Region · Angmar
Northern Waste
The unmapped ice country beyond the Grey Mountains, home of dragons and little else
- Appears in
- Appendices
- Region
- Angmar
The Northern Waste is the label Tolkien's maps put on the country beyond the Grey Mountains, running east across the top of Wilderland. Below it lie the Withered Heath, Mount Gundabad and the headwaters of the Anduin. To the west it merges with Forodwaith and the ice of Forochel.
Nothing is settled there. The cold is a remnant of Morgoth's northern realm in the Elder Days, and the land supports hunters at best. What it does produce is dragons: the Withered Heath at its southern edge is named as their breeding ground, and cold-drakes came down from these wastes to drive the Dwarves out of the Grey Mountains in TA 2589 and after.
For readers working across the map, the Northern Waste marks the boundary of the known world in that direction. Everything in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings happens south of it, and its main effect on the story is the pressure it sent downward: dragons to Erebor, and orcs to Gundabad.
Events at this place
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TA 2589 · Appendices
Dragons drive the Dwarves from the Grey Mountains
Cold-drakes out of the northern wastes attacked the Dwarf halls in the Grey Mountains, killing King Dáin I and pushing his people to Erebor and the Iron Hills.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Northern Waste?
Across the top of the map north of the Grey Mountains and the Withered Heath, extending west toward Forodwaith and the Icebay of Forochel.
Do dragons come from the Northern Waste?
Yes. The Withered Heath on its southern edge is named as a breeding place of dragons, and cold-drakes came south from the north into the Grey Mountains.