Beleriand

Beleriand was the great land of north-western Middle-earth in the First Age, the setting of the wars of the Elves against Morgoth and of the central tales of the Elder Days. By the end of the Age it was broken and drowned beneath the sea, so that in the later ages only its easternmost fragments remained above the waves.

Geography

Beleriand lay west of the Blue Mountains (Ered Luin) and was bounded on the north by the highlands and the fortress of Angband, from which Morgoth waged his wars. Its lands were watered by the great river Sirion, which ran from north to south through its heart to the Sea. Within Beleriand stood the chief Elf-realms of the age: the hidden kingdom of Doriath, the underground city of Nargothrond, and the secret mountain-city of Gondolin.

History

Beleriand was first the home of the Sindar, the Grey-elves, ruled by Thingol of Doriath. When the exiled Noldor returned from Valinor in pursuit of Morgoth and the stolen Silmarils, they established their kingdoms there and waged the long Wars of Beleriand against Angband. These wars saw great victories and terrible defeats, including the catastrophic Battle of Unnumbered Tears (Nirnaeth Arnoediad), after which the power of the Elves and their allies the Edain was broken.

The Drowning

At the end of the First Age the Valar came out of the West in the War of Wrath to overthrow Morgoth. The conflict was so vast that the very land was shattered, and most of Beleriand sank beneath the Sea. Only the highlands east of the Blue Mountains and a few coastal remnants survived. In the later ages, the lands the survivors knew, such as Lindon, were the easternmost edges of what had once been the great realm of Beleriand.