September 3, 2002

Athelas is Mentioned Before RotK
Jimeous

LoTR Book I: Chapter 12 - Flight to the Ford
"These leaves," he said, "I have walked far to find; for this plant does not grow in the bare hills; but in the thickets away south of the Road I found it in the dark by the scent of its leaves." He crushed a leaf in his fingers, and it gave out a sweet and pungent fragrance. "It is fortunate that I could find it, for it is a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth. Athelas they named it, and it grows now sparsely and only near places where they dwelt or camped of old; and it is not known in the North, except to some of those who wander in the Wild. It has great virtues, but over such a wound as this its healing powers may be small."

Its also in Lothlorien as athelas. "Aragorn bathed the hurts with water in which athelas was steeped".

It is called Kingsfoil in RoTK when Ioreth has never heard of the other equivalent name.

Whether it reappears in RoTK movie is uncertain though.