The Location of Mount Dolmed on Maps from the First and Third Ages

Ronald Kyrmse

This study is located only in the Secondary World subcreated by J.R.R. Tolkien. Therefore it makes no reference to Tolkien’s literary works in the Primary World, seen as a product of the author’s imagination.

Mount Dolmed (from Sindarin dol + med “wet head”) rose in the First Age above an important pass through the Blue Mountains, between Beleriand and Eriador.

The great dwarven cities of Gabilgathol [Nogrod in Sindarin] and Tumunzahar [Belegost] were built in its vicinity, to the southeast and northeast respectively.

The Blue Mountains [Ered Luin] were partially destroyed during the War of Wrath, causing – according to some – the disappearance of Mount Dolmed. But something different may have occurred...

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Figure 1 Eastern extension of the First “Silmarillion” Map

On the eastern extension of the First “Silmarillion”1 Map, in The History of Middle-earth Vol. IV p. 231, Mount Dolm (later called Dolmed) appears in the southeast corner of square F14, practically at the same latitude of the confluence of rivers Aros and Celon (square F10). The mountain rises at the extremity of a projection from the Ered Luin (Blue Mountains) towards the west [Figure 1]. The geography is that of Broseliand [>Beleriand] in the First Age.

The height of Himling extends between squares D11 and D12.

1 * [The] Silmarillion designates the work first published in 1977, edited by Christopher Tolkien. The preceding versions – recorded in The History of Middle-earth – are called “Silmarillion”, in quotes. 2

Figure 2 The Second “Silmarillion” Map

On the Second “Silmarillion” Map, in The History of Middle-earth Vol. V p. 409, Mount Dolm is once more recorded at the same geographical position, nameless but highlighted in dark colour [Figure 2].

The top of Himling is on the western border of square D12.

The Second Map evolved, having received many annotations on the original and a photocopy, recorded in The History of Middle-earth Vol. XI. On p. 331 the name of the mountain that interests us was annotated as Mt. Dolmeð, and the location of Belegost was added.

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Figure 3 Map from The Silmarillion

In The Silmarillion, the geographical relationships of this part of Beleriand have been maintained. Mount Dolmed [

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Figure 4 Maps from The Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales

The maps published in The Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales represent Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. The same mountain is shown on them, at an analogous situation at the end of a projection from the Ered Luin, though these have been interrupted by the cataclysm of the War of Wrath.

The isle of Himling, left over from the hill of Himring, appears on the most recent map [Figure 4].

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Figure 5 Maps from Explicando Tolkien and Tolkien, le façonnement d’un monde

In Explicando Tolkien (2003), in the section dealing with the relationship between Beleriand and Eriador, I included a discussion on geographical features appearing on maps of the First and the Third Age:

• The hill of Himring appears on later maps as the island of Himling, evidently the peak that still rose above sea level. • The highland of Taur-nu-Fuin survived as the great island of Tol Fuin into the Third Age (or the Second at least). • The range of the Ered Luin – the Blue Mountains – appears in far eastern Beleriand and also in the region of Lindon, in the west of Third-Age Middle-earth; in fact, there exists on the maps of that Age a branch of the mountain range, north of a forest in Forlindon, corresponding with mount Dolmed (or Dolm) in former Ossiriand.

I had already mentioned, in the article “The Geographical Relation Between Eriador and Beleriand” in Mallorn 26 (September 1989), “the outstanding feature of Mount Dolm (Dolmed), corresponding to an unnamed spur just north of an extensive wooded area in Forlindon”.

The conjectural position of Mount Dolmed – which has therefore remained standing until the Third Age – was mapped in the same way in my book Explicando Tolkien and later in Tolkien, le façonnement d’un monde by Didier Willis. The squares, with sides measuring 50 miles (~80km), are those of the “Silmarillion” map [Figure 5].

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Works mentioned

TOLKIEN, John Ronald Reuel. The Lord of the Rings. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978. –. The Silmarillion. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1979. –. Unfinished Tales. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1981. –. The History of Middle-earth Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1986. –. The History of Middle-earth Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1987. –. The History of Middle-earth Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels. London: HarperCollins, 1994.

KYRMSE, Ronald Eduard. “The Geographical Relation Between Beleriand and Erador” in Mallorn 26, September 1989. –. Explicando Tolkien. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2003.

WILLIS, Didier. "Du Beleriand aux confins de Rhûn – Collages et reconstructions cartographiques" in Tolkien, le façonnement d'un monde, vol. 2. Le Dragon de Brume, 2014.

July 2020

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