An important river of the southern regions of Gondor. It rose in the White Mountains above Lamedon, and flowed southwestwards for some 200 miles before it met the sea. Near its mouth was the ancient Elf-haven of Edhellond, and it marked the border between Anfalas to the west and Belfalas to the east.
Notes
1
Ringló's course joined Morthond about ten miles inland, and their joint waters flowed on into the Bay of Belfalas. It is never stated whether this joint channel was formally an extension of Ringló or Morthond (in other words, which river was a tributary of the other) but the weight of evidence suggests that Ringló was considered a tributary of Morthond, rather than the other way around. For a more detailed discussion of the evidence on this point, see note 1 to the entry for Morthond.
2
Tolkien never directly translates the name Ringló himself, but the elements ring 'cold' and ló 'flood, fen' are well established. The ló element is commonly seen in the names of rivers that flooded the lands around them, or flowed through fenlands: compare, for example, Gwathló ('Greyflood') or Onodló ('Entwash'). In fact, it seems that in this case the flooding was of a mountain tarn that formed the river's source, which swelled to a lake at times of snowmelt.
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