The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Location
The western borders of Eriador, where it marched with Lindon
Race
Particularly associated with Dwarves
Divisions
Various, but in the Third Age the mountains were occupied by the Longbeards (Durin's Folk)
Cultures
Dwarves of the Blue Mountains (including, in earlier times, the Dwarves of Belegost and the Dwarves of Nogrod)
Cultures
The later Dwarves of the Blue Mountains were ruled by the House of Durin
Settlements
Belegost and Nogrod (destroyed at the end of the First Age); the halls of Durin's Folk were established in the mountains in the later Third Age
Sources
Several rivers rose in the mountains, of which only the Lune (via its tributary the Little Lune) is named
Outflows
Rivers from these mountains flowed into the Gulf of Lhûn
Important peaks
Meaning
Uncertain1
Other names

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 14 July 2013
  • Updates planned: 1

Blue Mountains

The northwestern mountain-chain of Middle-earth

Map of the Blue Mountains in the First and Third Ages
The map on the left shows the Blue Mountains during the First Age, before the cataclysm that brought that Age to its end. The map on the right shows the later geography of the mountains, specifically in the early years of the Fourth Age.
The map on the left shows the Blue Mountains during the First Age, before the cataclysm that brought that Age to its end. The map on the right shows the later geography of the mountains, specifically in the early years of the Fourth Age.

The Ered Luin, the mountain chain that formed the eastern border of the lands of Beleriand during the First Age, and in which were the Dwarf-cities of Nogrod and Belegost. After the loss of Beleriand at the end of the First Age, the mountains remained, but they were now in the far west of Middle-earth.


Notes

1

It would be natural to assume that the Blue Mountains gained their name simply because they appeared blue in colour, and this may well be the case. There is reason to think, however, that the name may have had a deeper - if somewhat mysterious - significance. On old sketch-maps from volume IV of The History of Middle-earth, we see Tolkien's original ideas for the geography of Arda. In particular, Map IV from that source shows Middle-earth in its original structure, showing it as far more symmetrical than it later became. In that scheme, the continent has four long mountain-chains: the Blue Mountains to the northwest, the Red Mountains (or Orocarni) to the northeast, the Grey Mountains to the southwest and the Yellow Mountains to the southeast. (The Grey Mountains here, incidentally, had no connection with the northern Grey Mountains of later conceptions.) This highly structured layout implies that the colours of the different mountain ranges carried some kind of deeper meaning, though we're given no indication of what that meaning might have been.

See also...

Aeglos, Alders, Amlach, Aradan, Arnor, Atanatári, Awakening of Men, Balin, Balrogs, Belegost, Bëor, Bëorians, Bilbo Baggins, Borlad, Borthand, [See the full list...]

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 14 July 2013
  • Updates planned: 1

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