On the frozen shore of Forochel, a ship appeared among the ice. Its sailors came to rescue a king whose capital had fallen, and the Snowmen who had sheltered him urged him not to go. Arvedui boarded anyway. A storm drove it against the ice, and the last King of Arthedain disappeared into the sea. … Read more
The White Tree flowers in Minas Tirith, and Aragorn wears the crown for which his ancestors waited centuries. It looks like the perfect place to stop: Sauron is gone, Arwen has come to the city, and the Fellowship's survivors can finally go home. But a coronation only settles who will rule. It cannot tell us … Read more
On a cold night in January 3019 of the Third Age, the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring defended a small hill against attacking wolves. They had turned back from Caradhras and were heading for Moria. Their defensive position was a cluster of twisted trees surrounded by an incomplete ring of large stones. … Read more
On the night of 6 October 3018, Aragorn sits with four hobbits in a sheltered hollow below Weathertop, with Black Riders nearby. He sings about Beren and Lúthien, then explains how their family survived into later ages. His final sentence is: “And of Eärendil came the Kings of Númenor, that is Westernesse.” The history he … Read more
On 25 March in the Third Age year 3019, the One Ring falls into the fire of Mount Doom, and Sauron’s fortress of Barad-dûr collapses. The armies facing Aragorn at the Black Gate lose the will that held them together. Yet victory neither settles every war nor restores Middle-earth to its former condition. Tolkien follows … Read more
The road to Moria’s western door does not end in a welcoming courtyard. It runs towards a dark lake, past rotting wood in the shallows, and into the shadow of a cliff. Yet close against that stone stand two immense holly trees, alive where so much around them has fallen into ruin. Their roots reach … Read more
By the time Frodo reaches Weathertop, Amon Sûl is only a ruined ring of stone above the wild. It is remembered most easily as the place where the Nazgûl found the Ring-bearer. But centuries before that attack, the hill had already stood at the center of another disaster: the slow political failure of the North-kingdom. … Read more
The great ships of Númenor usually enter Middle-earth as wonders. They bring tall mariners from beyond the Sea, heirs of the Edain who once fought beside the Elves. In the wider histories of the Second Age, their arrival can mean renewed friendship, exploration, havens, trade, war against Sauron, and eventually the rise of kingdoms whose … Read more
When Boromir rode north toward Rivendell in Third Age 3018, he came to a crossing that had once joined two kingdoms. At Tharbad, the great bridge over the Greyflood had become ruins, and the ford among those ruins was dangerous enough to cost him his horse. It is a striking fate for a place once … Read more
When Fingon rescued Maedhros from the cliffs of Thangorodrim, he did more than save the life of Fëanor's eldest son. His extraordinary act of courage helped change the political future of the Noldor in Middle-earth. Maedhros had inherited his father's position as the foremost prince of the House of Fëanor. Yet after his rescue, he … Read more