Henneth Annun Reseach Center

Places in Middle-earth

Dor Daedeloth

Type: Kingdoms, Realms, Lands

Region: Beleriand & North

Meaning:
Land of the Shadow of Horror

Other Names
Daidelos 'Region of Everlasting Cold'

Location: The land of Morgoth, in the Iron Mountains north of Beleriand.

Description:

[Fëanor] drew far ahead of the van of his host; and seeing this the servants of Morgoth turned to bay, and there issued from Angband Balrogs to aid them. There upon the confines of Dor Daedeloth, the land of Morgoth, Fëanor was surrounded.... There he would have perished, had not his sons... come... to his aid; and the Balrogs left him, and departed to Angband.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 13, Of the Return of the Noldor

At the uprising of the great light the servants of Morgoth fled into Angband, and Fingolfin passed unopposed through the fastness of Dor Daedeloth while his foes hid beneath the earth. Then the Elves smote upon the gates of Angband, and the challenge of their trumpets shook the towers of Thangorodrim....

But Fingolfin, being... wary of the wiles of Morgoth, withdrew from Dor Daedeloth and turned back towards Mithrim, for... he desired... to have the shield of the Mountains of Shadow while his people rested....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 13, Of the Return of the Noldor

But the Noldor being again united set a watch upon the borders of Dor Daedeloth, and Angband was beleaguered from west, and south, and east....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 13, Of the Return of the Noldor

Yet the Noldor could not capture Angband.... Nor could the stronghold of Morgoth be ever wholly encircled: for the Iron Mountains, from whose great curving wall the towers of Thangorodrim were thrust forward, defended it upon either side, and were impassable to the Noldor, because of their snow and ice. Thus in his rear and to the north Morgoth had no foes, and by that way his spies at times went out, and came by devious routes into Beleriand.

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 13, Of the Return of the Noldor

Angband is placed in very much the same position on map V as is Utumno 1 on map IV: very near to the Chasm of Ilmen and well behind the mountain-wall, in the land that on map V is called Daidelos (later Dor Daedeloth).

The Shaping of Middle-earth, HoME Vol 4, Ch 5, The Ambarkanta: Commentary


Etymology
dae  'shadow' in Dor Daedeloth, and perhaps in Daeron....

del  'horror' in Deldúwath; deloth 'abhorrence' in Dor Daedeloth.

The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names


Notes
1This text is from one of Tolkien's early drafts. For the sake of clarity, earlier versions of proper names used by Tolkien in this draft have been replaced with the versions in use in the canon sources. All substitutions are marked with brackets.

Contributors:
Lyllyn 8Jan05
Elena Tiriel 1May10

Related Library Entries

Places Search

   

Full Text Search


Character Bios

Timeline Events

No related events

Go to Timeline Events

Things

No related things

Go to Things