MINOR PLACES IN MIDDLE-EARTH

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The stories of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium contain references to numerous places. Some of these places are described below.
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Contents

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

K

L

M

N

O

R

S

T

U

Z

References

A

;Aldburg: (O.E. 'old fortress') A small fortified city in Rohan, built by Eorl the Young in the region known as the Folde, some miles to the southeast of Edoras. Though his son, Brego, moved to Edoras early in Rohan's history, Aldburg remained the residence of the descendants of Eofor, Brego's third son. At the time of the War of the Ring, it was the home of king Théoden's nephew Éomer, who was the Third Marshal of the Mark and heir to the Kingship.

;Amon Lhaw: (S. 'Hill of Ear') One of the 3 peaks above the Falls of Rauros where they drained Nen Hithoel, it towered among the Emyn Muil on the eastern banks of the Anduin. Its twin, Amon Hen (The Hill of Sight) lay upon the western bank. Between them, at the very centre of the stream above Rauros, was the island hill of Tol Brandir upon which none had ever set foot.
:Though at one time Amon Lhaw had been part of the northern borderlands of Gondor and A high seat was built there (probably called The Seat of Hearing), that lay centuries in the past at the time of the War of the Ring; by then, it had long since fallen under the influence of Mordor. Also called the 'Hill of Hearing' and perhaps Hill of the Ear in Westron.

;Andrast: (S. 'long cape') A peninsula in the south-west of Gondor, also known as 'Ras Morthil'. Andrast was nominally part of Gondor, but it was not populated by the Númenóreans. At the end of the Third Age, it was believed the area was still populated by tribes of the Drúedain and other hostile men. The Drúadan lands actually extended north along the coast on to the rivers Adorn and Angren, and were collectively known as Drúwaith Iaur.
:The White Mountains ended their southward bend at the Andrast, and as such it formed an effective barrier to invaders from the north for Gondor.

;Anfalas: (S. 'long shore') A promotory of Gondor, also called 'Langstrand', that lies between the rivers Lefnui and Morthond, south of the hills of Pinnath Gelin. It was not densely populated, as it is far from central Gondor and there were no cities. During the War of the Ring, the people of the Anfalas were harassed at the coasts by the Corsairs of Umbar. Lang strand is Dutch for long beach or long shore.
;Azanulbizar: ''See Dimrill Dale''

B

;Bamfurlong: The farmland of Farmer Maggot located in the Marish of the eastern part of the Shire. The boggy nature of the land makes for above ground habitation rather than the traditional hobbit-hole. Tolkien himself suggested the name Bamfurlong comes from Old English meaning roughly ''bean-field''.

;Brown Lands: A region across the Anduin from Fangorn forest. In the First Age the Entwives settled there and began to make gardens, and they also taught the Men that already lived there to perform agriculture. The Entwives' gardens, as the region was called at that time, lasted for a long time into the Second Age, until Sauron later blasted the entire area at some time before the Battle of Dagorlad, which was when it became known as the Brown Lands. Treebeard appeared convinced that the Entwives were not all destroyed but were "lost"; their ultimate fate remains a mystery.
:It is described as withered, as if by fire, without any living green thing. In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'',^[1], the fellowship pass by the region in elven boats as they sail down the River Anduin. Interestingly, Aragorn's notable knowledge of geography and family history lets him down as he ''"could not tell"'' what had ''"so blasted"'' the region.
;Bundushathûr: ''See Fanuidhol''

C

;Calembel: A city of Gondor and the capital of the province of Lamedon, situated on a small hill along the river Ciril. Aragorn and the host of the Dead camped here on their way to Pelargir.

;Carrock: A stony eyot in the upper reaches of the River Anduin, to the north of the Old Ford. In Chapter 7 of ''The Hobbit'', Gandalf states that the steps from the base of the rock to the flat top were made by Beorn and that "Carrock" is Beorn's name for it. This is somewhat of a linguistical joke on Tolkien's part, since ''car'' in Anglo-Saxon means "rock," and the Irish for "rock" is "carraig."

;Celebdil: Also called 'Zirakzigil' in Khuzdul and translated to English as 'Silvertine'. A peak in the Misty Mountains, one of the three (with Caradhras and Fanuidhol) that stood above the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm. On the top of Zirakzigil stood Durin's Tower, where Gandalf fought with Balrog in the Battle of the Peak.
:In a 1968 letter, Tolkien identifies the Swiss Silberhorn as it appeared to him when camping near Mürren in 1911 as "the Silvertine (Celebdil) of my dreams".

;Cerin Amroth: The mound of Amroth, where elanor grows, that stood in the heart of Lórien and held the house of that king before he was lost. It was here that Aragorn and Arwen plighted their troth centuries later, and it was here where Arwen, after Aragorn's death, went to die.

;Cirith Gorgor:
:(S. 'Cleft of Horror') The main passage into Mordor at the point where the mountain ranges of Ered Lithui and Ephel Dúath met. It was sealed by the Black Gate and guarded by the two Towers of the Teeth, Carchost and Narchost. The name is sometimes translated 'the Haunted Pass'.
;Cloudyhead: ''See Fanuidhol''

;Coldfells: The highlands west of the Misty Mountains and south of the Ettenmoors, separated from them by the northern branch of the river Bruinen.

D

;Dagorlad: The great, treeless, open plain between the Emyn Muil and Cirith Gorgor. The name means the 'Battle Plain' in Sindarin, and refers to the Battle of Dagorlad fought there between Sauron's forces and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men at the end of the Second Age. The bodies of the dead decayed as normal, but over time part of the field became a wetland, the Dead Marshes, where the images of the fallen could be seen.
:Later, in the Third Age, the Dagorlad was the site of many battles between Gondor and various Easterling armies, including the Battle of the Morannon.

;Deeping Coomb: The deep, well-defended valley in the northern White Mountains that held Helm's Deep and the castle of the Hornburg. The site of an important battle, the Battle of the Hornburg, during the War of the Ring. The word coomb is a rare Brythonic survival word; meaning a small deep dry valley, easily defended. It gives its name to many places in the British Isles.

;Dimholt: A forest of pine wood and fir situated at the base of the Dwimorberg mountain, past Dunharrow. The name means literally 'dark wood'. An ancient road was visibly forged there, that led to a glen where a standing stone lay in front of the Dark Door, the entrance to the Paths of the Dead. The pathways led under the Dwimorberg mountain and had been haunted by the spirits of the Dead Men of Dunharrow in the Third Age until they fulfilled their oath to Aragorn and departed.

;Dimrill Dale: A name in the tongue of Men of the North for a valley lying east of Khazad-dûm. The valley is also called '''Nanduhirion''' in Sindarin and '''Azanulbizar''' in Khuzdul. A bloody battle was fought there in 2799 T.A. between Dwarves and the Orcs of Moria, in which the latter were defeated and their leader Azog killed. The Fellowship of the Ring encamped there having escaped from Moria, after the loss of Gandalf. A feature of the vale was the Mirrormere, a crystal clear lake in which Durin first saw the stars. The river Silverlode ran through the vale to Lórien.

;Drúwaith Iaur: A region to the west of Gondor. It was not a part of the realm of Gondor, and therefore also not of the Reunited Kingdom. It was the home to the remnants of the Drúedain, the original inhabitants of the Ered Nimrais, who were dispersed by the Númenóreans as they were hostile to them. The northern part of Drúwaith Iaur was also home to the Dunlendings, who feared the Drûgin because they used poisoned arrows.

;Durin's Tower: The tower that stood on the peak of Celebdil above Khazad-dûm, where Gandalf defeated Durin's Bane. It could be reached only by a long stairwell, the Endless Stair, which began in the deep far below the mines.

;Durthang: (S. 'dark oppression') An old castle in northern Mordor. It stood in the northern Ephel Dúath, on the slopes above the Isenmouthe. Possibly in origin it was built by Gondorians after Sauron's downfall at the end of the Second Age, but later was captured by his forces.

;Dwimorberg: A mountain in the White Mountains, which is situated at the head of the valley of Harrowdale. Dunharrow stands above a cliff on the valleys eastern side, parallel to the Dwimorberg mountain itself. Beyond Dunharrow is a forest of pine wood and fir, known as the Dimholt.
:The Dimholt itself contains a small glen, which holds a standing stone that lies in front of a doorway that leads to the Paths of the Dead. The paths lead under the Dwimorberg and were in the Third Age haunted by the spirits of the Men of the Mountains. After the events at the end of the Third Age when Aragorn released them from their oath, the Dwimorberg was haunted no longer.

E

;East Bight: A huge indention cut into the south-eastern side of Mirkwood Forest, made through the clearing of trees by the Northmen.

;Edhellond: (S. 'elf-haven') An ancient harbour and settlement of Elvish origin in Gondor, located just south of where the rivers Morthond and Ringló met.
:According to some of Tolkien's writings, Edhellond was founded by the Sindarin refugees in three small ships fleeing the ruin of Beleriand following Morgoth's successful onslaught of the Elvish kingdoms. Another version tells that some refugees of Doriath, in the course of their wandering, founded the haven. Both agree, however, that the original founders possessed the knowledge of shipbuilding, which in the First Age was known only to Círdan and the elven-folk of the Falas. Whatever its ultimate origins, in time Edhellond was swelled by Nandorin Elves seeking for the sea.^[1]
:Amroth, Lord of Lórien, was lost at or near Edhellond in the year 1981 of the Third Age while looking for his beloved Nimrodel. Already then nearly all Elves had sailed into the West from Edhellond, seeking escape from the shadows of Middle-earth. By the time of the War of the Ring no Elves remained in Edhellond, and while it was uninhabited, the area passed into the dominion of Gondor.
;Emyn Beraid: ''See Tower Hills''

;Emyn Muil: A maze of impenetrable rocky crags located upon either side of Nen Hithoel. In ''The Two Towers'', Frodo and Sam, attempting to reach the Black Gate of Mordor, are lost in the eastern Emyn Muil for days until Gollum finds them. After a great deal of persuasion he agrees to show them the way, leading them south into the Dead Marshes.

;Emyn Uial: (S. 'hills of dusk') The highlands in northern Eriador, called also the 'Hills of Evendim'. The hills began about a hundred Númenórean miles north of the Shire; at the southern end is the city of Annúminas, the first capital of Arnor, at Lake Evendim. The Baranduin or Brandywine River flows out of this lake. The river Lhûn also has a tributary beginning in the hills.
:In the Second Age, when the Men of Númenor first returned to Middle-earth, the Hills of Evendim were populated by Men related to the ancestors of the Edain. For this reason the Númenóreans later settled nearby, and the hills formed the core of the later kingdom of Arnor. After the establishments of the Kingdoms in Exile by Elendil and his sons, the Men of Evendim merged with the Dúnedain, becoming the people of Arnor together with non-Edain Men like the Men of Bree.

;Ered Lithui: (S. ''Mountains of Ash'') The mountain range forming the northern border of Mordor. From the Morannon, where it met the Ephel Dúath, the Ered Lithui ran generally eastward for hundreds of miles. The name "Mountains of Ash" suggests that the range is downwind of Mount Doom and collects its ash fallout.

;Eryn Vorn: 'The Black Wood', was a densely forested peninsular in southern Eriador. Forming the western tip of what became known as Minhiriath, it was originally part of the vast ancient treescape that covered most of north-western Middle-earth, and was named by the early Númenórean explorers of the Second Age.
:Throughout the following millennium, Minhiriath's landscape beyond the cape was systematically deforested by the Númenóreans in their greed for ship-building timber, and was then almost completely burnt down during the ensuing War of the Elves and Sauron. By the war's end in S.A 1700, the surviving natives had retreated either north to Bree, or hidden themselves in Eryn Vorn, but the whole region was largely ignored by both Elf and Númenórean thereafter.
:Eryn Vorn eventually fell under the jurisdiction of Arnor after Númenor's destruction at the end of the Second Age, and from 861 in the Third Age, the Black Woods became a nominal part of Cardolan, one of Arnor's three successor states.
:The people of Cardolan were almost completely destroyed by the Great Plague a few centuries later, and although it is not known how this affected the Black Wood, it is probable that they remained populated throughout their history, for although no permanent settlements of men existed anywhere west of Bree by the late Third Age,^[1] "a few secretive hunter-folk lived in the woods" of Minhiriath by the time of the War of the Ring.^[4] The Black Wood was the only woodland in Minhiriath large enough to be mapped, so presumably these secretive folk were the descendants of those who hid in Eryn Vorn over four thousand years earlier.

F

;Fanuidhol: Also called 'Bundushathûr' in Khuzdul and translated into English as 'Cloudyhead'. A peak in the Misty Mountains, one of the three (with Caradhras and Celebdil) that stood above the Dwarven city of Khazad-dûm.

;Forlond: (S. 'north haven') A harbour on the northern side of the Gulf of Lhûn in Lindon. It was built by Elves after the drowning of Beleriand.

G

;Gram: ''See Mount Gram''

;Goblin Town: A goblin (or orc) dwelling which lay under the High Pass in the Misty Mountains, ruled by the Great Goblin. It was a series of tunnels and caverns, which led all the way through the mountains, with a "back door" near the Eagles' eyrie in Wilderland. The cave of Gollum was close to this door.
:During the journey to Erebor Bilbo Baggins was captured by the goblins of Goblin Town together with the Dwarves of Thorin Oakenshield. They were brought before the Great Goblin, who accused them of spying, and was enraged having found out Thorin was carrying the sword Orcrist "Orc-cleaver". With the help of Gandalf, Bilbo and the Dwarves escape and kill the Great Goblin, after which a frantic pursuit occurs.

;Gulf of Lune: A sea-arm that broke through the range of the Ered Luin into Eriador. The Gulf of Lune, named after the river Lhûn or "Lune", was created during the War of Wrath when Beleriand was broken. In the midst of Ossiriand, Belegaer broke through the mountains, creating the Gulf of Lune.^[1] The remnant of Beleriand north of the gulf became known as 'Forlindon', and the part south of it as 'Harlindon' (North and South Lindon). At the eastern end of the Gulf the 'Grey Havens' of Mithlond were established, but smaller havens were established in Forlindon and Harlindon as well: Forlond and 'Harlond' (North and South haven).
:During the Second Age the ships of the Númenóreans first came to the Gulf of Lune to visit the Noldor and Sindar under Gil-galad who remained behind, and during the Third Age from it the ships of the Eldar passed into the West.

H

;Harrowdale: The deep north-south valley cut out of the White Mountains by the Snowbourn River. At its southern end, beneath the mountain known as the Starkhorn, stood Dunharrow, a great refuge of the Rohirrim. At its northern end, where the Snowbourn issued onto the plains of Rohan, stood that nation's capital, Edoras.
;Hills of Evendim: ''See Emyn Uial''

I

;Irensaga:One of mountains in the White Mountains, which lays above Harrowdale.

K

;Khand: A land which lay to the south-east of Mordor and to the east of Near Harad. The Men of Khand were called Variags. Little is known about the land or its people, but it appears to have been much like Rohan: the Variags were a people of riders.
:Khand was under the influence of Mordor and supplied it with horses, and twice came into the history of Gondor: first in the year 1944 of the Third Age when the Variags together with the Wainriders attacked Gondor, and later during the War of the Ring when they fought and died on the Pelennor Fields. While this is not directly said in the literature, it is probable that Khand gradually fell under the control of Gondor during the Fourth Age and was hostile to it no longer.

L

;Langstrand: ''See Anfalas''

;Last Bridge: The crossing point of the river Mitheithel by the Great East Road. The bridge served as an important landmark on the road from Bree to Rivendell, as it was just over the halfway mark between these two points and at least a weeks' journey east of Bree.
:Bilbo Baggins, the dwarves, and Gandalf crossed this bridge in ''The Hobbit'', though it is not specifically mentioned, and their encounter with the trolls occurred in the Trollshaws nearby. In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Aragorn finds a beryl on the bridge that was left by Glorfindel as a warning that the Nazgûl were searching the Great East Road for the One Ring. Glorfindel mentions waging battle with the Nazgûl upon the bridge, as to make it safe for the Hobbits and Aragorn to reach Rivendell.

;Linhir: A city in Gondor, which is the second largest within the province of Lebennin, and also the province's port. It lies on the confluence of the rivers Gilrain and Serni.

;Lithlad: (S. 'ash-plain') A region of Mordor to the south of Ered Lithui, upon the outskirts of which the Tower of Barad-dûr stood.

M

;Methedras: (S. 'end-horn') The southernmost peak of the Misty Mountains, that lay above Isengard in the valley of Nan Curunír.

;Mindolluin: (S. 'towering blue head') The easternmost peak of the White Mountains, below and to the east of which stands the city of Minas Tirith. In ''The Return of the King'', shortly after Aragorn's coronation as King Elessar Gandalf takes him by an ancient path into the foothills of Mindolluin far above the city. There he discovers, upon an otherwise barren slope, a sapling of Nimloth, the White Tree of Gondor, which he plants in the Court of the Fountain as a sign of rebirth.

;Mount Gram: A mountain in north Eriador; its exact location is unknown but it probably was located either in the Ettenmoors or the Mountains of Angmar, or somewhere else in the northern Misty Mountains. (One theory says it could have been the same as Mount Gundabad.) It was inhabited by Orcs whose army once attacked the Hobbits of the Shire.

;Mountains of Angmar: A mountain chain in the far north, running north-west from Mount Gundabad at the northern end of the Misty Mountains. The evil kingdom of Angmar gave its name to the mountains. The mountains were probably inhabited at various times both by Dwarves and Orcs. The capital of Angmar, Carn Dûm, was located at the western foothills of the Mountains of Angmar.
;Mountains of Ash: ''See Ered Lithui''

;Mountains of Moria: The three peaks of the Misty Mountains - Caradhras, Celebdil and Fanuidhol - beneath which Moria was delved by the Dwarves. The main body of their city seems to have been beneath Celebdil. During the events of ''The Lord of the Rings'', the Company of the Ring attempted to travel over Caradhras, but they were forced to enter the Mines due to a heavy snowfall.

N

;Nanduhirion: ''See Dimrill Dale''

O

;Old Ford: The point where the Old Forest Road crossed the River Anduin, about forty miles (sixty-four kilometres) downriver from the Carrock. In older times, the river was crossed by a stone bridge here, but by the end of the Third Age, the bridge had long since disappeared, and the crossing was no more than a simple ford.
;Old Púkel Land: ''See Drúwaith Iaur''

R

;Ras Morthil: ''See Andrast''

;Ravenhill: An outlying hill beneath the height of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. It stood at the end of a ridge of high ground extending southwards from the mountain itself, overlooking the River Running and the valley of Dale. The Dwarves of Erebor built a guard post on the hill, and above its chamber for many years lived two intelligent ravens, Carc and his wife. It was they, and the ravens of hill, that gave it its name.

S

;Sarn Gebir: The rapids in the Great River Anduin. They appear as the river's course passes between the eastern and western Emyn Muil, above the Falls of Rauros.

;Sea of Núrnen: An inland sea in Mordor. It held bitter water not suitable for drinking, but the area around it, Núrn, watered by a river system coming from the Ephel Dúath, was fertile enough to feed the entire armies of Sauron in Mordor.

;Sea of Rhûn: A large saltwater lake or sea in the region of Rhûn. The Sea of Rhûn, according to Tolkien's maps, covers roughly 400 square miles (1,000 km²). The Celduin (River Running) flows from the northwest into a northwestern arm of the sea, while several unnamed rivers flow from the northeastern shore.
;Silvertine: ''See Celebdil''

;Stair Falls: A waterfall outside the West-gate of Moria. They were formed by the stream Sirannon, which flowed from the valley in front of the West-gate and over a cliff about 30 feet high and then continued southwestward to join the Glanduin. There was a flight of stone steps carved into the cliff on the northern side of the falls, but the main path wound up the cliffside a bit north of the stairs. The Stair Falls were once strong and full, but by the time of the War of the Ring the waterfall was cut off when the Sirannon was dammed, forming a pool where the Watcher in the Water lurked.^[6]
:The Fellowship came to the cliff where the Stair Falls had been on January 13, 3019. Gandalf, Gimli, and Frodo climbed the Stair, discovered that the pool blocked their path, returned and used the main path up the cliff and around the pool. It seems possible that after the War and reoccupation of Moria, the Sirannon may have been unblocked and the Stair Falls may have flowed once more, but this is nowhere stated.

;Starkhorn: A snow-clad peak that rised in the inner regions of the White Mountains. From its feet sprang the Snowbourn River, whose widening valley run northwards through the mountains to emerge onto the plains of Rohan. The Rohirrim called that valley Harrowdale, and built their courts of Edoras at its mouth, from where the lonely white peak of the Starkhorn could be seen along the straight length of the valley.

T

;Tower Hills: A series of steep hills at the west end of Eriador, called in Sindarin 'Emyn Beraid'. They lay about 30 Númenórean miles east of the Grey Havens, and about 50 miles west of the White Downs, of old the border of the Shire. High upon the Tower Hills stood three tall Elven towers, the highest of which was called ''Elostirion'' and held a ''palantír''.
:The Tower Hills formed the ancient border between the Elven realm of Lindon and the Kingdom of Arnor, and the Great East Road which led all the way to Rivendell ran through them. In the early Fourth Age, Elanor Gamgee and her husband Fastred Fairbairn moved to the Tower Hills, founding the town of ''Undertowers'' on the eastern slopes of the Hills, and becoming the ''Wardens of Westmarch'', when the Tower Hills became the new western border of the Shire by the issue of King Elessar.

;Trollshaws: The upland woods, consisting at least partly of beech trees, that lay to the west of Rivendell between the rivers Hoarwell and Loudwater. They were the haunt of trolls. Three of these trolls waylaid Bilbo Baggins and his companions during the Quest of Erebor. Years later Frodo Baggins and his companions found them on their way to Rivendell, but they were inert stone.
:There is a contradiction regarding the layout of the Trollshaws. In ''The Hobbit'', the company passes over a "stone bridge" and very soon after that spots the troll's fire, an hour or two away. In ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', however, Aragorn explicitly leads the Hobbits over the Last Bridge and takes six days to reach the site of the troll camp. This discrepancy was not noticed by J. R. R. Tolkien, but was discussed by Christopher Tolkien in ''The Return of the Shadow''.
:The epic metal band Battlelore has a song 'Trollshaws' on their album Third Age of the Sun.

U

;Upbourn: A hamlet in Rohan south of Edoras, located on the banks of the Snowbourn river in the valley of Harrowdale.

Z

;Zirakzigil: ''See Celebdil''

References

1.
2.
3.
4. ''Unfinished Tales'': Appendix D to "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn".
5.
6. ''The Fellowship of the Ring'': "A Journey in the Dark," p. 314-16; "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm," p. 336-37.