Encyclopedia of Arda: Seven Rivers of Ossir

Seven rivers that flowed through Ossiriand, the land of the Green-elves west of the Blue Mountains before the end of the First Age. The most important of these was the Gelion, which flowed from the March of Maedhros in the far north, and formed the western border of Ossiriand.

The other six rivers were tributaries of this large river, each stemming from a separate spring in the Blue Mountains, and flowing westward to empty into the Gelion. The northernmost of these was the Ascar, which rose in the mountains near Nogrod, and flowed beside the Dwarf-road to Sarn Athrad. South from the Ascar were the Thalos, the Legolin, the Brilthor and the Duilwen. Finally, the southernmost of the six was the River Adurant, in which the green island of Tol Galen stood.

Notes

The mouths of the River Gelion don't appear on any known map - in all cases, the river flows off the map's southern edge in a most inconvenient fashion. However, we know that the forest of Taur-im-Duinath grew between Sirion in the west and Gelion in the east, so logically Gelion must have flowed into the sea south of the forest. In fact this is explicit in earlier versions of the Silmarillion: for example, in the Quenta Silmarillion reproduced in The History of Middle-earth volume 5 (The Lost Road), the forest is placed 'between the mouths of Sirion and Gelion' (our italics). By contrast, later versions, including the published Silmarillion, describe it in less definite terms as just 'between Sirion and Gelion'. It isn't clear whether this change holds any particular significance - just possibly, Tolkien may have intended Gelion's outflow to be further south, somewhat beyond the southern end of the forest.

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Seven Rivers of Ossir

The River Gelion and its six tributaries

Notes