Grey Mountains
Grey Mountains | |
---|---|
Mountain range | |
"Ered Mithrin" by Matěj Čadil | |
General Information | |
Other names | Ered Mithrin |
Location | North-west of Erebor, north of Mirkwood |
Type | Mountain range |
Description | A rich mountain range of many ores |
People and History | |
Inhabitants | Durin's Folk Dragons Orcs |
Events | War of the Dwarves and Dragons, slaying of Scatha the Worm |
Gallery | Images of the Grey Mountains |
The Grey Mountains (or Ered Mithrin in Sindarin) was a large mountain range to the north of Rhovanion. Their western end connected to the Misty Mountains at the site of Mount Gundabad.
Geography
North of the Grey Mountains lay the Northern Waste.[1] In the west, where the Grey Mountains met with the Misty Mountains rose Mount Gundabad, an ancient Dwarven holy site and later the capital for the Orcs of the north. The eastern end of the Grey Mountains was split into two chains, and in between lay the Withered Heath, where Dragons bred. After that was a wide hilly plain, beyond which lay the Iron Hills. Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, lay south of the Grey Mountains.[1]
From east to west the mountains stretched some 350 Númenórean Miles, and the sources of the Great River Anduin, the river Greylin, and the Forest River of Mirkwood arose in this range.[1]
History
Early history
In the First Age, the Longbeards established mansions in Moria and the Iron Hills, and they considered the Grey Mountains, which lay between these mansions, to be within their territory. Some Men—mostly related to the House of Hador of Beleriand—settled between the Grey Mountains and Greenwood, and they allied with the Longbeards against Morgoth's Orcs.[2]:302-303 This alliance ended in the Second Age after Sauron destroyed Eregion, which prompted the Longbeards to seal Moria. During this time, Orcs took control of the Grey Mountains.[2]:305
Third Age
In T.A. 1980 a Balrog appeared in Moria and by the next year the Dwarves fled.[3] Durin's folk were scattered. Thráin I reestablished the Kingdom under the Mountain but Thorin I went to the Grey Mountains where most of the Dwarves gathered.[4] Nearly six hundred years later, Dragons began afflicting the Dwarves. In 2589 Dáin I was slain by a Dragon and the Grey Mountain strongholds were abandoned after the Wars of the Dwarves and Dragons. About 2480 Orcs had begun to infest the Misty Mountains[3] and spread to the Grey Mountains, such that by 2941 Gandalf the Wizard could say that the range was "simply stiff with goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs of the worst description".[5] However, after the Battle of Five Armies the number of Goblins in the Grey Mountains were greatly reduced (some three parts of them had perished).[6]
There still was a remnant of the Dwarves in the Ered Mithrin after the core of the population left[4], but were probably few; working whatever mines they could hold from the Orcs and Dragons.
Other versions of the legendarium
Another line of "Grey Mountains" in Middle-earth are seen on the Ambarkanta map.[7]
Portrayal in adaptations
2018: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- Ered Mithrin is an area in "The Dwarf-holds" region, also known as "Ered Mithrin & Withered Heath" in addition to the Iron Hills. The playable area consists of the southern slopes of the mountains and the land north of Eryn Lasgalen, and is accessed by a road going through the Dale-lands west of Erebor. There are three major peaks east of Gundabad: "Wrathhorn", on which is built "Thikil-gundu, the Steel Keep", capital of the former dwarven kingdom of "Grárik"; "Thrumfall", site of the keeps of "Skárhald", "Stormwall", and the mine "Glimmerdeep"; and "Winterstith" bordering the Withered Heath, which can be accessed by the pass of "Wyrmgap". The upper course of the Forest River is crossed by "Óinsbridge", while at the Greylin are the ruins of "Rushgate" at the western border of the region.
- The Grey Mountains have been settled both by the Longbeards and by a house of Easterling dwarves known as the "Zhélruka". They are now inhabited by many lesser Dragon-kind as well as the true Dragons "Etterfang Foulmaw", Smaug's sister, and "Hrímil Frost-heart". Orcs and Trolls from Gundabad can also be found there.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age" [map]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "Relations of the Longbeard Dwarves and Men"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "Durin's Folk"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Queer Lodgings"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "The Return Journey"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Shaping of Middle-earth, "V. The Ambarkanta"