The Lord of the Rings - Regions and Places

THE WESTLANDS

Westlands is a large part of Middle-earth, perhaps referring to the entire north-western region of the continent.

The Westlands were the most well known and documented part of Middle-earth, the north-western part of the continent facing Belegaer. It consisted of huge regions of land, such as Beleriand/Lindon, Eriador, Rhovanion, Gondor, and Mordor. The most extreme regions of the Westlands (that perhaps did not belong to them) were alien lands such as Rhûn, Harad, and Khand. Beyond them, unknown lands lay to the East and South. Of the Westlands, the western portion called Beleriand was drowned at the end of the First Age, and survivors relocated to Lindon and Eriador. Eriador, now the westernmost part of Middle-earth, was bordered by the Misty Mountains to the East which stretched down south to the White Mountains and the Bay of Belfalas. Across the Misty Mountains from Eriador was another region of the Westlands, Rhovanion. It extended east to the Sea of Rhûn. Within Rhovanion, there were the great forest of Mirkwood, Fangorn Forest, and Lothlórien. To the south was the region of Mordor, encircled on three sides by mountains. To the far north of Rhovanion and Eriador alike was the icy Forodwaith. The southern part of the Westlands was around the Bay of Belfalas, including the area of Gondor.

HARAD

Harad, also known as the South, refers to the little-known lands in southern Middle-earth. The great region is located south of Harondor and Mordor. Very little is known of the southern lands beyond the great Sea of Ringil.

Harad was located south of Mordor, with the Mountains of Shadow forming part of the northern border of Harad. The River Harnen flowed westward from the Mountains of Shadow to the Bay of Belfalas and was Harad's border with South Gondor - a deserted region contested between Gondor and Harad. The Harad Road ran from Harad northward through South Gondor and on to Ithilien. To the north-east of Harad was Khand, a land that also had ties with Sauron. It is not known how far eastward or southward Harad stretched. On the west, Harad was bounded by the Bay of Belfalas and the Sea. The northernmost part of Harad was called Near Harad and the southern part was Far Harad. On the coast there was a natural harbour with a narrow cape curving around it. The coastal region around the harbour was known as Umbar, and the harbour was called the Havens of Umbar. The seafaring raiders known as the Corsairs lived there. At the eastern end of the harbour was the City of the Corsairs. There were fortresses and dwellings upon the coasts in the south. There were also fields and "dark forests" with apes in the south. In Harad lived also camels and the gigantic Oliphaunts, which were used by the Haradrim as moving war towers.

ERIADOR

Eriador was the large region in the north-west of Middle-earth, defined between Lindon and the Blue Mountains to the west and Rhovanion and the Misty Mountains to the east. It was inhabited by all the Free peoples of Middle-earth, being the location of many of the most important events of the Second and Third Ages. By the end of the Third Age, its main inhabitants were Hobbits of the Shire and Men of the surrounding lands.

Eriador was a large, inhabited temperate region in the north-west of Middle-earth which experienced warm summers and increasingly cool winters. At its widest extent, it stretched for around 675 miles from east-to-west, around 690 miles from north-to-south, 740 miles from northeast-to-southwest and 750 miles from northwest-to-southeast. Drawing by J.R.R. Tolkien showing the Withywindle The most important rivers were: the Lune (Sindarin Lhûn) which flowed through the Blue Mountains to form the Gulf of Lune; the Brandywine (Sindarin Baranduin) which flowed out of Lake Evendim (Nenuial) to form the eastern-boundary of the Shire; and the Greyflood (Gwathló) which formed the southern-border of Eriador. Other rivers included: the Glanduin, which flowed out of Hollin (Eregion) and into the Greyflood above Tharbad, forming the Swanfleet (Nîn-in-Eilph) marsh; the Loudwater (Bruinen), passing Rivendell (Imladris) in the Ford of Bruinen; the Hoarwell (Mitheithel) which flowed out of the Ettenmoors and over which the Last Bridge passed; the Withywindle of the Old Forest; and The Water, Stock-brook, Shirebourn and Thistle Brook which all flowed into the Brandywine from in the Shire. Central Eriador was scattered with many groups of hills including the Tower Hills (Emyn Beraid), Hills of Evendim (Emyn Uial), Weather Hills as well as the Far Downs, White Downs, South Downs, North Downs and Barrow-downs (Tyrn Gorthad); Fonstad noted that the "longitudinal axes [of the hills] formed concentric rings". Despite large deforestation by the Númenóreans during the Second Age[10] some wooded areas remained, such as the Old Forest, Woody End, Bindbole Wood (sometimes seen as "Bindbale"), Chetwood around Bree-hill, the Trollshaws, and, largest of all, Eryn Vorn; Hollin was so named due to the large numbers of holly trees which grew there. Other geographic features included the Midgewater Marshes, Rushock Bog, and Overbourn Marshes. The East-West Road crossed Eriador from Rivendell in the east to the Grey Havens in the west whilst the Greenway ran south from Fornost, linking Arnor and Gondor; the Greenway and the East-West Road met at Bree. Key Elvish settlements included the Grey Havens, Ost-in-Edhil and Rivendell; for the Dúnedain there were Weathertop, Annúminas, and Fornost Erain, as well as the Númenórean ports of Tharbad and Lond Daer (earlier known as Vinyalondë).

RHÛN

Rhûn, also known as the East, refers to the little-known lands in eastern Middle-earth. Almost nothing of the lands beyond the great Sea of Rhûn is known (see Uttermost East).

Rhûn was a wide land largely unknown to those who dwelled in the western regions, and little of its geography was recorded. The western part of Rhûn was given in maps of the Westlands of Middle-earth. It contained the great inland Sea of Rhûn, connected to the River Running in the northwest. A forest lay to the north-east of the Sea, and near the south-western shores there were many hills. Wild white Kine of Araw, or oxen, lived near the shores of the Sea of Rhûn. North-west of the Sea of Rhûn lay also the land of Dorwinion.

CUIVIÉNEN

Cuiviénen was a land on the shores of the inland Sea of Helcar in the far east of Middle-earth where the first Elves awoke.

Cuiviénen lay on the shores of a bay on the inland Sea of Helcar's eastern end, at the foot of Orocarni near the Wild Wood. Located in the central regions of Middle-earth, Cuiviénen was far to the west of where the first Men later awoke in Hildórien. It was approximately 2,000 miles east of Beleriand's shoreline with Belegaer at Eglarest, as the crow flies, and it was about a 450 mile march east or southeast of the inland Sea of Rhûn. On the east side of the lake near which the Elves woke was a great cliff from which a waterfall came down. Near the lake was a green valley, a second larger valley, a third deeper and wider valley, a grove of birches by a stream and a firwood on a hill-side.

HILDÓRIEN

Hildórien was the land in the far east of Middle-earth in which the first Men or Hildor awoke at the beginning of the First Age.

The Silmarillion appendix confirms that Hildórien is of the same root as the word Hildor. It can be therefore understood as Quenya hildor + -ien, therefore "Land of the Followers".