Blue Mountains

From Tolkien Gateway
Blue Mountains
Mountain Range
Rob Alexander - Blue Mountain Dwarf Hold.jpg
General Information
Other namesEred Luin, Ered Lindon
LocationBetween Beleriand and Eriador
TypeMountain Range
DescriptionGreat western mountain range
RegionsBelegost, Nogrod, and later realms like Thorin's Halls
People and History
InhabitantsDwarves (Broadbeams, Firebeards, and Longbeards)
EventsWar of Wrath

The Blue Mountains (S. Ered Luin), also known as the Ered Lindon, was the mountain range at the far west of Eriador.

In the Beginning

During the creation of Arda, the Blue Mountains were meant to line up directly with the Grey Mountains of the southlands, forming the western wall of Arda. They lay parallel to the Red Mountains and Yellow Mountains that formed the eastern wall. The Blue Mountains were originally connected with the Red Mountains by the Iron Mountains which stretched across the entire north. The symmetry of Arda was broken during the wars between the Valar and Melkor in the ages before the Years of the Lamps.

Before and During the First Age

In the First Age, the Blue Mountains were an unbroken line separating Eriador from Beleriand. Seven rivers flowed from its western side, and the land these rivers flowed through was known as Ossiriand. Later, when the Green Elves settled there, the land was called Lindon, and the mountains sometimes referred to as the Ered Lindon.

Two Dwarven Houses, the Firebeards and Broadbeams, awoke under Mount Dolmed, and built their great kingdoms Nogrod and Belegost, respectively.

The Second Age

The Blue Mountains were ruined during the War of Wrath, and in the south central end of the range the sea broke through. The River Lhûn now flowed through the mountains to the Gulf of Lhûn. On the west side of the Blue Mountains a small section of Lindon remained, and here the retreating Elves built Lindon, ruled by Ereinion Gil-galad, last High King of the Noldor. Its most important city was the Grey Havens, from where departing Elves left Middle-earth for Valinor. Also located here were the two regions of Forlindon to the North, with its chief port being Forlond. And Harlindon to the South, which Harlond was its chief port.

The Dwarven cities of Nogrod and Belegost were also ruined when the mountains were broken. Most of the Dwarves migrated east to Khazad-dûm. However some remained to rebuild. Overtime however, the Dwarves seemed to have largely moved to the Southern chain.

The Third Age

In the Third Age the Blue Mountains apparently saw the return of many of the Firebeards and Broadbeams due to the isolation/stagnation of Khazad Dûm, and later the awakening of Durin's Bane.

It also became the new home for many of Durin's folk who were exiled from their halls in Erebor by Smaug the Dragon. After the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, King Thrain II established his throne in the Northern chain and later his son Thorin Oakenshield ruled after he went missing. During Thorin's reign many of the wandering folk of Durin joined him and they became prosperous in a fashion. However Erebor was retaken from Smaug by Thorin and company, and many if not most of Durin's folk relocated there.

See also