Minor places in Arda

The stories of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium contain references to numerous places. Some of these places, located within Arda, the "Solar System", are described below.

See also: Minor places in Middle-earth and Minor places in Beleriand

A

Almaren

(Q. "blessed") An island in the Great Lake, the home of the Valar in the middle of Arda. It was at the place where the light of the Two Lamps mingled. Almaren was attacked and damaged by Melkor, and the Valar moved far to the West, to Valinor. According to some traditions, the island of Almaren survived the attack, and was the same island as Tol Eressëa.

Araman

(Q. 'outside Aman') The narrow northern coastlands of Aman, north of Valinor, that lay outside the mountain-fence of the Pelóri. It was deserted, mountainous and frozen. To the north lay the Helcaraxë which joined it with Beleriand, and this was the way Melkor, and later the Noldor took after their Exile.

Avallónë

The easternmost city on Tol Eressëa and the Haven of the Eldar. It was founded either by the Teleri during their long stay there, before they left the island for Alqualondë, or more probably by the Elves returning from Middle-earth after the War of Wrath. In any case, it became the chief dwelling of the Noldor and Sindar, as they were unwilling to settle in Valinor.

The city became the symbol of the Blessed Realm to Men, as before on cloudless days one could see the tower of Avallónë from the Meneltarma in Númenor. After the fall of Númenor and the changing of the world, Avallónë became the port of arrival for ships taking the Straight Road. It is said that the Master Stone of the palantír of Elostirion of was placed in Avallónë, and that Elendil often looked that way desiring to see the Lost West.

Tolkien was apparently evoking the island of Avalon in the legend of King Arthur, although the form Avallónë literally means "near Valinor" in Quenya; compare this with Atalantë, the name of Númenor evoking Atlantis. Moreover, in Tolkien's writings originally Avallon was a later name for the island of Tol Eressëa, not for the haven.

Avathar

The dark strip of land between the Pelóri Mountains and the Great Sea, lying to the south of the Bay of Eldamar. It was the home of Ungoliant before she went to Middle-earth with Melkor during the events of The Silmarillion.

Avathar, being eaten away by the sea, was narrower than Araman, a similar region lying to the north of the Bay of Eldamar. But Avathar was a darker land; indeed it is accounted that there "the shadows were deepest and thickest in the world". This is the source of its name, which means 'Shadows' in ancient Quenya. (In later Exilic Quenya the name would have taken form Avasar, but it was not used outside historical records and thus was preserved in archaic form.)

B

Bay of Andúnië

The Bay of Andúnië was the northernmost of the three bays that ran along the western coasts of the Andustar in Númenor. The greatest of the three, its shores were no more than a narrow shelf of land from which steep cliffs rose up. Beneath these cliffs at its eastern end was the haven of Andúnië. There may have also been a second haven on this bay named Almaida.

Bay of Eldamar

The Bay of Eldamar was the greatest bay in Aman, the continent west of Middle-earth. It is named after Eldamar, the eastern part of Aman, which means Elvenhome in Quenya. When the Noldor and Vanyar came to Aman, they landed in this bay. Later when the Teleri came, Ossë begged Ulmo to set Tol Eressëa in the Bay of Eldamar, and Ulmo did this. But when the Noldor longed to see their kin again, Manwë commanded Ossë to teach the Teleri the art of ship-making, and grudgingly he did so.

Bay of Eldanna

The Bay of Eldanna was the westernmost and largest bay on the island of Númenor, between the arms of Andustar and Hyarnustar. Its chief port was the haven Eldalondë. The name 'Eldanna' means 'Elvenwards'.

D

Door of Night

A guarded portal in the distant West of the World, through which Morgoth was cast after his defeat in the War of Wrath. Its origins are unclear: according to some accounts, it was made by the Valar as a passage for the Sun, which would return into the World through the Gates of Morning in the east. According to others, though, it was made expressly as a gateway through which to expel Morgoth. The Door of Night was guarded by Eärendil, bearing his Silmaril aloft in his shining ship Vingilot which he used to journey through the "oceans of heaven (...) into the starless voids".

G

Gates of Morning

According to early versions of the legendarium, a magic portal upon the easternmost confines of Imbar, where the Sun issued from each morning after passing through the Void. The conception was supposingly discarded later, but a reference survives into the published Silmarillion.

I

Ilmarin

The halls on the summit of Taniquetil in the Pelóri mountains from which Manwë and Varda oversaw the goings on in Arda.

M

Máhanaxar

The place where the Valar gathered to hold their councils. It was outside the golden western gates of Valmar.

P

Pelóri Mountains

A mountain range in Aman that separates the inner plains of Valinor from Eldamar and the wastelands of Araman and Avathar. Taniquetil is the highest of these mountains and is home to the throne of Manwë. The Halls of Mandos were apparently in the northern foothills of this mountain range.

T

Taniquetil

the tallest mountain in Arda on the shores of Valinor and is part of the Pelóri. On its peak rests Ilmarin.

W

Walls of Night

The extraordinary walls that surrounded Arda in ancient times, beyond Ekkaia, the Encircling Sea. In the west and east of the World, Ekkaia was wide, and the Walls were a great distance from land. In the north and south, however, the Encircling Sea was much narrower. This was how Melkor returned into the World during the Years of the Lamps of the Valar, coming secretly over the Walls of Night into the north of Arda, and building there his fortress of Utumno beyond the knowledge of the Valar.