Landscapes of Middle Earth

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

I too have found Tolkien's description of the land and of nature to be particularly powerful.

Cerin Amroth, for starters, is a place filled with vivid images. The trees in rings and the flowers on the grass are easy to see in my mind, but I have to disagree with you, Lord of Angmar. I don't think that the landscape means anything without the story. Cerin Amroth's fascination for me isn't in the actual mound, but in the layers of time that one can see there. Amroth once had his flet among the trees, perhaps Nimrodel came to visit, years later Aragorn and Arwen pledged their troth there, then the fellowship stood there and Sam saw the Elanor, and later Arwen laid down her life there. The power of the place is in the events, I think.

The other place that really moves me is Rath Dinen, the Silent Street in Gondor. The way the area and even the approach to it is described conveys solemnity and heaviness. Tolkien has a way with words such that he can make you feel a place much more than see it. The weight of history is in Rath Dinen with its houses of fallen kings. And the death of Denethor is an image that is hard to shake.

This is an interesting topic. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Sophia