan, a brave and mighty hound. The two had contended many times in the past, and Huan was one of the few creatures fast enough to pose a threat to Melko’s magically empowered cats. Coincidentally, Tinúviel met Huan in the forest and learned that they shared a common enemy. In The Silmarillion, Huan and Lúthien barged into Sauron’s stronghold, defeated his army of werewolves, and battled the Dark Lord himself. In The Book of Lost Tales, however, he and Tinúviel freed Beren through trickery rather than brute force. Tinúviel requested an audience with Tevildo and told him a false story about Huan. She claimed that he was badly injured and that she had just barely escaped an attack from him.

Believing his nemesis was vulnerable, Tevildo and his minions jumped at the opportunity to kill Huan once and for all. When they arrived, they found Huan on the ground, pretending to be wounded, but as soon as they drew near, he attacked them. Even with the cats’ enhanced strength, they were no match for Huan, and he forced Tevildo up a tree. Though he was too proud to admit it, the Prince of Cats feared for his life. Huan said that he would only let Tevildo down once he surrendered his golden collar and revealed to Tinúviel the spell that gave his followers their supernatural strength. Tevildo held out for a while, but he eventually grew tired and hungry, so he relented.

Remnants of Tevildo Remained in The Lord of the Rings

Tevildo Isn’t Entirely Absent in The Lord of the Rings

Using the spell that Tevildo reluctantly told her, Tinúviel turned his minions back into ordinary cats. She freed Beren and another prisoner: a blind, elderly Elf named Gimli. He had no apparent connection to the fan-favorite Dwarf from The Lord of the Rings, but this showed that the name was in Tolkien’s mind long before he began writing about Frodo’s adventure. As punishment for Tevildo’s failure, Melko stripped him of his remaining power and banished him, which was surprisingly merciful for a Dark Lord in Tolkien’s legendarium. Nonetheless, Tevildo remained “lonely and bitter and full of loss” for the rest of his life. Lúthien later used her magic to disguise Beren as one of Tevildo’s feline minions so that he could steal a Silmaril from Melko.

Upcoming Lord of the Rings Spinoffs

Film
Release Date

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
December 13, 2024

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
2026

As Tolkien further developed his legendarium, he wanted the villain of this story to be a more serious and large-scale threat. He therefore replaced Tevildo with the evil sorcerer Thû, who later evolved into Sauron. However, Tolkien did not abandon the concept of evil cats. The Lord of the Rings mentioned Berúthiel, an evil Gondorian queen who used cats as her spies. Aspects of Tevildo also remained in the character of Sauron. In addition to the One Ring bearing similarities to Tevildo’s gold collar, both of them lost in a battle against Huan. Sauron’s main symbol, the Eye of Sauron, was also an example of feline imagery, as its pupil was slit like that of a cat. Strange as some parts of The Book of Lost Tales seem to modern Tolkien fans, there are just as many elements that remained consistent throughout the ever-changing legendarium.

Tevildo Has Connection to Other Iconic Literary Works

J.R.R Tolkien Was Inspired By Other Famous Stories

A student of literature and mythology, J.R.R. Tolkien drew on his knowledge of other works for many of the events and characters in his legendarium. In earlier drafts of Middle-earth’s origins, the parallels were much more evident than in the final product. Tevildo is one such character that has noticeable roots in other works of literature. The character’s name is noticeably similar to that of Tybalt in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt is the vengeful cousin of Juliet, who is interestingly also known by the title “The Prince of Cats.” Tevildo and Tybalt also share certain character traits, including a bitter need for vengeance that eventually results in their own doom.

Various legends and mythologies also include references to monstrous cats that may have inspired Tolkien in the creation of Tevildo. Cath Palug is a monster cat from Welsh mythology who appears in the stories of King Arthur, fighting the legendary king in an epic battle. It’s possible that Tolkien took inspiration from the stories of Cath Palug in creating Tevildo. The story of The Lord of the Rings went through many different versions over the years, with even its main antagonist changing forms multiple times. While it may have been interesting to see the Prince of Cats take a larger role in the story, Sauron makes for an even better antagonist.