Brown Lands

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 15:06, 10 July 2012 by KingAragorn (talk | contribs)

The Brown Lands was a region east of the Anduin between Mirkwood to the north and the Emyn Muil to the south.[1] When seen by the Fellowship of the Ring as they drifted by in boats upon the great river, the Brown Lands were long, formless slopes with a withered look, having no trees or even grass. What had caused such desolation not even Aragorn could tell.[2]

Later, Treebeard told of the Ents crossing the Anduin in search of the Entwives, who had worked in their gardens there before it became a desert after the passing of war. Treebeard appeared convinced that the Entwives were not all destroyed but were "lost".[3] Their ultimate fate remains a mystery.

Etymology

J.R.R. Tolkien describes in his unfinished index (for The Lord of the Rings) the Brown Lands as a 'translation' of Berennyn (containing Sindarin baran 'brown, yellow-brown') "a devastated region, east of Anduin, between Lórien and the Emyn Muil".[4]

References