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"Dreary and wearisome. Cold, clammy winter still held sway in this forsaken country. The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark greasy surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed up in the mists like ragged shadows of long forgotten summers."
from The Passage of the Marshes, The Two Towers

The Dead Marshes, also known as the Mere of Dead Faces, was an area of swampland east of the Emyn Muil and bordered on the east by the Dagorlad plain, site of the ancient Battle of Dagorlad during the War of the Last Alliance.

History[]

DEAD MARSHES location map in middle earth

The Dead Marshes marked in red

The marshes predated the Battle of Dagorlad, but were not named until after. The location was part of the battle site, where the Last Alliance fought the forces of Mordor and where many of the fallen were laid to rest. Over time, the marshes swallowed up the dead, and many preserved corpses remained visibly floating in the water as Dead Faces.

During Gondor's war with the Wainriders, King Ondoher's army was caught by surprise, and some of his defeated army attempted to escape into the marshes, only to drown. The general Eärnil then defeated the Wainriders in the Battle of the Camp in TA 1944, and they were driven into the marshes, where most perished.

The Dead Marshes were located northwest of the Morannon, and southeast of the Emyn Muil. Aragorn captured Gollum here, on February 1, 3017, and took him to Mirkwood.[1]

The War of the Ring[]

Dead-Marshes-Water

Corpses in the water of the marshes

During the quest to destroy the One Ring, Gollum led Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee through the marshes. They entered the Dead Marshes at dawn on March 1. The passage was marked by lights that danced about and candles which Gollum called "candles of corpses"; it is likely that those who became entranced by the lights and attempted to touch the bodies drowned in the water and went down to join the dead. Frodo soon became entranced by these lights and tried to reach out and touch the Dead Faces at the bottom of the marshes, though Sam broke him out of his trance. Gollum told them that the dead could not be touched, suggesting that he had once tried to eat them. While passing through the marshes, a Black Rider on a fellbeast passed overhead, terrifying Gollum enough that he started to slip into old speech-habits, which he had almost given up after swearing to "serve the master of the Precious." They exited the Marshes on the morning of March 2, 3019.[2][3]

Inspiration[]

Tolkien speculated in some of his letters that the description of the Dead Marshes may have been based on his personal experience in World War I, specifically, the Battle of the Somme, in which he had seen dead men lying in the mud where they were killed. Tom Shippey elucidates on the resemblance of the Marshes to a World War I battlefield in the 1996 documentary, A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Dead Marshes sculpture

Sam, Gollum, and Frodo's experience at the Dead Marshes, portrayed as a limited edition miniature by Briggite Wuest of Weta Workshop

Portrayal in adaptations[]

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers[]

In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), the Dead Marshes are shown as foggy ponds with jets of fire rather than the misty candle-flames described in the book. Frodo actually falls into one of the ponds, in which ghostly figures appear, and surround and reach for him, before Gollum pulls him out.

Map of lands east of Nen Hithoel - TRoP

The Grey Marshes shown in relation to Nen Hithoel and the Emyn Muil

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power[]

In the fifth episode of The Rings of Power Season One, Elanor Brandyfoot's family is shown to pass through the marshes as part of their migration east. The location is here known as the Grey Marshes; the events of the series take place before the Battle of Dagorlad.

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Dooie Vleie
Albanian Keneta Vdekur
Armenian Մահվան Ճահիճներ
Arabic المستنقعات الميتة
Azerbaijani Ölü Bataqlıqlar
Basque Hildako Padura
Belarusian Cyrillic мёртвыя Балоты
Bengali মৃত জলাভূমি
Bulgarian Cyrillic Мъртвите блата
Catalan Pantans Morts
Chinese (Hong Kong) 死亡沼澤
Corsican Paludes Morti
Czech Mrtvé močály
Danish Dødemarsken / Dødemandsmarsken
Dutch Dode Moerassen
Esperanto Mortintoj Marĉoj
Estonian Surnud Sood
Finnish Kalmansuot
French Marais des Morts
Georgian მკვდართა ჭაობი
German Totensümpfe
Greek Βάλτοι των Νεκρών
Gujarati ડેડ ભેજવાળી જમીન
Hebrew ביצות המתות
Hindi मृत दलदल
Hungarian Holt-láp
Icelandic Dauðarmýrar
Irish Gaelic Riasca Marbh
Italian Paludi Morte
Indonesian Rawa Mati
Japanese 死者の沼
Latin Paludes Mortuae
Latvian Miroņu Purvi
Lithuanian Negyvosios Pelkės
Japanese デッド沼地
Korean 죽은 늪
Kurdish Mirî Avzêl (Kurmanji)
Macedonian Cyrillic мртвите блата
Malaysian Paya Mati
Malayalam ചത്ത ചതുപ്പുകളുടേയും
Maltese Bassasiet Mejta
Manx Claddeeyn Marroo ?
Mongolian Cyrillic үхсэн элбэгтэй
Nepalese मृत मार्शेस
Norwegian Daumyrene (Werenskiold tr.)
Daudemyrene (Bugge Høverstad tr.)
Pashto مړه جبه
Persian باتلاق مرده
Polish Martwe Bagna
Portuguese Pântanos Mortos (Brazil) Pântanos dos Mortos (Portugal)
Romanian Smârcurile Morții
Russian Мёртвые Топи
Sanskrit डेअद् मर्शेस्
Serbian Мртве баруштине (Cyrillic) Mrtve Baruštine (Latin)
Spanish (Spain and Latin America) Ciénaga de los Muertos
Sinhalese මළ වගුරු
Slovak Mŕtve močiare
Slovenian Mrtva močvirja
Swahili Mabwawa Wafu
Swedish Döda träsken
Tagalog Poso ng mga patay
Tajik Cyrillic Деад Марсҳес
Tamil இறந்த சதுப்பு
Telugu డెడ్ చిత్తడినేలలు
Turkish Ölü Bataklıklar
Turkmen Öli Batgalyklar
Ukrainian Cyrillic Мертві болота
Uzbek Деад Марсҳес (Cyrillic) O'lik Botqoqliklar (Latin)
Vietnamese đầm lầy chết
Welsh Corsydd Marw
Yiddish טויט מאַרשיז
Places of Middle-earth and Arda

Middle-earth Locations:

Provinces/Regions:

Arnor | Dunland | Ettenmoors | Forochel | Forodwaith | Gondor | Harad | Ithilien | Khand | Lindon | Minhiriath | Mordor | Rhovanion | Rhûn | Rivendell | Rohan | The Shire

Forests & Mountains:

Amon Dîn | Amon Hen | Amon Lhaw | Caradhras | Emyn Muil | Erebor | Fangorn Forest | High Pass | Iron Hills | Lórien | Mirkwood | Mount Doom | Mount Gundabad | Old Forest | Orod-na-Thôn | Tower Hills | Weathertop Hill

City/Fortifications:

Angband | Barad-dûr | Bree | Caras Galadhon | Dol Guldur | Fornost Erain | Hornburg | Isengard | Minas Morgul | Minas Tirith | Last Homely House | Tower of Amon Sûl | Tower of Orthanc | Osgiliath | Umbar | Utumno

Miscellaneous:

Argonath | Astulat | Buckland | Cair Andros | Dagorlad | Dead Marshes | Enedwaith | Fords of Isen | Gap of Rohan | Grey Havens

The rest of Arda:

Aman | Burnt Land of the Sun | Dark Land | Empty Lands | Neldoreth | New lands | Númenor | Tol Eressëa

References[]

  1. Unfinished Tales, Part Three: The Third Age, II: "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"
  2. The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Four, Chapter II: "The Passage of the Marshes"
  3. The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Great Years"
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