The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Known by this name from about III 1050 until III 3019
Location
Running west to east through the northern parts of Mirkwood
Race
At one time occupied by Elves1
Source
The Enchanted River rose in the north of these hills
Other names

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 22 January 2018
  • This entry is complete

Mountains of Mirkwood

The central highlands of Middle-earth’s greatest forest

Map of the Mountains of Mirkwood

In the central parts of northern Mirkwood, north of the Old Forest Road, lay a scattered range of hills. A jumble of fir-covered, low-lying hills to the west rose to reach greater heights in the east, together forming a range nearly one hundred miles in length. Historically, the Second Age saw these mountains inhabited by Silvan Elves, who knew the range as the Emyn Duir, the Dark Mountains.

During the Third Age, the power of Sauron spread across the Mountains as it did throughout the rest of the Forest, and they became populated by hideous creatures. Just as Greenwood the Great was renamed Mirkwood at this time, its northern hills also took on a new name: Emyn-nu-Fuin, the Mountains of Mirkwood.


Notes

1

Before the Shadow fell on the Forest, during the time it was known as Greenwood the Great, a people of Silvan Elves dwelt in the western valleys of the hills that would become known as the Mountains of Mirkwood. At that time these hills were known as the Dark Mountains, because they were shadowed by the trees on their slopes. It was the coming of the Shadow of Dol Guldur that caused these Silvan Elves to remove northwards, leaving the mountains and establishing the Woodland Realm in the far northeast of the Forest. That same Shadow caused the Forest's name to be changed to Mirkwood, and hence the hills at its heart to become the Mountains of Mirkwood. It is unclear whether any Elves remained there at the time the Mountains of Mirkwood acquired that name, but since their aim was to escape the encroaching Shadow, it does seem unlikely.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 22 January 2018
  • This entry is complete

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2001, 2017-2018. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

Website services kindly sponsored by Discus, the DISC profiling solution.
High Compliance (C) in a DISC profile indicates accuracy, structure and organisation.
The Encyclopedia of Arda
The Encyclopedia of Arda
Menu
Homepage Search Latest Entries and Updates Random Entry