The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Destroyed at the end of the First Age
Location
At the western end of Dorthonion, surrounding and concealing the city of Gondolin
Race
Divisions
Culture
Settlements
Gondolin stood on the plain of Tumladen within the Echoriath; the mine of Anghabar was within the mountains themselves
Source
At one time a lake had formed within the mountains, and a river had flowed southwestward out of the lake, but during historical times both lake and river were dry, and the surviving riverbed is known only as the Dry River
Important peaks
The peaks in the southern part of the range were known as the Crissaegrim
Passes
Pronunciation
echo'ree-ath ('ch' as in Scots 'Loch')
Meaning
Translated as the 'Encircling Mountains'1
Other names

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 21 July 2018
  • Updates planned: 1
Map of the Echoriath

The great circular range of mountains, filled with the eyries of Eagles, that surrounded and protected the Hidden City of Gondolin for most of the First Age.


Notes

1

The Elvish name Echoriath is universally translated as the 'Encircling Mountains', but this isn't quite the literal meaning of the name. Echor refers to something that surrounds or encloses, and iâth is a fence or boundary (as in Doriath, 'land of the fence'). So, the word Echoriath literally means the 'encircling fence' of mountains that concealed Gondolin from the outside world. The alternative form Echoriad is also recorded in some non-canonical sources.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 21 July 2018
  • Updates planned: 1

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