Tarnost

From Tolkien Gateway

Tarnost was a location in Gondor on the northern foothills of the mountains of Belfalas between the river Gilrain to the east and Dol Amroth to the west. To the northwest was the crossing over the river Ringló. The location is not mentioned in The Lord of the Rings.

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

Tarnost does not appear in the close-up map of Gondor in The Return of the King.[1] The first reference is in The War of the Ring: On the western part of the Second Map of The Lord of the Rings there is a dot visible in square Q12 at the northern tip of the hills southeast of the crossings of the Ringló,[2] and Christopher Tolkien states that the map had penciled note calling it Tarnost.[3] The second reference appears in Sauron Defeated: In a manuscript Tolkien stated that "From Erech a road ran by [the] sea, skirting in a loop the hills of Tarnost, and so to Ethir Anduin and the Lebennin".[4]

Hammond and Scull suggest that Tarnost appears to be an earlier name for Ethring, as they share a "similar position on the published map".[5] However, on the published Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor Ethring is directly at the crossing over the river Ringló and directly at the road that runs from Erech to Pelargir instead of the foothills of the mountains of Belfalas, which are further to the south.

Tarnost appears on the map of the White Mountains in The Atlas of Middle-earth, identified by Wynn Fonstad as a city in approximately the same socation as on the Second Map of The Lord of the Rings. The nearby hills are also named as the Hills of Tarnost.[6]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

It has been suggested that Tarnost is a Noldorin name, the second element perhaps being ost ("city").[7]

See also[edit | edit source]

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor"
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Ring, "Part Three: Minas Tirith", "XIV. The Second Map", p. 434
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Ring, "Part Three: Minas Tirith", "XIV. The Second Map", p. 437
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part One: The End of the Third Age: I. The Story of Frodo and Sam in Mordor: The rejected preliminary version of 'The March of Aragorn and defeat of the Haradrim'", pp. 15, 17
  5. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, p. 139
  6. Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth, "The White Mountains", p. 89 (1991 edition only)
  7. Paul Strack, "N. Tarnost loc." dated 1 April 2016, Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 26 September 2016)