Chapter Text
A map of Middle-earth and its surrounding regions, created using several sources by Númenórean scholars with contacts in the East, South, and Far Lands, circa S.A. 3000. Credited to the Cartographers’ Guild of Rómenna, with “special thanks” to Falmalórë Círdilion of Pelargir.
Restoration and recreation of the original map, and design of the new, done by Caleneth Leptafinya, esteemed artist and cartographer of King Elessar’s court.
Original accompanying notes recovered and reprinted (and addition of new notes compiled and elaborated) by her loving husband, Barahir of Ithilien.
The following text accompanies the original map, and was written by its makers at the Cartographers’ Guild.
Of the North-west of Middle-earth much already is known and chronicled by the Elves of Lindon and Eregion. We map here the realm of Eregion-that-was, and its great city Ost-in-Edhil; though as we write, both have fallen to the Shadow. Many of our sources came originally from this land and the writings of one Pengolodh, who has sailed to the Land of Valinor. We are thus indebted in our research to Lord Elrond of Imladris, who holds his records.
While we include this region in our work, our true attempt is to map the rest of the world, as far as we of Númenor know it, and as far as our contacts have traveled.
In the farthest north of the land is the Forodwaith. There dwell the people who gave it its name, the Snow-host, a group of Middle Men who have many scattered settlements across the ice-plains. Of them only one group in the West is known much about, the Lossoth, though they call themselves the Lumi-väki, who have had some trade with the dwarves of the Hithaeglir, the Misty Mountains. In this region also, in smaller numbers, also dwell some Avarin Elves of the Cuind tribe.
East of the Hithaeglir and the River Anduin is the great forest of Eryn Galen, where Silvan Elves are ruled by the Sindarin king, Oropher. Our contacts among the Wood-elves explain that the name Silvan is a corruption, largely by Men, of the ancient Avarin word Silpanni, or “shining-people.” They say this name arose because their ancestors, a subgroup of the Penni Avari, came West only after the Sun began to shine. However, our contacts among the Sindarin court of Oropher claim the name is truly derived from Saelpenni, or “wise-folk,” though they say also that the name is incorrectly given and that the Silvans are “less wise” than their Eldarin kin. (It is the opinion of this cartographer [Editor’s Note: that being Falmalórë Círdilion] that the former tale is more likely.)
Across the Anduin, in the eaves of Hithaeglir, are a sister-folk to the Silvans who dwell in the forest of Lórinand. They are the Nanyar or Nandor Elves. Our contacts among the Nanyar say the word derives from the ancient Elvish word nan for “valley;” but all Noldor and Sindar sources claim otherwise, saying instead that its meaning is “those who go back,” and that the current Nandor are related to the original Telerin Elves who forsook the Great Journey to Aman and turned back. (It is the opinion of the Guild that both possibilities are equally likely.)
To the north of Eryn Galen is Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, and the Long Lake. Both areas are sparsely inhabited by any race. Eastward are the Emyn Engren, the Iron Hills, where dwell a small population of Longbeard Dwarves, kin to the Lords of Khazad-dûm. Rumors among these Dwarves, and their neighbors to the North the Forodwaith, speak of a hidden colony of Cuind Avari who once delved the caverns there, but these claims are disputed.
Further east along the same latitude, along the banks of the River Celduin dwell a tribe of Easterling Men known as the Jangovar. Continuing east is is the Land of Palisor, where dwell several related kindreds of Men. Closest in kinship are the Khundolar and the Chayasír, but between their lands is the Dark Castle of the Úmaia Thû, perhaps a thane of Sauron himself, who holds all these folk under his dominion.
East of East are the Orocarni, the Red Mountains. In the northern remnants of Ered Engren, the Iron Mountains, that were destroyed in the War of Wrath, is Ironhold, the fortress of the Stiffbeard Dwarves, far-removed from any others of their race. Little is known of them.
South of Ironhold, on either side of the Orocarni, is the Wild Wood. It is much shrunken from its earliest days where it bordered Cuiviénen, even as that Sea has itself dwindled in size from various catastrophes of old. [EN: Númenórean and other Mannish texts usually call identify this Sea as Cuiviénen, but every Elvish source I have encountered makes a clear distinction between Cuiviénen, the Awakening-place of the Elves, and the Sea of Helcar, the vast body of water to which the Guild here refers. In truth, Cuiviénen is only the eastern shore of the Helcar, and not the name of the Sea itself. I have corrected this mistake in my reconstruction.] But still some Avarin Elves live both in the Wood and around the Sea’s bordering plains and hills, those of the Hwenti and Kindi tribes. [EN: The Hwenti lived still at Cuiviénen. The Kindi lived in the mountainous region on the western shore of the Sea of Helcar.]
Just south of Cuiviénen [EN: actually the Sea of Helcar] is the territory of the Amardan Elves, nomads and wanderers. Which tribe they belong to is unknown.
Just west of Cuiviénen [EN: the Helcar] is the Elven-Kingdom of Dorwinion. Their King is called Bladorthin, and from this land come the most exquisite wines in all of Middle-earth, though none surpass the vineyards of Númenor. [EN: This is unable to be proved, as the last of Númenor’s wines were drunk long ago. One can attest to the quality of Dorwinion wine, however.]
South-west of Dorwinion is the Land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie, and Sauron himself rules. In due time our people shall defeat him and bring life back to this dark place. [EN: This took an Age longer than first anticipated, but it was at last accomplished in the days of our grandfathers.]
We return now to the Westlands. Vinyalondë on the coast is a settlement of our people, and thus much has been written elsewhere of its vast forests, the shadowed vales, and the green plains. Some Middle Men dwell in these vales, and also in the Hills of Agar; but of the dark forest of Fangorn none speak more than its name. South of Fangorn are the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains, and Edhellond by the sea, where dwell many Sindarin elves, remnants of the folk of the Falathrim of the First Age.
In the Mouths of the Anduin is Pelargir, that fair, uncorrupted city, home of this cartographer and port of many ships.
[EN: Círdilion here waxes poetic for several paragraphs on the beauty of his home. As Pelargir yet stands as a city of Gondor, such details are well-chronicled elsewhere, and has been omitted in this recreation. Of note only is this: that Pelargir was a haven of the Faithful, who at time of writing in Númenor were largely persecuted. Remarkably, the Cartographers’ Guild retained their independence and sympathies toward the Faithful, thus allowing for the creation of this document. That it survived Númenor’s fall is a testament to the Faithful, also, who may have been the primary audience for this map. Other extensive maps of Middle-earth certainly existed at the time; but they were used for conquest and plunder by the King’s Men, and were lost when Númenor drowned.]
Now we reach the land called simply Harad, the Southlands, though that is a poor name for such a vast territory. This region stretches into nearly a continent in its own right, far southward long past the equator. [EN: That the flat world before the Changing had an equator is certain, though it surprises many young scholars I have taught!] In the north of this region is the Haven of Umbar, founded by we Númenóreans. It is surrounded by the colony of Abrakhân.
[EN: The lack of expansion on Abrakhân is, while frustrating, understandable due to its corruption and the rumored atrocities performed there even before such horrors were brought to Númenor by Sauron. What we do know about the beginnings of this kingdom are that it was founded by two Númenórean brothers, Herumor and Fuinur, who turned to darkness and worship of the Shadow. Umbar itself has long been contested territory between Númenor or Gondor and the Men of the South.]
A little south and east of Abrakhân is the Mannish kingdom of Rûvashû, in the Miraz Desert. It is under the dominion of Sauron, as is the kingdom of Yettafaz to the south. Little is known of these enemy lands, but our sailors have documented some of the surrounding landscape. The Purple Mountains border the Western Sea and stretch inland for some leagues, forming the western border of Yettafaz. A mighty river, perhaps the world’s longest, runs through this part of Far Harad and deep into Yettafaz’s heartland.
One city alone between Rûvashû and Yettafaz has resisted the dominion of the Shadow. This is Sud Sicanna, located in a great oasis at the source of the Great Southern River, besieged by enemies on all sides. As such, very few have traveled in and out of this city-state, but those we have been able to meet speak of two mighty Mages robed in blue whom the Men of Sud Sicanna worship. [EN: These are almost certainly the Blue Wizards, fourth and fifth of the order to which Mithrandir the White belonged.]
In the southernmost portion of this pseudo-continent are several vast jungles, unexplored by our sources, but rumored to host another tribe of Avarin Elves, the Kinn-lai. Whispers of Elven kingdoms rivalling the great realms of Beleriand of old have reached Umbar and Pelargir, but none who we interviewed can say they have actually been there. Word also of a settlement of diminutive Men called Tûl Póac in the depths of the jungle, but we find this most likely to be a false legend at the expense of gullible foreigners. Nevertheless we have placed a mark upon this village’s approximate location, so that it may in the future be verified. [EN: Perhaps these tales were similar to those of Halflings, which were later proved to not only be real, but crucial in the events of Sauron’s ultimate downfall!]
East of Rûvashû in Near Harad is a continuation of the Miraz Desert. Little life endures there, but some lost wanderers claim to have been aided in their travels by yet another tribe of Avari Elves.
In the south of the North Miraz, the desert is halted by the Yellow Mountains, where dwell the Ironfist Dwarves in their stronghold of Ashūkkan. They are the sister-clan of the Stiffbeards in the north, and once dwelt alongside them in the Iron Mountains, but have since been far-sundered.
As the desert ends, to the north is a high and lonely mountain, whose name is unknown. A small group of Men dwell there, hostile to outsiders. Of them little is known. East across a river from this mountain is the realm of Layavmá, where many fruits grow. Again, little of this land is known to us, not even if it is a kingdom of Elves or Men. [EN: It has since been learned this land is ruled by Elves.]
Finally, in the East of East but south of the Orocarni, is the land of Hildórien where Men first woke with the rising of the Sun. If any of our ancient kin yet dwell there, we know not.
There are more lands upon the expanse of Arda. It is known there is a vast continent, even further to the East, which rivals Aman in the West; and there are tales of a Dark Land even further to the South of Far Harad. But of them we know little, and less still if they are inhabited; but two clans of Dwarves are yet unaccounted for, the Blacklocks and the Stonefoots, and so in some far mountains their homes must be.
Here end the original notes of the Cartographers’ Guild.
Following is the commentary of the historian and recreator, Barahir of Ithilien.
Of these further lands speculated by the Cartographers’ Guild, the scholars and statesmen of Gondor have since learned some. Here is what we know of their history before the world was Changed:
South of the Yellow Mountains, the range of peaks continued into the depths of the Inner Sea, where they rose above the waters as the Pearl Archipelago. There dwelt the Avarin Elves (originally of the Windan tribe) known as the Wiri-marilya, the Pearl-finders, upon the islands they called the Doya Marilya, the Isles of Pearls. To their neighbors they were known as the People of the Pearls. They built many beautiful and precious things, cities and spires and jewels rivaling the majesty of the Noldor of old. But all these things and their makers were drowned beneath the same waves that swallowed Númenor when the One in His inscrutable wisdom Changed the shape of Arda. Would that we of the West had known them when they lived, and preserved them as we did the heirlooms of Númenor!
The Guild wrote also of a Dark Land to the South of Harad. There is indeed a continent in this region, though it spreads northward and, at the time of the first map’s making, nearly touched the land of Hildórien. We have presented an approximate vision of this land, but as very few speaking-peoples dwell here, and even fewer in the Third Age, it is but a vague and incomplete sketch. What we do know is the presence of several rivers, the general shape of the land, and two mountain ranges, the Green Mountains (perhaps an extension of the Yellow and the Pearl Archipelago), and a far southern ridge called the Black Mountains.
Separated from the Dark Lands by the narrow East Sea is the eastern counterpart of Aman speculated by the Guild. This is the Land of the Sun, for it is where the Sun rises, a statement even more true when the world was flat. (It should be noted, for comprehensive accuracy, that ‘Land of the Sun’ is also what the Easterlings of Middle-earth call Rhûn, their home in the East-lands.) From north to south runs the longest contiguous mountain range in the known world, the Walls of the Sun.
The highest peak in this range, and second-highest in the world only after Taniquetil in Aman, is Kalormë. There lived the Sorcerer Túvon, who was the erstwhile thane of Sauron. He dominated the Land of the Sun and its inhabitants, the Sûhalar Men and the Blacklock and Stonefoot Dwarves (as hypothesized by the Guild). The Sûhalar dwell in scattered settlements all across the continent, and even some upon Middle-earth in the eastern eaves of the Orocarni, and were utterly subservient to Túvon.
But the last two Dwarven clans, while subjugated by Túvon’s wickedness, remained proud folk of good souls. They indeed were given Rings of Power by Sauron, but like their kin in Middle-earth resisted the worst of their ill effects. The home of the Stonefoots is in the very south of the Walls of the Sun, called Tagamand, where rich red gold runs deep within the mountain’s roots. Their sister-clan in the north, the Blacklocks, call their realm Banzakh, whose jewels are of surpassing beauty and shaped with even greater skill.
Of all these lands and peoples, save the long-perished Pearl Archipelago, we shall speak more of in the commentary of our updated map, accurate to the Third Age of Arda at its end.