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Dates
Destroyed in the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age
Location
To the northeast of Dorthonion
Pronunciation
la'dros
Meaning
Uncertain1

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  • Updated 20 January 2016
  • This entry is complete

Ladros

The northeastern reaches of Dorthonion

Map of Ladros

A highland region in the northeast of Dorthonion. It was held briefly as a fief by the House of Bëor, but lost to Morgoth in the Dagor Bragollach.

The region of Ladros seems originally to have been a fief of Finrod Felagund (at least, his brothers Angrod and Aegnor held 'the northern slopes of Dorthonion', according to Quenta Silmarillion 14, Of Beleriand and its Realms). Finrod later assigned this land to Boromir of the House of Bëor, whose members had long been loyal in his service.2

Of the House of Bëor, there were three lords of Ladros - Boromir himself, his son Bregor, and Bregor's son Bregolas. In Bregolas' time, Morgoth overwhelmed Dorthonion and Ladros in the Dagor Bragollach, in which Bregolas himself was slain. His brother Barahir and twelve faithful men, including Barahir's son Beren, became outlaws in their own land, assaulting Morgoth's forces from their hidden lair at Tarn Aeluin on Ladros' southern borders. They were betrayed by Gorlim the Unhappy, and all were slain but Beren, who escaped into the south. After this time, Ladros fell under the yoke of Morgoth until it was swallowed by the Great Sea at the end of the First Age.


In the Narn i Chîn Húrin (published by Christopher Tolkien in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth), Túrin Turambar is given the title 'heir of Dor-lómin and Ladros'. This seems inconsistent with the published Silmarillion: Túrin was descended from the House of Hador, not that of Bëor. Perhaps this birthright came from his mother, Morwen, who was the granddaughter of Barahir's brother Bregolas.

Notes

1

Elvish lad- simply means 'plain' or 'wide land', but the element -ros is obscure in this context. It might have the meaning 'dew', or it might indicate fine rain or drizzle. Alternatively, this element might derive from rost, an enclosed plain, and in that case the full name Ladros would mean something like 'open plain between mountains'. Indeed, this latter explanation might seem to fit the geography rather well, but as a place-name ending the word for 'plain between mountains' usually appears as -rost rather than -ros.

2

The date of Finrod's grant of Ladros to Boromir is nowhere recorded, but it must have been in about the year I 400.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 20 January 2016
  • This entry is complete

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