Q: When Was Lond Daer Enedh Abandoned?
ANSWER: According to J.R.R. Tolkien, in a note cited by Christopher Tolkien in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth:
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 at the estuary of the Gwathló and so to the riverport of Tharbad, and thence by the Road. 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. 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). [Author’s note.]
The original name for the sea-port was Vinyalonde, for it was originally established by Aldarion during one of his early voyages to Middle-earth. According to “The Tale of Years” in The Lord of the Rings the Numenoreans did not begin to make permanent havens in Middle-earth until Second Age year 1200; Tar-Aldarion died in SA 1098, and his daughter Ancalime (who succeeded him in SA 1075) did not continue her father’s works. Vinyalonde must have been abandoned after Aldarion’s death and rebuilt sometime after 1200, perhaps during the reign of Tar-Anárion her son. We can only be certain that the port was used by Tar-Minastir’s navy when it brought reinforcements to Middle-earth during the War of the Elves and Sauron in Second Age year 1701.
After Pelargir was established in Second Age year 2350 Vinyalonde was apparently renamed Lond Daer Enedh. I have generally assumed that the port was probably ruined by the destruction of Middle-earth’s coasts in the wake of Numenor’s Downfall in Second Age year 3319, although no published text of which I am aware says so. Elendil was — according to “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” — “cast up by the waves in the land of Lindon….” He may have had no control over where he landed in Middle-earth but Lond Daer is not mentioned in the story.
If the people of Lond Daer Enedh survived the general destruction of the coasts they must have helped to populate Arnor. But would they necessarily have had to abandon the city completely? Might it have survived even if it could no longer serve as a sea-port? The reader is free to infer so with no texts to contradict such an assumption.
However, it should be noted that by the time the last prince of Cardolan died in Third Age year 1409 (during a war with Angmar) he had retreated to Tyrn Gorthad (the Barrow Downs) and other Cardolan survivors had retreated to the Old Forest. One can easily form the impression that these were the last of Cardolan’s people outside of Tharbad. Lond Daer Enedh certainly does not figure in the story.
Furthermore, there is no mention of the city — or of Gondor’s navy attempting to use either the old haven at Lond Daer Enedh or the quays at Tharbad — when they sent a fleet north to help defeat Angmar in Third Age year 1975. If any remnant of a settlement at Lond Daer survived into the Third Age its people must have dwindled. The city could have been abandoned by 1409; or perhaps its last people died out in 1636. It does not appear to have existed by 1975.
Still, for the sake of writing fan fiction or a role-playing adventure, the reader is free to create a scenario where some portion of the ancient city survives up until just before the time of The Lord of the Rings, which says that Bree is the only settlement of Men within 300 miles of the Shire.
See also:
- Was Tharbad Ever an Independent City-state?
- What was the Capital of Cardolan?
- Where is the Red Hill of Cardolan?
- Who Was the Last Prince of Cardolan?
- What Is the History of Tharbad?
- Who Ruled Cardolan, Land of Red Hills?
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Interesting post, I was always intrigued by Lond Daer, but I have a different question for you (also I would like to hear your opinion on the one I asked in comment to ,,whether the orcs could live peacefully with other races”), what do you think about the role of spies on the side of ,,good gyus” in Middle Earth. Did great kingdoms had any secret agents so to speak? Evil forces had extensive use of spies, from the very first wars of Beleriand, also Umbar learned through spies of ideal opportunity to attack and kill a king Minardil in Pelargir. The rangers of Ithilien could be considered special forces in Gondor: superb stealth skills, great reconnaisance, seek and destroy forces, ambushes and guerilla tactics, scouts gathering intel. Would a spy or secret agent be considered unworthy job or not? CErtainly even elves are not beyond so called dishonourable tactics in war, elven warriors fought with ,,stealth and ambush, with wizardry and venomed dart”, also Elvenking Thranduil had use of ,,messangers and friendly birds” to gather news for him. Even elves have their spies 🙂 hę? what do your think?
The “good guys” did send out scouts to “spy out” the land so Tolkien seems to have felt comfortable using the word “spy” in its oldest sense of looking.
Of course, there are no references to any “good guys” taking service with bad guys in order to obtain information from them that could be conveyed back to the rest of the “good guys”.
The closest example to that kind of behavior I can think of is Bilbo’s visit to Bard’s camp in The Hobbit, when he gave Bard the Arkenstone and warned him of Dain’s approach.
My questions might seem oversimplified but were generally inspired by this quote which I had in mind about Umbar attack on Pelargir :):
,,The rebels of Umbar had never ceased to make war on Gondor since the death of Kastamir, attacking its ships and raiding its coast at every opportunity. … Learning through spies that Minardil was at Pelargir, suspecting no peril since the crushing of Harad and Umbar by his father, Angomaite and Sangahyanda, leaders of the Corsairs of Umbar, great-grandsons of Kastamir, made a raid up Anduin, slew the king, ravaged Pelargir and the coasts, and escaped with great booty.”
The Peoples of Middle-Earth, HoME Vol 12, Part 1, Ch 7, The Heirs of Elendil.
So this made me curious (almost a political scheme with secret services hehe :). Also I remember reading somewhere (I forgot the exact source) of ,,ministers of the Crown concerned with ‘intelligence'” in Gondor which meant appointed wardens of palantiri.
Dark Lords seems to had liking for such things too, for example elves enslaved by Morgoth who were his source of information:
“…in his rear and to the north Morgoth had no foes, and by that way his spies at times went out, and came by devious routes into Beleriand. And desiring above all to sow fear and disunion among the Eldar, he commanded the Orcs to take alive any of them that they could and bring them bound to Angband; and some he so daunted by the terror of his eyes that they needed no chains more, but walked ever in fear of him, doing his will wherever they might be. Thus Morgoth learned much of all that had befallen since the rebellion of Fëanor, and he rejoiced, seeing therein the seed of many dissensions among his foes.”
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 13, Of the Return of the Noldor
,,…And Morgoth sent out his spies, and they were clad in false forms and deceit was in their speech; they made lying promises of reward, and with cunning words sought to arouse fear and jealousy among the peoples… But ever the Noldor feared most the treachery of those of their own kin, who had been thralls in Angband; for Morgoth used some of these for his evil purposes, and feigning to give them liberty sent them abroad, but their wills were chained to his, and they strayed only to come back to him again. Therefore if any of his captives escaped in truth, and returned to their own people, they had little welcome, and wandered alone outlawed and desperate.”
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 18, Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin.
I have another question: in The Hobbit Bard Bowman and Beorn seems to be the only surviving people with special ability (talking with animals for one thing) but were they really the only ones? Their descendants apparently inherited their gifts but is it possible that outside of these bloodlines other could posess the same abilities? We have a proof that there was a bear gathering, some ,,ordinary bears and giant bears” could it be that some of them were skin changers like Beorn who for some unspecified reason stayed behind and that’s why Beorn came alone to battle.
Also Men of Dale ,,used to had a trick to understand” trushes if Girion’s family survived why no others? There’s plenty of people further down Celduin river some of whom could be descendants of original inhabitants of the city, so teh ability of talking with trushes could be more widespread in rebuild Dale. What do you think? (the use of birds as messangers both by dwarves and men of this area could have been vital in war).
Like Michael, I am fairly racking my brains in vain for instances in Tolkien’s writings of the Third Age of Realms of the West employing “spies” in the service of Mordor, Angmar, Harad, Wainriders, etc. Until 2002 (with the fall of Minas Ithil, and the feared loss of its palantir), of course, it had the Seeing Stones, and no compunction about using them, even if the arts of doing so were in decline. This doesn’t mean that spies weren’t used; but Gondor and Arnor/Arthedain may have felt less need to make their use a high priority (if so, the catastrophic defeats they suffered suggest over the centuries that this may not have been wise).
Nonetheless, it seems very likely that such spies were used, especially among realms of Men in the East and South, where a presumed (say) Gondorian spy might be able to more easily fit in, and less likely to be detected. The Blue Wizards were likely too conspicuous for such service, but even episodes like Aragorn’s ventures into Rhun and Harad after he left the service of Minas Tirith as “Thorongil” are suggestive here. The most likely explanation really does seem most likely: such spies were used, but Tolkien simply never had occasion in his narratives to discuss them.
As for Lond Daer, I always had the impression that its fortunes were tied to Tharbad, and survived no longer than it did. Indeed, Michael is likely correct that its abandonment predates it, since it had less value to either of the Realms in Exile than Tharbad did. What sea traffic there was seems likely to have been confined mostly to Lindon, Pelargir and Umbar.