A name for the long road that ran from west to east across Eriador. Its course led through the Shire from Michel Delving, passing close to Hobbiton before going on to reach the Shire's eastern borders at the Brandywine Bridge. From there it continued eastward, crossing the old North-South Road at Bree. It then stretched on eastward through the wild Lone-lands, past the hill of Weathertop before eventually reaching Rivendell at the feet of the Misty Mountains.
The road in fact existed long before the settlement of the Shire, and dated back to a time when the lands through which it ran were ruled by the Dúnedain of Arnor. While maps of the road show it running only as far west as Michel Delving, it seems to have continued farther westward, past the Tower Hills and toward the Blue Mountains and the Grey Havens in Lindon. Though there are good reasons to think that this westward section existed, we are lacking any details of this part of the road beyond Michel Delving.
The name 'Great East Road' appears only as a label for this road on maps from the earliest editions of The Lord of the Rings. On maps included in later editions, the label for the same road instead reads 'East-West Road'. The course of the road itself is identical regardless of the name shown on the map, running eastward from Michel Delving as far as Rivendell.
Notes
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The origins of the Great East Road are not explained in any detail, but the fact that it ran from Lindon toward Rivendell implies that it was created, or at least adopted, by the Elves who dwelt in those two locations. Rivendell was founded in II 1697, so the road probably appeared after that time. To complicate matters, however, Rivendell stood near one of the few passes over the Misty Mountains, and conceivably the Great East Road (or an earlier version of the same route) might have been made to carry traffic over the High Pass before Rivendell existed. If there were such an earlier incarnation of the Great East Road, it was likely the work of the Dwarves, who made many of the earlier roads in Middle-earth.
During the Third Age, the Great East Road ran for much of its length through the lands of Arnor. The Dúnedain were great builders, and we have accounts of them strengthening the bridges on the road for the passage of their armies during the War of the Last Alliance, as well as working to maintain the roads that ran through their realms. The last kingdom of the Northern Dúnedain fell long before the end of the Third Age, and after that time the more remote parts of the Great East Road would have fallen into disuse and disrepair.
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Canonical maps showing this road mark its western end at Michel Delving in the Shire. We know from textual references that it - or perhaps an extension of it - could be followed as far westward as the Grey Havens, and this conjectured westward section is shown with a dashed line here. We also know that it was frequented by Dwarves out the Blue Mountains, so further connecting roads likely existed at its western end, running up into the mountains to the mines of the Dwarves.
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- Updated 15 December 2023
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