The Atlas of Middle-earth Page 7

  Sauron still had not achieved his desire, for although he obtained the sixteen lesser rings, the Three Great Rings were out of his reach.7 Sauron began overrunning Eriador in preparation for an assault on Lindon.8 By 1699 his forces held sway throughout the land, Rivendell was besieged, and Sauron named himself “Lord of the Earth.” People fled to the forests and hills, and Elves sailed west.9 Within a year help came from a different quarter: Númenor. These were the times when the estrangement had not yet begun, and Tar-Minastir sent a huge fleet to the Grey Havens and more up the Greyflood. Its troops joined with Elves of Lindon, and together they freed Eriador from the Enemy.10 Then Sauron withdrew slightly, and purposely avoided the places frequented by the Númenóreans.11 Yet it is evident that away from the coasts Sauron’s power continued, for the Men of Dunharrow worshipped him in these Dark Years.12

  NÚMENOR Cross Section: NORTH-SOUTH Inset: ARMENELOS

  Númenor

  AFTER THE BREAKING OF THANGORODRIM, Ossë prepared Andor, the Land of Gift, as a reward for the remnant of the faithful Edain.1 The Isle was “raised out of the depths” of the sea, and as it was the most western of mortal lands it was called “Westernesse—Númenóré in the High Eldarin tongue.”2 At its center stood the Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven, with the “Tarmasundar” (its five roots) extending out into the five peninsulas of the island.3 Upon two occasions, smoke, and later, fire issued from the mountain,4 so the land has been interpreted as a volcanic island, with its central peak some 14,000 feet high.5 Around the Meneltarma, downs eroded back on all sides. Beyond them were fairly flat areas, but due to the northwest-southeast pitch of the island, coastal cliffs were raised on the north shores of all the peninsulas except the one in the southeast.6 As a free-standing volcanic isle, apart from both Aman and Middle-earth,7 its size (based upon comparisons with our Primary World) would have been quite limited, yet it measured 167,961 square miles—forty times the size of Hawaii’s Big Island!8

  The population was concentrated in Armenelos and Rómenna, with large settlements also at Andúnië and Eldalondë in the west.9 Originally, the port of Andúnië was the largest city, site of the pleasant seaside estate of Elendil.10 Eldalondë was also sizable, for the populace gathered there to receive the Eldar, who journeyed from Eressëa. As distrust of the Elves grew, however, the self-centered Númenóreans gradually shifted to Armenelos the Golden. Those folk faithful to the Valar and the Eldar remained in and around Andúnië until Ar-Gimilzor forced them to remove to Rómenna in about 2950.11 Thereafter the western havens were less important until they became the site of the embarkation of the Great Armament.12

  In Armenelos Elros had constructed a tower within the citadel.13 In the Court of the King grew Nimloth, scion of the family of the White Tree of Valinor.14 Under Sauron’s influence a temple to Morgoth was erected—far larger than the Pantheon.15 From that time on, Númenor’s decline was continual, finally precipitating its own destruction. After the island foundered in 3319, it was called “Akallabêth, the Down-fallen, Atalantë in the Eldarin tongue.”16

  Voyages of the Númenóreans

  WHEN THE ISLE OF NUMENOR was first raised, Elves crossed from Eressëa, bringing gifts to enrich it. Their visits continued but could not be reciprocated by the Dúnedain, who were banned by the Valar from approaching the Undying Lands.1 The Númenóreans instead sailed to Middle-earth and became the greatest of all Mariners—the Kings of the Sea.2 Crossing Belegaer was only a part of the innumerable voyages of the Númenóreans. They travelled from the Northern Dark, along the western coasts, through the heat of the south, into the Nether Darkness and beyond. They passed into inland seas and eventually reached the eastern coasts, then sailed toward the rising sun as far as they dared to venture.3

  Of necessity, they would have gone most frequently to the nearby western shores of Middle-earth, where they became acquainted with lesser Men. Their relationship with these people passed through three stages: the Days of Help (600–1700); the Days of Dominion (1800–3200); and the Days of War (3200–3319).4 Until 1200, the captains made no permanent settlements, although Aldarion built the haven of Vinyalondë (Lond Daer Enedh) in about 750 for lumbering and ship repair.5 In pity of their fellow men, whom they found living in backward conditions, the Númenóreans taught crafts and supplied unavailable materials and food.6 The seafarers also made fairly frequent visits to the Grey Havens of Gil-galad and Círdan, for at that time the friendship between the Eldar and the Edain was still firm. In 1700 Tar-Minastir sent a great fleet to the Elves’ assistance in the war against Sauron, and helped drive the Enemy from Eriador.7

  After Tar-Minastir, the Kings of Númenor became enamored of wealth and power. They transformed their havens into armed fortresses, especially in the south, where they went most frequently.8 The most notable was Umbar, strengthened in 2280.9 To these walled settlements came increasing numbers of colonists, and being greater in knowledge and weaponry, it was easy for them to change their position from one of teacher/helper to ruler/usurper.10 Even Sauron came to fear them and retreated from the lands around their havens. Gradually, most of the Edain became estranged from the Eldar. Those who continued secretly to receive the Eressëans and to sail north to Lindon came to be known as the “Faithful.”11 In addition to visiting the Elves, they went south to Pelargir, built in 23 50.12 In the time of Ar-Gimilzôr (possibly about 3150), they were forced to move from Andúnië east to Rómenna; and the Eldar were forbidden.13

  From that time on, the Númenóreans became ever more warlike. Even while Tar-Palantir (the next king after Gimilzôr) tried to reunite the people with the Elves and the Valar, his brother’s son made himself a great captain and warred against the coastal people. The warlord eventually became King Ar-Pharazôn, and was obliged to abandon personal control of the fleet. Sauron threatened to reclaim the shoreward settlements, but in 3261 Ar-Pharazôn led forth such an impressive host that he submitted and was taken to Númenor.14 From this came the final downfall. Within sixty years after Sauron’s arrival, he had completed the corruption of most of the people, including persecution of the Faithful. In time, he induced Ar-Pharazôn to break the Ban of the Valar. Amandil, leader of the Faithful, learned of this final vanity and sailed west toward Valinor to plead for mercy. It was not told if he ever succeeded. His son Elendil went to the northwest to try to descry his sails, but saw only the Great Armament.15

  In 3319, Ar-Pharazôn launched his vast navy.16 At first there was no wind and the slaves rowed. At dusk an east wind picked up, and they were out of sight by morning. Nevertheless, “they moved slowly into the West, for all the winds were stilled . . . in fear of that time.”17 For thirty-nine days they journeyed, and on the final day they surrounded Eressëa at sunset and camped that night at Túna. The next day at midmorning the world was broken. The only Númenóreans who escaped were the settlers already on Middle-earth and some of the Faithful.18 On advice of Amandil, Elendil and his sons had prepared ships: four for Elendil, three for Isildur, and two for Anárion.19 The ships were blown wildly east when the cataclysm occurred. Elendil was cast upon Lindon, and the brothers made their way to Pelargir. With them they bore the fruit of Nimloth, the palantíri, and the stone that was set at Erech—all valuable in the establishment of the Realms in Exile.20

  VOYAGES Upper: WORLD-WIDE Lower: BELEGAER

  REALMS IN EXILE Inset: OSGILIATH

  The Realms in Exile

  WITHIN A YEAR AFTER THE FALL OF NÚMENOR, Elendil and his sons in 3320 had established the Realms in Exile: Arnor and Gondor.1 Arnor lay in Eriador, where most of the people had paid allegiance to Gil-galad—but few of the Eldar lived outside of Lindon, except in Imladris.2 Elendil reigned from Annúminas, beside Lake Nenuial.3 The most notable other structures were: the city of Fornost on the North Downs; the dwellings on Tyrn Gorthad (the Barrow-downs);4 and forts on the hills north of the Great Road east of the Last Bridge.5

  The palantíri were divided between the two realms.6 The Seeing Stones of Elendil were placed at Annúminas
, in the Tower of the West;7 on Weathertop, in the Tower of Amon Sûl; and on the Tower Hills, in Elostirion, the highest and most westward of the three white towers.8 Gondor spread from the Anduin valley until it had fortifications as far west as Erech, Aglarond, and the unbreakable tower of Orthanc, which housed a palantír. The other three palantíri were placed in towers raised in Minas Ithil, dwelling of Isildur; Minas Anor, home of Anárion; and in Osgiliath, the Citadel of the Stars, which was the chief city of the realm.9 The most central feature of Osgiliath was the River Anduin, whose waters were so wide and deep at that point that even large vessels could anchor at the city’s quays. From Minas Anor and Minas Ithil roads approached the city along walled causeways.10 To permit easy passage, a great bridge was constructed. It was even possible that the bridge was the citadel, for towers and stone houses stood upon it.11 One of those may have been the Tower of the Stone, with its Great Hall and Dome of Stars, for when Osgiliath was burned in T.A. 1437, the Tower fell and the palantír it held was lost in the river.12

  Against Arnor, and especially Gondor, was set Mordor. Although Sauron’s body fell with Númenor, his spirit escaped, and soon returned to the dark tower of Barad-dûr.13 He, too, speedily ordered his realm, reorganizing not only his evil creatures, but the Men of Harad, Rhûn, and Umbar as well. Among these were scattered the Black Númenóreans, renegades of the King’s Men, who hated the Faithful as much as did Sauron.14 Thus, the stage was set for the next confrontation.

  THE LAST ALLIANCE

  The Last Alliance

  IN 3429, Sauron attacked Gondor, hoping to crush the fledgling realm before it was fully defended.1 Isildur and his family were forced to flee from Minas Ithil to Annúminas, and Sauron’s forces moved on toward Osgiliath. Anárion successfully defended the city and even drove the Enemy from Ithilien, but it was only a temporary reprieve.2 In hopes that the Enemy, too, was not fully prepared, Gil-galad and Elendil proposed a unified attack on Sauron’s land: the Last Alliance.3 All beings except Elves were said to have been divided between the League and the Enemy, even beasts and birds, although few Dwarves fought,4 and probably no Ents.5 As they were on the offensive, the League gathered their forces for two years, and in 3431 the northern troops marched.6 On Amon Sûl, Elendil awaited the arrival of Gil-galad and Círdan,7 and together they continued to Imladris, where they spent three years—undoubtedly making plans, forging weapons, training. In 3434 they climbed the Misty Mountains and passed down the Anduin.8 They still gathered troops as they went along: Elves from Greenwood and Lórien, Dwarves from Moria, and Anárion with the forces from Gondor.9 The final host was second only to that which had fought in the War of Wrath.10

  The battle was waged on the stony plain of Dagorlad, north of the Black Gate of Mordor, “for days and months,” and the bodies were buried in what became the Dead Marshes.11 In the end, the Alliance prevailed, and Sauron’s forces retreated to Barad-dûr. For seven years they besieged the fortress and many skirmishes were fought, until in 3446 Sauron was so pressed that he at last came forth.12 He faced his challengers on the flanks of Mount Doom, where his ring was at its fullest power. With Gil-galad stood Círdan and Elrond; and with Elendil was Isildur.13 Gil-galad and Elendil both were slain; yet Sauron stumbled and fell. When Isildur sliced the Ring and finger from Sauron’s hand, his spirit fled. Then the forces of the Alliance routed his thralls, and leveled his fortress; but the victory was incomplete, for the Ring was not destroyed.14

  THE THIRD AGE

  Introduction

  BY THE BEGINNING OF THE AGE OF MEN, Arda had been reduced from its former size.1 Beleriand had submerged, Númenor foundered, and Valinor was removed from the circles of the world. “New lands” were found to the west, and some said that the peak of Meneltarma again rose above the waters over fallen Númenor.2 Only the areas originally mapped in The Lord of the Rings remained of any importance to the telling of the tale.

  When Númenor was toppled and Valinor taken away, great changes were reported—new isles, new hills, drowned coasts.3 No specific information was given, however, about where the alterations occurred. Logic would suggest that far more upheaval would have been associated with the catastrophic change of the world’s being made round after the Downfall of Númenor than with the destruction of Thangorodrim. Tolkien, too, must have struggled with this, for he attempted some rewritings in this vein—especially regarding the final inundation of Beleriand.4 Nevertheless, extensive writings were already in existence, in which most of the major features had already been mentioned before the cataclysm, and so were obviously not newly made. Even the coastlines may not have been re-formed sufficiently to be evident on a world map, for the havens of Middle-earth that the Númenóreans had settled were still present in later times—notably Umbar.

  It has been necessary, therefore, to map few, if any, of the physical variations that might have been likely. There were two notable exceptions, both vegetative: forests and marshes. The cutting over of forests had begun slowly in the First Age and was greatly amplified during the Second by the lumbering activities of Númenor.5 By the beginning of the Third Age only the Old Forest, Fangorn, and a few scattered woods continued as remnants of the once-vast primeval stand.6 Additionally, the “Secondary World” powers blasted the green areas and created wastelands: the Desolation of the Dragon7 and the Desolation of the Morannon.8 The denudation resulted in spreading of nearby marshes. The fens in eastern Mirkwood spread after the coming of Smaug.9 The Dead Marshes grew larger during the Third Age, swallowing up the graves from the Battle of Dagorlad.10

  Although Sauron was hidden through much of this Age, the evil forces he had unleashed continued to create havoc. For the Elves it was a period of waiting, with occasional involvement in the concern of the other Free Peoples.11 They fenced themselves in Lindon, Imladris, Lórien, and northern Greenwood. In times of turmoil many Elves departed from the Grey Havens or the havens of Edhellond near Dol Amroth.12 For the other peoples it was a time of fairly frequent upheavals: conquest, retreat, escape, and migration. Ores, dragons, Men, Dwarves, and the previously unmentioned Hobbits all migrated through the lands with the ebb and flow of the times—evacuating when necessary, then moving on to better lands as they became available.13

  (EARLY) THIRD AGE OF ARDA

  Kingdoms of the Dúnedain

  T.A. 1050

  ARNOR AND GONDOR originally had been only separate fiefs under the final authority of Elendil.1 After his death and those of his sons, the realms increasingly functioned as two divided kingdoms, until they ceased even to act as allies—each being busy with its own affairs.2

  Arnor

  Arnor never recovered after the slaughter of its folk at the first of the Age.3 The sphere of its influence seemed never to have grown much larger than it had probably been under Elendil.4 At its greatest extent, the borders ran south down the River Lune and the coast to the mouth of the Greyflood; up the Greyflood, then the Loudwater to the Misty Mountains; then west to the Bay of Forochel,5 though possibly not encompassing the Snowmen of the North.6 It totalled about 248,540 square miles.

  In 861, after the death of the eighth king, quarrelling among his sons was so great that the realm was divided into three: Arthedain, in the northwest; Rhudaur, in the northeast; and Cardolan, in the south. Arnor was no more.7

  Arthedain’s boundary with Cardolan ran from the coast, up the Baranduin to the Great East Road, and along it to Weathertop. From there to the northern fringe Arthedain bordered with Rhudaur in a line along the Weather Hills. Rhudaur and Cardolan lay on the north and south, respectively, of the Great Road between Weathertop and the upper waters of the Greyflood, while the Angle beyond the river was part of Rhudaur. All the kingdoms met at Weathertop, and the desire to obtain that frontier fortress and its palantír caused further enmity between the realms of Cardolan and Rhudaur, who had no other “Seeing Stone.”8

  Arthedain was the largest and most populous of the three, having been the core of the original kingdom;9 but even its population had be
come so depleted that Annúminas was abandoned, and the new capital was set at Fornost.10 The capitals of the other two divisions were never listed, but at least some guess can be made. Bombadil told of the ruins in the Barrow-downs,11 which had been the burial grounds, and later, the final refuge of the people of Cardolan.12 The Hobbits crossed their northern dike and wall after escaping the barrow-wights.13 Farther east, in the area of Rhudaur, Bilbo and Frodo both saw stone walls and crumbling towers on the hills north of the Road.14