The One Wiki to Rule Them All
Register
Advertisement
The One Wiki to Rule Them All

The Blue Mountains, or Ered Luin, also known as Ered Lindon, was a mountain range situated in the far west of Eriador.


History[]

Early Arda[]

The Blue Mountains arose sometime after the tumultuous chaos caused by Melkor's destruction of the Two Lamps that destroyed the perfect symmetry of Arda. In these early days, the Blue Mountains were located between the newly formed great sea of Belegaer and the newly formed Sea of Helcar. The Blue Mountains were connected to the Iron Mountains to the north and the Red Mountains in the east which formed one great mountain range chain known by different names. The Grey Mountains were to its south separated by a great gap.[1]

Elder Days[]

During the Years of the Trees and the Sleep of Yavanna, the Blue Mountains was an unbroken line separating Eriador from Beleriand. Seven rivers arose in it on the western side, and the land these rivers flowed through was known as Ossiriand, the land of seven rivers. Dwarves migrated here from their awakening point and delved the cities of Belegost and Nogrod and made contact and alliance with the Sindar of Thingol.[2]

Second Age[]

The mountain range was broken during the War of Wrath of the Valar against Morgoth, and at the middle of the range the sea broke through, creating a great gap where was set the Gulf of Lune where the river Lune flowed into the sea. In the middle of the gap, where the Lune met the sea, the Grey Havens of Mithlond were built. The remnant of Ossiriand that had survived the war became known as Lindon, where the kingdom of Gil-galad was located. After this date the mountains were also known as Ered Lindon.

ERED LUIN location map in middle earth

Location of the Blue Mountains in Middle-earth

Third Age and beyond[]

During the Third Age, its forests, besides that of Mirkwood, were the largest in Middle-earth. After the fall of the north-kingdom the last King of Arthedain, Arvedui fled to the Blue Mountains and hid from the servants of the Witch-king of Angmar in abandoned Dwarf mines until eventually compelled to leave by hunger.

In the latter part of the Third Age, the Dwarves settled the Blue Mountains again when Thráin II, his son Thorin and the Dwarven survivors of the Sack of Erebor moved from Dunland and delved a prosperous settlement there.[3] After the War of the Ring and the defeat of Sauron, Elves continued to travel west to Lindon through the gap in the mountains by way of the Gulf of Lune, from where they eventually set sail on the Straight Road to the Undying Lands of Aman.[4] Dwarves continued to mine the Blue Mountains into the Fourth Age.

Inhabitants[]

Dwarves[]

While Morgoth was imprisoned in Mandos, and Middle-earth still lay under starlight, the first Dwarves came west over the Blue Mountains that bordered Beleriand. The origins of these Dwarves are unclear, but they seem to have arisen from two of the Fathers of their race, placed beneath the Mountains by their maker Aulë. These two Fathers gave rise to two clans, each of which had made a great city in the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. In the Dwarf-tongue these cities were known as Gabilgathol and Tumunzahar, but history remembers them by their Elvish names: Belegost and Nogrod.

DwarfHomesteadsLOTRO

Underground Dwarf homes in the Blue Mountains, as seen in The Lord of the Rings Online.

From their mountain-cities, the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains came down into Beleriand to trade with the Elves. They played a great part in the making of Thingol's halls at Menegroth, and later aided in the delving of Nargothrond beside Narog. In Nogrod during this period, the master craftsman Telchar forged weapons and armour that would be famed through Middle-earth's history, including Narsil, the sword that would be broken and reforged for Aragorn far in the future.

After Morgoth's return to Middle-earth, the Dwarves were loosely allied with the Elves in the Wars of Beleriand that followed. They fought in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, where Azaghâl of Belegost drove Glaurung from the field, but was himself slain. After the Nírnaeth, relations between the Elves and Dwarves cooled: Dwarves of Nogrod slew Thingol and stole the Nauglamír, and after this time enmity and mistrust grew between the two peoples.

At the end of the First Age, the War of Wrath caused the destruction of much of Beleriand and its neighbouring lands. The Dwarves of the Blue Mountains did not escape: Nogrod and Belegost were destroyed by the inrushing Sea, and their people fled eastwards. Many came to Khazad-dûm and joined with the Longbeards there, but the time of the first Dwarves of the Blue Mountains had come to the end.

EredLuinBannerdisplay2

Dwarf warrior of Blue Mountains

As the millennia passed, the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm that had welcomed the refugees from Nogrod and Belegost were themselves driven from their home, and wandered widely in Middle-earth. More than six thousand years after the old citadels of the Dwarves had been lost, these wandering Dwarves of Durins' Folk, under King Thráin II, returned to the Ered Luin. The seat of their Kings only remained there for a generation - Thráin's son Thorin II set out to recover the Lonely Mountain in the distant east - but for many years after the hammers of the Dwarves rang again among the Blue Mountains, as they had in ancient days.

Elves[]

It is shown in several maps made of Middle-earth that vast ancient forests flanked both sides of the Blue Mountains, even after the gargantuan felling of Eriador's great forests by the men of Númenor with their incessant appetite for lumber. These forests, alongside the fertile coastal plain, would prove to be draws for Elven migration and habitation.

It is stated at the very beginning of The Hobbit that the High Elves lived within the vales and forests of the Blue Mountains, presumably sharing the land with the Dwarves. To this number would be added Sindar, Wood-elves, and maybe even a few Avari.

The influx of new Elven settlers soared during the Second Age with the arrival of the Ñoldorin High King Gil-galad and the founding of the realm of Lindon.[5][6] After the fall of Gil-galad the Elven population of the region dwindled rapidly during the Third Age.[7][8]

Etymology[]

Ered Luin is Sindarin, formed of the words ered ('mountains') and luin ('blue').

In adaptations[]

Video games[]

ThorinsHallLOTRO

A Dwarven settlement in the Blue Mountains, as seen in The Lord of the Rings Online

Central Ered Luin is amongst the regions fleshed out in The Lord of the Rings Online. Significant areas surrounding Dwarven and Elven settlements are available for exploration and adventuring. The Blue Mountains are only in the campaign in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II but may not in a skirmish.

Films[]

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, It also became the new home for many of Durin's Folk who were exiled from their halls in Erebor by Smaug the Dragon who had driven them out. After the Battle of Moria, Thorin established his throne in the Southern range beyond the Shire and many of the wandering Longbeards joined him in his halls and they became prosperous in a fashion. Some local Dwarves joined their ranks, and Bombur, Bofur and Bifur hailed from these. Erebor was retaken from Smaug by Thorin and company in T.A. 2941, and it can be assumed most if not all of Durin's folk relocated there.

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Blou Berge
Amharic ሰማያዊ ተራሮች
Albanian Blu Malet
Arabic الجبال الزرقاء
Armenian Կապույտ լեռներ
Assamese নীলা পৰ্বতমালা
Asturian Montañes Azules
Azerbaijani Mavi Dağlar
Basque Mendi Urdinak
Belarusian Cyrillic Блакітныя горы
Bengali ব্লু পর্বতমালা
Breton Menezioù Glas
Bosnian Plava Planine
Bulgarian Cyrillic Сините планини
Cambodian ភ្នំខៀវ
Catalan Muntanyes Blaves
Cebuano Asul nga mga Bukid
Chinese (Hong Kong) 藍色山脈
Cornish Blou Menydhyow
Corsican Muntagne Blu
Croatian Modro gorje
Czech Modré hory
Danish De Blå Bjerge
Dari کوه های آبی
Dogri नीले पहाड़
Dutch Blauwe Bergen
Esperanto Bluaj Montoj
Estonian Sinimäed
Faroese Bláurfjøll
Filipino Asul na bundok
Finnish Sinivuoret
French Montagnes Bleues
Frisian Blauwe Bergen (Western)
Galician Montañas Azuis
Georgian ცისფერი მთები
German Blaue Berge
Greek Μπλε Βουνά
Gujarati બ્લુ પર્વતો
Haitian Creole Mòn Ble
Hebrew (Blue Mountains) ההרים הכחולים

(Ered Lindon) ארד לינדון

Hindi ब्लू पर्वत
Hmong Xiav Toj siab
Hungarian Kék-hegység
Icelandic Bláfjöll
Indonesian Pegunungan Biru
Irish Gaelic Sléibhte Gorm
Italian Monti Azzurri
Japanese ブルー・マウンテンズ
Javanese Biru Gunung
Kannada ನೀಲಿ ಪರ್ವತಗಳು
Kazakh Көгілдір таулар (Cyrillic) Kögildir tawlar (Latin)
Konkani निळे पर्वत
Korean 청색산맥
Kurdish شاخی شین (Sorani) Çiyayên Şîn (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Көк тоолор
Laotian ພູເຂົາສີຟ້າ
Latin Caeruleus Montes
Latvian Zilie Kalni
Lithuanian Mėlynieji Kalnai
Luxembourgish Blo Bierger
Macedonian Cyrillic Сината Планина
Malagasy Manga Tendrombohitra
Malayalam നീല മലനിരകൾ
Malaysian Gunung Biru
Maltese Muntanji Blu
Marathi निळा पर्वत
Mongolian Cyrillic хөх уулсын
Nāhuatl Texohtic Tepetl
Navajo Dootłʼizh Dził
Norwegian Blåfjellene
Occitan Monts Blaus
Old English Bleoh Beorgas
Pashto زنگالي غرونو
Persian کوه های آبی
Polish Góry Błękitne
Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal) Montanhas Azuis
Punjabi ਬਲੂ ਪਹਾੜ
Romanian Munții Albaștri
Romansh Muntognas Blau
Russian Синие горы
Samoan Mauga lanu moana
Sanskrit नीलपर्वताः
Sardinian Montagnas Azules
Scottish Gaelic Gorm Beanntan
Serbian Плаве планине (Cyrillic) Plave planine (Latin)
Sicilian Muntagni Blu
Sindhi نيرو جبلن
Sinhalese නිල් කඳු
Slovak Modré Vrchy
Slovenian Modra Gore
Somali Baluug Buuraha
Spanish (Spain and Latin America) Montañas Azules
Sundanese Paul Pagunungan
Swahili Buluu Milima
Swedish Blå Bergen
Tajik Cyrillic Кабуд кӯҳҳои
Tamil நீல மலைகள்
Tatar Зәңгәр таулар
Telugu బ్లూ మౌంటైన్స్
Thai เทือกเขาบลู (Blue Mountains) เอเร็ดลูอิน (Ered Luin)
Turkish Mavi Dağlar
Turkmen Gök Daglar
Ukrainian Cyrillic Блу Маунтінс
Urdu دی بلیو ماؤنٹینز
Uyghur كۆك تاغلار
Uzbek Кўк Тоғлар (Cyrillic) Ko'k Tog'lar (Latin)
Vietnamese Dãy núi Blue
Welsh Mynyddoedd Glas
Yiddish בלו בערג
Yoruba Bulu Òkè


Mountain Ranges of Arda

Ash Mountains | Blue Mountains | Echoriad | Ephel Dúath | Ered Gorgoroth | Ered Lómin | Ered Wethrin | Grey Mountains (north) | Grey Mountains (south) | Iron Hills | Iron Mountains | Misty Mountains | Mountains of Angmar | Mountains of Mirkwood | Mountains of Mithrim | Mountains of the Wind | Orocarni | Pelóri | Walls of the Sun | White Mountains | Yellow Mountains



Dwarven realms of Middle-earth throughout the Ages
Years of the Trees and First Age Amon Rûdh | Belegost | Khazad-dûm | Mount Gundabad | Nogrod | Narukuthûn | Blue Mountains
Second Age Khazad-dûm | Belegost | Nogrod | Mount Gundabad | Blue Mountains | Iron Hills
Third Age Grey Mountains | Iron Hills | Khazad-dûm | Lonely Mountain | Blue Mountains | Dunland
Fourth Age Glittering Caves | Khazad-dûm | Lonely Mountain | Blue Mountains | Iron Hills


References[]

  1. The Atlas of Middle-earth, The First Age, The Elder Days, "Introduction"
  2. The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter X: "Of the Sindar"
  3. Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three: The Third Age, III: "The Quest of Erebor"
  4. The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings, "The Road Home"
  5. The Atlas of Middle-earth, Thematic Maps, "Population"
  6. The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Second Age, "Refugee Relocation"
  7. The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter III: "Three is Company"
  8. The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter IX: "The Grey Havens"
Advertisement