Eriador Confidential
Eriador is the home of the Shire, Bree, Rivendell, the dwarves of the Blue Mountains, the elven kingdom of Lindon; and yet, it is one of the emptiest lands in northwest of Middle-Earth. When the etymology of the name was finally uncovered, it translated to 'lonely lands' - essentially the name given in The Hobbit to the lands east of Bree. And yet, some mysteries abound. Let's talk about a few of them. The Invasion of Eriador There's something iconic about about Sauron's invasion of Eregion as the true beginning of him becoming the "Lord of the Rings" but what does not get a lot of focus is his defeat at the hands of the Numenoreans that routed his forces. At that point, the Numenoreans were limited to the port at the mouth of the Gwathlo - Vinyalonde (later Lond Daer) and forts along the Gwathlo up the river to defend their logging operations against the native population - likely up to about 100 miles be...
