Dol Tinereb

Dol Tinare comprised, at its smallest extent, the highlands of Cardolan east of the Iaur Men Formen. Tolls levied on travellers of the road provided the majority of the revenues for the lord of the region.

History
This ancient principality was founded by Eruthimar, Governer of the Numenorean colony of Tharbad in the late 26th century of the Second Age. The Eriadorian wars were winding down in his time; he made peace among the survivors of the conflict and took a local title that allowed his heirs to directly rule the most important part of the lands conquered by the Numenorean colonists. By marrying an Eriadorian princess, he diluted his bloodline and thus angered his King, Tar-Telemmaite of Numenor. Eruthimar's descendents, though they consistently chose Dunadan brides in the following centuries, were nonetheless banned from the Numenorean court, thus establishing the Cardolani's tradition of bad relations with their overlords.

The original lands of Dol Tinare lay along the Menatar Romen and the Old Dwarf-road connecting Tharbad and Khazad-dum with Sarn Ford and the Blue Mountains. Mindo Tinaree, the keep of the Prince, sat on the crest of the Pinnath Nimren (S. "White Ridge"), the divide between the Baranduin and the Gwathlo, overlooking the Len Naugrim.

When Arnor was founded, the Ernil Camrinir of Dol Tinare took the lesser title of "Lord of Dol Tinare." His daughter, Nienna Istariel, was the ranking female Captain of Elendil's Arnorian army in the War of the Last Alliance. Tragically, her son, known as Camrinir the Cursed, was a traitorous and evil sorcerer. On the day the armies of the Alliance began their passage over the Misty Mountains, he called into his mother's keep a terrible power from the Darkness beyond the Pale. Only a valiant resistance by servants of the household allowed Gaerdae, a Noldo warrior, to intervene and confound the spell. Nonetheless, the tower was shattered, and the keep sank into the earth. Nienna was left to sponsor a shrine to mannish folly at the site and build a new keep just out of sight of the old.

The Arnorian fief of Dol Tinare flourished in a modest way, as Elendil's improvement and paving of the Iaur Men Formen and the Men Caran put the province astride the main arteries of Eriadorian trade. Tolls charged to traffic on the roads helped to compensate for the generally poor quality of agricultural land in Mintyrnath. Dol Tinare's principal towns were: Andrath, Arnach, Metraith, and Dinach on the Men Formen; Mindo Tinare itself, rebuilt along the Men Caran, and Harbarist, on the edge of the mining district of the Pinnath Ceren. After the division of the North Kingdom in T.A. 861, the first Kings of Cardolan built a new palace, called Thalion, near Metraith. The wild swings of political fortune saw the Tinare seat moved from Mindo Tinare to Andrath to Metraith and back again to Andrath. The general decay of Cardolan's economy in the ensuing centuries of the Third Age made it more and more difficult to rebuild towns damaged in the baronial wars. Mindo Tinare was abandoned after the Northern War of 1409. Andrath was also destroyed in 1409, and again and finally in 1639. Harbarist and Arnach dwindled away and disappeared during the Great Plague

Dol Tinare inT.A 1643
In this year, Dol Tinare is fast disintegrating under the pressure of Orc raids and the chaos caused by the plague. The Lord Hallas, ancient and physically decrepit, but still sharp of wit, rules from Thalion, which has been in Tinare hands for most of the last century. The Pinnath Ceren is independent, and most of the northern half of the principality has been abandoned. A conquered piece of the Gwathlo vale north of Tharbad provides some income for the Ernil Tinare, but it is obvious to all but the most optimistic observer that Dol Tinare is a dying realm. Hallas' heirs may even now be considering the option of taking their titles and gold and fleeing to distant, peaceful, safe Gondor.