Does anyone know the exact location of the Land of Urd and the Forest of Dír? These were the lands of Hoarmûrath the Ringwraith when he was mortal. They're somewhere in "the North." Also, if anyone can point me to a site that has ICE's interpretation of Middle-earth as one big map image, I would be grateful.
From the Middle Earth wiki:
Urd lies in the far north of Endor, along the southern edges of the Ered Engrin (S. "Iron Mountains"). A extremely cold and rocky land, it is inhabited by Udarin-speaking Hildor called the Urdar. Scattered bands of Umli live in the higher reaches along its northern and eastern flanks. The Urdar call them "Half-dwarves," and hunt them with zealous abandon.
Most Urdar live in or beside the Forest of Dír, a great taiga woodland in western Urd. They hunt and trap throughout the area, spending their winters in well-insulated clan centers by the great river called the Urd Rush. Their most famous son, Hoarmûrath of Dír, became a Nazgûl and subsequently conquered all of the surrounding regions. Thus, Urd is reviled by most of the Hildor in north-central Middle-earth.
As for a map that shows the exact location, that is much harder to do. There are a lot of maps floating around on the internet, but I am not sure which one would show the detail that you want.
Thanks. I thought it was further north, above the Grey Mountains. Still can't find it on any stinkin' map, though. MERP's maps are pretty useless for the most part.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I am pretty sure that the lands you are looking for were destroyed before the beginning of the Third Age. Sauron forged the rings in the middle of the Second Age and I am not sure if any of the original kingdoms of the Nine still existed into the Third Age to even be shown on a map. You would probably have to find a map of the Second Age, maybe from the Silmarillion or other such book, to find the exact location of Urd.
In the Northern wastes module it says Urd is a land to the east of the Forodwath, home to the nazgul, that occassionally plagues the peoples of the northern waste
That's not true, Enevhar. If you read Lords of Middle-earth Vol. II there is information on all the Nazgûl. Tolkien did not give the Nazgûl names or say where there original kingdoms were, but MERP provided all that information and gave each Nazgûl a backstory. A lot of them returned to their old kingdoms when Sauron returned in the Third Age and ruled there briefly. Most of them were south of Mordor, in Khand, Harad, and Umbar. Hoarmûrath was the only one that had a kingdom in the north. I'm guessing his backstory was written after the maps were already drawn and they never had any reason to add it.
"The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mouths of the sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn."
Ered Engrin AKA the Iron Mountains were no longer extant in the third age. Therefore the lands which were once Urd no longer exist during the times listed in MERP. What is left of these mountains in the third age are known as Ered Mithria AKA the Grey Mountains.
The merp maps are amongst the best ever made for an rpg.
Urd is on the Fenlon continental map -
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7eOApLVPQE0/Ti-ZbgCI1SI/AAAAAAAAAyM/jNM_ND98dQU/s 1600/Fenlon_small_ME.bmp
Hard to see at this definition, but go to the top of the map, there is an island with a red lava symbol in the middle of a bay, east of that is a forested region - Urd is marked at the centre of that.