The Roads of Middle-Earth

[Valandil]

The Great East Road, The Greenway, The Old South Road, the various Roads around Gondor and through Mirkwood:

What do we know about each? When was each one built and by whom?

I vaguely remember mention about the East-West Road in Eriador being older than the North-South Road... and that the former was used more by Elves and Dwarves and the latter more by Men and Hobbits (or do I have any of that backwards or mixed up?). What does JRRT tell us about the roads?

[Lefty Scaevola]

There is an article, either in unfinished tales of HoME about the dwarves, mentioning that there had built the great east west road, from Beleriand to the Iron Hills, in the first age, to link there various cities. I believe there is a paragraph or two about the bridge of the great east west road across the Anduin, ruined by the time of the war of the Ring, and just a ford.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

And don't forget the roads of Numenor.

"In Numenor all journeyed from place to place on horseback...
Therefore the roads of Numenor were for the most part unpaved, made and tended for riding, since coaches and carriages were little used in the earlier centuries, and heavy cargoes were borne by sea. The cheif and most ancient road, suitable for wheels, ran from the greatest port, Romenna in the east, to the royal city of Armenelos, and thence on to the Valley of the Tombs and the Meneltarma; and the road was early extended to Ondosto within the borders of Forostar, and thence to Andunie in the west. Along it passed wains bearing stone from the Northlands that was most esteemed for building, and timber in which the westlands were rich." Unfinished Tales.

Hence the technology for Rohan and Arnor's roads later in Middle-earth.

[Mrs Maggot]

Maybe the East-West road in Eriador being older than the North-South Road has something to do with the elves using it when they went into the West for the first time in the Silmarillion? Or would a road from so long ago have eroded by the Third Age? I don't know cos I've only read the Silmarillion once but that's my initial thought about it…

[Valandil]

Originally posted by Tuor of Gondolin
And don't forget the roads of Numenor.

...

Hence the technology for Rohan and Arnor's roads later in Middle-earth.

I guess those were all Second Age roads and all made by the Numenoreans. Of the ones in Middle-earth, I wonder if any were First Age (and would Elves have made those?). And, of the others, which were Second Age and which were Third Age - and who (what race - even what people - under which king(s)) made them...

[Finmandos12]

The East-West road was built on the path the Elves took as they marched to the sea. It wasn't necessarily built as they traveled the first time.

[Valandil]

Bumping this because I've just been thinking about it again.

Of the two "Great Roads" - I'm inclined to think that the East-West Road was indeed built by the Dwarves in the First Age. It does not go straight to a Dwarf Kingdom in the east (unless Elrond took over an abandoned one to start Rivendell). But maybe the Dwarves would not have wanted that anyway.

I think the North-South Road was built by the Numenoreans and Dunedain, and perhaps not all at once. In face - maybe the Numenoreans first built it from Tharbad to the Waymeet. Later - Arnor could have added the segment splitting off from that which runs north through Bree and on to Fornost. Last of all - I surmise that Gondor built the portion from Tharbad on into Gondor - starting about the 800's of the Third Age or later.

[Alcuin]

Tharbad is as far up the Gwathló as a shallower drafted vessel could go, isn’t it? You just pointed out that it was probably the chief port of Arnor; though maybe the Dúnedain also had one or more along the Baranduin; and the Elves allowed them to use Lindon, at least when Gondor’s expeditionary force under Eärnur arrived in 1975. (Lindon was a primary port-of-call for the Númenóreans for at least 1500 years in the Second Age.)

Pelargir was the principal port of the Faithful Númenóreans during the Second Age, founded about 550 years after Umbar, about a century after the Nazgûl first appeared.

So there are Dúnedain settlements from the late middle of the Second Age just east of Lindon and along the mouth of the Anduin. For the Númenóreans, like the early English colonists of America, by far the easiest way to travel must have been by sea or river: by ship.

When Elendil arrived, all that changed. He and his sons set about building royal fortresses immediately. But think: did the Númenóreans build all those cities and fortresses between 3319 and 3429–3441, a scant 110 or 122 years? Not likely: there must have been communities there already, towns and cities they strengthened, fortified, and enlarged.

Moreover, Elendil needed a royal road for communication and trade with the southern half of his realm. That was the North-South Road. He didn’t use it during the War of the Last Alliance because he and Gil-galad passed through Imladris (Elrond and more troops) and down the Anduin past Greenwood and Lórien, Khazad-dûm, and the Men of the Vales of Anduin (more troops). By the same token, when Isildur returned north, he used the same Anduin road because he wanted to go first to Imladris and take council with Elrond. (He missed the meeting.)

There is a note at the end of “Aldarion and Erendis” in Unfinished Tales that Aldarion met Galadriel at Tharbad. (She and Celeborn were living in Eregion). But “Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer”, indicates the swamps around Tharbad weren’t drained, and perhaps the bridge wasn’t constructed, until at least the late Second Age, when the North-South Road became economically and politically important to the Númenórean kingdoms in exile.

[Valandil]

Yes - you must be right. If the North-south road was not already finished by the time Gondor and Arnor were founded - it was certainly complete by the end of the Second Age - at the time of the War of the Last Alliance.

I remember now in the UT story, "Disaster of the Gladden Fields" - that it is written as though Isildur had the option to take the road north, all the way up to the east-west road, then from there east to Rivendell. But he elected to go the shorter route. The longer would have been fast with horses - due to the roads, but his party was not mounted.

[Alcuin]

Isildur’s was the longer road along the east bank of the Anduin: He wanted to consult Elrond about Sauron’s Ring, which had begun to trouble him. The North-South Road was shorter: It was the hypotenuse of a right triangle, with a bridge built by the Dúnedain along the East-West Road (long fallen into ruin by Bilbo’s time) as the right angle.

[Nerwen]

Fascinating thread Well done, all of you!

Susie