To the northeast, the river Anduin enters the hills of the Emyn Muil and passes the Sarn Gebir, dangerous straits, above a large river-lake, Nen Hithoel. The region of Calenardhon lay to the north of the Grey Mountains it was granted independence as the kingdom of Rohan. Ringló Vale lay between Lamedon and Lebennin. The city's port was also a few miles south at Harlond, where the great river Anduin made its closest approach to Minas Tirith. The region of Lamedon and the uplands of the prosperous Morthond, with the desolate Hill of Erech, lay to the south of the White Mountains, while the populous valleys of Lossarnach were just south of Minas Tirith. The hot and dry region of South Gondor was by the time of the War of the Rings "a debatable and desert land", contested by the men of Harad. The wide land to the west of Rohan was Enedwaith in some of Tolkien's writings it is part of Gondor, in others not. To the north-west of Gondor lies Arnor to the north, Gondor is neighboured by Wilderland and Rohan to the north-east, by Rhûn to the east, across the great river Anduin and the province of Ithilien, by Mordor to the south, by the deserts of northern Harad. Near the mouths of Anduin was the island of Tolfalas. Gondor lies in the west of Middle-earth, on the northern shores of Anfalas and the Bay of Belfalas with the great port of Pelargir near the river Anduin's delta in the fertile and populous region of Lebennin, stretching up to the White Mountains (Sindarin: Ered Nimrais, "Mountains of White Horns"). Gondor's geography is illustrated in the maps for The Lord of the Rings made by Christopher Tolkien on the basis of his father's sketches, and geographical accounts in The Rivers and Beacon-Hills of Gondor, Cirion and Eorl, and The Lord of the Rings. Sketch map of Gondor in the Third Age, bordered by Rohan and Mordor The Men of Gondor are nicknamed "Tarks" (from Quenya tarkil "High Man", Numenorean) by the orcs of Mordor. Hammond and Christina Scull have proposed a Quenya translation of Gondor: Ondonórë. Gondor is also called the South-kingdom or Southern Realm, and together with Arnor as the Númenórean Realms in Exile. Tolkien denied that the name Gondor had been inspired by the ancient Ethiopian citadel of Gondar, stating that the root Ond went back to an account he had read as a child mentioning ond ("stone") as one of only two words known of the pre-Celtic languages of Britain. This view is supported by the Drúedain terms for Gondorians and Minas Tirith-Stonehouse-folk and Stone-city. Tolkien's early writings suggest that this was a reference to the highly developed masonry of Gondorians in contrast to their rustic neighbours. This is echoed in the text of The Lord of the Rings by the name for Gondor among the Rohirrim, Stoningland. Tolkien intended the name Gondor to be Sindarin for "land of stone". Scholars have noted parallels between Gondor and the Normans, Ancient Rome, the Vikings, the Goths, the Langobards, and the Byzantine Empire. Critics have noted the contrast between the cultured but lifeless Stewards of Gondor, and the simple but vigorous leaders of the Kingdom of Rohan, modelled on Tolkien's favoured Anglo-Saxons. The kingdom's ascendancy was restored only with Sauron's final defeat and the crowning of Aragorn as king.īased upon early conceptions, the history and geography of Gondor were developed in stages as Tolkien extended his legendarium while writing The Lord of the Rings. By the time of the War of the Ring, the throne of Gondor is empty, though its principalities and fiefdoms still pay deference to the absent king by showing their loyalty to the Stewards of Gondor. After an early period of growth, Gondor gradually declined as the Third Age progressed, being continually weakened by internal strife and conflict with the allies of the Dark Lord Sauron. Along with Arnor in the north, Gondor, the South-kingdom, served as a last stronghold of the Men of the West. Gondor was founded by the brothers Isildur and Anárion, exiles from the downfallen island kingdom of Númenor. The history of the kingdom is outlined in the appendices of the book. The third volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is largely concerned with the events in Gondor during the War of the Ring and with the restoration of the realm afterward. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. Gondor (red) and area under its control (pink) within Middle-earth
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