The Forlond on the shores of the
Gulf of Lhûn (slightly conjectural)
1
The Forlond on the shores of the
Gulf of Lhûn (slightly conjectural)
1One of the havens of Lindon, established after the Great Sea flooded through the Blue Mountains at the end of the First Age to form the Gulf of Lhûn. The Forlond or 'north haven' stood on the northern coasts of the Gulf, at the point where a river running out of Forlindon flowed down to empty into the Sea at the head of a wide inlet.
The Forlond stood on the western side of the Blue Mountains, some two hundred miles westward of the Grey Havens, the chief harbour of Lindon at the head of the Gulf.2 Another haven, the Harlond or 'south haven', stood on the opposite shore of the Gulf from the Forlond, on the northern coasts of Harlindon. Like the Forlond, the Harlond also nestled on an inlet of the main Gulf of Lhûn.
The Forlond played little part in recorded history, but it was known to have been used in III 1975 by the navy of Gondor. Arthedain, the last remnant of the North-kingdom, had fallen to Angmar in the previous year, and Gondor sent its fleet northward to render what aid it could. Commanded by Eärnur, the son of King Eärnil II, the Gondorians docked the ships of their great fleet at all the havens of Lindon, including the Forlond, and from them an army emerged. That army proved sufficient to defeat the Witch-king at the Battle of Fornost and so Arthedain was avenged and a great evil driven out of the northern lands.
Notes
1 |
On the maps within The Lord of the Rings, 'Forlond' appears as a label running down the inner edge of Forlindon's southern promontory, covering a stretch of coast some fifty or sixty miles in length. In volume VII of The History of Middle-earth, however, the original version of this map gives us a much more precise location for the Forlond. That map marks it as a haven rather than a stretch of coastline, and places it at the mouth of an unnamed river running out of Forlindon into the northern arm of the Gulf of Lhûn.
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2 |
Given the distances involved, and the fact that both the Forlond and Mithlond (the Grey Havens) were ports, we might imagine that most of the traffic between them sailed back and forth along the Gulf of Lhûn. It seems likely, however, that there was also a road joining the two harbours. Indeed, if Eärnur's army was able to march inland from the Forlond, then realistically there must have been a road for them to march along, although no such road is marked on any map.
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- Updated 30 June 2026
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