Places in Middle-earth
Vales of Anduin, The
Type: Valleys, Caves, Tunnels
Region: Rhovanion/Misty Mtns
Location: The valleys along the Anduin River; most references are to the upper Vales, between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood.
Description:
[Like] many other folk Hobbits had in the distant past moved westward. Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Anduin, between the eaves of Greenwood the Great and the Misty Mountains.The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Prologue, Concerning Hobbits
[Isildur] therefore determined to make his way north from Osgiliath up the Vales of Anduin to Cirith Forn en Andrath1..., that led down to Imladris. ...
[They] came to the entrance to the Vales, between Lórien and Amon Lanc 2 [Dol Guldur]....
So ... late in the afternoon of the thirtieth day of their journey they were passing the north borders of the Gladden Fields...Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 1, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields
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Gandalf and Aragorn renew their hunt for Gollum at intervals during the next eight years, searching in the vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Rhovanion to the confines of Mordor.The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age
The [Northmen] were spreading southwards: mostly east of the Greenwood, though some were establishing themselves in the eaves of the forest and the grasslands of the Vales of Anduin.Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 4, Appendix B, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn: The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves
[It] was after the Battle of the Plains that the Éothéod3, a remnant of the Northmen, became a distinct people, dwelling in the Vales of Anduin between the Carrock and the Gladden Fields.Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 2, Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan: Notes, Note 8
South and west [Ithilien] looked towards the warm lower vales of Anduin....NotesThe Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 4, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
1 Cirith Forn en Andrath is the Sindarin name of the pass more commonly referred to as the High Pass of Rivendell or the Pass of Imladris.
2 Amon Lanc, "Naked Hill," was the highest point in the highland at the south-west corner of the Greenwood, and was so called because no trees grew on its summit. In later days it was Dol Guldur, the first stronghold of Sauron after his awakening. [Author's note.]Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 1, The Disaster of the Gladden Fields: Notes, Note 12
3 The people called the Éothéod later became the Rohirrim.
Contributors: Elena Tiriel 7Jul06
