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Dates Guarded Gondolin from I 116 to its Fall in I 510 Location Running through the Encircling Mountains from the Dry River to the plain of Tumladen Origins Gates were built across the Orfalch by Turgon , and later Maeglin Race Division Culture Settlements A guarded pass leading to the city of Gondolin Pronunciation o'rfalch e'chorr ('ch' as in Scots 'loch'; the final 'r' should be pronounced - 'rr' is used here to emphasise this) Meaning Probably 'high cleft of the outer circle'1 Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 13 June 2018 Updates planned: 1
The road to the Hidden City Gates (not to scale) Schematic map of the Orfalch Echor and its Gates (not to scale) The ravine of the Dry River in the Encircling Mountains , the route by which the Hidden City of Gondolin was approached. Notes 1 The name Orfalch Echor dates back to the earliest phase of Tolkien's world in the Lost Tales , but is never directly explained, so a certain amount of deduction is needed to interpret it. There's a strong clue in the old name for the pass later called the Cirith Ninniach Lost Tales is called Glorfalc , interpreted 'Golden Cleft'. Because we known that glor- means 'gold', then falc is evidently 'cleft'. The prefix or- means 'high, above, on', so in this context the ravine of the Orfalch would be the 'high cleft'. Echor refers to a surrounding or encircling defence (as in the Rammas Echor , the defensive wall that surrounded Gondor's Pelennor Fields . The same element is seen in Echoriath Encircling Mountains through which the cleft of the Orfalch ran. Thus the entire name can be read as the 'high cleft of the outer circle' or perhaps 'high cleft of the Encircling (Mountains) '. See also... Crown of the Hidden Kingdom , Dark Gate , Elemmakil , Fifth Gate , First Gate , Fourth Gate , Gate of Bronze , Gate of Silver , Gate of Steel , Gate of Stone , Gate of Wood , Gate of Writhen Iron , Golden Gate , Hidden Way , Iron Gate , [See the full list...]Iron Guards , King-helm of Turgon , Last Gate , Mountains of Turgon , Outer Gate of Gondolin , Outer Guard , Second Gate , Seven Gates of Gondolin , Seventh Gate , Sixth Gate , Third Gate , Warden of the Great Gate , Way of Escape , Wooden Gate Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 13 June 2018 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1997-2000, 2018. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ . Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd .Discus is the perfect Job Matching tool, with a reference library of nearly 250 different roles.
Schematic map of the Orfalch Echor and its Gates (not to scale) Schematic map of the Orfalch Echor and its Gates (not to scale) The ravine of the Dry River in the Encircling Mountains, the route by which the Hidden City of Gondolin was approached. Notes 1 The name Orfalch Echor dates back to the earliest phase of Tolkien's world in the Lost Tales, but is never directly explained, so a certain amount of deduction is needed to interpret it. There's a strong clue in the old name for the pass later called the Cirith Ninniach, which in the Lost Tales is called Glorfalc, interpreted 'Golden Cleft'. Because we known that glor- means 'gold', then falc is evidently 'cleft'. The prefix or- means 'high, above, on', so in this context the ravine of the Orfalch would be the 'high cleft'. Echor refers to a surrounding or encircling defence (as in the Rammas Echor, the defensive wall that surrounded Gondor's Pelennor Fields. The same element is seen in Echoriath, the Encircling Mountains through which the cleft of the Orfalch ran. Thus the entire name can be read as the 'high cleft of the outer circle' or perhaps 'high cleft of the Encircling (Mountains)'. See also... Crown of the Hidden Kingdom, Dark Gate, Elemmakil, Fifth Gate, First Gate, Fourth Gate, Gate of Bronze, Gate of Silver, Gate of Steel, Gate of Stone, Gate of Wood, Gate of Writhen Iron, Golden Gate, Hidden Way, Iron Gate, [See the full list...]Iron Guards, King-helm of Turgon, Last Gate, Mountains of Turgon, Outer Gate of Gondolin, Outer Guard, Second Gate, Seven Gates of Gondolin, Seventh Gate, Sixth Gate, Third Gate, Warden of the Great Gate, Way of Escape, Wooden Gate Indexes: Alphabetical: O Hills and Mountains About this entry: Updated 13 June 2018 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1997-2000, 2018. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.Discus is the perfect Job Matching tool, with a reference library of nearly 250 different roles.