The Culduin is the river in Nurn in Mordor that flows from the eastern part of the west-to-east running section of the southern Ephel Dúath mountains northwards into the Sea of Nurnen on its southern 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[1] in 2003[2].
Fan works
The fansite Thelandofshadow.com took on several of the names introduced by Reeve, and expanded on them. The Culduin was described as follows:[3]
The smallest of the four rivers that flowed into the Sea of Núrnen. This river flowed across the south of Nurn into the snland sea. It was a small river that flowed down from the mountains of Ered Glamhoth. It was dry much of the year, but flowed like a raging storm when the rains fell.
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
Culduin seems to be a Sindarin name, which means "Loderiver". It seems to contain the elements cûl ("load")[4] and duin ("(large) river")[5].
Gallery
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2003 merchandise map
.jpg)
References
- ↑ . "The Lord of the Rings: Maps". Daniel Reeve, artist
- ↑ Daniel Reeve, personal correspondence (June 2026):
the Decipher maps pre-dated the ROTK merchandising map (Mordor). I created [...] the ROTK merchandising map in 2003. So the Decipher Mordor map served as a kind of template when I later made the merchandising map of Mordor – at which time I expanded upon it, adding a lot more invented detail and names. […] I created the places and names myself.
- ↑ "Gurthrant", archived from the original. Thelandofshadow.com
- ↑ . "S. cûl n.". Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon. Retrieved 25 June 2026
- ↑ . "S. duin n.". Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon. Retrieved 25 June 2026