A broad term describing lands in the north, and especially the northwest, of Middle-earth. During the First Age, it applied especially to the wide northwestern land known as Beleriand, as well as the populated lands that ran along Beleriand's northern fringe. These old Northern Lands stretched for nearly a thousand miles, extending westward from the Blue Mountains out into the Great Sea. In the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age, these lands were broken and, for the most part, drowned beneath the Sea. Only the country of Lindon, with a few scattered islands beyond, survived into the Second Age.
During the Third Age, long after Beleriand had been lost, the name 'Northern Lands' gained a different meaning. During the early centuries of the Third Age, the North Road from the crossroads at Bree had led to the city of Fornost at the heart of the powerful North-kingdom of Arnor. By the end of the Age, however, this kingdom had long fallen into ruin, and the Northern Lands beyond Bree lay desolate and empty.
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- Updated 22 October 2024
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