Tolkien Trewsday Week 21: Third Age – Tuesday 18th July 2023

Week 21: Third Age – Tuesday 18th July 2023
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien

Welcome to #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday.

The hub for this Twitter-based event can be found here.

Tolkien Trewsday (the Hobbit name for Tuesday!) invites the #Tolkien community to form a fellowship to collectively tweet about a pre-selected theme about Tolkien, his works and his life.

Each week a new theme will be selected, often via a poll or by a guest host/curator, and together we will build a collective outpouring of creativity, knowledge and love for J.R.R. Tolkien and the adaptions based on his works.

The inspiration for this comes from the highly successful #FolkloreThursday which engaged lovers of Folklore, academics, artists and more to use Twitter to discuss it.

We only ask that if you are joining in, please do so with courtesy and kindness in your tweets. This is a positive-action community event, open to all and supportive of fan diversity. Intolerance, racism, bigotry have no place here.

💬 This week’s theme
Week 21: Third Age – Tuesday 18th July 2023

The Third Age is a time of great change and upheaval. War and strife bring kingdoms to destruction and the landscape is littered with their ruins. The War of the Ring sees the defeat of a great foe and ushers in a new age.  

How to contribute

We are keeping it very simple. All you need to do to join is tweet something about the current week’s theme and use the following hashtags in your tweet:
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien

Your tweet, besides following the theme, can be anything.

🐦 My tweet 🧵 (thread) for this week is located here.

“Wondrous are these wall-stones,
broken by fortune, the citadels crumbled,
the work of giants ruined.

The roofs are collapsed,
the towers tumbled, the pillars bereft.
Ice on the arch scarred the storm-wall,
old, eroded, weathered and worn.

The earth’s grasp keeps the master artisans,
deceased and decayed
in the firm grip of the ground,
until a hundred generations of human peoples have departed.”

-- “The Ruins of Time”, a Modern English Translation by Richard Fahey

The opening three stanzas of the poem above, called “The Ruin”, is part of the Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501), one of the most important extant collections of Old English (10th century CE). It contains riddles, “The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, “The Ruin” and many more. It’s been digitised and made publicly available here. The Ruin potentially gives us a glimpse of an early medieval writer looking back at the remains of Roman-era Bath.

In today’s Tolkien Trewsday blog I wanted to experiment with an idea I have been thinking about for a project, akin to the “Bestiary of Middle-earth” project I discussed for the Tolkien Trewsday Animals theme (Week 13: 23 May 2023). Ruins, the remains of previous cultures and civilisations on the landscape, features heavy in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and also are present in adaptions based on his fictional world. I wanted to record and create a database or encyclopaedia of the material culture within Middle-earth in both the literature and also adaptions, focusing on the ruins left on the landscape.  

For this week I want to test how each record will be compiled and written, with reference to what is used in the professional field of archaeology and heritage preservation from Historic England and a record template used by the Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service here (opens a PDF). The type of record I want to use will follow these partially whilst also being a collection of historic information and Tolkien quotes, as well as an examination of how adaptions record/visualise the ruins.

So below is Tharbad as test example.

“Tharbad 1640 TA”. Unknown provenance (possibly Middle-earth Roleplaying Game)

Week 21: Ruins of Middle-earth #1 - Tharbad

★ Name of ruin: Tharbad
★ Meaning of name (with source): Sindarin: “road-crossing” (Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings: A Readers Companion, p.15)

★ Type: Commercial, defence, domestic/residential, network (crossing)
★ Function: Port, town, fortresses (two) and bridge
★ Location: River Gwathló in Eriador (Cardolan)

★ Foundation: Númenórean (Tar-Aldarion)
★ Condition: Ruin (J.R.R. Tolkien works), partial ruin (adaptions)
★ When ruined: T.A. 2912 (Great Floods)

★ Architectural details: Númenórean, Dúnedain (Arnor and Gondor)
★ Features of interest: “once famed Bridge of Tharbad” (Unfinished Tales), earthworks, fort, causeway

📜 Historical background (with textual evidence):  

The earliest record within J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium of the area where Tharbad stands is in “Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife” from Unfinished Tales, the only narrative story that survives from the Second Age. In one of Tolkien’s letters he explains why:

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As for Númenor, the tale of the Akallabêth or Downfall is fully written. The rest of its internal history is only in Annal form, and will probably remain so, except for one long Númenórean tale: The Mariner’s Wife: now nearly complete, concerning the story of Aldarion (the 6th King: L.R. III 315, 316) and his tragic relations with his father and his wife. This is supposed to have been preserved in the Downfall, when most of Númenórean lore was lost except that that dealt with the First Age, because it tells how Númenor became involved in the politics of Middle-earth.

-- Humphrey Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Letter 276 To Dick Plotz, 12 September 1965)

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The explorations of the Númenóreans (Guild of Venturers) from their Island Kingdom to Middle-earth led Tar-Aldarion, the sixth king of Númenor, along the coastlines and then further inland. Eventually he followed the river Gwathló and sailed to the place where Tharbad will be later situated. It was here, it is noted, he met with Galadriel

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“It is also stated that ‘no records are now left of the later voyages that Aldarion made’, but that ‘it is known that he went much on land as well as sea, and went up the River Gwathló as far as Tharbad, and there met Galadriel’. There is no mention elsewhere of this meeting; but at that time Galadriel and Celeborn were dwelling in Eregion, at no great distance from Tharbad.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, II: Aldarion and Erendis)
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A great port had previously been founded at the estuary of the Gwathló (further south than Tharbad), called Vinyalondë and later Lond Dear Enedh.  

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“The ancient port was one of the earliest ports of the Númenóreans, begun by the renowned mariner-king Tar-Aldarion, and later enlarged and fortified. It was called Lond Daer Enedh, the Great Middle Haven (as being between Lindon in the North and Pelargir on the Anduin).”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Footnotes)
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When Sauron raised his army in a war against the Elves after the creation of the Rings of Power and the One Ring, crushing his enemies, things looked dire:

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“By that time Sauron had mastered all Eriador, save only besieged Imladris, and had reached the line of the River Lhûn. He had summoned more forces, which were approaching from the south-east, and were indeed in Enedwaith at the Crossing of Tharbad, which was only lightly held.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)

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Gil-galad had called for aid from Númenor and Tar-Minastir sent it in S.A. 1700 just as all seemed lost for Lindon. Tar-Minastir’s admiral, Ciryatur, harboured his fleet at Vinyalondë. Sauron’s forces were at or close to Tharbad but became surrounded by a joint force of Gil-galad’s elves and Númenóreans from the north and Ciryatur’s force from the south-west.

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“In the Battle of the Gwathló Sauron was routed utterly and he himself only narrowly escaped.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)
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The Battle of the Gwathló ushered in a peace for the region which led to further Númenórean expansion, since Eregion was a destroyed realm.

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“When Sauron was at last defeated and driven east out of Eriador most of the old forests had been destroyed. The Gwathló flowed through a land that was far and wide on either bank a desert, treeless but untilled. That was not so when it first received its name from the hardy explorers of Tar-Aldarion’s ship who ventured to pass up the river in small boats. As soon as the seaward region of salt airs and great winds was passed the forest drew down to the river-banks, and wide though the waters were the huge trees cast great shadows on the river, under which the boats of the adventurers crept silently up into the unknown land. So the first name they gave to it was ‘River of Shadow’, Gwath-hîr, Gwathir. But later they penetrated northward as far as the beginning of the great fenlands; though it was still long before they had the need or sufficient men to undertake the great works of drainage and dyke-building that made a great port on the site where Tharbad stood in the days of the Two Kingdoms.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)
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The golden age of Tharbad came later, after the destruction of Númenor and the foundation of Gondor in the south and Arnor in the north.  The site of Tharbad was situated on a navigable river:

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“But some hundred miles below Tharbad the slope increased. The Gwathló, however, never became swift, and ships of smaller draught could without difficulty sail or be rowed as far as Tharbad.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)
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Using the Gwathló was deemed the best route between Arnor and Gondor:

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“In the early days of the kingdoms the most expeditious route from one to the other (except for great armaments) was found to be by sea to the ancient port at the head of the estuary of the Gwathló and so to the river-port of Tharbad, and thence by the Road.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Footnotes)
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But in time Tharbad did become a crossing, facilitating a north-south causeway known as the Great Road or the Royal Road:

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[Great Royal Road] “…descend to the west lands about the lower Greyflood, which it crossed on a raised causeway leading to a great bridge at Tharbad.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Three: The Third Age, V: The Battles of the Fords of Isen)
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Through building works Tharbad became a port supported by a fort on either side of the river: 

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“The ancient sea-port and its great quays were ruinous, but with long labour a port capable of receiving seagoing vessels had been made at Tharbad, and a fort raised there on great earthworks on both sides of the river, to guard the once famed Bridge of Tharbad.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Footnotes)
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Which saw a rise in population supported by Gondor and Arnor of professionals such as engineers, mariners and soldiers:

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“…both kingdoms shared an interest in this region, and together built and maintained the Bridge of Tharbad and the long causeways that carried the road to it on either side of the Gwathló and Mitheithel across the fens in the plains of Minhiriath and Enedwaith. A considerable garrison of soldiers, mariners and engineers had been kept there until the seventeenth century of the Third Age. But from then onwards the region fell quickly into decay; and long before the time of The Lord of the Rings had gone back into wild fen-lands.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)
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The Númenórean heritage of the peoples at Tharbad, in contrast to those living in the area of Enedwaith, was emphasised too:

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“People of Númenórean origin did not live there, except at Tharbad, where a large garrison of soldiers and river-wardens was once maintained. In those days there were drainage works, and the banks of the Hoarwell and Greyflood were strengthened.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Carl Hostetter), Nature of Middle-earth (Part Three: The World, its Lands and its Inhabitants, “XXII The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor”)
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It wasn’t just Men who lived in the area. During their migration from the Vales of Anduin to the Shire, Hobbits (Stoors) also settled in the lands around Tharbad:

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“The Stoors lingered long by the banks of the Great River Anduin, and were less shy of Men. They came west after the Harfoots and followed the course of the Loudwater southwards; and there many of them long dwelt between Tharbad and the borders of Dunland before they moved north again.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Prologue)
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With a thriving port and important road network, what led to Tharbad becoming a ruin? The wars of the Third Age between the Men of the North and Angmar caused depopulation and destruction in the realm of Arnor which eventually split into three lesser kingdoms of Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. Further wars with Angmar and infighting between those kingdoms led to more depopulation. Events such as the Great Plague of T.A. 1636 and the Long Winter of T.A. 2758-2759 caused heavy population loss to Eriador.

And then in T.A. 2912 “Great floods devastate Enedwaith and Minhiriath. Tharbad is ruined and deserted” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Appendix B: The Tale of Years).

The line of communications between north and south became fractured and hazardous to travel:

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“When the days of the Kings ended (1975 – 2050) and the waning of Gondor began, they ceased in fact to be subjects of Gondor; the Royal Road was unkept in Enedwaith, and the Bridge of Tharbad becoming ruinous was replaced only by a dangerous ford.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Three: The Third Age, V: The Battles of the Fords of Isen)
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Boromir on his journey northwards found this out:

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“A long and wearisome journey. Four hundred leagues I reckoned it, and it took me many months; for I lost my horse at Tharbad, at the fording of the Greyflood.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Book Two Chapter 8: Farewell to Lórien)
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This was further emphasised in Unfinished Tales:

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“When Boromir made his great journey from Gondor to Rivendell – the courage and hardihood required is not fully recognized in the narrative – the North-South Road no longer existed except for the crumbling remains of the causeways, by which a hazardous approach to Tharbad might be achieved, only to find ruins on dwindling mounds, and a dangerous ford formed by the ruins of the bridge, impassable if the river had not been there slow and shallow – but wide.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)
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Across the works of J.R.R. Tolkien there are many references to the ruin of Tharbad, below are more examples:

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“Tharbad   River-port and town where the North-South Road crossed the river Gwathló, ruined and deserted at the time of the War of the Ring. Bridge of Tharbad.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Index)
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“It may be noted that Tharbad is referred to as ‘a ruined town’ in The Fellowship of the Ring II 3, and that Boromir in Lothlórien told that he lost his horse at Tharbad, at the fording of the Greyflood (ibid. II 8). In the Tale of Years the ruining and desertion of Tharbad is dated to the year 2912 of the Third Age, when great floods devastated Enedwaith and Minhiriath.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Two: The Second Age, IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)
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“But in the days of The Lord of the Rings the region had long become ruinous and lapsed into its primitive state: a slow wide river running through a network of swamps, pools and eyots: the haunt of hosts of swans and other water-birds.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Carl Hostetter), Nature of Middle-earth (Part Three: The World, its Lands and its Inhabitants, “XXII The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor”)
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“…and with the help of Aragorn and the Rangers had searched the lands far down the Greyflood, as far as Tharbad, where the old North Road crossed the river by a ruined town.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Book Two Chapter 3: The Ring goes south)
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“Tharbad” by Catherine Karina Chmiel. Source. 

📜 Tharbad in adaptions

Tharbad does not appear often in art. There is not a single image of Tar-Aldarion meeting Galadriel sadly. There are a few images focused on Boromir and his journey via Tharbad, but it is in gaming that we get the most representations of Tharbad. This is across a range of games from tabletop roleplaying, customisable card games and digital games such as MMORPGs (“massively multiplayer online roleplaying games).

“The Crossing at Tharbad” by Katarzyna Chmiel-Gugulska. Source.

In 1985 Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) published the “Thieves of Tharbad” adventure module (#8050) for their Middle-earth Roleplaying game (M.E.R.P.). The adventure is set in T.A. 1409-12 when Tharbad is still thriving and not a ruin. The cover art was by the wonderful Angus Mcbride showing a ship docked and being attacked at night with a bridge and tower in the background.

“Thieves of Tharbad” cover by Angus Mcbride for MERP (1985).

The module was later accompanied, in 1988, by a set (M32-41) of metal miniature figures (32mm) produced by Mithril Miniatures. These featured some of the non-player characters found in the adventure:

☀ Princess Nirnadel (M32)
☀ Dirhavel the alchemist (M33)
☀ Silmarien the Mage (M34)
☀ Tharbad City Guard and Officer (M35)
☀ Cardolanian mercenary (M36)
☀ Cutpurse (M37)
☀ Smuggler (M38)
☀ Cardolanian hir (M39)
☀ Tardegil the Army Captain (M40)
☀ Nimhir the Regent (M41)

Mithril Miniatures set “Cardolan - Thieves of Tharbad” (M32 - M41)
painted by Peder Hammarskiöld. Source.
(>>Click image to enlarge<<)

“Thieves of Tharbad” came with a map which showed a settlement on either side of the Gwathló and a middle bank, connected by the bridge, where the titular “Thieves quarter” was situated.

Map of Tharbad in “Thieves of Tharbad” by Iron Crown Enterprises
(>>Click image to enlarge<<)

More recently Free League (Fria Ligan) has produced “The One Ring” roleplaying game (along with D&D ruleset variant “The Lord of the Rings roleplaying 5E”) with the current campaign and adventures set in Eriador. In the “Ruins of the Lost Realm” expansion, Tharbad once again becomes a playable location but in a partial ruinous state.

This book also comes with a map of Tharbad which gives a definite nod to its predecessor:

Map of Tharbad in “Ruins of the Lost Realm” by Free League
(>>Click image to enlarge<<)

There is some gorgeous cover and internal art that features the bridge of Tharbad in the “Ruins of the Lost Realm” book too.

 
Images of Tharbad from “Ruins of the Lost Realm” by Free League
(>>Click image to enlarge<<)

Tharbad has also been visualised in several card games over the years, most images focusing on the key feature of the ruined bridge.

The bridge appears in two expansions for Iron Crown Enterprises’ “Middle-earth Collectible Card Game”:

☀ The Dragons (1996).
☀  The Lidless Eye (1997)

“Tharbad” (The Dragons, 1996. Art by Rob Alexander)

 

“Tharbad” (The Lidless Eye, 1997. Art by Douglas Chaffee)

Fantasy Flight Games have more recently been to Tharbad in an expansion “The Lord of the Rings: the card game” called “Trouble in Tharbad” as part of the Ring-maker cycle. There was also a Nightmare deck variant for the pack.

Fantasy Flight Games’ “Trouble in Tharbad” box art

“The Crossing at Tharbad” card from Fantasy Flight Games’ “Trouble in Tharbad”. Source.

In digital gaming there are immense efforts to re-create Middle-earth on screen in a modded Minecraft server called “Ardacraft” which began life back in May 2014. Teams of fans work on assignments to create various areas of the landscape. You can see the effort going into the recreation of Tharbad here in terms of research and planning.

The Greyflood ruins in Ardacraft. Source. 

In Standing Stones Games MMORPG “The Lord of the Rings Online” players were able to finally visit Cardolan/Swanfleet and Tharbad in the “Before the Shadow” expansion released on 15 November 2022. LOTRO’s Tharbad is a large ruin though there are no interior spaces to explore. The bridge is, of course, the main feature.   

 

 
Some images of Tharbad in LOTRO, author’s screenshots taken on 17/07/23 

(>>Click images to enlarge<<)

📜 Bibliography

📗 Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
📗 Tolkien, J.R.R., The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
📗 Tolkien, J.R.R., The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
📗 Tolkien, J.R.R., The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
📗 Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien (Edited by Carl Hostetter), The Nature of Middle-earth
📗 Tolkien, J.R.R., The Silmarillion
📗 Tolkien, J.R.R., Unfinished Tales

A few websites on “The Ruin”:

📗 “Ivory in the Rust: Reading the Old English 'Ruin' in South Bend” by Richard Fahey. Link.
📗 “Anglo Saxon Aloud: The Ruin” by Michael D. C. Drout. Link.
📗 “The Ruin” Wikipedia (with JRR Tolkien reference). Link. 

📜 Notes on recording Middle-earth ruins and other architectural structures

For the record template used here I have Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service’s template and added to it, where appropriate: type and condition are taken from their template but I have added to the options to suit what I am doing.

Type:
Agricultural, burial, commercial, commemoration, defensive, domestic, industrial, memorial, network, religious, residential (includes inns)  

Condition:
In use, disused, partial ruin, ruin, destroyed