Lothlórien

• 1. Names And Meanings

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  The forest held many names, each reflecting a different people's perception of the place. The Nandorin name Lindórinand meant Valley of the Land of the Singers. Later speakers called it Lórinand, which translated to Valley of Gold after the mallorn trees arrived. Sindarin speakers used Laurelindórenan for the Valley of Singing Gold. By the Third Age, the common name became Lothlórien, meaning The Dreamflower. A shortened form appeared as Lórien, matching the Gardens of Lórien in Aman. Rohirrim speakers called it Dwimordene, derived from Old English words for illusion and valley. The Common Speech simply referred to it as The Golden Wood.

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• 2. Historical Development

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  Early in the First Age, some Eldar left the Great March to Valinor and settled east of the Misty Mountains. These elves became known as the Nandor and later as the Silvan Elves. Galadriel made contact with an existing Nandorin realm called Lindórinand. She planted golden mallorn trees there that Gil-galad had received as a gift from Tar-Aldarion. The culture and knowledge of the Silvan elves enriched by the arrival of Sindarin Elves from west of the Misty Mountains. Among these arrivals was Amdír, who became their first lord. Galadriel and Celeborn fled the destruction of Eregion during the War of the Elves and Sauron. In the Third Age, Amroth went south with his beloved Nimrodel but drowned in the Bay of Belfalas after she went missing. Control of Lothlórien passed to Galadriel and Celeborn. Galadriel's Ring of Power preserved the land from death and decay. As the War of the Ring loomed, the Company of the Ring emerged from Moria and entered the forest. They spent roughly a month in Lothlórien before leaving for their quest. After the fall of Sauron, Galadriel and Celeborn rid Dol Guldur of influence. Galadriel left for Valinor at the beginning of the Fourth Age. By the time Queen Arwen died, Lothlórien itself was deserted.

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• 3. Geography And Architecture

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  Lothlórien lay in the west of Wilderland between the Misty Mountains and the River Anduin. The river Silverlode or Celebrant flowed through the realm and joined the Anduin. A tributary from the west called the river Nimrodel fed into it. The main part of the realm formed a triangular region between the converging rivers Silverlode and Anduin. This area was called the Naith by the Elves or the Gore in Common Speech. Caras Galadhon stood some ten miles from where the two great rivers met. Founded by Amroth in the Third Age, the city sat deep within the forest. Dwellings were built atop tall mallorn trees that Galadriel had brought to the land. Many tree-platforms served as elaborate dwellings or simple guard-posts. Stairways of ladders wound around the main trees. At night the city glowed with many lamps in green and gold and silver. The entrance to the city faced south on the southern side.

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• 4. Temporal Paradoxes

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  Sam Gamgee recalled that the moon was waning just before they arrived and new when they left. He exclaimed that anyone would think time did not count inside the forest. Frodo saw Galadriel as present yet remote, a living vision of what had been left behind by flowing streams of Time. Legolas stated that for Elves the world moves both very swift and very slow. He explained that Elves change little while all else fleets by quickly. They do not count the running years. Verlyn Flieger noted a definite contradiction between Frodo's position and Legolas's view. She considered Aragorn's view to reconcile these positions. Aragorn agreed that time has passed as Legolas said but felt differently. He noted that the moon carried on changing in the world outside. This suggests Lothlórien had its own laws of nature like a fairy tale. Flieger wrote that this represents Tolkien's most mystical and philosophical deployment of time concerning Elves. It explains why Frodo experiences altered time from crossing a bridge of Time to seeing Aragorn as he was young.

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• 5. Symbolic Interpretations

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  Paul H. Kocher writes that Galadriel perceives Sauron with Lothlórien's light without being pierced by it. The Christian author Elizabeth Danna notes Haldir's explanation echoes John 1:5 from the King James Bible. Susan Robbins observes Tolkien associated light with holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, grace, hope, and God's revelation. Tom Shippey describes Lothlórien as an idyllic land having no stain. He compares this perfect place to the Earthly Paradise in the Middle English poem Pearl. Shippey suggests the name England comes from the Angle between the Flensburg Fjord and River Schlei. He states Frodo's feeling of stepping over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days may be correct. Paul H. Kocher also notes that good intelligence has imaginative sympathy to penetrate evil but not vice versa. The scholar Elizabeth Danna highlights how the Elf Haldir stands on a flet high above Cerin Amroth explaining the two powers opposed to one another.

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• 6. Real World Inspirations

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  John Garth writes of a possible Warwickshire connection for Lothlórien. In 1915 young Tolkien wrote a celebration of Warwickshire called Kortirion Among the Trees. The central green hill of Cerin Amroth recalls the grassy Motte of Warwick Castle known as Ethelfleda's Mound. This was where he spent happy times with his future wife Edith Bratt. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull question whether any artist could capture the sublime Elvish beauty of the mallorn trees. They note Tolkien attempted to illustrate the forest in late 1940 with a pencil and colored pencil painting titled The Forest of Lothlorien in Spring. Their view is that the painting demonstrates his mature colored pencil technique yet remains without life for the most part. It does not illustrate scenes from The Lord of the Rings since the Fellowship saw the land in winter not spring.

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• 7. Adaptations And Legacy

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  Lothlórien's appearance in Peter Jackson's film trilogy was based on artwork by conceptual designer Alan Lee. Some scenes were shot on locations in Paradise Valley near Glenorchy, New Zealand. The game The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria introduced Lorien as a region in March 2009. Players can visit Caras Galadhon and complete quests from the elves there. Enya released an instrumental composition named Lothlórien on her album Shepherd Moons. Dutch composer Johan de Meij wrote music inspired by the woods as the second movement of his Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings. This movement carries the title Lothlórien The Elvenwood. These adaptations keep the realm visible to modern audiences through visual media and musical scores.

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