Encyclopedia of Arda: Orocarni

Partially conjectural¹

A lost range of mountains in the far east of Middle-earth, near Cuiviénen, beneath which the first Elves awoke. Called the Mountains of the East, the name Orocarni literally translates as 'Red Mountains'. We know little more about them, except that they were apparently the source of the many streams that ran down into Cuiviénen.

A sketch-map reproduced in volume 4 of The History of Middle-earth shows a long straight mountain-range, running along the eastern coastlands from the far north, and ending to the east of the Sea of Helcar. These are labelled 'Red Mountains', and surely represent the lost range later called the Orocarni.

Notes

This map is based on one reproduced in volume 4 of The History of Middle-earth. The range in question is labelled 'Red Mountains' there, but almost certainly corresponds to the Orocarni of the Silmarillion. The streams running down from the mountains into the Sea of Helcar don't appear on the sketch-map, but are mentioned in the text of the Silmarillion.

Orocarni

The red mountains above Cuiviénen

Notes

See also...