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Andrast

Question: why is there a fortified pass in the White Mountains (Fennas Forven) if the only way further west was around Ras Morthil?
I kind of asked this too already, and to possibly save Mandos from answering:
Can you find something other than Tolkien Gateway to corroborate this? You'll notice that the little citation marker is before the phrase "there were no passes over it". In any case, the relevant source is a map, which does not necessarily mark everything.
 
Oh, OK, I thought it was some kind of bug because of the floating leftover blocks.


I loved this build .
 
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We determined that there is no strategic reason to build a castle at that location.
I kinda had a thought about that when I first saw it: "That's odd, there's nothing but a small town nearby". Of course, I completely forgot about that when I saw its awesomeness.

Could there still be a path leading at least part of the way up onto the point? Perhaps the townsfolk would have put a lighthouse or small watchtower up there or something.
 
Yeah there will be a small watchtower and a lighthouse
 
Actually, I think it makes really much sense to have a castle there, but it's not to me to decide.
Why? We thought it could be there to protect trade between Lond Daer and Umbar, but they didn't exist at the same time. There is no reason to take that territory, because nobody lives there and it's in the middle of nowhere, and pirates wouldn't come for the same reason.
 
It's the cap that controls all naval arrivals from the north.

And Umbar and Lond Daer did exist at the same time. And Pelargir too.

But I don't see any argument against it being ruined.
 
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It's the cap that controls all naval arrivals from the north.

And Umbar and Lond Daer did exist at the same time. And Pelargir too.

But I don't see any argument against it being ruined.
They did "kind of" exist at the same time, but Lond Daer was nearing the end of its existence, and Umbar wasn't as massive of a sea port yet.
 
They were all great ports under the reign of Númenor.

Vinyalondë/Lond Daer (Enedh) was founded between 750 and 800 S.A. and fell into ruin after Elendil founded Arnor (3320 S.A.).

Umbar is important at least since 2280 S.A., when the Númenoreans founded a great fortress there to counter Sauron's influence (and was already a trading port before that).

Pelargir was founded in 2350 S.A. by the Faithful.

And I forgot Tharbad, which was also a great haven founded after the foundation of Arnor, and actually the very reason why Lond Daer declined. Tharbad was abandoned in the mid Third Age (declined since 1636 and the Great Plague and definitely deserted in 2912, when great floods devastated it following the Fell Winter).

Second Age ended in 3441.

That makes roughly 1000 years of possible trade between Lond Daer Enedh and Umbar/Pelargir, and at least 2000 more between Tharbad and Umbar/Pelargir; I think it's quite enough
 
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Apparently the numbers I got off the wiki weren't specific enough....I stand corrected. Although, I still don't think that the fortress would have been needed to control shipping...after all, you could avoid it by just heading out to sea. Perhaps it would have served other purposes as well, I suppose.
 
I could see a bigger port town there, as kind of a midway point. Trading ships could have restocked and given the men one or two nights of "freetime" there. It'd probably have an outpost as well and one or two ships that patrol the area and scare off pirates. I don't think a fortress like that would do much though. They didn't really have the technology to effectively fight ships from land - and even if they did, the pirates would just choose other locations...
 
There will be a wall that controls the passage of the Ras Morthil (the only way to get to eriador from west) and a small watchtower, in the last rock there will be a lighthouse for prevent "happy endings" on the rocks
 
But it could protect the zone.
 
But it could protect the zone.
A town that accumulated there over time and could just as well be avoided by any ship just isn't worth building a huge fortress for. Give them a handfull of soldiers and one or two ships and they'll be ok against anything but a coordinated attack from Umbar.
 
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