Enedwaith: Difference between revisions

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(Will flesh out the history during the Second Age and during the Third Age in more detail later)
(→‎Third Age: Merged the information from the various sources as best as I could)
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===Third Age===
===Third Age===
Enedwaith was said not to belong to either [[Arnor]] or [[Gondor]], sharing an interest in that region. The hold was nominal as it wasn't settled by them, due to the hostility of the [[Gwathuirim]]. The only settlement was a fortified town and haven at [[Tharbad]], a garrison populated by soldiers, mariners and engineers.<ref name=n76/><ref name=Glanduin/>
In the earlier centuries of Arnor and Gondor<ref name=NM>{{NM|P3xxii}}, p. 378</ref><ref name=RC>{{HM|RC}}, p. 650</ref><ref name=VT>{{VT|42a}}</ref> the region of Enedwaith did not belong to neither of those two kingdoms.<ref name=Glanduin/> In those ancient days the Gwathló was the eastern border of Arnor and the Isen was the western border of Gondor.<ref name=Isen>{{UT|11c}}, note to the text, first paragraph</ref> Until the decay of Arnor,<ref name=Glanduin/> which previously had included Minhiriath,<ref name=NM/><ref name=RC/><ref name=VT/> both kingdoms shared an interest in this region, but were mainly concerned with the building and maintenance of the [[North-South Road]], which was the main route of transport between the two kingsdoms except by sea, and of the bridge at the fortified town and haven of [[Tharbad]] and of the long causeways on which the road ran to Tharbad on either side of the Gwathló across the fens in the plains of Enedwaith. There were not permanent settlements of people of Númenórean origin in Enedwaith,<ref name=Glanduin/> except at Tharbad,<ref name=NM/><ref name=RC/><ref name=VT/> where a large garrison of soliders, mariners and engineers was stationed.<ref name=Glanduin/> In addition, the drainage works were built and maintained and the banks of the rivers [[Mitheithel]] and Gwathló were strengthened.<ref name=NM/><ref name=RC/><ref name=VT/> After the decay of Arnor, at some point in time during the days of the Kings of Gondor, Enedwaith became a part of Gondor. Like before, Gondor was mainly concerned with the maintenance and patrolling of the North-South-Road.<ref name=Isen/>


Following the [[Great Plague]] in {{TA|1636}} the region fell quickly into decay and turned back into wild fenlands long before the War of the Ring.<ref name=Glanduin/> Gondor's authority permanently lapsed throughout the region. At some point the [[Isen]] marked the western bounds of Gondor but it was of little concern other than the patrolling and upkeep of the great [[Royal Road]].<ref name=Isen>{{UT|11c}}, note to the text, first paragraph</ref> After the Great Plague a fairly numerous, barbarous folk<ref name=GwathloSecond/> of [[Drúedain]] lived as fishers and fowlers in the marshlands of the mouths of the Gwathló and the Isen<ref name=Isen/> and between the mouths of those rivers<ref name=GwathloSecond/> and the remnants of the people that the Rohirrim later called Dunlendings lived in the foothills of the western side of the Misty Mountains<ref name=Isen/> in the east of Enedwaith.<ref name=GwathloSecond/>
Following the [[Great Plague]] of {{TA|1636}} the region fell quickly into decay and turned back into wild fenlands long before the War of the Ring.<ref name=Glanduin/> After {{TA|2050}} the realm of Gondor retreated from Enedwaith and the Isen and the Gap of [[Calenardhon]] became the western border of Gondor and the Dunlendings of Enedwaith ceased to be subjects of Gondor.<ref name=Isen/>
 
After the Great Plague a fairly numerous, barbarous folk<ref name=GwathloSecond/> of [[Drúedain]] continued to live as fishers and fowlers in the marshlands of the mouths of the Gwathló and the Isen<ref name=Isen/> and between the mouths of those rivers<ref name=GwathloSecond/> and the remnants of the people that the Rohirrim later called Dunlendings lived in the foothills of the western side of the Misty Mountains<ref name=Isen/> in the east of Enedwaith.<ref name=GwathloSecond/>


After the [[Fell Winter (Third Age)|Fell Winter]] of {{TA|2911}},<ref>{{App|TA}}, entry for the year 2911, p. 1089</ref> Enedwaith was devasted by great floods and the city of [[Tharbad]] was ruined and deserted in {{TA|2912}}.<ref>{{App|TA}}, entry for the year 2912, p. 1089</ref>
After the [[Fell Winter (Third Age)|Fell Winter]] of {{TA|2911}},<ref>{{App|TA}}, entry for the year 2911, p. 1089</ref> Enedwaith was devasted by great floods and the city of [[Tharbad]] was ruined and deserted in {{TA|2912}}.<ref>{{App|TA}}, entry for the year 2912, p. 1089</ref>

Revision as of 16:04, 23 March 2022

"I shan't call it the end, till we've cleared up the mess." — Sam
This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.
Enedwaith
Region
Matěj Čadil - Enedwaith.jpg
"Enedwaith" by Matěj Čadil
General Information
Pronunciationeh-ned-weyeth
Other namesCentral Wilderness[1]
LocationBetween the Gwathló and the Isen; south of Minhiriath and north-west of Rohan
TypeRegion
RegionsDunland
InhabitantsMen
GalleryImages of Enedwaith

Enedwaith (S, pron. [eˈnedwa͡ɪθ]), also spelled Enedhwaith (pron. [eˈneðwa͡ɪθ]), the Central Wilderness[1], was a region in Eriador in Middle-earth.

Geography

Enedwaith was a region between the river Gwathló and the coast of the Belegaer sea from the mouth of the Gwathló to the mouth of the river Isen in the west, the river Glanduin in the north, the Misty Mountains in the east and the river Isen in the south.[2][3] Enedwaith consisted primarily of open plains without mountains.[4]

History

Earliest inhabitants

Many of the inhabitants of the forests in Enedwaith were of the same kind as the Folk of Haleth, the third folk of the Edain. They moved westwards later than the Folk of Haleth and had stayed in Eriador eihter 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.[5]

Second Age

At the time of the explorations of Aldarion, the heir to the throne of Númenor, Enedwaith was covered by an almost continuous forest with the exception of the great fens of the Swanfleet. 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 Enedwaith were in awe of the Númenóreans.[6] Enedwaith was still covered with a dense forest at the time of the earlier settlements of the Númenóreans.[5] The native inhabitants started to ambush the Númenóreans when the felling of trees by the Númenoreans became devastating to the forests. As a consequence, the Númenóreans treated the native inhabitants as enemies. The natives of Enedwaith that survived the conflicts with the Númenóreans fled into the eastern mountains where afterwards was Dunland.[6] In the time of the Númenórean King Ar-Adûnakhôr, the Númenórean settlers between Pelargir and the Gulf of Lune classified the inhabitants of the forests of Minhiriath as Men of Darkness instead of as Middle Men, because of their hostility to the Númenóreans and because the Númenóreans did not recognize them as kinsmen of the Edain, because the language of the inhabitants of the forests of Minhiriath was not related to the language of the Folk of Hador and the Folk of Beor, from which Adunaic was descended.[7]

After S.A. 3320, Enedwaith formed the most northern part of the new Kingdom of Gondor, at least officially.[source?] The south-east was still in places well-wooded, but most of the plains were grasslands.[8]

Third Age

In the earlier centuries of Arnor and Gondor[9][10][11] the region of Enedwaith did not belong to neither of those two kingdoms.[2] In those ancient days the Gwathló was the eastern border of Arnor and the Isen was the western border of Gondor.[12] Until the decay of Arnor,[2] which previously had included Minhiriath,[9][10][11] both kingdoms shared an interest in this region, but were mainly concerned with the building and maintenance of the North-South Road, which was the main route of transport between the two kingsdoms except by sea, and of the bridge at the fortified town and haven of Tharbad and of the long causeways on which the road ran to Tharbad on either side of the Gwathló across the fens in the plains of Enedwaith. There were not permanent settlements of people of Númenórean origin in Enedwaith,[2] except at Tharbad,[9][10][11] where a large garrison of soliders, mariners and engineers was stationed.[2] In addition, the drainage works were built and maintained and the banks of the rivers Mitheithel and Gwathló were strengthened.[9][10][11] After the decay of Arnor, at some point in time during the days of the Kings of Gondor, Enedwaith became a part of Gondor. Like before, Gondor was mainly concerned with the maintenance and patrolling of the North-South-Road.[12]

Following the Great Plague of T.A. 1636 the region fell quickly into decay and turned back into wild fenlands long before the War of the Ring.[2] After T.A. 2050 the realm of Gondor retreated from Enedwaith and the Isen and the Gap of Calenardhon became the western border of Gondor and the Dunlendings of Enedwaith ceased to be subjects of Gondor.[12]

After the Great Plague a fairly numerous, barbarous folk[8] of Drúedain continued to live as fishers and fowlers in the marshlands of the mouths of the Gwathló and the Isen[12] and between the mouths of those rivers[8] and the remnants of the people that the Rohirrim later called Dunlendings lived in the foothills of the western side of the Misty Mountains[12] in the east of Enedwaith.[8]

After the Fell Winter of T.A. 2911,[13] Enedwaith was devasted by great floods and the city of Tharbad was ruined and deserted in T.A. 2912.[14]

After the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, the North-kingdom of Arnor was re-established by Aragorn II. Minhiriath and other regions of Eriador were repopulated during the Fourth Age.

Etymology

Enedwaith is a Sindarin name.[15] It means "middle-region" or "middle-people".[16] It contains the element ened(h) ("middle, centre").[16] Its second element is the probably lenited form waith[15] of gwaith ("people").[17]

The form Enedwaith appears in the General Map of Middle-earth, but J.R.R. Tolkien suggested Enedhwaith in his annotations to Pauline Baynes.[18]

While writing Of Dwarves and Men Tolkien typed Enedwaith and subsequently added h manually on the typed text, until he started typing Enedhwaith which he maintained in The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor. Christopher Tolkien preferred the spelling Enedwaith for the Unfinished Tales for agreement with the published Lord of the Rings.[19]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "Notes", note 76
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 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
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age" [map]
  4. 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
  5. 5.0 5.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "The Atani and their Languages"
  6. 6.0 6.1 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 river Gwathló, third paragraph
  7. 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
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 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
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 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
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 650
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 42, July 2001
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Battles of the Fords of Isen", "Appendix (ii)", note to the text, first paragraph
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2911, p. 1089
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 2912, p. 1089
  15. 15.0 15.1 Paul Strack, "S. Enedwaith pn.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 15 March 2022)
  16. 16.0 16.1 J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 168, (dated 7 September 1955)}
  17. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names", entry gwaith
  18. Daniel Helen, "Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth transcribed" dated 10 November 2015, The Tolkien Society (accessed 5 August 2018)
  19. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "Notes", note 66
Enedwaith
Minhiriath Eriador Dunland
The Great Sea WindRose3.pngGrey Mountains
The Great Sea Gondor Rohan