Esgaroth
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
| Place in Arda
| |
| Name | Esgaroth |
|---|---|
| Other Names | Lake-Town |
| Description | Town built upon Trade between men, elves and dwarves in Northern Middle-Earth |
| Constructed By | Unknown |
| Realm | Rhovanion |
| Lord | Kings of Dale Master of Laketown Kings of Dale |
| Type | River City |
| Lifespan | |
Esgaroth upon the Long Lake, also known as Lake-town, is a community of men in the north eastern part of Middle-earth. The town is constructed entirely of wood and stands upon wooden pillars sunk into the bed of the Long Lake, south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. It seems that the town's prosperity is built on trade between the Men (descendants of the Edain, and thus distant cousins of the Dúnedain of Gondor), elves and dwarves of northern Middle-earth.
Esgaroth and Lake-town may have been separate settlements established on the same site, one predating Smaug's destruction of Dale and Erebor and the other built afterwards. Uniquely, of all of the towns, settlements, fortresses, and cities of Middle-earth, Esgaroth utilizes water as its defense against evil. The Long Lake is also surrounded by towering cliffs and high mountains, all helpful natural barriers that had the potential to aid its defenders in a siege (such as the Easterling invasion of the North in TA 3018). While these defenses slowed and diverted Esgaroth's human enemies, it did nothing to prepare its inhabitants against Smaug.
Lake-town was founded sometime during the Third Age and its inhabitants traded extensively with the Elves of Thranduil's woodland realm, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills, their kin in Dale and Dorwinion to the south, and possibly with the Easterlings (in times of peace, of course). The men of Esgaroth traded with Dorwinion (a human realm on the fertile coastal plain on the west shore of the Sea of Rhûn) in a unique way; wine barrels were floated down from Thranduil's caverns in Mirkwood (the Elves were known as copious wine drinkers, as found in the Hobbit) along the Celduin down to Esgaroth, where they were redirected to Dorwinion. The wine was then paid for and filled with the necessary goods before being shipped north once more, and the cycle of trade resumed once more. These barrels were also quite large, for they could easily fit a Hobbit and 13 Dwarves (even the extremely fat Bombur).
In the year TA 2941 of the Third Age the town was attacked by the dragons Smaug, but Bard the Bowman, who had indirectly learned of a weakness in Smaug's armour that had first been noticed by Bilbo Baggins, slew the dragon. Smaug, livid with bestial fury, winged his way to the town in the dead of night and promptly began to immolate the wooden matchwood structures of the town, materials that burst into flame at the slightest provocation. Its inhabitants realized all too late their predicament and while some got away safely on boats, many perished in the maelstrom of fire that ensued. A brave company of spearmen and archers attempted, in vain, to shoot down the dragon, but were all immolated themselves. The town was wrecked by the dragon, but afterwards it was rebuilt using some of the treasure that Smaug had stolen, though the town's Master ran off with some of the gold. Part of the town's population followed Bard to resettle the Kingdom of Dale.
As a trading people, the Men of Esgaroth knew the Common Speech, Westron. However, amongst themselves they spoke an ancient form of it, which was loosely related to but distinct from the also-ancient language of the Rohirrim. Tolkien "translated" Westron into English in his text, so to represent the ancient relative of it that the Rohirrim spoke, he substituted Old English. Thus, Tolkien substituted Old Norse for the language of the Men of Esgaroth (in person and place names, etc.) because it is an ancient relative of English that is related to Old English.
Laketown is the common name of the town Esgaroth. Lake Town is a small settlement of Men East of Mirkwood. Relatively small, it is built on a lake. It is also the final resting place of the dragon Smaug, whose bones now lie on the bottom of the lake. The villagers would be harassed on a regular basis by Smaug. Smaug would steal an occasional maiden, or just burn down their homes. It is also where Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves travelled in their adventure to reclaim the Lonely Mountain in the name of the Dwarves.
After the matchwood town's near destruction following Smaug's rage, its inhabitants rebuilt the town with more splendor and grandeur further down the lake. Lake-town is used to refer to the pre-Smaug town upon the Long Lake, while the rebuilt, larger cousin further down the waterway is referred to as The inhabitants also learned a crucially important, but painful, lesson bought with the blood of loved ones; the town was built to be less susceptible to flame and its military was expanded. These lessons greatly aided it during the War of the Ring.
