Arda Kompendium

Doriath

the Guarded Realm; the Land of the Girdle

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Name and Position

Doriath — “the Guarded Realm” — the kingdom of the Sindar in the forest-heart of Beleriand: the realm of King Thingol and Queen Melian, “the greatest of the elvish kingdoms of the dark”. Its lands: the woods about the great river Sirion’s heights — the forest regions of Neldoreth and Region (the beaches), and the river Esgalduin between; the heart of its power the cave-fortress of Menegroth.

The Girdle of Melian

The secret of its invulnerability: the magic of the Queen, “the Girdle of Melian… a fence of shadow and a maze”, through which “no evil thing should pass”

— the enchantment that kept all the hosts of Morgoth, and almost all tidings, at bay. Within, the Sindar dwelt in the peaceful twilight of the woods for ages — the “hidden kingdom” — Doriath was — the one land of the First Age that the Dark never entered.

History

  • The founding: After the meeting of Thingol and Melian at Nan Elmoth, and the assembling of the Sindar, the kingdom was built; the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost raised under Thingol’s council the thousand caves of Menegroth.
  • The visitors: In the age’s middle, Doriath was the refuge (Túrin fostered, Lúthien guarded); its constancy in the wars (Thingol’s refusal of the Union, his hatred of the Noldor’s oath) was at once its pride and its doom.
  • The ruin: The quest of the Silmaril (begun by Thingol’s own haughty bride-price to Beren) brought at last the curse: the Dwarves’ slaying of the king over the Nauglamír; Melian’s departure (the Girdle failing); and then — as the Sons of Fëanor’s Oath pressed — the Second Kinslaying at Menegroth, where Dior was slain and Doriath ended. Its remnant fled to the Havens of Sirion — and the Guarded Realm passed wholly away.

Significance

Doriath is the “secret garden” of the First Age — the fairest and most secluded, whose very beauty demands the impossible price; the land of Beren and Lúthien, of the Silmaril’s second holding, and the proof that even the Girdle of enchantment could not fence the doom that the ages bring.

Verknüpfte Seiten

SindarThingolMelianMenegrothThe Girdle of MelianBerenLúthienNan ElmothThe Second KinslayingNauglamírConcordance — A to ZCirthSindarinThe Line of ThingolThe Ruin of DoriathNogrodBeleriandThe ArosThe MindebNeldorethThe EsgalduinDor-CúartholNivrimDimbarDor DínenHavens of SirionThe CelonQuenta 14 — Of Beleriand and its RealmsNimlothDiorEluréd and ElurínTúrinBelegMablungSaerosCelebornDaeronGaladrielCurufin
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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