Posted: December 28, 1999 at 22:38:50: by Michael Martinez
: To get the the point, I propose (to myself) that before the
: destruction of Beleriand, the Anduin flowed south into a great
: lake, perhaps even an arm of the great Inland Sea, and that the
: Anduin previously flowed around those volcanic (though dormant)
: mountains that became known as the Mountains of Ash, an arm of
: which became active again after many ages, culminating in the
: rising of Orodruin. When Beleriand was destroyed, Anduin broke
: through a new and wide pass in the mountains (several actually,
: creating the Isle of Cair Andros - where there are rapids,
: meaning the water is running quite swiftly, which could
: indicate that the Anduin flows downhill relatively rapidly
: right at that point, which could indicate that there was some
: altitude change at that point, before erosion flattened the
: whole thing out generally). That's my story, and I'm stickin'
: to it (until somebody points out a painfully obvious fact which
: would make this whole scenario impossible ;) ).
:
: The point of this, is that I kind of think Tolkien did this
: deliberately.: So whaddaya think, eh? It would take some time to think this through. The Ered Luin, Misty Mountains, and Anduin all pre-date THE HOBBIT but the Misty Mountains and Anduin don't appear on any of the maps in THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH. The Ered Nimrais and the westward extension of Anduin were devised for THE LORD OF THE RINGS. My guess is that Anduin originally flowed into Helcar, and that the Misty Mountains, Ered Luin, Iron Mountains, and Ered Nimrais originally formed a sort of "box" around the lands which eventually became Calenardhon, Enedwaith, and Eriador. The devatastions at the end of the First Age caused the southern Ered Luin to sink into the sea, opening up the coastlands of Enedwaith and Minhiriath, but the highlands of Andrast (in western Gondor beyond the Lefnui) were a remnant of the southern Ered Luin. The Ered Nimrais and Misty Mountains then broke up, leaving the gap of Rohan and allowing Anduin to flow to the sea, and the Ered Lithui and Ephel Duath were thrown up to form the natural boundaries of Mordor as Helcar was destroyed (and drained). I would regard Nurnen to be a remnant of Helcar, or perhaps a subsequent collection point for run-off which replaced part of Helcar (now drained). I've always wondered where Baranduin and Gwathlo drained before the cataclysm. I doubt they actually made it to Belegaer. Instead, I propose that they joined somewhere east of the Ered Luin, flowed south, and then eventually turned east to flow into Helcar (which would require a gap in Ered Nimrais or between Ered Nimrais and Misty Mountains -- so maybe the gap of Calenardhon was always there, and they flowed into Anduin). But that's just my guess of how Tolkien would have rationalized it.
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