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Region · Angmar

Forodwaith

Northern Waste

The cold northern waste left by the ruin of Morgoth's old fortresses

View on map Angmar
Appears in
Appendices
Region
Angmar
Forodwaith on the map of Middle-earth

Forodwaith is the whole northern belt of the map, running above Angmar and the top of Eriador toward the Icebay of Forochel in the west. The word names both the land and the people of the north. It is snow, tundra and frozen coast, and almost nothing is marked on it.

Its climate is not simply latitude. In the Elder Days Morgoth's stronghold of Angband and the Iron Mountains lay in the north, and when Thangorodrim was thrown down the cold he had gathered remained behind. What survives is a waste that keeps armies, settlers and mapmakers out.

The one people who live there are the Lossoth of Forochel, hunters on the ice who build snow houses and cross the frozen bay on sleds. They are counted a remnant of the ancient Forodwaith, men who never came south. They sheltered Arvedui of Arthedain in the winter of TA 1975 and took the ring of Barahir from him in payment.

Dragons also came out of this north. The cold-drakes and fire-drakes that later troubled the Grey Mountains and Erebor bred in the wastes beyond them, and Fram of the Éothéod killed Scatha in those ranges. On the map Forodwaith is the blank edge that explains why the north of Middle-earth has so few names on it.

Events at this place

  1. FA 587 · The Silmarillion

    Ruin of Morgoth's northern fortresses

    At the end of the First Age Thangorodrim and Angband were destroyed. The cold and waste of the far north remained as a legacy.

  2. TA 1975 · Appendices

    Arvedui among the Lossoth

    The last king of Arthedain sheltered with the Snowmen of Forochel on the edge of Forodwaith before dying in the ice.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Forodwaith on the Middle-earth map?

Across the far north, above Angmar and northern Eriador, stretching west to the Icebay of Forochel and east across the top of the map.

Why is Forodwaith so cold?

Tolkien attributes the deep cold to Morgoth's power in the north during the Elder Days, which lingered after Angband and the Iron Mountains were destroyed.

Is Forodwaith the same as the Northern Waste?

The names overlap. Forodwaith is the Elvish name for the northern lands and their ancient people, and the Northern Waste is the English label used on maps for the same belt of country.