# The Sons of Elrond



## Erestor Arcamen (Jan 28, 2019)

I was on the /r/tolkienfans subreddit this morning and an interesting question came up. Why were Elrond's sons the last scouts to return and where did they go? Here's the quote from the books:



> The sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir, were the last to return; they had made a great journey, passing down the Silverlode into a strange country, but of their errand they would not speak to any save to Elrond.



The Silverlode according to the map below appears to meet the Nimrodel and then flow into Lorien so is this where they went? And if so, why so secretive? What errand could they have possibly been performing? Were they simply letting Lorien know of the Fellowship?







Also, if anyone's interested in reading the original Reddit post, it's here.


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## CirdanLinweilin (Jan 28, 2019)

Erestor Arcamen said:


> I was on the /r/tolkienfans subreddit this morning and an interesting question came up. Why were Elrond's sons the last scouts to return and where did they go? Here's the quote from the books:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




_"Strange Country" _is what intrigues me? Southern Middle-earth, possibly?

Oooh, so _interesting!

_
CL


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## Erestor Arcamen (Jan 28, 2019)

CirdanLinweilin said:


> _"Strange Country" _is what intrigues me? Southern Middle-earth, possibly?
> 
> Oooh, so _interesting!
> 
> ...



That's what got me interested too! I was wondering what strange country the passage could be referring to.


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## CirdanLinweilin (Jan 28, 2019)

Erestor Arcamen said:


> That's what got me interested too! I was wondering what strange country the passage could be referring to.


Do you think they went south down the Silverlode, East through Nimrodel, then either South the Anduin or crossing yet more East through Anduin?





CL


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## Erestor Arcamen (Jan 28, 2019)

I don't know but the lands east of Mordor and south of Gondor have always fascinated me since Tolkien didn't write a lot about them.

In the Hobbit Tolkien mentioned a place called Dorwinion near the Sea of Rhun, this is just another of those mysteries that fascinates me about Tolkien's work.






_



When he heard this Bilbo was all in a flutter, for he saw that luck was with him and he had a chance at once to try his desperate plan. He followed the two elves, until they entered a small cellar and sat down at a table on which two large flagons were set. Soon they began to drink and laugh merrily. Luck of an unusual kind was with Bilbo then. It must be potent wine to make a wood-elf drowsy; but *this wine, it would seem, was the heady vintage of the great gardens of Dorwinion,* not meant for his soldiers or his servants, but for the king's feasts only, and for smaller bowls, not for the butler's great flagons.

Click to expand...

_


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## Miguel (Jan 28, 2019)

Erestor Arcamen said:


> I don't know but the lands east of Mordor and south of Gondor have always fascinated me since Tolkien didn't write a lot about them.
> 
> In the Hobbit Tolkien mentioned a place called Dorwinion near the Sea of Rhun, this is just another of those mysteries that fascinates me about Tolkien's work.



Would you like to drink some of that wine?


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## CirdanLinweilin (Jan 28, 2019)

Miguel said:


> Would you like to drink some of that wine?


I'm Game.






CL


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## Miguel (Jan 29, 2019)

Just read about something on reddit:



> 'The West' here plainly means the Far West beyond the Sea, not part of Middle-earth; the name Olorin is of High-Elven form. ?The North' must refer to the North-western regions of Middle-earth, in wich most of the inhabitants or speaking-peoples were remained uncorrupted by Morgoth or Sauron. In those regions resistance would be strogest to the evils left behind by the Enemy, or to Sauron his servant, if he should reappear. The bounds of this region were naturally vague; its eastern frontier was roughly the River Carnen to its junction with Celduin (the River Running), and so to Núrnen, and thence south to the ancient confines of South Gondor. (It did not originally exclude Mordor, which was occupied by Sauron, although outside his original realms 'in the east', as a deliberate threat to the West and the Numenoreans.) 'The North' thus inludes all this great area: roughly West to East from the Gulf of Lune to Nurnen, and North and South from Carn Dum to the southern bounds of the ancient Gondor between it and Near Harad. Beyond Nurnen Gandalf had never gone.


Unfinished Tales, Part 4, Ch 2, The Istari.



> In the east and south well nigh all Men were under his dominion, and they grew strong in those days and built many towns and walls of stone, and they were numerous and fierce in war and aimed with iron. To them Sauron was both king and god; and they feared him exceedingly, for he surrounded his abode with fire.


Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, The Silmarillion.


I don't know if Barad-dûr was ever described as being surrounded by fire, but it feels like Sauron probably had fortresses/towers/temples/sojourns in the east and south before Barad-dûr.


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