 | |
| Glanduin | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Other names | Swanfleet |
| Location | South-eastern Eriador, separating Eregion from Enedwaith |
The Glanduin was a river on the southern border of Eriador.[1] It was also known as the Swanfleet river meaning the river that flowed into the Swanfleet.[2]
Course
It flowed from the Hithaeglir south of Khazad-dûm[3] swiftly[2] for approximately a hundred miles westwards, then made a bend and continued to the northwest for a few miles where it flowed for approximately seventy miles through a fenland in the plains that was known as the Swanfleet (Nîn-in-Eilph) until it joined the river Mitheithel only a few miles northeast of the town of Tharbad[3]. At their confluence the two rivers formed the river Gwathló.[2][3]
There was an old ford across the Glanduin east of the falls where the river dropped down into the lowlands where the Swanfleet marshes were located.[4]
History
The river received its name Glanduin in the Second Age when it formed the southern border of the elven realm of Eregion, beyond which were the unfriendly people of Dunland.[5] By the time of the War of the Ring, the name Glanduin only applied to the swift upper course of the river, and it was referred to as the Swanfleet river.[2]
After the War of the Ring, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, Gandalf, Elrond, Celeborn, Galadriel and their company of Elves from Rivendell and Lothlórien came from the south, crossed the old ford over the Glanduin into Eregion[4] on September 6 T.A. 3019[6].
Etymology
Glanduin is a Sindarin name,[7] wich means "border-river"[2]. It is a compound of the elements glan(n) ("boundary") and [duin]] ("(large) river").[8]
Note
In an annotation to Pauline Baynes, J.R.R. Tolkien had R. Glanduin placed near the Mountains, and the lower part labelled "Swanfleet".[9] It was misunderstood in first printings of A Map of Middle-earth that "R. Swanfleet" was the name of the lower part of the river, but it was pointed out as wrong by Christopher Tolkien (Swanfleet being the fens the river flows into) and it was corrected in later printings.[10]
Other versions of the legendarium
After the publication of The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien mentioned in an essay about the names of rivers that the Glanduin was part of the southern border of the North Kingdom of Arnor.[2] This is in contradiction with the statement in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings that says that Arnor did not include the lands east of the Greyflood and the Loudwater in which Rivendell and Eregion (Hollin) were located.[1]
Portrayals in adaptations
2008: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- The Glanduin river forms the border between the in-game regions of Eregion and Enedwaith. It flows past Mirobel and Caras Gelebren and splits into several streams before joining with Mitheithel at the Wadewater of Swanfleet.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur", p. 1039
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer", discussion of the name Glanduin, p. 264
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age" [map]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Many Partings", pp. 984-85
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 42, July 2001
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Chief Days from the Fall of Barad-dûr to the End of the Third Age", entry for the year 3019, September 6, p. 1096
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. Ixvi
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 42, July 2001, pp. 7-8
- ↑ Daniel Helen, "Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth transcribed" 10 November 2015, The Tolkien Society, accessed 24 March 2018
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. xlvi