Mirkwood

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**Mirkwood** was a great forest in Middle-earth located in the eastern region of Rhovanion between the Grey Mountains and Gondor.

It was also known as **Greenwood the Great**, **Eryn Galen** or **Taur-e-Ndaedelos**, and was later re-named **Eryn Lasgalen**, **the Wood of Greenleaves**.

## Description

 File:Map of Mirkwood.jpg
Mirkwood was a dense and heavy woodland that made up much of the eastern portion of Rhovanion or the Wilderland, that maintained its borders and relative shape for many ages. Its natural land features included (in the northern part of the forest) the Mountains of Mirkwood, a sizable river referred to in Tolkien's map as the Forest River, that ran from the Grey Mountains down to Long Lake, and a smaller river that ran from the Mountains of Mirkwood to join with the Forest River west of the Elven-king's Halls. This smaller river was enchanted (or polluted) to such an extent that it caused slumber and forgetfulness to anyone who fell into it.

Mirkwood's climate was relatively mild. Except for ways through the thickets of the forest, there were very few commonly used routes through Mirkwood save the Old Forest Road and the Forest Path. Mirkwood was approximately 600 miles long from north to south and 250 miles across from west to east at its width. During the events of *The Hobbit* it was home to giant spiders, and the kingdom of King Thranduil and his woodland elves; The Woodmen of Mirkwood also inhabited a small part of the forest.

## History

 File:Mirkwood 01.jpg
Mirkwood dates back to the earliest days of Middle-earth. The Elves passed through it on their Great Journey from Cuiviénen into the Far West - it was where they made their first long stop before continuing onward. Thereafter, Mirkwood was the dwelling of the Wood-elves (the Nandor, elves descending from the wandering Teleri elf Lenwë) for many thousands of years. The Sindarin Elf Oropher, one of the Grey-elves, who was the grandfather of Legolas, established the Woodland Realm proper, and it become the primary settlement of the elves from the Second Age onward. It was around this time that Men, possibly ancestors of the Northmen, began making permanent settlements in and around the forest. When Oropher was killed in the War of the Last Alliance, the kingship passed to his son Thranduil.

Mirkwood had been called Greenwood the Great until around the year TA 1050, when the shadow of the Dark Lord Sauron fell upon it, and men began to call it Mirkwood, or Taur-nu-Fuin and Taur-e-Ndaedelos in the Sindarin tongue. From then on, Mirkwood became a haunted place inhabited by many dark and savage things. Sauron established himself at the hill-fortress of Dol Guldur, an old Elven fortress that Oropher had control of, on Amon Lanc within its southern region, and drove Thranduil and his people ever northward, so that by the end of the Third Age they were a diminished and wary people, who had entrenched themselves within the Mountains of Mirkwood. The Old Forest Road (also called the Dwarf Road or Men-i-Maugrim) crossed the forest east to west, but because it was so close to Dol Guldur the road was mostly unusable. The elves then made a path farther to the north, which ended somewhere in the marshes south of the Long Lake of Lake-town.

 File:Mirk.png
### Quest to Erebor

 File:Desolation - Mirkwood.jpg
Bilbo Baggins, along with Thorin Oakenshield and his band of Dwarves, ventured into Mirkwood during their quest to regain the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. There, the dwarf Bombur fell into the Enchanted river. Later, they came across many great Giant Spiders also known as the Spawn of Ungoliant. Shortly after the Dwarves' escape, they were captured by the elves. After or during these events the White Council attacked Dol Guldur, and Sauron fled to Mordor, his influence in Mirkwood diminished for a while. Years later Gollum, after his release from Mordor, was captured by Aragorn and brought as prisoner to Thranduil's halls. He escaped during an Orc raid, and fled south to Moria.

After Sauron was vanquished at the conclusion of the Third Age, the darkness was lifted from Mirkwood, and Thranduil gave it the name *Eryn Lasgalen* (Sindarin for *wood of green leaves*), similar to its old name *Eryn Galen*, or *Greenwood*.

## Portrayal in adaptations

### Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy

Mirkwood is featured in Peter Jackson's *The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug* and *The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies*.

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### Video Games

Mirkwood is depicted in multiple video games, such as *The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring*, The Hobbit (2003 video game), *The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth*, *The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II*, *The Lord of the Rings Online*,and *The Lord of the Rings: War in the North**.*

## Notes

* Despite being called Mirkwood ever since Third Age 1050, Mirkwood is referred to by Radagast and Gandalf in *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey* as the Greenwood, with Gandalf mentioning to the White Council that the woodsmen there only recently started calling it Mirkwood because of the sickness that had fallen over it.
* Mirkwood also appears in *The Fall of Arthur*, as well as in one of Eriol's poems as Myrcwudu (Old   English:  'Mirkwood'), which was an ancient Germanic legendary name for a great dark boundary-forest found in various different applications. Ælfwine's reference was to near the Eastern Alps, while the reference in the Fall of Arthur was somewhere east of the Rhine.
* In Middle-earth, Mirkwood refers to two forests, one which was later renamed Taur-nu-Fuin of Beleriand, and the other west of the Lonely Mountain in Rhovanion.

## Translations around the World

Template:Realms of MenTemplate:Elven Realms

## References

1. ↑ *The Atlas of Middle-earth,* The Third Age, "Introduction"
2. ↑ *The Hobbit*
3. ↑ *The Atlas of Middle-earth,* Thematic Maps, "Landforms"
4. ↑ *The Atlas of Middle-earth,* Regional Maps, "Eriador"

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