Hûb Lostas

The mapmakers of the Dúnedain often confuse Hûb Helchui with the larger Bay of Forochel (of which it is but a small inlet). The Icy Bay is bounded on the west by the Blue Mountains, by the Wash Tundra to the south and, to the north, by the open plain lying south of the Bay of Cracking Ice and west of the Emyn Nimbrith. The freshwater of the tundra freezes at a higher temperature than the saltwater of the bay, and so a great deal of ice covers Hûb Helchui in winter. This ice gradually fills the bay until it is able to work its way through the small inlet to Forochel. It was to Hûb Helchui that Arvedui, Last-king of Arthedain, escaped during the ruin of his realm in T.A. 1974.

In summer, the Lumimiehet of the Wash Tundra use Hûb Helchui as a convenient passage to the more open waters of the Bay of Forochel; in winter, snow bears wander its frozen surface, hunting for seal, or crossing southward to the fish-laden rivers of the tundra beyond. The northwestern shores nearest the Blue Mountains form low cliffs, rising from ten to a hundred feet from the surface of the bay. It is dangerous for a boat to pass beneath these cliffs, as the ice of countless winters causes them to flake and crack. The stone may give way without warning and come crashing down in a splashing roar. These rockfalls are most common in spring and autumn (during which time the cliffs are repeatedly frozen, thawed and refrozen). The Lumimiehet call the booming noise of the collapse Kiviääni, the Voice of the Stone, saying that it heralds the beginning of spring and autumn.

The southern shores of Hûb Helchui form a single, arching strand of small pebbles and wave-smoothed rock. At its western and eastern ends, the long beach is interrupted by the streams of the Wash Tundra. The bay's northeastern shore is rocky and boulder-strewn, but neither so cliff-like nor so beach-like as the other shores. Seals have chosen these stony shores for their playground, and during the summer can be found here in great numbers. The northwestern coast of Hûb Helchui is dominated by the great gap that opens onto the Bay of Forochel proper. Here, the last ice-covered hills and tors of the Blue Mountains march out to the tip of the peninsula. Hûb Helchui is the most familiar of all Forochel's inlets to the Rivermen of Eriador and other travelers from the South.

After the fall of Angmar in T.A. 1975, Gondring the ice-drake makes Hûb Helchui her home. For long years she laired in the mountains of northern Angmar, but after its fall the pickings grew too slim to support her, so she settled in an ice-cave of the Blue Mountains overlooking the bay. Gondring now dines on seal and fish, and (during the summer migration period) on roaming reindeer and elk. The dragon's translucent scales take on the color of her surroundings, and she can move with equally surprising quickness over ice and snow or underwater. When dealing with Men, Elves or Dwarves, Gondring prefers to mesmerize her victims into delivering knowledge, treasure or larger prey into her hands. For more information on Gondring,