View source for North Sea

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{{Location infobox
| name=North Sea
| image=[[File:Christopher Tolkien - The First Map (composite).gif|250px]]
| caption="The First Map" in composite version by [[Christopher Tolkien]]
| pronun=
| othernames=
| location=west of the [[Icebay of Forochel]]
| type=Ocean
| description=
| regions=[[Forochel]]
| inhabitants=
| created=possibly due to the [[War of Wrath]]
| destroyed=
| events=
}}

The '''North Sea''' of [[Middle-earth]] was a sea that was located just to the west of the [[Icebay of Forochel]].<ref>{{TI|MI}}, Map I, p. 302 and commentary on p. 301</ref><ref>{{webcite|author=J.R.R. Tolkien|articleurl=https://thetolkienist.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/first-map-of-Lord-of-the-Rings_web.jpg|articlename=First Map of The Lord of the Rings|dated=|website=|accessed=29 December 2020}}, fainted pencilled label on map squares A 2, B 2 and C 2</ref>

== History ==
Given that the North Sea is just west of the [[Icebay of Forochel]], a place which was once a part of the lands to the north of [[Beleriand]], it seems possible that the North Sea was at least partly formed as a result of the [[War of Wrath]].<ref>{{S|Rings}}, third paragraph, "''Beleriand was broken and laid waste; and northward and westward many lands sank beneath the waters of the Great Sea''"</ref> It is unclear, however, if the North Sea was a sea in its own right, a predecessor of the [[Belegaer]], another name for the [[Icebay of Forochel]], or a name for the northern parts of Belegaer.

=== Islands ===
The North Sea lies just to the northeast of the following islands:
** [[Tol Fuin]]
** [[Himling]]

=== Bays and inlets ===
* [[Icebay of Forochel]]

== Other versions of the legendarium ==
The North Sea is not marked on any of the maps that were published with [[The Lord of the Rings]], [[Unfinished Tales|Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth]] or [[The Silmarillion]] and is not mentioned in the text of those works. [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] pencilled in the name on [[The First Map of The Lord of the Rings|the First Map of The Lord of the Rings]] and [[Christopher Tolkien]] included the label at the G 4-5 "coordinates" on [[The 1943 Map of The Lord of the Rings|the map that he drew in 1943]], "though inadvertently omitted on Map I".<ref>{{TI|MI}}, p. 301</ref>

{{References}}

[[Category:Seas and oceans]]