Lindon
the land of the last Noldor; the realm of Gil-galad and Círdan
Name and Place
Lindon (in early texts “Ossiriand-derived”; the name means “land of the music”) — is the realm west of the Blue Mountains and the Gulf of Lhûn, at the far west of Middle-earth: the fragment of Beleriand (the eastern edge of Ossiriand and the coast-lands) that survived the Drowning at the end of the First Age. It became the home of the last great Noldor of the Second Age — the realm of High King Gil-galad, with the The Grey Havens (Círdan’s) upon its bays — “the most beautiful… of the lands that remained”.
The Realm
- The last Elven-kingdom of the North-west: In the Second Age, Lindon was the great Elvish realm of Middle-earth — its harbours, its white towers; from it went the fleets of the West and (at the last) the armies of the Last Alliance.
- Gil-galad’s seat: The Noldor of Lindon (with their store of the Silmarils’ light, the guard of the Elven-rings) held the West against the Shadow’s work; and when Sauron’s wars came, Lindon was the rallying land.
- The end of the age: After the Last Alliance (and), Lindon declined as the Elves departed by the Havens — the quiet sea-side stand of the last of the High Elves in Middle-earth.
Significance
Lindon is the “after-math” of the First Age — the remnant of Beleriand that kept the last Elvish glory of the west, the threshold (by the Havens) between Middle-earth and the Sea, and the physical link proving that a piece of the drowned legendary land still survived into the later world.