Narog

Course

The Narog rose at the pools of Ivrin under the southern face of the Ered Wethrin and ran south through the country west of Sirion, the two rivers roughly parallel with the Guarded Plain of Talath Dirnen between them. In its middle course it took in the Ginglith from the west and then plunged into a deep gorge between the hills of Taur-en-Faroth on its western side and the rising ground to the east. In this gorge, high in the western bank, lay the doors of Nargothrond. Further down the river took in the Ringwil and left the hills, and after a long run through the southern woods it joined Sirion above the Land of Willows, Nan-tathren, on the edge of the meres of Sirion.

The Narog was the lifeline and the defence of Nargothrond. For centuries the city could be reached only by a path along the eastern bank, and the river itself forbade any army from coming at the doors. Túrin, preferring open war, persuaded Orodreth to build a great stone bridge across the gorge so that the host could go out and return quickly, and it was over that bridge that Glaurung came after the battle of Tumhalad, which was fought on the plain between the Narog and the Ginglith. The warning of Ulmo, carried by Gelmir and Arminas from Círdan, had been to throw the bridge down and shut the gates.

Below the gorge the woods along the Narog were the way by which the outlaws of Túrin ranged, and from Amon Rûdh they held the country between Narog and Sirion. The river was drowned with all Beleriand at the end of the Age.