Minhiriath

From Tolkien Gateway
Minhiriath
Region
The Lord of the Rings (film series) - Miniriath map.jpg
Map showing Minhiriath from The Lord of the Rings film series
General Information
PronunciationS, min-hear-ee-ath
LocationSouthern Eriador
TypeRegion
People and History
InhabitantsMen, Elves
EventsWar of the Elves and Sauron
GalleryImages of Minhiriath

Minhiriath was a region in Eriador between the river Baranduin and the river Gwathló.

Geography[edit | edit source]

Minhiriath was located between the river Baranduin in the west and the river Gwathló in the east.[1] Its southern border was the coast of the Belegaer sea from the mouth of the Baranduin to the mouth of the Gwathló. The northern border of Minihiriath is not recorded and could have been anywhere between the Greenway and the Great East Road.[2][note 1] Minhiriath consisted primarily of open plains without mountains.[1]

The Shire was northwest of the river Baranduin across the Sarn Ford. The dark forest of Eryn Vorn was on a cape on the coast of Minhiriath. The region Enedwaith was east of the Gwathló. The city of Tharbad was on the Gwathló on the border between Minhiriath and Enedwaith. The port of Lond Daer was also on the Gwathló where it flowed into the Sea.[2]

History[edit | edit source]

Earliest inhabitants[edit | edit source]

Many of the inhabitants of the forests in Minhiriath were of the same kind as the Folk of Haleth, the second folk of the Edain. They moved westwards later than the Folk of Haleth and had stayed in Eriador either in settlements or wandering around and had not moved on to Beleriand. The language of the Folk of Haleth was not related to the language of the Folk of Hador and the Folk of Bëor from which Adunaic, the language of the Númenóreans was descended.[3]

Second Age[edit | edit source]

At the time of the explorations of Aldarion, the heir of the King of Númenor, Minhiriath was covered by an almost continuous forest with the exception of the great fens of the Swanfleet and near the ford of Tharbad. The native inhabitants were quite numerous and warlike and lived in scattered communities in the forests without a central leadership. In the beginning the native inhabitants of Minhiriath were in awe of the Númenóreans.[4] It is probable that the felling of trees by Númenóreans in Minhiriath was on a small scale during the the time of the explorations of Aldarion and during his reign and that he even had trees replanted in Minhiriath, because it is recorded that Aldarion only sailed with a small number of ships to Middle-earth, built only a small number of ships in Middle-earth and returned only with a small number of ships with a cargo of timber from Middle-earth. It is also mentioned that Aldarion always planted new trees where trees had been felled in Númenor and that he offered to show his betrothed Erendis forests wider than Númenor wild and free in Middle-earth. During a voyage from S.A. 829 to S.A. 843 Aldarion found out that his recently built harbour and shipyard of Vinyalondë at the mouth of the river Gwathló had been overthrown by storm floods and plundered by hostile men. During another voyage to Middle-earth from S.A. 863 to S.A. 869 Aldarion learned that Men near the coasts were growing afraid of the Númenóreans or had become openly hostile to the Númenóreans and heard roumors of a lord in Middle-earth that hated the Númenóreans.[5]

It is probable that the felling of trees for shipbuilding by Númenóreans in Minhiriath continued to be on a small scale or stopped after the death of Aldarion, because it is told that his daugther Tar-Ancalimë neglected all policies of her father and provided no further aid to Gil-galad in Lindon after the death of her father. At the time of the earlier settlements of the Númenóreans Minhiriath was still covered with a dense forest.[6] In the beginning the Númenóreans felled trees along both banks of the river Gwathló and floated the logs down the river to the timber-port and ship-building harbour of Lond Daer at the mouth of the Gwathló that was formerly called Vinyalondë.[4]

At the latest during the rule of Queen Tar-Telperiën the Númenóreans built great tracks and roads into the forests northwards and southwards from the Gwathló and the felling of the trees for the building of a large fleet of ships at the shipyards of Lond Daer and other shipyards in Middle-earth and in Númenor became devastating to the forests, because the Númenóreans did not replant new trees. As a reaction, the native inhabitants who lived in those forests became hostile and ambushed the Númenóreans when they had an opportunity. As a consequence, the Númenóreans treated the native inhabitants as enemies. The natives that survived the conflicts with the Númenóreans fled into the dark woods of the cape of Eryn Vorn.[4]

After the forces of Sauron had invaded Eriador in S.A. 1695[7] the exiled natives welcomed Sauron and hoped that he would defeat the Númenóreans and acted as spies and guides for the raiders of Sauron. The raiders of Sauron set fire to the woods on the edges of the forest and burned the woodstores of the Númenóreans, but he could not spare enough forces to attack the forts that the Númenóreans had built on the banks of the river Gwathló.[8]

In the year S.A. 1700 the forces of Sauron had reached the line of the river Lhûn. This was defended by Gil-galad and by a force of Númenóreans that had been stationed in Lindon after Gil-galad had asked the Númenóreans for help when he feared that Sauron could invade Eriador. After a Númenórean force of the Númenórean admiral Ciryatur had landed at the Grey Havens, the forces of the Elves of Lindon and the Númenóreans defeated the forces of Sauron and drove them back. The forces of Sauron suffered heavy casualties at Sarn Ford and were driven further to the south-east. At Tharbad the forces of Sauron were joined by reinforcements that had come from the south-east, but they were surprised by another force of Númenóreans in their rear, who had landed at Lond Dear. Sauron's forces were utterly routed in the Battle of the Gwathló and Sauron narrowly escaped with a small remaining force to the south-east to Calenardhon.[7]

After the defeat of Sauron at the end of the War of the Elves and Sauron most of the old forests on sides of the Gwathló had been destroyed.[9]

In S.A. 3320,[10] Minhiriath became a part of the kingdom of Arnor.[11]

Third Age[edit | edit source]

Matěj Čadil - Minhiriath

When the Kingdom of Arnor was divided in T.A. 861,[12] Minhiriath became a part of Cardolan, one of the three successor states of Arnor.[13] After the Great Plague spread north-west from Gondor in T.A. 1636,[14] most of the people of Cardolan died, especially in Minhiriath.[15] After that Minhiriath was almost completely deserted, but a secretive folk of hunters lived in the woods.[16]

After the Fell Winter of T.A. 2911,[17] Minhiriath was devastated by great floods and Tharbad was ruined and deserted in T.A. 2912.[18]

Although Minhiriath was still thickly forested in several places by the time of the War of the Ring, most of the plains were grasslands.[16]

After the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, the North-kingdom of Arnor was reestablished by Aragorn II.[19] It is probable that Minhiriath was resettled, because Gandalf announced that the Greenway would be opened again, that there would be people and fields where there was wilderness before and that there would be room enough for people along the shorelands south of the Baranduin.[20]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Minhiriath is a Sindarin name.[21][22] It means "Between the Rivers" (in reference to the rivers Baranduin and Gwathló).[1] It is a compound of min ("between") and the lenited form hir of sîr ("river") and the class-plural suffix -ath, which yield hiriath.[21][22]

In a letter to Mr Paul Bibire (dated 30 June 1969), J.R.R. Tolkien used the name Mesopotamia in brackets after Minhiriath.[23][24][25] Mesopotamia means "[land] between rivers" in Ancient Greek.[26]

Navigation[edit | edit source]

Minhiriath
Gulf of Lune The Shire South Downs
Harlindon WindRose3.pngEnedwaith
Belegaer Belegaer Enedwaith

Notes

  1. The entry in the Annals of the Kings that most of the people of Cardolan died in the Great Plague, especially in Minhiriath, implies that Minhiriath is only a part of Cardolan. According to those Annals the northern border of Cardolan was the Great East Road.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the name Gwathló, first paragraph
  2. 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age" [map]
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "The Atani and their Languages", including Note 72
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the river Gwathló, third paragraph
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife"
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "The Atani and their Languages"
  7. 7.0 7.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn"
  8. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the river Gwathló, fourth paragraph
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the river Gwathló, fifth paragraph
  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Second Age", entry for the year 3320, p. 1084
  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the name Glanduin, first paragraph
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 861, p. 1085
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur", The North-kingdom and the Dúnedain, first paragraph, p. 1039
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 1636, p. 1086
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur", The North-kingdom and the Dúnedain, entry for king Argeleb II, p. 1041
  16. 16.0 16.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the name Gwathló, second paragraph
  17. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2911, p. 1089
  18. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2912, p. 1089
  19. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur", p. 1042
  20. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Homeward Bound", p. 992
  21. 21.0 21.1 Paul Strack, "S. Minhiriath loc.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 8 February 2022)
  22. 22.0 22.1 Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 691
  23. J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part Three. The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants: XXII. The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor", p. 378
  24. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 650
  25. J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 42, July 2001
  26. "Mesopotamia", en.wikipedia.org (accessed 23 March 2022)