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