Emyn Muil

Below the Wold of Rohan the Anduin entered a region of grey hills that rose on both banks in ridges and knife-edged spurs, cut by ravines and gullies, with few paths and little water. This was the Emyn Muil. The river passed between the cliffs of the Argonath into the lake of Nen Hithoel and fell over Rauros at the hills' southern end; the hills themselves ran on eastward until they dropped in sheer cliffs down to the Dead Marshes, and westward until they sank into the plains of the Eastemnet.

The western Emyn Muil were bleak but passable, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli crossed them in a day's running on the trail of the Uruk-hai. The eastern hills were worse: a labyrinth of bare rock where a traveller could walk for hours and find himself back where he began, or at the top of a cliff with no way down. The whole region was empty of people, a wild border between the Emnet of Rohan and the desolation before Mordor.

Gondor marked the southern end of the hills as its northern boundary in the reign of Rómendacil II, raising the Argonath there. The hills were a haunt of Orcs at times, but were empty in the War of the Ring. After the breaking of the Fellowship on February 26, 3019 Frodo and Sam went east into the hills and spent three days looking for a way down to the marshes; on the night of February 29 they climbed down a cliff by the Elven rope of Lórien and caught Gollum, who had followed them all the way from Moria, as he crept down after them. Frodo made him swear on the Ring to guide them, and Gollum led them out of the hills by a gully into the marshes. Meanwhile, on February 26 and 27, the three hunters ran west across the hills into Rohan.

The Emyn Muil lay astride the Anduin north of Rauros and south of the Wold and the Brown Lands. Nen Hithoel, the long lake between the hills, was closed at its southern end by Amon Hen, Amon Lhaw and Tol Brandir. East of the hills lay the Dead Marshes and Dagorlad, beyond which stood the Black Gate of Mordor.