Blue Mountains

From Tolkien Gateway
Blue Mountains
Mountain Range
Rob Alexander - Blue Mountain Dwarf Hold.jpg
General Information
Other namesEred Luin, Ered Lindon
LocationBetween Beleriand and Eriador
TypeMountain Range
DescriptionGreat western mountain range
RegionsBelegost, Nogrod, and later realms like Thorin's Halls
People and History
InhabitantsDwarves (Broadbeams, Firebeards, and Longbeards)
EventsWar of Wrath

The Blue Mountains (S. Ered Luin), also known as the Ered Lindon, was the mountain range at the far west of Eriador.

In the Beginning

During the creation of Arda, the Blue Mountains were meant to line up directly with the Grey Mountains of the southlands, forming the western wall of Arda. They lay parallel to the Red Mountains and Yellow Mountains that formed the eastern wall. The Blue Mountains were originally connected with the Red Mountains by the Iron Mountains which stretched across the entire north. The symmetry of Arda was broken during the wars between the Valar and Melkor in the ages before the Years of the Lamps.

Before and During the First Age

In the First Age, the Blue Mountains were an unbroken line separating Eriador from Beleriand. Seven rivers flowed from its western side, and the land these rivers flowed through was known as Ossiriand. Later, when the Green-elves settled there, the land was called Lindon, and the mountains sometimes referred to as the Ered Lindon.

Sometime during the Years of the Trees Two Dwarven Fathers awoke under Mount Dolmed and founded the two western most houses of the Dwarves the Firebeards and Broadbeams. They subsequently built two great city-states, Nogrod and Belegost.

The Second Age

The Blue Mountains were ruined during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, and in the south central end of the range the sea broke through. The River Lhûn now flowed through the mountains to the Gulf of Lhûn. On the western side a small section of Lindon remained, and here the retreating Elves built the Kingdom of Lindon, ruled by Ereinion Gil-galad, last High King of the Noldor. Its most important city was the Grey Havens, from where departing Elves left Middle-earth for Valinor. Also located here were the two regions of Forlindon to the North, with its chief port being Forlond. The other was Harlindon to the South, which Harlond was its chief port.

The Dwarven cities of Nogrod and Belegost were also ruined when the mountains were broken. Causing most of the Dwarves to migrate east to Khazad-dûm, leaving a remnant behind. By the Third Age however, the native Dwarves seemed to have largely moved to the Southern chain.

The Third Age

In the Third Age the Blue Mountains apparently saw the return of many of the Firebeards and Broadbeams due to the isolation/stagnation of Khazad Dûm, and the later awakening of Durin's Bane.

It also became the new home for many of Durin's folk who were exiled from their halls in Erebor by Smaug the Dragon who had driven them out. After the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, King Thrain II established his throne in the Northern range beyond the Little Lune river and later his son Thorin ruled after he went missing. During Thorin's reign many of the wandering Longbeards joined him and they became prosperous in a fashion. However Erebor was retaken from Smaug by Thorin and company in 2941, and it can be assumed most if not all of Durin's folk relocated there.

The Fourth Age

After the War of the Ring, the Dwarves continued to rule the Blue Mountains. However with the fall of Sauron the mountains were now free from any potential threat. It is assumed they Dwarves lived their till the world grew old and the days of Durin's race had ended.

Etymology

Ered Luin is a Sindarin name, consisting of ered ("mountains") and luin ("blue").[1]

See also

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 66