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 below the crossing at Tharbad, as swamps began to line the riverbanks at that point.

When Numenorean forces arrived to relieve the siege of Lindon, they also landed troops at Vinyalonde and sent them up the river.  Sauron had left a small force at Tharbad, indicating that there was no Numenorean settlement there at the time.  His main force was defeated at the battle of Sarn Ford, and then a more decisive victory at the Battle of the Gwathlo, which decimated his forces; the remnants were utterly destroyed and Sauron barely escaped back to Mordor to seethe in anger.

      The Importance of Tharbad

I've mentioned in prior posts that I believed Tharbad to have been built as a 'shared capital' for the Two Kingdoms following the death of Isildur and the splitting of the realm into Arnor and Gondor, similar to how Osgiliath was the shared capital of Gondor during Elendil's reign between Anarion and Isildur, who were 'co-rulers' with their own capital cities.  Being roughly between the two kingdoms, the placement makes sense - but was there a deeper reason?  

Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn, from which the details of the routing of Sauron emerge, does not explicitly state that Tharbad is the site of the Battle of the Gwathlo, only that Sauron had some forces stationed there, but it does seem implied.  When the Great Road connecting Fornost to Minas Anor was initially constructed and the bridge was made at Tharbad, one has to wonder if they built a monument to the victory over Sauron, similar to the later monument built at Umbar by Gondor to mark where the Numenoreans captured Sauron.  Monument or not, the site of his initial defeat must have had significance to them and may have been one of the reasons to select Tharbad as the site for the jointly controlled city.

      The Importance of Sarn Ford

Sarn Ford marked the southern crossing of the Brandywine, leading into the Shire.  The name itself was always interesting; when fully translated it only means something like 'stony ford'; yet when the Silmarillion came out, we had a very similar name of a ford in eastern Beleriand over the River Gelion - Sarn Athrad, which essentially has the same translation!   However, while it is possible the ford, or at least its location, is within the remnants of Lindon, it is on the other side of the Blue Mountains, quite a distance from the later Sarn Ford.  Of course, it could be a generic 'ford' name, or given in honor of the battle by the elves (although the dwarves would probably not have been fond of that!)

However, Tolkien's Nomenclature makes it clear that, in fact, the Numenoreans named the ford specifically after Sarn Athrad!  It seems to be an odd comment; the Numenoreans until the Elendil's landing didn't have much interest in the interior and there is no indication that they sent ships up the Brandywine; their forces at the battle of Sarn Ford arrived at Mithlond.  It could be a reference to Elendil's realm as exiled Numenoreans naming the ford; yet it seems odd that they would give such a name after a very specific location.  Was there a deeper meaning?

By the time of LOTR, the remnant of the Old Forest still remained of the vast woodlands that stretched down to Fangorn Forest.  While we know the Numenoreans had already began making a dent in the woods near the Gwathlo, the area near Sarn Ford was probably still heavily wooded.  This will become important in a little bit.

Sarn Athrad was also the site of a historical battle, namely the ambush of the dwarven forces heading across the ford with the loot from Doriath, by Silvan elves led by Beren.  So, here we have the historical analog; as Sauron's forces try to cross Sarn Ford, history repeats itself and the Silvan elves (many which might have fought in the 1st Age!) from the remnants of Ossiriand in Harlindon ambush Sauron's troops.

But there's one more step we might take.  In one of his letters, Tolkien mentioned that the Ents had joined Beren in the battle, which Christopher Tolkien incorporated into the published Silmarillion.  We know the Ents travelled this far, and that the animated trees in the Old Forest are likely related.  Might then the name be a reference to another time when the Ents came to aid the elves against their enemies?  If so, it might explain why Sauron felt compelled to destroy the garden of the Entwives in the War of the Last Alliance to avenge his humiliation...