The Encyclopedia of Arda - City of the Trees (original) (raw)
Caras Galadhon in the land of Lórien
In early times, the Galadhrim of Lórien had used flets or telain - wooden platforms mounted in trees - as places from which to watch the borders of their land. In the time when Amroth was Lórien's Lord, he began to make his dwelling on one of these flets, and the custom began to spread among his people. Eventually these platforms were commonplace throughout the land, but nowhere did they cluster so closely as in the City of the Trees, Caras Galadhon deep in the golden forest of mallorn trees.
The City of the Trees was separated from the surrounding forest by a fosse (or ditch) and within that a high green hedge as thick as a wall. These defences encircled a broad hill, with an entrance only opening to the south. On that hill grew some of the tallest mellyrn in Lórien, bearing many telain in their heights, and shining with many lights between their leaves. Among these were some truly enormous platforms, especially that used in the later Third Age as the seat of the Lord and Lady of Lórien, Celeborn and Galadriel.
Caras Galadhon, City of the Trees, was visited by the surviving members of the Company of the Ring after their trials in the depths of Moria. They were received in friendship by Galadriel and Celeborn, and they remained in the City for nearly a month (though through the power of Galadriel's Ring Nenya, time flowed differently among the trees of Lórien than in the lands outside).
Notes
| 1 | We have no specific dating for the building of the City of the Trees. One hint comes from the fact that, when the Fellowship of the Ring visited the city, Celeborn mentioned that Dwarves of Durin's Folk had been seen in the City long ago. These would presumably have been visitors from Khazad-dûm, so the city seems to have existed before the fall of those Dwarf-mansions in III 1981. |
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- Updated 14 November 2023
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