Falls of Sirion

Sirion was the greatest of the rivers of Beleriand, running southward from the mountains of the far North. Along the central parts of its length, it flowed past the great forests of Doriath, and then approached the rising land of the Andram. This feature, called the Long Wall, ran from west to east across Beleriand as a string of hills that fell steeply down on their southern side into the lowlands beyond. Where Sirion met the northern fringes of these hills, it entered a deep cavern, and its waters thundered down into the darkness to create the Falls of Sirion.

The Falls carried Sirion's waters into the depths of the earth, where they ran for three leagues (about fourteen kilometres or nine miles) before bursting out into the light once again at the southern feet of the Andram's hills. This lower opening, formed from arches of rock in the hillside, was known as the Gates of Sirion. From there, the river slowed and widened, flowing onward through the woods of Nan-tathren to its Mouths on the Bay of Balar, far to the south.

The Falls of Sirion played little part in history, but lying as they did on the southern borders of Doriath, the hills above the Falls were used at times by travellers passing into or out of that realm. One of these was Beren, as he set out on the Quest for the Silmaril, who stood above the Falls as he looked westward toward Nargothrond at the beginning of a journey that would lead him to the Throne of Morgoth and beyond. Years later, Húrin travelled eastward on the same path; he was found by the soldiers of Thingol who patrolled the hills above the Falls of Sirion, and so brought the Nauglamír to the King of Doriath.