Sirlith

The Sirlith is the river in Mordor that flows from the eastern side in the northern part of the mountain spur that branches southwestwards from the Ered Lithui east of Barad-dûr southeastwards into the Sea of Nurnen on its eastern 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 Sirlith was described as follows:

The Eastern River that fed into the great sea of Mordor - The eastern tributary that fed into the Sea of Núrnen in the south of Mordor. This river ran from Nan Morlith across the Lithlad to the eastern edge of the great sea. It was the longest river in Mordor, but not the largest. Many small vessels fed the engines of War to the North by bringing goods to the armies of Sauron's Northern Realm.

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 where the name of the river is misspelled Sirilith.

Etymology

Sirlith seems to be a Sindarin name, which means "River of Ash". It seems to contain the elements sir ("river", "stream") and lith ("ash").

Gallery

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  2003 merchandise map