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Places in Middle-earth

Cabed-en-Aras

Type: Other Natural Formations

Region: Beleriand & North

Meaning: The Deer's Leap

Other Names
HoME only:
Mengas Dûr
Cabad Amarth
Cabad-en-Aras

After the death of Níniel:
Cabed Naeramarth 'Leap of Dreadful Doom'

Location: The narrowest of the steep gorges over the River Teiglin west of the Forest of Brethil, south of the Crossings of Teiglin and north of the confluence of Celebros; where Túrin slew the dragon Glaurung.

Description:

Map of Doriath.
Brethil and its environs, showing the Ravines of Teiglin, where Cabed-en-Aras lies.
Now the river Teiglin... flowed down from Ered Wethrin... at first between low shores, until after the Crossings..., it clove a way through the feet of the highlands upon which stood the Forest of Brethil. Thereafter it ran in deep ravines, whose great sides were like walls of rock, but pent at the bottom the waters flowed with great force and noise. And... one of these gorges, by no means the deepest, but the narrowest, [lay] just north of the inflow of Celebros.

Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 2, Narn I Hîn Húrin: The Coming of Glaurung

Map of Ravines of Teiglin.
The Ravines of Teiglin, including Cabed-en-Aras.
Cabed-en-Aras was a grim place indeed. On the east side was a sheer cliff of some forty feet, bare but tree-grown at the crown; on the other side was a bank somewhat less sheer and less high, shrouded with hanging trees and bushes, but between them the water ran fiercely among rocks, and though a man bold and surefooted might ford it by day, it was perilous....

Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 2, Narn I Hîn Húrin: The Coming of Glaurung

"Glaurung is come to the brink of Cabed-en-Aras, over which, as you tell, a deer once leaped from the huntsmen of Haleth. So great is he now that I think he will seek to cast himself across there."

Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 2, Narn I Hîn Húrin: The Coming of Glaurung

Now... Glaurung lay on the brink of the high shores of Teiglin... at Cabed-en-Aras, where the river ran in a deep and narrow gorge that a hunted deer might overleap.... Therefore [Turambar] purposed to creep down at dusk, and descend into the ravine under night, and cross over the wild water; and then to climb up the further cliff, and so come to the dragon beneath his guard.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 21, Of Túrin Turambar

Then Turambar... climbed the cliff alone, and came beneath the dragon. Then he drew Gurthang, and... thrust it into the soft belly of the Worm.... But when Glaurung felt his death-pang, he screamed, and in his dreadful throe he heaved up his bulk and hurled himself across the chasm, and there lay lashing and coiling in his agony. And he set all in a blaze about him, and beat all to ruin, until at last... he lay still.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 21, Of Túrin Turambar

[Níniel] came to the ruin of Glaurung nigh the brink of Cabed-en-Aras. There she saw the dragon lying, but she heeded him not, for a man lay beside him; and she ran to Turambar, and called his name in vain....

Looking down upon Túrin she cried: 'Farewell, O twice beloved!....' Then... she ran..., and coming to the brink of Cabed-en-Aras she cast herself over, and was lost in the wild water.

Then Brandir came and looked down, and turned away in horror.... And thereafter no man looked again upon Cabed-en-Aras, nor would any beast or bird come there, nor any tree grow; and it was named Cabed Naeramarth, the Leap of Dreadful Doom.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 21, Of Túrin Turambar

Túrin they laid in a high mound where he had fallen.... And... a great grey stone was set upon the mound....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 21, Of Túrin Turambar

[Húrin] came at last to the place of the burning of Glaurung, and saw the tall stone standing near the brink of Cabed Naeramarth....

Then... he made a grave for Morwen above Cabed Naeramarth on the west side of the stone....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 22, Of the Ruin of Doriath

[All] that desolate place was heavy with grief, and the roaring of the river was like the mourning of many voices.... [It] is said that after that day fear left that place, though sorrow remained, and it was ever leafless and bare. But until the end of Beleriand women of Brethil would come with flowers in spring and berries in autumn and sing there a while of the Grey Lady who sought in vain for her son.

The War of the Jewels, HoME Vol 11, Part 3, Ch 1, The Wanderings of Húrin

It is told that a seer and harp-player of Brethil named Glirhuin made a song, saying that the Stone of the Hapless should not be defiled by Morgoth nor ever thrown down, not though the Sea should drown all the land; as after indeed befell, and still Tol Morwen stands alone in the water beyond the new coasts that were made in the days of the wrath of the Valar.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 22, Of the Ruin of Doriath

Contributors: Elena Tiriel 12Dec09, 25Dec11

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