• Mixtapes
    • Metal Mixtapes
    • Minor Key Mixtapes
    • Christmas Mixtapes
  • Mini Movie Reviews
    • Full List (A – Z)
    • Recent Reviews
  • Board Game Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Children’s Game Reviews
    • Expansion Reviews
    • Full List (A-Z)
  • Reader Mail
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Mixtapes
    • Metal Mixtapes
    • Minor Key Mixtapes
    • Christmas Mixtapes
  • Mini Movie Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Full List (A – Z)
  • Board Game Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Children’s Game Reviews
    • Expansion Reviews
    • Full List (A-Z)
  • Reader Mail
  • About
  • Contact

Middle-earth Monday 17: Tolfalas

May 23, 2011

Welcome back to everyone’s favorite www.isleyunruh.com Monday feature! Middle-earth being the place of enchantment and wonder that it is, each month I will use my love of fictional cartography to transport you to another time and place. So why not take a moment to fill your head full of knowledge that will have no bearing at all on the real world?

This month I’ll be discussing the solitary Isle of Tolfalas in the Bay of Belfalas.

These were much changed in the tumult of the winds and seas that followed the Downfall; for in some places the sea rode in upon the land, and in others it piled up new coasts. Thus while Lindon suffered great loss, the Bay of Belfalas was much filled at the east and south, so that Pelargir which had been only a few miles from the sea was left far inland, and Anduin carved a new path by many mouths to the Bay. But the Isle of Tolfalas was almost destroyed, and was left at last like a barren and lonely mountain in the water not far from the issue of the River.

Aside from the lost isle of Meneltarma (the last remnant of the storied land of Numenor) there were few islands thought to be in the great sea to the West of Middle Earth.  In the north there were the Western Isles of Himling, Tol Fuin and Tol Morwen.  And in the South there was only Tolfalas.

Tolfalas (Sindarin for “coastal island”) was a rather large island, fifty miles long and 25 miles wide.  It lay only forty miles from the mouth of the mighty Anduin, between the Cape of Belfalas to the North and Harandor to the South before the waters opened into the Bay of Belfalas proper.  Its sides, formed from a mountainous island capsized in the aftermath of the Downfall of Numenor, were steep and jutted out of the waters to only increase in elevation at the peaked interior of the island.  It was a rocky place, and yet the mountaintops had crumbled through the centuries and new vegetation dotted its rocky slopes by the time of the end of the third age.

Tolfalas was also the last line of defense against seaborn invaders before they could reach the mouths of the Anduin delta just south of the lands of Lebennin.  As one of the southernmost reaches of the great kingdom of Gondor, a watch was long kept high upon Tolfalas’ steep rocky shores.  From this position a small force of men could repel any attempted invasion of the island and warn the kingdom of any approaching seaborn danger that threatened the mouth of the Anduin.

However, in the year 3019 TA, during the height of the War of the Ring, Tolfalas fell to the black ships of the Corsairs of Umbar.  Through sheer overwhelming numbers, the Corsairs overran the garrison, though they undoubtedly paid a high cost in life to the stalwart Gondorian defenders.  The time bought by the defenders of Tolfalas at least allowed a brief, hastily scrawled message to be sent from the island, and it read thus:

The fierce dark men of the South, the Haradwaith (Harwan Silharrows, Men of Sunharrowland, [and] Men of Harrowland) have come in many ships and fill the Bay of Belfalas, and [have] taken the isle of Tolfalas.

A grim message for grim times.  However, a wind from the west was coming, as was a king without a crown.  Tolfalas may have fallen, but the fate of the Corsairs and their black ships was no less doomed.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Share

Tolkien  / Travels in Middle-earth

9 Comments


Amy
May 24, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Reply

I read this.



Isley Unruh
May 24, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Reply

Heh, the MEM version of “First!”



Amy
May 25, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Reply

Have you done the Sea of Rhun yet? I’d like to read about that. Also, what’s up with the inland sea/lake in Mordor? I bet the real estate prices there are quite affordable.



Isley Unruh
May 25, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Reply

Apparently you did not read that one: https://www.isleyunruh.com/?p=3000

Heh, but yeah, I’d definitely like to do the Sea of Nurnen soon. I’ve been trying to focus on stuff that is off the path of the fellowship for the most part, so that fits.



Brian
May 25, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Reply

What’s the MEM version of tl;dr?



Amy
May 25, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Reply

Ah, I see your motive. Cirith Ungol then… is that right? I don’t know my LotR stuff so well anymore.



Isley Unruh
May 25, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Reply

I think that’s what the other 50 comments you don’t see on here wrote.



Isley Unruh
May 25, 2011 at 8:17 pm
Reply

That’s just the pass to Minas Morgul (aka, Shelob’s Lair). I might do Dol Guldor soon though.



Isley Unruh
May 25, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Reply

I should also clarify that a large portion of this post is conjecture based on notes that Tolkien had written in the margins of some of his earlier drafts (as seen in The History of Middle Earth Volume’s VII and XII). So no, Tolkien does not actually mention “Tolfalas” in any of his official manuscripts.



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Recent Comments

    • Shane on Top Ten Best Classic Black Metal Logos
    • BBK on Five More Signs That the Underground Metal Band You Are Listening to Might be Racist
    • Anonymous on Boys will be Boys: Double Standards in McLintock! and The Awful Truth.
    • isley.unruh on Brilliant Board Games 1 – Krosmaster: Arena
    • Boosh on Brilliant Board Games 1 – Krosmaster: Arena
  • Recent Posts

    • RTfISP 11: Operation Moses
    • Notes from the Library
    • Top five 2023 New Year’s Resolutions for www.isleyunruh.com
    • Painting in Miniature 6: Blood Bowl
    • Minor Key Music 87: New Model Army – The Hunt
  • Categories

    • Art (5)
    • Books (12)
      • Only the Good Parts (6)
    • Comics (6)
    • Film (249)
      • Best Movies of the Decade (2)
      • Best Movies of the Year (5)
      • Cinema Scripture School (4)
      • James Bond Picture Books (2)
      • Mini Movie Reviews (98)
      • My Favorite Movies (78)
      • Year in Reviews (6)
    • Food and Cooking (9)
    • Games (52)
      • Brilliant Board Games (2)
      • Descent D&D (7)
      • Mini Board Game Reviews (12)
      • Painting in Miniature (6)
      • RE-Zork (10)
    • Holidays (21)
      • April Fool's (8)
      • Halloween (2)
    • Internet (30)
      • Memes I Missed (21)
      • The Art of Trolling (4)
    • Lists (49)
    • Mailbag Monday (86)
    • Math and Science (3)
    • Me (60)
      • Rousing Tales from Isley's Spirited Past (12)
    • Metal Music (121)
      • Album Artwork for the Ages (3)
      • Battle Vests of the KVLT & TR00 (3)
      • Best Metal of the Year (6)
      • Extreme Metal Radio Edits (2)
      • Mid-month Metal Masterpiece (74)
      • Racism in Metal (6)
    • Myth and Fantasy (8)
      • Archetypical (4)
    • Nerd Open Letters (20)
    • Non-Metal Music (102)
      • Minor Key Music (90)
    • Other (2)
    • Philosophy (3)
    • Sports and Fitness (7)
    • Spotlight Posts (60)
    • Tales from Center Valley High (19)
      • Goth Blog (6)
      • Jock Blog (7)
      • Snob Blog (6)
    • Tolkien (97)
      • The Lost Chapters (6)
      • Travels in Middle-earth (76)
    • TV (5)
    • War (7)
  • Archives

  • Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org



  • Home
  • Mixtapes
    • Metal Mixtapes
    • Minor Key Mixtapes
    • Christmas Mixtapes
  • Mini Movie Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Full List (A – Z)
  • Board Game Reviews
    • Recent Reviews
    • Children’s Game Reviews
    • Expansion Reviews
    • Full List (A-Z)
  • Reader Mail
  • About
  • Contact
© Copyright www.isleyunruh.com