Helcaraxë

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Ted Nasmith - Fingolfin Leads the Host Across the Helcaraxë

Helcaraxë (pron. N [ˌhelkaˈrakse], V [ˌxelkaˈrakse], "ice fangs"[1]) was the perilous icy wastes that formerly lay between Araman (a region in the north of Aman) and Middle-earth in the far north of Arda.[2] Here met the Encircling Sea and the Belegaer, creating "vast fogs and mists of deathly cold, and the sea-streams were filled with clashing hills of ice and the grinding of ice deep-sunken."[3]

At the beginning of the First Age, Morgoth and Ungoliant, escaping from the pursuit of the Valar, fled to Middle-earth across the treacherous wastes of the Helcaraxë. Later, Fingolfin and his people also made their way into Beleriand across the Helcaraxë.[3]

Helcaraxë was also referred to as the Grinding Ice.[4][5] Another name for this region was perhaps also the Narrow Ice, used by Bilbo Baggins in his poem Song of Eärendil.[6]

Etymology

In the Etymologies, the second element in Helkarakse is said to be the Quenya word karakse ("jagged hedge of spikes").[7] Helge Fauskanger has suggested that the first element (hel-) derives from the root KHELEK ("ice").[8]

Also in the Etymologies, Tolkien experimented with Noldorin translations of Hekarakse: elcharaes, helcharaes or Helcharach.[7][9]

See also

References