Tumladen
(place) by TheLutenist Tue Jan 08 2002 at 21:48:35
Tumladen is a geographically unique valley hidden inside a mountain range in Northern Beleriand in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The name Tumladen means "The Wide Valley". It is nestled in a shield-wall known as the Encircling Mountains. This valley is famous for being the site of Gondolin - the hidden city of the Elves.
This geographic site is part of the created world, and world history, of Middle-Earth. The stories are epic tales of Good combating Evil across several thousand years involving elves, wizards, dwarves, humans, Goblins (Orcs), and the occasional slumming gods (Archangels). Gondolin, its occupants, and the mythic events that occurred within its environs occurred during the First Age of Middle-Earth. This was a time several thousand years before the events depicted in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Turgon, an Elf Lord, was guided by Ulmo, Lord of Waters (Poseidon counter-part), through a secret tunnel carved by ancient waterways into the hidden valley of Tumladen. The valley is described as "a green jewel amid the encircling hills."1 implying an agriculturally lush environment able to sustain a city populace.
A noted cartographer, Karen Wynn Fonstad, published The Atlas of Middle-Earth which includes a description of Tumladen as it would exist according to geographic principles.
"The Echoriath have been shown as a gigantic volcanic caldera... after extinction a lake would have formed, similar to Oregon's Crater Lake."2
The lake is supposed to have drained away through a rift in the surrounding walls leaving a flat plain, a steep ravine, a tunnel, and a dry river bed.
The best rendition of Tumladen and the glorious hidden city of Gondolin in its midst is by Mr. Ted Nasmith. The picture shows Tuor overlooking the hidden valley as he emerges from the ravine/rift in the steep walls after a long, dangerous journey to find Gondolin. The fine detail showing the green lush fields surrounding the crystal white city surrounded by enormous mountains pulls the viewer into the scene. The viewer participates in the event in a way that combines the best of photographic realism with the emotive power of art.
Mr. Nasmith's picture of Gondolin was a primary motivator in the creation of the Scrolls of Middle-Earth. The picture was included in the 2000 Tolkien Calendar or may be seen at several web sites featuring his art. A Google search will produce several sites. Look for the picture entitled "Tuor Comes To Gondolin" or something similar.
The Silmarillion, page 239.
The Atlas of Middle-Earth, page 22.
Fonstad, Karen Wynn, The Atlas of Middle-Earth, revised edition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1991.
Tolkien, J.R.R., The Silmarillion, edited by Christopher Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1977.
J.R.R. Tolkien Glorfindel Gnosis World Fantasy Convention
Scrolls of Middle-Earth Ulmo Turgon The American Religion
Feng Shui ninjas Adventures in Canadian Finance Homeric Greek Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Goblin Archangel Polynesian Mythology Poseidon
Fantasy Island Finnish Orc elves
Caldera wizard geography The Dwarves
Do-It-Yourself Depression Control
E2 HTML tags : Appendix 1
Carousel of Progress
The lonely ones will find each other by the heat of their bodies