Carach Angren: Difference between revisions

From Tolkien Gateway
m (Etymology)
mNo edit summary
Line 5: Line 5:
| etymology=[[Sindarin|S.]] ''[[carach]]'' "jaws" + ''[[angren]]'' "iron"
| etymology=[[Sindarin|S.]] ''[[carach]]'' "jaws" + ''[[angren]]'' "iron"
| type=Guarded pass
| type=Guarded pass
| location=Meeting of [[Udûn (valley)|Udûn]] and [[Gorgoroth]], joining of spurs of [[Ered Lithui]] and [[Ephel Dúath]]
| location=Meeting of [[Udûn (valley)|Udûn]] and [[Plateau of Gorgoroth|Gorgoroth]], joining of spurs of [[Ered Lithui]] and [[Ephel Dúath]]
| inhabitants=[[Orcs]]
| inhabitants=[[Orcs]]
| realms=[[Mordor]]
| realms=[[Mordor]]

Revision as of 15:22, 4 January 2015

Carach Angren
Guarded pass
Darrell Midgette - Carach Angren.jpg
General Information
Other namesIsenmouthe
LocationMeeting of Udûn and Gorgoroth, joining of spurs of Ered Lithui and Ephel Dúath
TypeGuarded pass
RegionsMordor
InhabitantsOrcs
GalleryImages of Carach Angren

Carach Angren or Isenmouthe was a pass in the northwest of Mordor. The pass was formed where spurs reaching out from the ranges of the Ephel Dúath and the Ered Lithui met, leaving only a narrow passage between the Plateau of Gorgoroth and the smaller valley of Udûn to the north.[1]

History

As the passage to the Black Gate of the Morannon, Carach Angren was heavily fortified, and both the rocky spurs that overlooked it carried fortresses and watchtowers. Across the passage itself, a wall of earth had been built, and a great ditch had been dug across the opening spanned by a single bridge.[2]

Etymology

Both Carach Angren and Isenmouthe mean "Iron-mouth": "It was so called because of the great fence of pointed iron posts that closed the gap leading into Udûn, like teeth in jaws."[3]

Isen is an old English variant form of iron; and mouthe represents Old English mūða < mūð "opening, mouth" especially used of the mouths of rivers, but also applied to other openings.[3]

Despite the Old English, the name is not to be understood as Rohirric, but rather as archaic Westron, translation of Sindarin Carach Angren.[3]

References