Caranduin

The Caranduin is the river in Mordor that flows from the eastern side in the southern part of the mountain spur that branches southwestwards from the Ered Lithui east of Barad-dûr southeastwards into the Sea of Nurnen on its northern shore. The river is unnamed in the maps that were drayn by Christopher Tolkien based on the maps drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien for publication with The Lord of the Rings.

Chronology and Creation

It first appeared on a merchandise map of Mordor for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King that was drawn by Daniel Reeve in 2003.

Fan works

The fansite Thelandofshadow.com took on several of the names introduced by Reeve, and expanded on them. The Caranduin was described as follows:

The Central River that fed into the great sea of Mordor - This river flowed out of the North from the mountains of the Mithram Spur. Its waters were cold and deep. Caranduin was the largest and deepest of the rivers of Mordor and so was a natural route for supplies that were much needed by the armies and smithies of the Northern plateau of Gorgoroth. Supplies were ferried to a port near Seregost and then were transported along the greast Eastern Road to the fortresses and orc camps scattered across this land of terror.

The information from The Land of Shadow was incorporated in a slightly modified form into the fan made Mordor Gazetteer of the Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) fan modules group.

Etymology

Caranduin seems to be a Sindarin name, which means "Red River". It seems to contain the elements caran ("red") and duin ("(large) river").

Gallery

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  2003 merchandise map