Forodwaith

Forodwaith were lands located in the north of Eriador and Rhovanion were the Northern Wastelands, north of the Grey Mountains.
== History ==
=== Third Age ===
Forodwaith had been made very cold earlier in Arda's history because of the presence of Utumno and Melkor's evil cold emanating from it. The region remained cold even after Utumno's destruction. Orcs lived there during the early Third Age, before the realm of Angmar rose and began harassing the realms of Eriador and Rhovanion. It was also the land of Men known as the Lossoth. The Withered Heath became a dragon habitat, bordered on Forodwaith.
The Sindarin name Forodwaith translates loosely as Northern Waste, and was a name for the land north of the Iron Mountains of the First Age. Little was known of it, except that it was an area of immense cold due to the proximity to the Gap of Ilmen, and Morgoth's evil cold. After the War of Wrath and the breaking of the World, the Iron Mountains were mostly destroyed, and the area of Forodwaith that lay north of Eriador became known as Forochel, together with the great icebay and cape that carried the same name.
The Men of Forodwaith were a strange folk apparently unrelated to the Edain. During the Third Age, they were known as the Snowmen of Forochel or Lossoth. It was stated that they could glide on ice by tying bones to their feet. Arvedui, last King of Arthedain, fled to the Icebay of Forochel after his realm was destroyed by Angmar, and the Lossoth helped him survive the winter. Against their advice he took ship to sail south, and he was drowned in the icebay, together with the Palantíri of the North.
The chieftain of the Lossoth counseled Arvedui not to go aboard the ships and face the bitter northern winter, but the King refused and went anyway. In payment for his safekeeping, King Arvedui gave to the Lossoth his ring, the Ring of Barahir, and bade them ransom it to his kin when the Lossoth had need. Unfortunately, the chieftain's counsel proved wise, and Arvedui was lost at sea, thus ended the Kings of Arnor, and their line continued as the Chieftains of the Dúnedain of Arnor (Rangers).
Forodwaith appears as the location where Galadriel leads a small force to look for evidence of Sauron's whereabouts. They discover an abandoned fortress built by Morgoth in which remains an anvil marked by Sauron; Galadriel's followers are here attacked by a snow-troll, which she defeats.
Category:Locations