Caras Galadhon

{|align=right In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Caras Galadhon (pronounced ) was the chief city of Lórien.

Caras Galadhon was in the Naith of Lórien, in the heart of the Silvan Elven realm. It was built in the middle of, on top of, and out of the mallorn trees that Galadriel had brought with her from Valinor, and was the residence of Celeborn and Galadriel.

In the First Edition of The Lord of the Rings, Caras Galadhon was spelled as Caras Galadon.

During the events of the War of the Ring, the Fellowship of the Ring was brought through Lórien to Caras Galadhon, and there met the lords of the Galadhrim. Around the time of the siege of Minas Tirith Lorien was besieged itself by Dol Guldor, three times.

During the Fourth Age, after Galadriel had left Lórien, Caras Galadhon was ruled by a lonely Celeborn as capital of a Lórien which now spanned both sides of the river Anduin, but at some point during the age he left for Valinor as well, and Caras Galadhon slowly became depopulated. It is unclear just how this came about since most of Lórien's people were Silvan Elves and, presumably, not necessarily inclined to leave Middle-Earth so soon after Sauron's fall; there are different references to the Fate of the Elves of Middle-Earth scattered throughout Tolkien's published works. Caras Galadhon is called a "great city" in the Lord of the Rings, and the impression is that its population numbered in the thousands. However, the "Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" in Appendix A depicts Caras Galadhon as wholly abandoned by the time of Elessar's death.