The Withered Heath was a region at the eastern extreme of the Grey Mountains in Middle-earth. There, the Grey Mountains broke into two spurs, north and south, between which was the Heath which was thought to have been the home of dragons.[1]
History[]
In the eastern part of their length, the Grey Mountains forked into two thin ranges, with a narrow valley between. On the floor of this long east-west valley between the mountains was a heath, but a heath burned and blackened by its inhabitants. This heath was famed and feared in the north of Middle-earth as the breeding-ground of the dragons. At one time they had infested the Grey Mountains and the lands beyond, and even in the closing decades of the Third Age, the dragon Smaug still terrorized the inhabitants of the north.
Smaug, Greatest of the Dragons of the Withered Heath, as shown in The Hobbit films
Smaug was the last of the great dragons, but lesser members of his kind remained, so perhaps these still occasionally returned to the Withered Heath to continue their race. However, in TA 2941 Thorin spoke of the Withered Heath as the place 'where the great dragons bred', implying that it was by then deserted, or at least not frequented by dragons that could be described as 'great'.[2]
In adaptations[]
The Withered Heath appears as a location in the The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II video game. In Level Six of the Evil Campaign, the forces of Mordor from Dol Guldur march to the Withered Heath, led by the Mouth of Sauron, in hopes of gaining the allegiance of the dragons' leader, Drogoth the Dragon Lord. By killing the Dwarven forces and freeing the imprisoned offspring, Drogoth agrees to fight for Sauron with the promise of a Ring of Power, stolen many years ago from the Dwarves. The Withered Heath is also a playable skirmish battlefield.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Arabic | البراح الذابل |
| Armenian | չորացրած տափաստան |
| Bengali | শুষ্ক ঊষর প্রান্তর |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Изсъхнали Хийт |
| Catalan | Glever Marcit |
| Chinese | 干枯石楠荒原 |
| Croatian | Osušeni stepa |
| Czech | Zvadlé vřesoviště |
| Danish | Den Visne Hede |
| Dutch | Dorre Heide |
| Esperanto | Velkinta Erikejo |
| Estonian | Kõrbenud nõmm |
| Filipino | Natutuyong Sukalan |
| Finnish | Kulottunut nummi |
| French | Lande desséchée |
| Frisian | Wilige Heide |
| Galician | Murcho Uceira |
| Georgian | ამოიწურა მანანა ? |
| German | Dürre Heide |
| Greek | Ξερό Ρουμάνι |
| Gujarati | વિથર્ડ હીથ |
| Hebrew | קָמֵל עֲרָבָה |
| Hindi | सूख हीथ |
| Hungarian | Kiszáradt Hangás |
| Indonesian | Layu Lahan kosong |
| Irish Gaelic | Feoite Fraochmhá |
| Italian | Brughiera Arida |
| Japanese | ヒースの枯れ野 |
| Kazakh | Соққыға толы Хит (Cyrillic) Soqqığa tolı хït (Latin) |
| Latvian | Iznīka tīrelis |
| Lithuanian | Nuvytęs viržynas |
| Luxembourgish | Wieleg Heed |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Секна Хит |
| Maltese | Moxa nixfu |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Хатаж хит |
| Norwegian | Vissenhei |
| Persian | پژمرده خلنگزار |
| Polish | Zwiędłe Wrzosowiska |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | Urzal Seco |
| Romanian | Landa Veștejită |
| Russian | Увядший Хит |
| Scottish Gaelic | Sheargte Heath |
| Serbian | Усахнуле вриштина (Cyrillic) Usahnule vriština (Latin) |
| Slovak | Uschnuté vresoviská |
| Slovenian | Usahla resava |
| Spanish (Spain and Latin America) | Brezal Seco |
| Sundanese | Layu tempat nyangcang ? |
| Swedish | Den Vissna Heden |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Хушк мацрибӣ ? |
| Tamil | வாடிய ஹீத் |
| Telugu | విథెరెడ్ హీత్ |
| Thai | ลีบเฮลธ์ |
| Turkish | Solmuş funda |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Висохлий Пустище |
| Uzbek | Қуритилган дашт (Cyrillic) Quritilgan dasht (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Bị khô héo đồng hoang |
| Welsh | Araf ddiflannu Mynydd Bychan |
| Yiddish | פאַרדאַרט כיט |
References[]
- ↑ The Atlas of Middle-earth, Regional Maps, "Wilderland"
- ↑ The Hobbit, Chapter I: "An Unexpected Party"