Emyn Muil

The Emyn Muil ring the Anduin where the river cuts down toward Nen Hithoel and the falls of Rauros. The western ridge is rough enough; the eastern side, which the hobbits had to cross, is a wilderness of knife-edged ridges, blind gullies and loose stone with no path and no water.

After landing below Amon Lhaw, Frodo and Sam spent three days lost in these hills trying to find a way down toward the Dead Marshes. They kept coming to cliff edges and having to turn back. In the end Sam's rope from Lothlorien got them down a sheer face, and the rope came loose from its knot when he called for it.

Gollum had been following them since Moria. He came down the same cliff face head first in the dark and they took him at the bottom. Frodo made him swear on the Ring to serve the master of the Precious, and Gollum led them west and north out of the hills toward the marshes.

Aragorn also crossed the northern part of the range, tracking the orc band that carried Merry and Pippin, before the trail turned west into Rohan and the long chase over the plains began.

Events at this place

1. TA 3019, February 27 · The Lord of the Rings

   Frodo and Sam lost in the hills

   After crossing the Anduin the hobbits spent days trapped in the eastern ridges, unable to find a way down toward the marshes.

2. TA 3019, February 29 · The Lord of the Rings

   Gollum is caught

   Gollum climbed down a cliff after the hobbits and was seized at the bottom. Frodo made him swear by the Ring and took him as guide.

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