Rhovanion

Rhovanion
General information
Type	Region
Other names	Wilderland
Location	North-west of Middle-earth
People
Inhabitants	Dwarves Elves Hobbits Men Orcs Eagles Dragons

Illustration of the Wilderland, or Rhovanion, from The Hobbit

Rhovanion or Wilderland was a large region of northern Middle-earth. The Great River Anduin flowed through it, and the immense forest of Greenwood the Great also lay within its borders.

Properly speaking Rhovanion was the name of a small region east of Greenwood, which later was the Kingdom of Rhovanion, but the name was used for all of Wilderland by the late Third Age.

History

First Age

In the First Age the Elves passed through Rhovanion on their Great Journey, and much later the Atanatári (Fathers of Men) followed them. The region is not otherwise mentioned until tales of the Second Age.

Second Age

Rhovanion was host to two Silvan Elf kingdoms ruled by Sindarin lords: Northern Greenwood and Lórinand (later named Lórien).

The great battlefield (or Dagorlad) of the War of the Last Alliance against the host of Sauron lay in the south of Rhovanion, and in the Gladden Fields of the Great River the High King of Gondor and Arnor, Isildur, son of Elendil, was killed.

Third Age

In the early Third Age, it was a quite populated area: in the north lay the Dwarven kingdoms of Erebor and the Dwarf halls in the Ered Mithrin, and the Mannish kingdom of Dale, in the north of the Great River Anduin lay the Mannish realm of Éothéod, and in and around the south and east of Greenwood the Great lived the Men of Rhovanion.

In TA 1248, Rómendacil II of Gondor destroyed all camps of the Easterlings even beyond the Sea of Rhûn, and a strong alliance with Rhovanion was forged. The King of Rhovanion at this time was Vidugavia, and Prince Valacar of Gondor served in his army. Vidugavia's daughter Vidumavi married Valacar, and their son Vinitharya became King Eldacar in TA 1432, which led to the Kin-strife in TA 1437. Eldacar fled to Rhovanion, and with a Rhovanion army he reclaimed his Kingdom in TA 1447.

In the north of Greenwood lived the Silvan elves ruled by Thranduil, and in the south of Greenwood and across the river in Lórinand ruled Amdír and later Amroth. In the far south, near the great falls of Sarn Gebir, watched the northern guard of Gondor, and in the valleys of the Anduin lived Stoors (Hobbits).

In TA 1636 the Great Plague devastated Rhovanion, killing more than half its people. This left Rhovanion weakened, and in TA 1851 the Wainriders overran and enslaved Rhovanion. For 43 years Rhovanion was enslaved, but in TA 1899 Rhovanion revolted, while Gondor attacked the Wainriders from the west. Rhovanion was freed but left extremely weakened. Many Men of Rhovanion left for Gondor, where they were welcomed as distant relatives.

In c. TA 2460 Sauron returned as "the Necromancer", taking residence at Dol Guldur in the south of Greenwood, which became evil and was renamed "Mirkwood". The Dwarves of Erebor and Men of Dale were destroyed and scattered when the Dragon Smaug took Erebor, and Gondor retreated from the Falls. Some Men still lived along the forest, notably the Beornings and the Men of Esgaroth upon the Long Lake. The Men of Éothéod removed south at the invite of Gondor, and settled the plains of Calenardhon, later Rohan. After being driven out of Erebor the Dwarves relocated, some went to the Iron Hills, but most went to the Ered Luin in Eriador.

At the end of the Third Age, the Kingdoms of Erebor and Dale were restored as a result of the death of Smaug and the Battle of Five Armies, and Sauron was removed from Mirkwood by the wizard Gandalf. During the War of the Ring it held off an invasion by Sauron's forces, and after Sauron was defeated Mirkwood was clean again, and renamed Eryn Lasgalen, or "Wood of Greenleaves". Some time during the Fourth Age Gondor claimed large parts of it.

Boundaries

• To the east: the River Running and the inland Sea of Rhûn.

• To the north: the Grey Mountains and Iron Hills, home of the Dwarves.

• To the west: the range of the Hithaeglir, or Misty Mountains.

• To the south: the line marked by the Limlight river, Anduin, Emyn Muil, Dagorlad, and the Ered Lithui.

Important rivers were the Anduin or Great River, the Celduin or Running, and the Carnen or Redwater.

Major features were the forest of Mirkwood, and the Long Lake of Esgaroth.

Etymology

Rhovanion is Sindarin for "wilderland" and contains rhovan, with the place-name ending -ion.

Wilderland was a Hobbit name. Tolkien made Wilderland based on wilderness but with a side-reference to the verbs wilder, "wander astray" and bewilder.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Amharic	ርሆቫኒኦን
Arabic	روفانيون
Armenian	Րհովանիոն
Belarusian Cyrillic	Рhованіон
Bengali	ৰহভানিওন
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Рхованион
Catalan	Rhovànion
Chinese	羅馬尼安
Georgian	როვანიონი (Rhovanion) ველურმიწეთი (Wilderland)
Greek	Ροβάνιον
Gujarati	ર્હોવનિઓન
Hebrew	רהובאניון
Hindi	रहोवनिओं
Italian	Rhovanion a.k.a. Terre Selvagge
Kannada	ರೋವನಿಯನ್
Kazakh	Рһованіон (Cyrillic) Rhovanion (Latin)
Korean	로바 니온 ?
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Рhованион
Lao	Rຫໂvະນິໂນ ?
Macedonian Cyrillic	Рхованион
Marathi	रोव्हनियन
Mongolian Cyrillic	Рhованион
Nepalese	ढ़ोवनिओन
Norwegian	Rhovanion a.k.a. Villenland
Pashto	رهووانیان
Persian	رووانیون ?
Portuguese	Rhovanion a.k.a. Terra Selvagem (Portugal) Rhovanion a.k.a. Terras Ermas (Portuguese Brazil)
Sanskrit	र्होवनिओन्
Sinhalese	ර්හොවනිඔන්
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Rhovanion a.k.a. Tierras Ásperas
Russian	Рованион
Serbian	Рованион (Cyrillic) Rhovanion (Latin)
Tajik Cyrillic	Рҳованион
Tamil	ற்ஹொவநிஒந்
Telugu	రహోవానిన్
Thai	โรห์วานิออน
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Рованіон
Urdu	رہووانااون
Uzbek	Рҳованион (Cyrillic) Rhovanion (Latin)
Yiddish	רהאָוואַניאָן