Sea of Rhûn

From Tolkien Gateway
The name Inland Sea refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Inland Sea (disambiguation).
Sea of Rhûn
Inland Sea
Ted Nasmith - The Sea of Rhûn.jpg
"The Sea of Rhûn" by Ted Nasmith
General Information
LocationRhûn
TypeInland Sea
GalleryImages of the Sea of Rhûn

The Sea of Rhûn or Inland Sea[1] was a large lake or sea in northern Middle-earth that lay east of Rhovanion on the western borders of Rhûn. The Kine of Araw were found in the fields of Rhûn near the Inland Sea.[2][3]

Geography[edit | edit source]

The Celduin flowed from the north-west into an arm of the sea. West of the Sea of Rhûn was the land of Dorwinion, and roughly 200 miles (300 km) to the south was the eastern end of the Ered Lithui.

A forest stood at the north-eastern shore of the sea, and near the south-western shore there were many hills. The south-eastern part of the Sea seems to be occupied by a small wooded island.[4][5][6]

History[edit | edit source]

In the Years of the Trees during the time of the Great Journey, the Eldar reached the Sea of Rhûn after marching 450 miles west or northwest from Cuiviénen.[7] The craft of ship-making practised by the Teleri reached new heights in their efforts to traverse the Sea of Rhûn on their westward journey.[8]

In the First Age, the shores of the Inland Sea were populated by tribes of Men who were migrating to the West. The Lesser Folk arrived there first and dwelt at the feet of the nearby hills. The Greater Folk came later in the north-east woods near the shores. The Men crafted boats and could sail the sea, but they did not meet often, and their languages soon diverged[9] before they resumed their journey to Beleriand.

In the early Third Age, the Kings of Gondor such as Rómendacil I campaigned to those lands, and Turambar expanded the kingdom to the East. By the time of King Hyarmendacil I, the Inland Sea formed one of the boundaries of Gondor.[10]

Vorondil hunted the Kine of Araw near the shores of the Sea.[10]

During the time of Rómendacil II, the Inland Sea was apparently within the borders of the power of Gondor.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Rhûn is simply Sindarin for "East".[11]

In the drafts for The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien considered calling the Sea Rhûnaer[12] or Rúnaeluin.[13]

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

In the drafts of The Lord of the Rings, the sea was called the Sea of Rhûnaer. In the earlier maps, part of the Sea was more clearly occupied by a heavily wooded island.[12] In the published maps by Christopher Tolkien, the island is represented by a dotted pattern.[14] The reason for this change and what it signifies was never specified by C. Tolkien. There is no trace of the unnamed island in Pauline Baynes's A Map of Middle-earth.

In a 1948 note on his General Map of Middle-earth, Tolkien drew an arrow from the River Running with the direction to the end of the map, and carries the note: "To Sea of Rûnaer. Hammond and Scull suggest that Rûnaer is likely an alternative name of Rhûn.[15]

Also in these early draft of the maps for The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien indicated that Neldoreth was the name of the forest bordering the Sea of Rhûn's north-eastern shore. This forest went unnamed in later maps.[12]

Theories[edit | edit source]

Christopher Tolkien once questioned whether the Sea of Rhûn could "...be identified with the Sea of Helcar, vastly shrunken".[16] Karen Wynn Fonstad adopted this position in making The Atlas of Middle-earth. However, in The Peoples of Middle-earth and The Nature of Middle-earth, which were published after Fonstad's Atlas, the Sea of Rhûn and its surrounding geographical landmarks exist as far back as the Years of the Trees of the First Age at the time of the Great Journey, hundreds of miles west of where the Elves awoke near the Sea of Helcar.[8][7]

See also[edit | edit source]

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Unfinished index for The Lord of the Rings", in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 522
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Minas Tirith"
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "The Realms in Exile", "The Southern Line: Heirs of Anarion"
  4. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, the scale of the General Map of Middle-earth is so small, that the symbols for the trees on the island only appear like dots, p. 691
  5. On The First Map of The Lord of the Rings the forest on the northeastern corner of the Sea of Rûn, which was called Rhûnaer on that map has a green colour and the island in the east of the Rhûnaer has the same green colour
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Treason of Isengard, "XV. The First Map of The Lord of the Rings", "Map II", Map II, The island in the Sea is coloured green on the First Map, and is marked as wooded on the 1943 Map, p. 307
  7. 7.0 7.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part One. Time and Ageing: VII. The March of the Quendi", pp. 47, 49
  8. 8.0 8.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XIII. Last Writings" pp. 391-392
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XII. The Problem of Ros"
  10. 10.0 10.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion"
  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E, "Writing", "The Fëanorian Letters"
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Treason of Isengard, "XV. The First Map of The Lord of the Rings", "Map II", Map II, p. 307
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part One: The End of the Third Age: VII. Many Partings", p. 65. Cf. note 9
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age" [map]
  15. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 199
  16. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Two. The Later Quenta Silmarillion" p. 174.