Eryn Lothad

Eryn Lothad (Sindarin for Flowery Woods) is the forest located just north of Minas Tirith, on the northwestern Pelennor Fields, at the lowest slopes of Mindolluin, the easternmost peak of the White Mountains. The woodland lies where the cultivated fields of the Pelennor begin to give way to the rising foothills that lead toward the mountain heights above the city.

The trees of Eryn Lothad grow along the lower slopes beneath the walls of Minas Tirith, forming a narrow belt of woodland between the ordered farmlands of the Pelennor and the stony uplands of the mountains. From the higher levels of the city the forest can be seen spreading across the base of Mindolluin, its darker canopy contrasting with the open fields and roads that surround the city’s outer defences. The land in this region slopes steadily upward toward the mountains, and small streams descending from the heights help sustain the trees that grow there.

Though not a great forest by the measure of the ancient woods of Middle-earth, Eryn Lothad nevertheless marks one of the few remaining wooded areas close to the capital of Gondor. Much of the Pelennor Fields had long since been cleared and cultivated to support the population of Minas Tirith, leaving only scattered groves and sheltered woodland such as this near the mountain slopes.

The forest also lies near the beginning of the hidden path that climbs from the city toward the sacred high places of Mindolluin. In the upper reaches of the mountain, far above the woodland, stands the a place known only to the kings and stewards of Gondor. The wooded slopes of Eryn Lothad therefore form the lower approaches to this ancient route leading into the heights above the city.