Eriador

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Eriador
Region
File:Middle-earth map (1 of 4).gif
General Information
Other names	The Lone-lands, almost synonymous with Arnor
Location	North-west Middle-earth
Type	Region
Description	Large, temperate, inhabited region scattered with hills and forests
Regions	Angmar, Arnor, Arthedain, Eregion, The Shire
People and History
Inhabitants	Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, Men
Events	Foundation of Arnor,Forging of the Rings of Power, War of the Elves and Sauron, Arrival of Hobbits, The Great Plague, The Fell Winter
Gallery	Images of Eriador

	Eriador2.mp3
	By Ardamir. (Help; more articles)

Eriador is a large region in Middle-earth.

Boundaries

First Age and Earlier

The events of the First Age mostly concerned the peoples in Beleriand; as such, we have no map drawn by Tolkien which shows Eriador in the First Age. We have, however, a map of Beleriand which shows the Blue Mountains in the First Age, and that Melkor reared the Misty Mountains before the arrival of the Elves to hinder Oromë. Therefore, in the First Age, the eastern and western borders of Eriador were the same as in later ages.

The Silmarillion states that a mountain-range, created by Melkor, known as the Iron Mountains (Ered Engrin) stretched across the north of the world in a curve from east to west which stood on the borders of the region of everlasting cold (compare with the Forodwaith). From this it can be suggested that the northern border of Eriador in the First Age would've been the Iron Mountains.

It is unclear what the borders of Eriador were to the south, we know that the Blue Mountains were more formidable and longer than in the later ages of the Sun, so it is unlikely that Eriador would've had a coastline. We also cannot know, due to the different shape of the world, whether the Greyflood river existed in the First Age; in the Atlas of Middle-earth the Greyflood is shown following its same route through Eriador and continuing on the same course - passing the lower end of the Blue Mountains - before reaching the sea somewhere to the west of the western arm of the White Mountains. It should be noted that this is not necessarily canonical.

Second, Third and Forth Ages

"Eriador was of old the name of all the lands between the Misty Mountains and the Blue; in the South it was bounded by the Greyflood and the Glanduin that flows into it above Tharbad."

― Appendix A, I: The Númenorean Kings, iii: Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur

In the Second, Third and Fourth ages, the boundaries of the region - listed clock-wise from due north - were as follows:

• to the north, the Icebay of Forochel;
• to the north-east and east, the Misty Mountains (Hithaeglir);
• to the south-east, the river Glanduin;
• to the south, the river Greyflood (Gwathló);
• to the south-west, the Great Sea (Belegaer);
• and to the west and north-west, the Blue Mountains (Ered Luin).

Geography

Important rivers were the Lune (Elvish Lhûn), the Brandywine (Elvish Baranduin) and the Greyflood.

History

Second Age

In the Second Age, and possibly much earlier, it was largely forested, but the Dúnedain felled most of the forests to build Ships out of them.

Third Age

Much of it was encompassed in the early Third Age by the kingdom of Arnor, which later split into the rival kingdoms of Rhudaur, Arthedain and Cardolan. The Shire occupies part of the former kingdom of Arthedain, while Bree and its neighbouring villages lie on the border with the former Cardolan. The Barrow-wights dwell within ancient burial mounds constructed in the First Age by the Edain as they journeyed to Beleriand. Other important places in Eriador are Rivendell and the abandoned kingdoms of Eregion and Angmar. By the time of the War of the Ring, Eriador was largely deserted.

Inhabitants

• Elves, who dwelled in Rivendell in the East; the Grey Havens in the West and during the Second Age, Eregion.
• Men, dwelled in Bree in central Eriador; and the Eryn Vorn to the Southwest.
• Dwarves, Lived in the Blue Mountains on Eastern side of both the Northern, and Southern ranges.
• Hobbits, lived in the Shire, and some in Bree, in central Eriador

Etymology

Eriador is Sindarin (derived from Noldorin) and whose derivation is quoted by Carl F. Hostetter from an unnamed note dated 1949-53. This explains that Eriador is derived from eryā, "isolated, lonely" and dor, "land", thereby translating Eriador as "wilderness".

Similarly, Christopher Gilson states that Eriador "= Lonely Land. *eryā (S eir, air)".

This second translation is noticeably similar to The Lone-lands mentioned in The Hobbit; it is unknown whether the two are the same or just similar.

In Other Version of the Legendarium

In the earlier sketches of the maps of Middle-earth, Eriador is originally called "Forodwaith" - the name which is now applied to the very cold region to the north of Middle-earth.

Eriador

Eriador

Tengwar, Sindarin mode