The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Location
A promontory extending into the Great Sea from Minhiriath, southward of the mouth of Baranduin
Settlements
None known
Race
Outflow
The mouth of Baranduin lay directly northward of the cape
Pronunciation
e'roon vo'rn
Meaning
'Black woods'
Other names
In one source spelt Erin Voru2

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About this entry:

  • Updated 5 July 2020
  • This entry is complete

Eryn Vorn

The wooded cape beneath the mouths of Baranduin

Map of Eryn Vorn

A long, densely forested peninsula, approximately one hundred miles in length, that extended out into the Great Sea from coastlands of Minhiriath. The cape extended from the lands eastward of the mouths of the river Baranduin, and ran almost directly southward. The entire cape was covered in thick forests, from which it took its name, which comes from the Elvish for 'black woods'.

Eryn Vorn played little part in history, but we do have an account of it as a refuge for the Men of Middle-earth during the Second Age. During the later part of that Age, the Númenóreans were spreading outward from their bases on the Gwathló, cutting down the mighty forests that at that time grew thickly across Minhiriath. The hunting people who dwelt in those forests attempted to defend their land, but this only made the Númenóreans more ruthless.

Eventually the Men of the forests were driven back westward into the woods of Eryn Vorn. They could continue no further because of the great river Baranduin, and because of their fear of the Elves of Lindon who dwelt beyond the river. We're not told the fate of these Men, but the fact that forests survived on the cape, while elsewhere they were cut down by the Númenóreans, suggests that the refugees were left to live there in relative peace. Whether they survived into the Third Age is uncertain, but if so they would have fallen within the lands claimed by Arnor, and later Cardolan, before those realms fell. It is even possible that the descendants of these woodland Men survived on Eryn Vorn as late as the time of the War of the Ring.


Notes

1

Our only specific historical reference to Eryn Vorn comes from the later Second Age, in the time of cruel Númenórean incursions into Middle-earth. Many of the native Men of Middle-earth fled to conceal themselves in the dark forests of the peninsula to hide from the Númenóreans at this time. In the earlier Third Age, the cape formally fell within the bounds of the Arnor, the North-kingdom of Dúnedain, and later of Cardolan. We have no accounts of the Dúnedain occupying Eryn Vorn during this period.

2

Specifically, the spelling Erin Voru is seen on the first edition of A Map of Middle-earth by Pauline Baynes. This was simply a misreading of Tolkien's notes, and doesn't represent an actual alternative name for the peninsula.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 5 July 2020
  • This entry is complete

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