SPACE_LEMON
Slab Fanatic
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Major changes to the geography of Arda, in the order that I theorise them to have happened (including my theory for how the Sea of Helcar became Mordor):
Age of Creation:
Age of Lamps:
Age of Trees:
First Age:
Second Age:
Age of Creation:
- Ekkaia manifested; Wall of Night raised to separate Ekkaia from the Firmament and the Void (I also theorise that the Wall of Night might in fact be the Firmament itself)
- Ambar created from the Flame Imperishable
- Arda built
- Wall of the World raised near the outer ages of the one great landmass
- Western (Belegaer) and Eastern oceans created, splitting Arda into three continents: Aman in the West, Endor in the middle, and Rómenor in the East; This also splits the Wall of the World into four ranges: The Pelóri in the West, the Iron Mountains in the North, the Wall of Sun in the East, and the Black Mountains in the South
Age of Lamps:
- Lake and Isle of Almaren created in the center of Endor
- Towers of Helcar (in the north) and Ringil (in the south) raised, atop of which are placed the Lamps of Illuin and Ormal
- In the west of Endor, running north-south, the Blue (northwest) and Grey (southwest) Mountains are raised; In the east of Endor, the Red (northeast) and Yellow (southeast) Mountains are raised
- Melkor topples the Lamps, which explode cataclysmically, creating the vast craters of Helcar in the north, and Ringil in the South; He destroys the Isle of Almaren on the Great Lake at the center of Endor
- The Valar widen the Belegaer to distance Aman from Endor; The Great Gulfs are created in the war between the Valar and the Umaiar of Melkor, destroying parts of the Blue and Grey Mountains (not to be confused by the Grey Mountains in the north of Middle-Earth in later ages), and allowing waters of the Belegaer to spill into the basins of Helcar and Ringol through the Straits of the World, so creating the inland seas of Helcar and Ringol; The Rivers Anduin, Running, and Rhûnen flow from the Misty, Iron, and Red Mountains into Helcar; Similar rivers flow from the mountains in the south of the world into Ringol
- The height of the Pelóri is increased dramatically
Age of Trees:
- Melkor raises the Misty Mountains (then including the White Mountains in their length) north-south from the Iron Mountains to the Inland Sea of Helcar, as an obstacle to such Valar that would still come to Endor
- In a parody of Almaren, Melkor raises the volcanic Isle of Gorgoroth in the Sea of Helcar; It becomes the base of Melkor’s power in the south of Northern Endor (Utumno remains his chief fortress)
- During the War for the Sake of the Elves, the Valar break through the Misty Mountains, so creating the Gap of Calenardhon, and splitting the White Mountains from the Misty Mountains
- Melkor raises the Ash and Shadow Mountains to fortify Gorgoroth; These ranges extend from Gorgoroth to the east and to the south, bisecting the Sea of Helcar into the basin that will become Mordor (specifically the region of Nurn), and waters in the northwest where Dagorlad, the Dead Marshes, the delta of the Entwash, and the southern course of the Anduin will be
- The entire region of Helcar rises due to volcanism; The cut off northwest waters of the Sea of Helcar drain out through the Straits of the World, becoming marshland; Helcar begins to empty due to the upliftment, draining via the Straits of Helcar into the Bay of Balar
- The northwestern waters of Helcar have drained away completely, and the Anduin now extends through this depression, into the Straits of Helcar; The Straits themselves are no longer connected to the waters of Helcar/Nurn and the land rises, and so the Straits become the Mouths of Anduin and the River Poros; The Rivers Running and Rhûnen now meet in a depression north of the Ash Mountains, forming the Sea of Rhûn
- Utumno is unroofed, and the stretch of the Iron Mountains north of Palisor (Rhovanion and Rhûn) is reduced to the Grey Mountains (not to be confused with those of the distant south) and Iron Hills
- Beleriand is distorted in the Battle of Angband, raising the mountains of Hithlum and Dorthonion, and creating several bays
- A cleft is created in the Pelóri; Tol Eressëa and the Isle of Balar are created and moved
First Age:
- Eventually all that remains of the Sea of Helcar is the small Sea of Nurn in that region of what will be Mordor
- Isles of Shadow created; Shorelands of Aman destroyed
- Morgoth Raises the Towers of Thangorodrim
- [Great changes and destruction during the War of Wrath:]
- All lowlands of Beleriand excluding Lindon are drowned, along with the southwest of Eriador, and the lowlands of Harad west of the Grey Mountains of the South; The Blue Mountains are greatly reduced
- The western length of the Iron Mountains is completely destroyed; Forochel, Ard-galen, Hithlum, and Nevrast are drowned, with only some of their mountains remaining as an island archipelago, the largest of which is Tol Fuin, formerly the plateau of Dorthonion (The ruins of Gondolin are also drowned, and Tumladen is now a bay of Tol Fuin)
- During the War of Wrath, the Valar raise the sea level of the oceans, which causes the Sea of Ringil to grow dramatically, becoming the Inner Sea separating Endor from Hyarmenor (the southern continent); Ringil now extends far northward, and eastward, meeting the Eastern Ocean north of Hildórien, which is now part of the newly separated southern continent
- The Isle of Balar is uprooted
Second Age:
- The Isle of Númenor is created; The Isle of Balar ferries Men to the newly created isle, and becomes its east Promontory
- Much much later, Númenor is drowned, leaving only Tol Menaltarma above the waves
- Valinor and Rómenor are removed beyond Ekkaia; the World is rounded, and the Wall of Night is no more