Gwathló

"Journeying up Gwathló" by Anke Eißmann
River
Gwathló
General Information
Other names	Gwathir (S), Greyflood, Agathurush (A)
Location	Border between Minhiriath and Enedwaith
Type	River
Description	Broad navigable waterway originally bordered by trees
People and History
Events	Battle of the Gwathló
Gallery	Images of the Gwathló

The Gwathló, also known as the Greyflood and previously known as the Gwathir, was a river that formed the southern border of Eriador.

Course

The Gwathló began at the confluence of the river Hoarwell with the river Glanduin about 180 miles west of the central Misty Mountains at approximately the same latitude as Moria. It flowed southwest for about 110 miles through almost flat land where it became sluggish and tended to form marshlands, passing Tharbad approximately after its first 10 miles. It then continued for about another hundred miles southwestwards with an increased slope, although it never flowed swiftly until it reached its estuary on the Great Sea where the harbour of Lond Daer was located.

Ships with a smaller draught could be sailed or rowed up the Gwathló as far as Tharbad. The natural state of the upper Gwathló near Tharbad was a slow, wide river that spread into a fenland. The land around Tharbad was later drained and dykes were built to construct a great port for seagoing ships, a bridge, forts on great earthworks on both sides of the river to guard the bridge, and long causeways on both sides of the Gwathló and Mitheithel on which the road ran to the bridge of Tharbad.

After its construction by the Númenóreans, the North-South Road crossed the river Gwathló at Tharbad.

History

Second Age

In the early Second Age, the river Glanduin that formed the beginning of the Gwathló at its confluence with the river Hoarwell was the southern border of the Noldorin realm Eregion.

Aldarion, the son of Tar-Meneldur, was the first Númenórean to find the mouth of the Gwathló.

When explorers from Aldarion's ship went up the river in small boats, they found huge trees overshadowing the waters. They thus named the river the Gwath-hîr ("River of Shadow") in Sindarin, which became Gwathir. However, later when the Númenóreans explored the river further northeastward they reached the beginning of the great fens, the Nîn-in-Eilph ("Swanfleet"). Mistakenly believing that the fens were the source of the river, they changed the name of the river to Gwathló, where the lô meant "fenland", and thus the new name meant the "shadowy river from the fens". This name was translated into Adûnaic as Agathurush.

Before the year S.A. 800, Aldarion built the haven Vinyalondë – which means "New Haven" in Quenya – at the mouth of the river Gwathló as a point where he could obtain timber and repair his ships in Middle-earth, because his father had decreed a curb on the felling of trees in Númenor for the purpose of shipbuilding. Later in the Second Age this haven would be called Lond Daer or Lond Daer Enedh, the Great Middle Heaven, because it was then located between Lindon in the north and Pelargir in the south.

After he took the sceptre of the kingdom of Númenor in S.A. 883, Aldarion traveled up the River Gwathló as far as Tharbad and met Galadriel there. It is not known if Tharbad was just a ford or if somebody had already settled at Tharbad at the time of their meeting.

Before S.A. 1695, the Númenóreans had devastated the forests below Tharbad by felling trees to obtain timber to build ships. The local population who had lived in those forests had initially been in awe of the Númenóreans, but had become hostile to them and attacked and ambushed them when the felling of trees became devastating. In return, the Númenóreans treated their attackers as enemies. It is possible that the Númenóreans built the forts at the haven of Lond Daer and along the banks of the river Gwathló because of those conflicts with the native population. The surviving native population fled from Enedwaith to the Misty Mountains in the east and from Minhiriath to the dark woods of the cape of Eryn Vorn.

After the invasion of Eriador by Sauron, the exiled native population who had previously lived in the forests along the Gwathló welcomed Sauron and hoped that he would defeat the Númenóreans. Sauron knew that the haven of Lond Daer and its shipyards were important to the Númenóreans. As a consequence, he used the exiled natives as spies and guides for his raiding parties who started fires in the woods and burned the great wood-stores of the Númenóreans.

During the war in Eriador, Sauron did not have enough troops to spare for assaults on the forts of the Númenóreans at the haven of Vinyalondë and along the banks of the river Gwathló. By S.A. 1700, Sauron had destroyed the elven realm of Eregion and conquered all of Eriador except Rivendell, where he had left strong forces to prevent Elrond to attack him in the rear and had reached the river Lhûn, which was defended by the Elves of the realm of Lindon and by Númenórean forces that had been stationed in Lindon. Additional forces of Sauron approached from the south-east and were in Enedwaith at the crossing of Tharbad, which was only lightly held. It is not known if there were Númenórean forts at the crossing of Tharbad or if the crossing of Tharbad was lightly held by the Númenóreans or by forces of Sauron.

After a great fleet commanded by the Númenórean admiral Ciryatur landed with troops from Númenór in S.A. 1700, the forces of Sauron were defeated and driven back to the south-east to the river Baranduin. After another defeat at the Sarn Ford, they were driven back further to the south-east to the river Gwathló where the forces of Sauron were reinforced by his force at Tharbad. However, Ciryatur had sent a part of his fleet to the haven of Lond Daer and landed a strong Númenórean force there that attacked the forces of Sauron in his rear in the Battle of the Gwathló. It is not known if the forces of Sauron that had approached from the south-east were still on the southern bank of the river Gwathló in Enedwaith at Tharbad or if the forces had already crossed to the northern side of the river. It is also not known if the forces of Sauron that retreated from Sarn Ford had already crossed the river to its southern side at Tharbad and where at the Gwathló the Battle of the Gwathló took place. In the Battle of the Gwathló, the forces of Sauron were utterly routed and Sauron only barely managed to escape with a small force to Calenardhon.

Late Second Age and Third Age

When the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor were founded in S.A. 3320, the Gwathló became the southern border of Arnor. It is probable that Tharbad became part of Arnor at that time because, in the earlier centuries of Arnor and Gondor, the region of Enedwaith between the Gwathló and the Isen belonged to neither of those two kingdoms, and the Gwathló was the southern border of Arnor and the Isen was the western border of Gondor.

In the early days of the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, a seaport where seagoing ships could dock was constructed and a fort was built on great earthworks on both sides of the Gwathló at Tharbad to protect the bridge. Both kingdoms together constructed the bridge at Tharbad and the long causeways on both sides of the Gwathló on which the North-South Road, the main route of transport between the two kingdoms except by sea, ran through the fens in Minhiriath and Enedwaith to the bridge. By the year T.A. 2, the North-South-Road from Gondor to Arnor already existed, but Isildur, who was in haste, chose to take the shorter route north from Osgiliath up the Vales of Anduin to the High Pass over the Misty Mountains to return to the Elven refuge of Rivendell, where he had left his wife and his youngest son.

Until the decay of Arnor, both kingdoms shared an interest in Enedwaith, but were mainly concerned with the maintenance of the North-South Road of the bridge at the fortified town of Tharbad and of the long causeways on which the road ran. There were no permanent settlements of people of Númenórean origin in Enedwaith, except at Tharbad, where a large garrison of soliders, mariners, engineers, and river-wardens was stationed. In addition, drainage works were built and maintained, and the banks of the rivers Mitheithel and Gwathló were strengthened.

When the Kingdom of Arnor was divided in T.A. 861, Minhiriath, the region between the river Baranduin and the river Gwathló became a part of Cardolan, one of the three successor states of Arnor. As a consequence, Tharbad probably became a part of Cardolan.

From about T.A. 1150, the Stoors, a tribe of hobbits, migrated to and settled in the area between Tharbad and the borders of Dunland, but they left around 1630.

After the Great Plague spread north-west from Gondor in T.A. 1636, most of the people of Cardolan died, especially in Minhiriath. After that, Minhiriath was almost completely deserted, but some survivors of the plague continued to live in Tharbad. After the decay and receding of the kingdom of Arnor, which had originally included Minhiriath, Enedwaith became a part of Gondor during the days of the Kings of Gondor. Like before, Gondor was mainly concerned with the maintenance and patrolling of the North-South-Road. As a consequence, it is possible that the town of Tharbad became a part of Gondor. However, after 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.

The survivors of the Great Plague remained in Tharbad, and the North-South-Road continued to be an important trade route for hundreds of years. When the days of the kings in Arnor and Gondor ended between T.A. 1975 and 2050 after the fall of Arthedain in 1974 and the vanishing of the last king of Gondor Eärnur at Minas Morgul in T.A. 2050 and the decline of Gondor started, the nearby native Dunlendings, as well as the people left in Tharbad no doubt, ceased in fact to be subjects of Gondor, the North-South-Road was no longer maintained in Enedwaith, the bridge in Tharbad became ruinous so that the Gwathló had to be crossed at a ford at the former location of the bridge.

After the Fell Winter of T.A. 2911 in T.A. 2912 Enedwaith and Minhiriath were devastated by great floods and Tharbad was ruined and deserted.

Over a century later in T.A. 3018, the North-South Road no longer existed except for the crumbling remains of the causeways on both sides of the river, and the river was crossed by Boromir on a ford that was formed by the ruins of the bridge. The ford was so dangerous that Boromir lost his horse when he crossed the river at the ford.

Before 22 September T.A. 3018, the Ringwraiths crossed the Greyflood on their way to the Shire.

On 27 September T.A. 3018 Gandalf crossed the Greyflood with his horse Shadowfax at Tharbad. Others occasionally crossed the ruined bridge - at their peril - including the Ringwraiths, servants and spies of Saruman, as well as the Rangers of the North who sought Aragorn in Rohan in 3019.

After the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, the North-kingdom of Arnor was reestablished by Aragorn II. It is probable that the town of Tharbad and its bridge were rebuilt. Gandalf announced that the Greenway would be opened again, and that there would be people and fields where there was wilderness before and that there would be room enough for people between the Isen and the Greyflood.

Etymology

Gwathló is a Sindarin name, which means "Greyflood". It is a combination of gwath ("shadow") and l(h)õ ("flood", "fenland").

It's name in Adûnaic was Agathurush.

Portrayals in adaptations

Gwathló in The Lord of the Rings Online

2020: The Lord of the Rings Online:

Gwathló serves as the border between the in-game regions of Swanfleet and Cardolan. Various Arnorian ruins dot its shore north of Tharbad.