Dol Amroth
Encyclopedia
In J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's legendarium
Legendarium
Legendary may refer to:*A hagiography, or study of the lives of saints and other religious figures**The South English Legendary, a Middle English legendary*A legend-Entertainment:*Legendary, an album by Kaysha*Legendary...

, Dol Amroth was a hill along the coast of Gondor
Gondor
Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth by the end of the Third Age. The third volume of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, is concerned with the events in Gondor during the War of the Ring and with...

, on a peninsula on the Bay of Belfalas
Bay of Belfalas
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Bay of Belfalas was a large southern bay in the Great Sea.The Bay of Belfalas was the remainder of the eastern edge of the Great Gulf that had divided Beleriand from the Lands to the South in the First Age...

; and also the city that grew up there, mainly in the Third Age
Third Age
The Third Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. The history of Middle-earth is to be taken fictionally as a history of the real Earth....

 as the seat of the principality of the same name. The Prince of Dol Amroth was one of the principal subjects of Gondor. In The Lord of the Rings, Prince Imrahil
Imrahil
Imrahil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in Return of the King as the twenty-second Prince of Dol Amroth.-Biography:...

 is the Prince of Dol Amroth, a major character in the book's third volume, The Return of the King
The Return of the King
The Return of the King is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.-Title:...

.

Edhellond

Dol Amroth lay to the south of the mouth of the River Morthond. Elves
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...

 had lived in the surrounding area for a long time. Although Tolkien writes that Nandorin Elves came down the Anduin
Anduin
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Anduin is the Sindarin name for the Great River of Wilderland, the longest river in the Third Age . The ancestors of the Rohirrim called it Langflood. It flowed from its source in the Grey and Misty Mountains to the Mouths of Anduin in the Great Sea...

 as early as the First Age
First Age
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the First Age, or First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar is the heroic period in which most of Tolkien's early legends are set...

, it is only in the Second Age
Second Age
The Second Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. Tolkien intended for the history of Middle-earth to be considered fictionally as a precursor to the history of the real Earth....

 that Elves are mentioned specifically near Dol Amroth. In one account, a haven and a small Elvish settlement were founded by refugees from Beleriand
Beleriand
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work The Silmarillion, which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic...

 at Edhellond ("Elf Harbour"), upriver from the river's mouth. Other accounts say that Nandorin Elves accompanied Galadriel
Galadriel
Galadriel is a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien, appearing in his Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales....

 from Lórien to this region after the defeat of Sauron
Sauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...

 in Eriador
Eriador
Eriador is a large region in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth. In the Second Age, and possibly much earlier, it was largely forested, but the Dúnedain felled most of the forests to build ships. Much of it was encompassed in the early Third Age by the kingdom of Arnor, which...

 in the middle of the Second Age, or that Amroth ruled among the Nandorin Elves here in the Second Age. Elves continued to live here well into the Third Age, until the last ship departed from Edhellond for the Undying Lands
Aman
-External links:*...

 in .

The sea near Edhellond witnessed one of the tragic tales of Lórien: Amroth, King of Lórien from the beginning of the Third Age, left his realm behind in in search of his beloved Nimrodel, who had fled from the horror
Balrog
Balrogs are fictional demonic beings who appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Such creatures first appeared in print in his novel The Lord of the Rings, though they figured in earlier writings that posthumously appeared in The Silmarillion and other books.Balrogs are described as...

 unleashed by the Dwarves
Dwarf (Middle-earth)
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting the world of Arda, a fictional prehistoric Earth which includes the continent Middle-earth....

 in Moria
Moria (Middle-earth)
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria was the name given by the Eldar to an enormous underground complex in north-western Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or 'mansions', that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains...

. He waited for her at Edhellond, for their final voyage together into the West. But Nimrodel, who loved Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....

 as much as she did Amroth, failed to join him. When the ship was blown prematurely out to sea, he jumped overboard in a futile attempt to reach the shore to search for her, and drowned in the bay.

The Hill of Amroth

The term Dol Amroth (signifying "the Hill of Amroth" in Tolkien's invented Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....

 language) referred originally to a hill along the northern shore of the Bay of Belfalas. It stood on a peninsula jutting westward into the bay, enclosing a smaller bay (Cobas Haven) to the north, into which the Morthond flowed.

It is not clear how the hill acquired the name of Amroth. Stories recounted of Amroth in Unfinished Tales
Unfinished Tales
Unfinished Tales is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980.Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and...

indicate that he lived at some time during the Second Age somewhere in this area (one account says specifically at Dol Amroth). The name may also commemorate his drowning in the bay; but Unfinished Tales tells of an "Adrahil of Dol Amroth" who lived somewhat before that time.

The city and principality of Dol Amroth

The Faithful from Númenor
Númenor
Númenor is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings. It was a huge island located in the Sundering Seas to the west of Middle-earth, the main setting of Tolkien's writings, and was known to be the greatest realm of Men...

 began colonising the coast near Dol Amroth at the end of the Second Age shortly before Númenor was destroyed
Akallabêth
Akallabêth is the fourth part of the fantasy work The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is relatively short, consisting of about thirty pages.-Synopsis:...

, and this area was noted for the number of men of Númenórean blood, and for the number who still spoke the Elvish tongue. By the time of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

at the end of the Third Age, a city had grown up around the Hill of Amroth, and had become the seat of a principality. Dol Amroth is in fact the only principality we know of within Gondor (until the creation of Faramir
Faramir
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Faramir is a fictional character appearing in The Lord of the Rings. He is introduced as the younger brother of Boromir of the Fellowship of the Ring and second son of Denethor II, the Steward of the realm of Gondor...

 as Prince of Ithilien
Ithilien
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Ithilien is a region and fiefdom of Gondor.Ithilien, or "Moon-land," is the easternmost province of Gondor, the only part of Gondor across the Great River Anduin lying between the river and the Mountains of Shadow , subdivided by the stream of...

 at the end of the book), and its prince was an important subject of the kingdom. In The Return of the King, Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, played a major part in the defence of Minas Tirith
Minas Tirith
Minas Tirith , originally named Minas Anor, is a fictional city and castle in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. It became the heavily fortified capital of Gondor in the second half of the Third Age...

, and became the effective lord of Gondor during the incapacity of the stewards Denethor
Denethor
Denethor II of the House of Húrin is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Return of the King, which is the third and final part of his novel The Lord of the Rings. In the novel, he is the 26th and penultimate ruling Steward of Gondor....

 and Faramir. The line of Dol Amroth was linked by marriage both to the Stewards of Gondor
Stewards of Gondor
The Stewards of Gondor were rulers from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium of Middle-earth.-Overview:Steward was the traditional title of a chief counsellor to one of the Kings of Gondor. The office of Arandur first came into existence during the reign of King Rómendacil I...

 and to the Kings of Rohan: Imrahil was uncle to Boromir
Boromir
Boromir is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings , and is mentioned in the last volume, The Return of the King....

 and Faramir; a kinsman of Théoden
Théoden
Théoden is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. He appears as a major supporting character in The Two Towers and The Return of the King.-Appearances:...

; and the father of Éomer
Éomer
Éomer is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the second and third volumes of Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings....

's wife Lothíriel
Lothíriel
Lothíriel is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, appearing in The Peoples of Middle-earth.-Biography:Lothíriel was the Princess of Dol Amroth and wife of King Éomer of Rohan. Lothíriel was the daughter of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth; her mother's name is not known. Lothíriel...

.

The swan knights of Dol Amroth whom Imrahil leads to Minas Tirith form the largest contingent coming from the hinterland to the defence of the city. They marched under a banner "silver upon blue", bearing "a white ship like a swan upon blue water".

Although The Lord of the Rings never takes us to Dol Amroth, we do see some glimpses. Prince Imrahil dwelt "in the great fief of Belfalas . . . in his castle of Dol Amroth by the sea, and he was of high blood, and his folk also, tall men and proud with sea-grey eyes." We learn of the city's protective sea-walls. The whimsical poem "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon" in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in 1962. The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring...

tells how the Man in the Moon fell one night into "the windy Bay of Bel"; his fall is marked by the tolling of a bell in the Sea-ward Tower (Tirith Aear) of Dol Amroth; and he recovers at an inn in the city.

The boundaries of the principality are nowhere given, but in addition to Dol Amroth itself, the prince ruled Belfalas (the coast extending eastward) and presumably the area to the east on the map labelled Dor-en-Ernil ("the land of the prince").

The origin of the line

Tolkien gives two differing accounts of the origin of Imrahil's line, both in Unfinished Tales.

In the earlier account, the line was founded, according to "the tradition of [the] house", by Imrazôr the Númenórean and the Elven-lady Mithrellas, one of Nimrodel's Silvan
Silvan Elves
Silvan Elves are an ethnic group of Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, mainly the Elves of Mirkwood and Lothlórien.In the First Age the Elves of Ossiriand, or Laiquendi, were also referred to as wood-elves....

 companions. Imrazôr lived in Belfalas around and had two children: a boy Galador and a girl Gilmith. Shortly thereafter Mithrellas is said to have vanished in the night. Galador, according to this tradition, became the first Lord of Dol Amroth.

Although this account does not appear explicitly in The Lord of the Rings, it figures in the perception of Imrahil by the people of Minas Tirith: "Belike the old tales speak well; there is Elvish blood
Half-elven
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Half-elven are the children of the union of Elves and Men. The Half-elven are not a distinct race from Elves and Men, and must ultimately choose to which race they belong...

 in the veins of that folk, for the people of Nimrodel dwelt in that land once long ago", as well as in the accolade from Legolas
Legolas
Legolas is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, featured in The Lord of the Rings. He is an Elf of the Woodland Realm and one of nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring.- Literature :...

 upon meeting Imrahil: "It is long since the people of Nimrodel left the woodlands of Lórien, and yet still one may see that not all sailed from Amroth's haven west over water." Tolkien began in fact to work out a genealogical table linking Galador with Imrahil, but he abandoned it after getting little farther than assigning dates to the mostly blank spaces in between.

The second account belongs, according to Christopher Tolkien
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher Reuel Tolkien is the third and youngest son of the author J. R. R. Tolkien , and is best known as the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. He drew the original maps for his father's The Lord of the Rings, which he signed C. J. R. T. The J...

 to the late writings, undertaken well after the publication of The Lord of the Rings, when Tolkien turned to exploring the early history of Gondor and Rohan
Rohan
Rohan is a realm in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy era of Middle-earth. It is a grassland which lies north of its ally Gondor and north-west of Mordor, the realm of Sauron, their enemy . It is inhabited by the Rohirrim, a people of herdsmen and farmers who are well-known for their horses and cavalry....

. Here Tolkien says that the title of "Prince" was given to the line of Dol Amroth by Elendil
Elendil
Elendil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....

 himself; this was the family that had led the original Númenórean colonisation. The Adrahil of Dol Amroth who fought with Calimehtar against the Wainriders in (predating both Imrazôr and the death of Amroth) probably also belongs to this version. Christopher adds to the note that while it is not impossible to forge some consistency between the two versions, they likely represent two independent accounts of the origin of the house.
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