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Dates
Dated back to the First Age; survived into the Fourth Age1
Location
The icy region of Forodwaith (which took its name from these people), especially along the shores of the Icebay of Forochel
Race
Cultures
Included the culture of the Lossoth, and perhaps others
Pronunciation
foro'dwaith (where ai is pronounced like the English word 'eye')
Meaning
'Northern people'
Other names
During the Third Age, their descendants were known as the Lossoth or Snowmen

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About this entry:

  • Updated 26 January 2022
  • This entry is complete

Forodwaith

Men of the ancient Northern Waste

Forodwaith
Lossoth

An almost unknown people who dwelt in the north of Middle-earth in the distant past, apparently dating back to the First Age. They were noted as being a hardy people, as indeed would be necessary living in the icy lands closest to Morgoth's stronghold at Angband.

By the Third Age, little was left of the Forodwaith. Their last remnant were a people known as the Lossoth, living around the shores of the Icebay of Forochel. They did leave one great memorial, though: the wastes of northern Middle-earth retained the name of the Forodwaith who had lived there. Judging by the extents of the wasteland that bore their name, these people wandered much further afield than Forochel. These lands stretch to the north of the Misty Mountains and the Grey, for hundreds of miles eastward from the Icebay.


Notes

1

Our last specific mention of this people (or, more specifically, of their offshoot the Lossoth) was in III 1974, when they aided Arvedui the last King of Arthedain. However, the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings (specifically Appendix A I (iii), Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur) mention the Lossoth in the present tense. As these Appendices were theoretically assembled during the Fourth Age, it seems that these people were still extant at least into the earlier centuries of that age.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 26 January 2022
  • This entry is complete

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