From the Timeless Halls to the Cracks of Doom: every realm, city, stronghold and wild place of the legendarium.
Showing 145 to 168 of 215 places
The Ford of Bruinen is the crossing of the Loudwater on the Great East Road, the last barrier before Rivendell. Here on October 20, T.A. 3018, the Nazgûl were swept away by the flood that Elrond raised as Frodo, on Glorfindel's horse, reached the far bank.
The Great East Road is the ancient highway of Eriador, running from the Grey Havens through the Shire and Bree to the Ford of Bruinen and Rivendell, and beyond over the High Pass into Wilderland. It was the road of the Elves going west, of dwarves going east, and of Frodo and his companions in the autumn of T.A. 3018.
The Grey Mountains, Ered Mithrin, run eastward from Mount Gundabad along the northern edge of Mirkwood. Rich in ore, they were the chief home of Durin's folk for four centuries of the Third Age until the dragons of the Withered Heath drove the Dwarves out in 2589 and sent Thrór back to Erebor.
The Halls of Thranduil are the cave-palace of the Elvenking in the north-east of Mirkwood, delved into a hill beside the Forest River after the model of Menegroth. They were the capital of the Woodland Realm for the whole Third Age, the prison of Thorin's company in T.A. 2941, and the place from which Bilbo escaped in barrels.
The High Pass is the northern crossing of the Misty Mountains, east of Rivendell, by which the Great East Road climbs over the range and descends to the Old Ford of Anduin. Thorin's company was captured here by goblins in T.A. 2941, and it was in the tunnels below the pass that Bilbo found the One Ring.
The Iron Hills are the range east of Erebor where Grór, brother of Thrór, settled a branch of Durin's folk in T.A. 2590. Rich in iron and strongly held, they were the home of Dáin Ironfoot, whose army of five hundred mailed Dwarves marched to the Battle of Five Armies and afterwards followed him to the Mountain.
The Prancing Pony is the inn of Bree, kept for generations by the Butterbur family. Standing where the Great East Road bends around Bree-hill, it was the meeting place of the North and the scene of Frodo's accidental vanishing and his first encounter with Strider.
The Sea of Rhûn is the great inland water on the eastern edge of the mapped world, fed by the River Running out of the north. Its shores were the country of Easterling peoples and the limit of Gondor's power in its greatest days, and beyond it lay lands of which the histories of the West record almost nothing.
The Tower Hills, Emyn Beraid, are a line of hills west of the Shire crowned by three ancient Elf-towers. The tallest, Elostirion, held the palantír that looked only toward the Undying Lands, and in the Fourth Age the hills became the western boundary of the Shire and the home of the Red Book.
The Trollshaws are the wooded highlands between the Hoarwell and the Loudwater, north of the Great East Road, where Bilbo and the dwarves met three trolls in T.A. 2941. Once part of Rhudaur, they were by the Third Age a wild country of crumbling hill-forts and troll-haunted woods.
Tol Galen was the green island in the river Adurant in southern Ossiriand, where Beren and Lúthien dwelt after their return from death and where Dior their son was born.
Vinyamar was the first city of Turgon in Middle-earth, built beneath Mount Taras on the coast of Nevrast. Turgon abandoned it for Gondolin, leaving there the sword and mail that Tuor would one day take up.
The White Mountains, Ered Nimrais, were the snow-capped range that ran east and west between Rohan and the coastal fiefs of Gondor, ending at Mindolluin above Minas Tirith. Their valleys held the refuges of Dunharrow and Helm's Deep, the haunted Paths of the Dead, and the beacon-hills that linked Gondor to Rohan.
Aelin-uial, the Meres of Twilight, were the misty pools and fens where the Aros flowed into Sirion south of Doriath. Below them the great river fell and vanished beneath the hills of the Andram, and Melian's enchantment lay over their waters.
Amon Ereb was a solitary hill rising from the plains of south-eastern Beleriand between Ramdal and the Gelion. Denethor of the Green-elves died on its slopes in the First Battle, and after the Bragollach it was the refuge and watch-post of the younger sons of Fëanor.
Amon Obel was the hill in the middle of the forest of Brethil on which the Haladin built Ephel Brandir, the fenced settlement of their chieftains. Túrin lived there as Turambar and married Níniel within its stockade.
The Andustar was the western promontory of Númenor, rocky and fir-clad in the north and rich in wood and orchard to the south. Three bays bit into its coast, holding the havens of Andúnië and Eldalondë, and its Elf-friendly people became the Faithful of the last centuries.
Anfalas, the Langstrand, was the long, thinly settled coast of western Gondor between the rivers Lefnui and Morthond. Its lord Golasgil brought a scanty company of ill-armed men to the defence of Minas Tirith in March 3019.
Belfalas was the coastal fief of southern Gondor along the great bay that shared its name, ruled from Dol Amroth by the Princes who were the foremost lords of the realm. Its men sailed with Aragorn and fought on the Pelennor Fields.
Beorn's Hall was the wooden house of the skin-changer Beorn in the oak-lands between the Carrock and Mirkwood. Thorin's company sheltered there in T.A. 2941, and it became the seat of the Beornings, who afterwards guarded the High Pass and the Ford of Carrock.
The Brown Lands were the desolate country on the eastern bank of Anduin between Mirkwood and the Emyn Muil, once the gardens of the Entwives and blasted in Sauron's war at the end of the Second Age. The Fellowship passed them on the river in February 3019.
Cair Andros was a long, ship-shaped island in the Anduin north of Osgiliath, fortified by Gondor to bar the crossing into Anórien. It fell to the forces of Mordor in March 3019, and the Host of the West passed it on the road to the Black Gate.
Cardolan was the southern of the three kingdoms formed from Arnor in T.A. 861, lying between the Brandywine, the Greyflood and the Great East Road. Its Dúnedain were broken by Angmar in 1409 and finished by the Great Plague, leaving only the haunted barrows on the downs as their monument.
Dor Daedeloth was the blasted country immediately about the gates of Angband, where Morgoth's creatures swarmed in the shadow of Thangorodrim. Fëanor died within sight of it, and the hosts of the Noldor camped on its borders in the first years of the Sun.