Rhovanion

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Rhovanion or Wilderland was a large inland region of north-west Middle-earth. It is the scene of action for much of The Hobbit and some episodes of The Lord of the Rings.
Names
Tolkien generally uses the name 'Wilderland' rather than 'Rhovanion'. Wilderland was introduced in The Hobbit, where Rhovanion does not appear at all. In The Lord of the Rings Rhovanion appears on the Middle-earth map and in the appendices, but nowhere in the main narrative body. In the main story, Wilderland is mentioned several times, including by wise characters such as Gandalf and Treebeard.
Tolkien stated that Wilderland is an "invention ... based on wilderness ... Supposed to be the CS [Common Speech] name of Rhovanion (in the map, not in the text), the lands east of the Misty Mountains (including Mirkwood) as far as the River Running."
Middle-earth narrative
Geography
The large region of Rhovanion extended to the east as far as the inland Sea of Rhûn; north to the Grey Mountains and Iron Hills; west to the Misty Mountains; and south to a meandering line marked by the Limlight river, Anduin, Emyn Muil, Dagorlad, and the Ered Lithui.
Important rivers in Rhovanion included the Anduin or Great River, the Celduin or River Running, and the Carnen or Redwater.
The vast forest of Mirkwood (originally known as Greenwood the Great) dominated central Wilderland.
Other notable geographic features of Wilderland included the Long Lake, the Lonely Mountain and the Brown Lands.
General history
First Age
In the First Age, during the Years of the Trees, the Elves passed westwards through Rhovanion on their Great Journey. However some Elves turned aside from the Journey and settled in Wilderland.
The race of Dwarves awoke in Middle-earth after Elves. One , Durin's Folk, arose in Mount Gundabad on Wilderland's north-west corner, and thus appear to be the only truly native people of the region. From Gundabad they proceeded south along the Misty Mountains (Wilderland's western border) to found the great city of Khazad-dûm (later known as Moria); they also founded settlements on Wilderland's northern margins (notably in the Grey Mountains and Iron Hills). The Dwarves built the first roads of Middle-earth; one of these ran virtually right across Wilderland, beginning in the west at the High Pass of the Misty Mountains, and passing all the way through the vast forest of Mirkwood (at that time known as Greenwood the Great).
The Atanatári (Fathers of Men) awoke long after the Dwarves. However Men tended to follow the pattern of the Elves, with many migrating westwards through Wilderland, and with some turning aside in Wilderland to settle there. These Mannish settlers included the ancestors of the Northmen (the people of Beorn, Éothéod, Dale, Lake-town, and the Third Age's ). When and how the ancestors of the Hobbits appeared in Wilderland is unknown; they are not mentioned in records until the Third Age.
Second Age
In the Second Age the Sindarin lords Oropher and Amdír established two Silvan Elf kingdoms in Wilderland: one in Northern Greenwood, and the other in Lórinand (Lothlórien).
During the second half of the Second Age, much of Wilderland was subject to the Dark Years of Sauron.
Dagorlad, the great battlefield of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men against the host of Sauron at the end of the Second Age, lay in the south of Wilderland.
Third Age
The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, a battle in western Wilderland in the second year of the Third Age, saw the death of Isildur (the High King of Gondor and Arnor) and the loss of the One Ring in the Great River Anduin.
In the Third Age Rhovanion was well-populated by Elves, Dwarves, and Men. The Elf-kingdoms in northern and western Wilderland were ruled by Thranduil and Amroth respectively (they had succeeded their fathers Oropher and Amdír, who had been killed in the war against Sauron at the end of the Second Age). Easterlings from Rhûn often invaded the region, starting from .
Sauron entered the Greenwood around and built his fortress Dol Guldur near the Anduin in the southern reaches of the great wood. From this time the Greenwood began its descent into blackness and evil, eventually becoming known as Mirkwood. Hobbits who had lived along the Anduin began migrating west over the Misty Mountains to escape the evils of Wilderland, though a group of Stoors remained near the Gladden Fields for many years.
As the Third Age progressed, several tribes and princes of Northmen occupied areas of Rhovanion, living in the Vales of Anduin, around and in the great forest, and across the grassy plains. By one of these princes, Vidugavia, claimed the title "", though his realm lay only between Mirkwood and the River Running. Vidugavia allied himself with Gondor (which claimed much of the southern part of Rhovanion); his daughter Vidumavi married into Gondor's royal house, and his grandson Vinitharya became King Eldacar of Gondor in . When the Wainriders came from the east and assailed the people of Rhovanion in , most of their kingdoms were destroyed and the remaining people enslaved. Gondor withdrew its north-eastern border to the Anduin. About this time the Éothéod formed in the lower Vales of Anduin from people fleeing west from the Wainriders. A revolt against the Wainriders in was suppressed. When the Wainriders were finally defeated by Gondor and the Northmen in , eastern Rhovanion was so exhausted that it makes few appearances in the later history of the Third Age.
Angmar was an evil realm located in and around the northernmost Misty Mountains. Although based outside of Wilderland, its control extended into Wilderland's north-west corner, where the sources of the Anduin were located. In Angmar was defeated, and two years later the Éothéod moved north into the part of Wilderland formerly controlled by Angmar.
The emergence of the Balrog in Moria () triggered further developments in western Rhovanion. Dwarves fled from Moria and Elves from Lothlórien; with the disappearance of Amroth, Galadriel and Celeborn returned to take the rule of Lothlórien. Dwarves from Moria founded the Kingdom under the Mountain at Erebor in (later, in 2210, they left for a time for the Grey Mountains). The Balchoth then turned their attention further south: to Gondor. Gondor was only saved by the entry of the Éothéod into the Battle of the Field of Celebrant (). Wilderland was now free of the Balchoth, however the Éothéod left Wilderland to establish Rohan in Calenardhon, which Gondor ceded to the Éothéod. During the War of the Ring the Elves and Men of Rhovanion held off an invasion by Sauron's forces, and after Sauron was defeated Mirkwood was cleansed again, and renamed Eryn Lasgalen, or the "Wood of Greenleaves".
Kingdom of Rhovanion
The Kingdom of Rhovanion, a realm of Northmen, came to prominence in the mid-13th century of the Third Age. About this time Vidugavia, "the most powerful of the northern princes", called himself King of Rhovanion, though he directly ruled only the part of Rhovanion that lay between Mirkwood and the River Running. Esgaroth (Lake-town) was a significant settlement in this area, and possibly the capital of the kingdom.
Vidugavia and his kingdom attracted the attention of Gondor, which lay far to the south. In Minalcar, the Regent of Gondor, led a great expedition into Rhovanion and utterly defeated an invasion of Easterlings, with substantial help from the Northmen, and from Vidugavia in particular.
Vidugavia became Gondor's strong ally, and in Minalcar sent his son Valacar as ambassador to Vidugavia. But Valacar, much taken with the culture of the North, "far exceeded his father's design" that the Northmen in this area were conquered by the Wainriders, who invaded in T.A. 1851. The Battle of the Plains () was fought by Gondor and the Northmen against the Wainriders; King Narmacil II of Gondor and the Northman Marhari (a descendant of Vidugavia) were both killed in this battle. Tolkien does not, however, call Marhari "king", nor is there any direct evidence that the kingdom had survived to this point.
Refugees from this defeat were reorganized as the Éothéod on the other side of Mirkwood in the lower Vales of Anduin, under the leadership of Marwhini, son of Marhari.
While Tolkien represents the Rohirrim, who developed out of the Éothéod, by Anglo-Saxon culture and language, their ancestors are given Gothic attributes. This parallel can be found in the relationship of real-world Old English and the Gothic language.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu