The Atlas of Middle-earth Read online

  2) Highlands of Dorthonion E-W 60 leagues32

  3) Nargothrond to Pools of Ivrin 40 leagues33

  4) Nargothrond to Falls of Sirion 25 leagues34

  5) East Beleriand, Sirion to Gelion 100 leagues35

  6) River Sirion 130 leagues36

  7) River Narog 80 leagues37

  8) River Gelion

  a) Confluence Greater and Little to River Ascar 40 leagues38

  b) Total length, “twice . . . Sirion” 260 leagues39

  For this atlas, the southern coast was mapped at a point 260 leagues from the sources of River Gelion—based on the assumption that the river continued its southwesterly flow. This brought the coast near that of the Bay of Belfalas. The southwestern tip was extended to emphasize the bayed shape of the Bay of Balar. The area was shown as forested, assuming the circumstances that produced Taur-im-Duinath would have prevailed.

  FIRST AGE OF ARDA

  Valinor

  ALTHOUGH AMAN LAY WITHIN THE CIRCLES of the world during the First and Second Ages, it cannot be viewed as having been simply another land area. It held mountains, coasts, lakes, hills, plains, and forests, and it was bordered by the same seas that washed against the shores of Middle-earth; yet it was an ethereal land—a land of the Secondary World.

  Distances not only were not given, they were meaningless. The Valar, being spirits, must have had the power to pass any distance at any time. Instead of meticulously calculating leagues, Tolkien left impressions of Valinor with a few swift strokes that have been composited to produce the drawings of parts of east-central Valinor and of scattered locations.

  The Coast and the Pelóri

  When the Valar occupied Aman, their first endeavor was to raise the Pelóri as a fence against Melkor, who still resided in Middle-earth. The Pelóri were steep facing the sea but had more gentle western slopes,1 dropping into the fertile plains and meads of Valinor. East of the Pelóri the coastlands lay in the shadow of the mountains and were barren wastelands. The shores of Avathar in the south were more narrow than those of Araman in the north.2 As Araman approached the grinding ice of the Helcaraxë, it was covered with heavy mists, so that portion was called Oiomúrë.3 Originally there were no passes, but when Ossë anchored Tol Eressëa in the Bay of Eldamar the Valar opened the steep-walled Calacirya, through which the Teleri received the light of the Two Trees.4 The glow streamed through the valley and fanned out over the Bay of Eldamar; but north and south the light failed as the mountains blocked the light, producing the Shadowy Seas.5 While the mountains curved east, the coastline of Belegaer curved west, stretching from the Helcaraxë, past the girdle of Arda near Tirion on Túna,6 and south out of knowledge. Thus the Calacirya spanned from Bay to Plain at the most narrow point. South of the great canyon was Taniquetil, highest mountain in all of Arda. The next highest peak was Hyarmentir, far to the south, where Ungoliant dwelt in a dark ravine.7

  Dwellings

  In the midst of the plain of Valinor was Valmar of Many Bells—the chief, and possibly the only, city of the Valar. It was filled with imposing structures: the many-storied home of Tulkas, with its great court for physical contests; Oromë’s low halls, strewn with skins, and the roof of each room supported by a tree; Ossë’s ‘temporary quarters’ during conclaves, built of pearls; and outside the city bordering the plain, Aulë’s “great court,” which held some of each of the trees of earth.8 In spite of this splendor Valmar’s features of renown stood outside its golden gates: The Ring of Doom and the Two Trees. In Mahanaxar, the Ring of Doom, the Valar held council and sat in judgment.9 There, Melkor was sentenced, and later freed. There, Fëanor was sentenced to exile. There, Eärendil gave his plea.10 Near the Ring stood a green hill, Ezollahar. Atop it Yavanna sang her song, bringing forth the Two Trees of Light. Beneath them Varda set great vats, capturing the light, and scattered it through the skies as stars.11

  The other areas of the land that were briefly described were given only general locations. Formenos, the stronghold of Fëanor during his exile, was in the hills of the north.12 The pastures of Yavanna could be seen from Hyarmentir west of the Woods of Oromë.13 Nienna’s lodgings were “west of West” on the borders of Aman, near the abiding place of Namo and Vairë—the Halls of Mandos, whose dark caverns reached even to Hanstovánen, the dark harbor of the north: site of the Prophecy of Mandos.14 Irmo and Este dwelt in the Gardens of Lórien, where Estë slept on an isle in the lake Lorellin.15 There, too, stayed the Maiar Melian (who became Queen of Doriath) and Olórin, the familiar Gandalf. The most spectacular dwelling of the Valar stood on the pinnacle of Taniquetil: the hall of Ilmarin. The marble watchtower was domed with a sparkling web of the airs through which Manwë and Varda viewed all Arda, even to the Gates of Morning beyond the eastern sea.16

  The other cities mentioned were all those of the Elves. Tirion (as renamed from the original Kor) was built atop the hill of Tuna in the midst of the Calacirya. Crystal stairs climbed to the great gate.17 Fair houses were raised within by the Noldor and the Vanyar. Higher than all stood the tower Mindon Eldaliéva,18 whose lantern could be seen far out to sea. Before the tower lay the House of Finwë19 and the Great Square where Fëanor and his sons swore their terrible oath.20

  The Teleri, being drawn by the light streaming through the pass, abandoned Eressëa. They built Alqualondë, the fair Haven of the Swans, north of the pass, desiring still to see the bright stars of Varda. The city was walled, and the entrance to its harbor was an arch of living stone.21 Eressëa was deserted until the end of the First Age, when Elves fleeing Beleriand built the haven of Avalónnë on the south shore.22

  VALINOR

  Upper: GATE OF THE NOLDOR Lower: FALLS OF SIRION (Oblique Views)

  Beleriand and the Lands to the North

  MOST OF THE RECORDED HISTORY of the First Age was set in the lands west of the Ered Luin. In later ages all the lands that went under the wave were sometimes referred to as Beleriand, but originally that term was applied only to the area between the Bay of Balar and the highlands of Hithlum and Dorthonion, and the lands under the wave were much more extensive. The lands could be divided into four regions based on climate, topography, and politics: (1) the northlands of Morgoth, (2) the central highlands, (3) Beleriand, and (4) the Ered Luin.

  The Northlands of Morgoth1

  There were two prominent features of this region—the Iron Mountains and the plain of Ard-galen. Lammoth and Lothlann were also related. Melkor raised the Ered Engrin as a fence to his citadel of Utumno,2 which he delved during the Spring of Arda.3 In the west, where the range bent north, he built the fortress of Angband below the Ered Engrin, but the tunnel to its great gates exited below the triple peaks of Thangorodrim.4

  The location of Angband and Thangorodrim was not shown on the map in The Silmarillion, and originally it was mapped beyond the northern borders, in keeping with the statement that Thangorodrim lay 150 leagues from Menegroth—about 450 miles—“far, and yet all too near.”5 It was uncertain if this distance were “as the crow flies” or “as the wolf runs.” If it were the latter, the striking arm was brought much closer. Several points support this second interpretation: (1) The heights of Dorthonion necessitated bypassing it in any travel between Thangorodrim and Menegroth. (2) From Eithel Sirion, Thangorodrim could be seen.6 (3) Tolkien’s illustration of Tol Sirion showed Thangorodrim clearly—closer than the more northerly location would have indicated.7 (4) In the west, Fingolfin’s host took only seven days between the Helcaraxë and Mithim.8 (5) Fëanor, after the second battle,9 and Fingon, prior to the fourth,10 passed quickly over the plain. (6) Most important, “Angband was beleaguered from the west, south, and east11 by forces from Hithlum, Dorthonion, and the hills of Himring—a more northerly latitude of Angband would have placed all these far to the south.

  On both the first and second ‘Silmarillion’ maps, however, Thangorodrim was shown in a location that was empty on the previously published map.12 Why the location of this vital feature was omitted from the redrafting for the ma
p in The Silmarillion was unclear. Perhaps it was due to Christopher Tolkien’s apparent unease about (1) the discrepancy on the distance from Menegroth to Thangorodrim, which the southern location would make “scarcely more than seventy,” rather than the 150 leagues in the text;13 (2) the separation of Thangorodrim from the long curving mountain chain (which is not shown);14 or (3) explaining the inability of Morgoth’s troops to ‘flank’ Hithlum and attack from the coast,15 as well as Morgoth’s path to Angband via the Firth of Drengist upon his return from Valinor.16 The southern location would have been even more convenient for Morgoth to threaten the Elves, however, and for them to do battle in return.

  Topographically, the Ered Engrin have been illustrated as a block-fault range with a south-facing escarpment. This interpretation was based on the idea that a sharp south-facing scarp would have lent maximum protection to Melkor’s fortresses. Volcanic activity was evident from the smokes blown over Hithlum during the Noldor’s first encampment.17 During the third battle there were earthquakes and the mountains “vomited flame;”18 and during the fourth battle Ard-galen perished in rivers of flame.19 Much of this activity was attributed to Morgoth’s gigantic “blast furnaces,” but in the mythical setting of Middle-earth, volcanoes may have served as blast furnaces. Thangorodrim itself appeared to be volcanic, for its triple black peaks20 spued smoke, in spite of their being called “towers”—built of slag and tunnel refuse piled by Morgoth’s countless slaves.21 For a Vala such a feat was not deemed impossible: even the earliest tale of Valinor said the Pelóri were built by quarrying stone from the seaside, leaving flat coastal plains.22 Although the cliff above the door stood only 1000 feet high,23 not only was Thangorodrim higher than the main range of the Ered Engrin (as shown in Tolkien’s illustration of Tol Sirion24), but it was the highest peak in Middle-earth!25

  Climatically, the mountains lay in the borders of everlasting cold and were impassable because of the snow and ice.26 It may have been due to ice along the coast near the Helcaraxë that Morgoth and his troops could not bypass Hithlum on the north.27 Bitter winds from the mountains, as well as from the Helcaraxë, made Lammoth a wasteland, with so little vegetation and precipitation that its eastern ravines and barren shores echoed in their emptiness.28 Winds also howled across the featureless plains of Ard-galen and Lothlann, bringing winter snows to the bordering central highlands. The plains were probably a steppe climate, for they were fairly dry, as well as cold. The moisture of the west and south winds could not reach them, for it fell in the central highlands. Thus, the plains had no streams,29 although they supported grass, until during Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame, when Ard-galen was burned. Afterward, the sod could never reestablish itself, due to the poisonous airs of Thangorodrim; and the plain became Angfauglith, the choking dust, a desert with dunes.30

  The Central Highlands

  This region included the mountains of Hithlum, the highlands of Dorthonion (including the Encircling Mountains), and the Hills of Himring, which were all formed during the Siege of Utumno.31 Nevrast was also associated with the highlands, but its lower elevation and warmer climate allowed it sometimes to be considered with Beleriand.32 The lands formed an effective buffer—politically and climatically—between the lands of Morgoth and Beleriand. This was the area settled, for the most part, by the Noldor. From its borders they set watch over the northlands of Morgoth.

  The lands received warmer south and west winds, and were cool but pleasant, except in the higher elevations. The north winds of Morgoth often assailed them. Hithlum had cold winters.33 Beren fled from Dorthonion in a time of hard winter and snow.34 The Hill of Himring, the site of the citadel of Maedhros, was the “ever-cold,” and the Pass of Aglon “funneled the north winds.”35

  The highlands might have been formed by folding of the bedrock over a large area. Dorthonion was raised into a high plateau. Portions in the south were steeply folded and possibly faulted, producing the sheer southern precipices of the Ered Gorgoroth. In the east were also higher peaks, and what appeared on the map to be a fault-line valley. “Tarns,” in the strictest use, are small, deep lakes left by glacial meltwater. These usually form high on glaciated mountains. The tarns in Dorthonion, however, lay at the feet of the tors. It is more likely that Tolkien applied the term as it is used in the North of England—a generic term meaning any lake.36 Where Barahir and Beren and their eleven faithful companions hid west of Tarn Aeluin, there were moors.37 On the moors stood “bare tors”38—small heaps of rounded boulders, called “corestones,” produced by deep penetration of water and frost, which shattered the highly jointed bedrock. These periglacial features usually occur on granite, and less frequently on sandstone.39 The moors would have had marshy conditions. Few trees could withstand the water, so there the evergreen stands of the gentle north slopes failed.40

  The Echoriath, the Encircling Mountains, appeared to be a classic example of a volcano that collapsed, built a secondary cone, and then died out. All this was far enough in the distant past for a lake to have formed and drained (through the underground river), leaving its alluvial sediment to stand as the flat green Vale of Tumladen. The volcanic areas of the Iron Mountains were close enough to account for this otherwise isolated volcano to the south—especially since the mountain-building activities would produce weakness in the earth’s mantle, allowing extrusions of lava. The heights of the Crissaegrim may have resulted from the residual caldera crest atop the already steep and sheer escarpment of Dorthonion. The ores mined by Maeglin in the north of the mountains might have been either intruded later or might have occurred in rock formations there prior to the vulcanism.

  Hithlum was described as ringed by mountains. The Ered Wethrin of the east were the highest portion, yet were lower than the Ered Gorgoroth.41 Between them and the Echoriath, Sirion had carved a steep-sided vale. The interior of Hithlum appears to have been slightly elevated as well. A low plateau would account for the rapids and falls that Tuor found while passing through the Gate of the Noldor between Dor-lómin and the Firth of Drengist.42 The Firth may have provided the drainage for western Hithlum and Dor-lómin. The course of Nen Lalaith ("Laughing Water") was not described.43 Lake Mithrim was illustrated as fed from interior drainage, yet in one version of Tuor’s journey he came upon a river from Lake Mithrim which was the source of the river which cut the Rainbow Cleft.44 Also, the lake may have drained into an aquifer—a porous rock layer that might have carried the water from the interior to the lower mountainsides—producing springs such as those of Ivrin and Sirion. Caves, such as those of Androth where Tuor lodged, could have occurred in many rock types—as do springs.

  This map includes an area north of that mapped by Tolkien. The mountains of Tolkien’s drawing extend off the edge, leaving the reader ignorant of what lay to the north. The extension of the mountains north was shown for one reason: All travellers from Valinor to Thangorodrim—even Morgoth—passed through Lammoth and Hithlum. If the mountains of Hithlum had extended farther north, they could have been snow-filled and would have created a considerable barrier to passing east from the Helcaraxë to Angband.

  In the west of Dor-lómin the hills dropped into the low-lying land of Nevrast. Its land dipped gently east from the black sea cliffs “torn in towers and pinnacles and great arching vaults”45 to Linaewen with its marshes. The waters gathered from the lands wandered in intermittent rivulets, for there were no permanent streams. Linaewen, with its fluctuating shores, widespread marshes, and reedy beds, must have been quite shallow—probably only about twenty feet in depth.

  Beleriand

  These were the lands held mostly by the Sindar, with the notable exception of Finrod’s realm of Nargothrond (though the Noldor later retreated to Beleriand after the north was overrun). The most noticeable features of the lands south of the central highlands (other than the Wall of Andram) were the rivers that headed from the southern slopes. On the eastern border flowed Gelion, a product of the Ered Luin. For the most part, Sirion’s system drained th
e region, and its channel divided West and East Beleriand. Its original source was Eithel Sirion, where springs emptied from the Ered Wethrin, but the river was fed by many tributaries. Those of the west arose in the Ered Wethrin—most notably Teiglin and Narog. Those of the east were fed in many directions from Dorthonion—Rivil’s Well, the Dry River of Gondolin, Mindeb (which had breached one of the few passes into the highland), Esgalduin, and Aros (which arose in the high southeastern portion). Only the River Celon, a tributary of Aros, arose in the Hills of Himring, close to the source of the Little Gelion.

  Even clues about the topography of the area were, for the most part, couched in references to the river systems. The rivers flowed south, as the land sloped down from the central highlands; but the flow was not always steady and smooth. At Dimrost, the “rainy stair” (later called Nen Girith, the “shuddering water"), Celebros tumbled toward Teiglin. In about the same area Turgon climbed the cliffwall of the gorge of Teiglin to kill Glauring.46 East in Doriath, Carcaroth had stopped to drink where Esgalduin had plunged over a steep falls.47 Evidently all these rivers underwent a sudden drop at that locale. They possibly crossed an outcrop or escarpment of some relatively resistant rock. Between Sirion and Narog moors rose—probably northeast of Talath Dirnen, the Guarded Plain. Amon Rûdh stood on their edge,48 at their most southern extreme. Farther east, it is possible that fissures along beds and joints in an outcrop of rock may have formed the basis for the delving of Menegroth.49

  Cutting through central Beleriand was the “Long Wall” of Andram.50 From the north, the wall may not have even been evident, for the land fell steeply. Approached from the south, it appeared as an endless chain of hills. The rock layer forming this outcrop may have been soluble limestone. There were extensive caverns at Nargothrond in the west. Sirion plunged underground at the north edge of the hills, and reissued from tunnels three leagues south (nine miles), at their feet.51 Such an occurrence would be extremely rare for a river of that size, even in soluble bedrock, for usually the overlying rock would have collapsed, leaving gorges—such as those of Ringwil and Narog in the west. The process52 normally involves a surface stream (with rapids), which gradually develops underground channels that disappear at a “swallow hole.” If the channel force is sufficiently strong and the rock layer is quite thick, the hole will be enlarged, developing steep falls. If the subterranean stream develops several courses,53 such as Sirion’s tunnels, collapse is less likely. Partial collapse at the point of resurgence of the overlying rock may leave natural arches, such as the Gates of Sirion.