Grey Havens

The Grey Havens stand where the river Lhûn reaches the Gulf of Lune, at the western edge of every map of Middle-earth. The Blue Mountains rise behind them, split by the gulf into a northern and a southern arm, and the road from the Shire runs west past the Tower Hills to the quays. Lindon lies on both shores of the gulf: Forlindon to the north, Harlindon to the south.

The Havens were made at the start of the Second Age, after the War of Wrath drowned Beleriand and the sea broke into the mountains. Círdan the Shipwright ruled them under Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor, whose realm of Lindon reached from the mountains to the shore. When Númenor fell and Elendil was driven east on the storm, his ships came to land in these coasts, and the friendship between Círdan and the exiled Dúnedain shaped the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

Círdan stayed on when Gil-galad was killed before Barad-dûr at the end of the Second Age. He kept Narya, the Ring of Fire, until about TA 1000, when a grey-cloaked stranger landed at the Havens and Círdan gave the ring to him, judging that Gandalf would need it more. For the rest of the Third Age the Havens were quiet, a shrinking settlement where grey ships were built and Elves who were weary of Middle-earth took passage west.

Frodo's road ends here. On 29 September TA 3021 he rode down from the Shire with Sam, Merry and Pippin, and found Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel and Bilbo waiting. Frodo and Bilbo boarded the white ship as Ring-bearers, and Gandalf went with them; the Three Rings left Middle-earth on that tide. Sam, who had carried the Ring in Mordor, followed many years later, and Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien and sailed from the Mouths of Anduin with Gimli.

Events at this place

1. SA 1 · The Silmarillion

   The Havens founded

   After Beleriand sank, Círdan the Shipwright settled the shores of the new gulf and built the harbour of Mithlond under Gil-galad.

2. SA 3319 · The Silmarillion

   Elendil comes ashore in Lindon

   The nine ships of the Faithful were carried east by the destruction of Númenor. Elendil landed in the coasts of Lindon and was welcomed by Gil-galad.

3. TA 1000 · Appendices

   Círdan gives Narya to Gandalf

   When the Istari came over Sea, Círdan met Gandalf at the Havens and handed him the Ring of Fire, saying his labours would be heavy.

4. TA 3021 · The Lord of the Rings

   The Ring-bearers sail

   On 29 September Frodo and Bilbo took ship with Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel. Sam, Merry and Pippin watched from the shore until the light was gone.

5. FoA 61 · Appendices

   Samwise takes ship

   Long after the War of the Ring, Sam rode west past the Tower Hills, and it is recorded in the Shire that he passed over Sea as the last of the Ring-bearers.

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