Posted: July 18, 2000 at 19:11:23: by Frode
: : I find it very interesting that practically all the larger realms of the western part of late third age Middle Earth is situated along the river Anduin. Gondor dominates the southern part of the river, and north of Gondor Rohan and Lorien follow next in line. North of Lorien we come to the lands of the Beornings and as we move northeast of the river we find the 'tripple-kingdoms' of Dale, Erebor and Northern Mirkwood. Of course the wars of the last years of Arnor left Eriador almost unpopulated, but it is rather puzzling that it remained so. Except for the Hobbit migration, none of the other races seems to have been very keen on re-populating the lands between the Misty mountains and the Blue. I guess there are several reasons for this, but I note that there are some traces of a very deliberate strategy to make the Anduin the 'border of a war' (as the fellowship notices during their journey on it). The architects of this 'frontline' seem mainly to be Gandalf, Galadriel and Cirion. Galadriel wanted an elvish stronghold east of the mountains to oppose Sauron. Cirion masterfully created the nation of Rohan to effectively protect Calenardhon and of course Gandalfs machinations were deliberately aimed at setting up a strong dwarvish kingdom to 'protect the weak northern flank'.
: : Just some thoughts. I wish Tolkien had written more about the interactions between races and realms along the river.: Well, Such a major watercourse would have obvious advantages for settlement - defence, irrigation, transport, and the associated extended settlement that follows these advantages.
: Most major sites are based around rivers - and therefore it is unsurprising that Anduin had a wide population base - Erebor, Dale etc. are based partly on this, and partly on the Celduin/Carnen river basins - which lead to the Inland Sea of Rhun wherein lies the realm of Dorwinion and the homes of many Easterling raiders..... All water based you see.
: I disagree with your statement about Eriador however - it is (IMHO) not as unpopulated as is assumed.
: The areas the Hobbits in both books travel are limited - along the road mainly.
: The Hobbits, yes. Also the Dunlendings in Enedhwaith, Dunland and the Coastal strip - the Tharbadians until 2912, who no doubt relocated nearby, and the native Eriadorians - all over the former Cardolan. Also the Dunedain and their followers - the remnants of old Arthedain.
: It is more likely that the Hobbits being very insular knew nothing of the weight of men living almost on their doorstep - there is potential for the Breelanders themselves to have settled elsewhere - 1000 years (from fall of Arthedain) of population growth is a long time, and I doubt it would result in only 'a hundred houses of the big folk' and 3 small satellite villages.
: Also, the Hobbits seem not too 'unaware' of big folk, so clearly they must know of some outside of just Bree Land (remember, this can't be Rohan/Gondor, as these races barewly know of Hobbits)
: Just my thoughts - I think you could safely say there were a good half million non Hobbits in Eriador at the time of the books.
: Don Quixote I doubt that very much to say the least. Eriador is described as a desolate place by Tolkien. The part which the hobbit travel through is almost completely deserted.
Breeland was sparsely populated. Only a few villages with a few hundred houses. To the west was lindon with it's ever dwindling population, Dunland was populated by a seemingly primitive people who would not have been very large judging from the number which helped Saruman. Eregion was empty and so was most of the old Arnor. Rivendell didn't have a large population by this time.
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