Aelin-uial

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

Aelin-uial, a Sindarin name translated as Lakes of Twilight, was a marshy confluence of the river Aros into Sirion, south of Doriath.

The Aelin-Uial was the maze of lakes and fens which formed where the river called Aros met Sirion, before it fell beneath the Andram. These were lands heavy with enchantment, both from the girdle of Melian guarding Doriath to the North, but also from the power of Ulmo that was very mighty in the waters of the river Sirion. It was here that Turgon and Finrod were given the idea of building their hidden fortress at Gondolin and Nargothrond. This idea was given to them by Ulmo, who put this idea into their heads while they were dreaming. The Aelin-Uial was under the total control of the Sindarin kingdom of Doriath. The march wardens of Thingol had secret ferries among the reeds, so that they could cross between the Sirion's eastern and western banks unseen. At the southern end of the Aelin-Uial, the Sirion's waters collected together once more from the many paths they took through the Marshland and, at the place called the Falls of Sirion, fell a very loud waterfall down into the earth.

It was destroyed in the War of Wrath, which occurred at the end of the First Age. It is also called the "Meres of Twilight", "Twilight Meres", or "Twilit Meres".