Lochen

Lochen (S."Defile") was an ancient Daen Coentis fortification which stood at one of the sources of the River Celos in the White Mountains above Lebennin. Originally constructed during the Second Age as a fortified bridge spanning the Celos headwaters which flowed beneath it, Lochen once marked the easternmost extent of the Coentis alliance. The bridge and its forts were partially destroyed in the changing of the world, when Númenór's Downfall and the bending of the sea caused several earthquakes in the Ered Nimrais. A flood of water from a mountain lake, whose natural bank had been ruptured by one of these earthquakes, carried away the bridge, leaving only the ruined towers on either side of the river course. With the rehabitation of the highlands by the Danan Lin during the early Third Age, the ruins of Lochen came to be used as an Orodbedhrim clan refuge.