Small copses of trees and scattered light woodlands dotted the valleys and lower slopes of this range of low hills rising on the southern edge of the Laergaladrin. The Poros ran along the base of the hills, flowing from the outer edges of the Ephel Dúath until it turned to join the Anduin. The Emyn Laer (S. ‘Summer Hills’) themselves curved southward, merging with the Emyn Annûn along the coast of Belfalas Bay. No peak or ridge of the Emyn laer rose higher than three thousand feet above sea level. A number of small streams had cut passages through the Emyn Laer over the years; in the day of Gondor's strength, many trails and roads led through them onto the highlands beyond.
As unforbidding as the Emyn Laer appeared, for most the Second Age they were the edge of the world to the peoples of the Vale of Anduin. Their name was derived from the fact that, due to the drying effects of the winds, the Trees and grasses of the hills turned summerbrown earlier than did those of the lowlands. The Donan, the oldest of the coastal peoples, thought of the summer as a living thing that came upon them from over the Emyn Laer.They viewed it as a bane, for with the summer drought came raiding Haruze and Orcs from the dry steppes beyond, seeking the bounty of better lands. The Dúnedain of the Pelargirean League did not settle these hills, as more fertile regions in Lebennin were available for their limited population. As their numbers increased, some settlers crossed the Anduin despite the threat posed by Sauron's presence in Mordor. Yet, governed by the ban of their colonial charter, the Dúnedain of Pelargir remained north of the Poros and out of the Emyn Laer until after the Downfall of Númenór. Due to the threat of occasional Haruze banditry and Mordor Orc-raids, companies of rangers were organized to patrol the Poros and the hills of the southern border. Thus began the long conflict between the Gondorians and the Haradrim, one that lasted through two ages of Middle-earth and into a third. The foundation of the Realms-in-Exile after the fall of Númenór marked an increase in raiding activity in the Emyn Laer and across the border into Harithilien. The Haruze and Sauron's Orcs took advantage of the break-down of Númenórean control in Harnendor. With the beginning of the Third Age, several Haruze lords established realms in the Emyn Laer, but horsemen from the Aegardh continually raided the prosperous Haruze hill settlements and beyond into Harithilien. The men of Gondor fought the raiders south of the Poros, occasionally coming into conflict with the lords of the Emyn Laer. Yet, despite their reluctance to ally with Gondor, most cooperated in pacifying the raiders, bringing an end to their depredations by the middle of die first millennium. The Haruze themselves were subdued as Gondor expanded its borders south of the Poros, By the close of the first millennium of the Third Age, the grassy slopes of the Emyn Laer were tamed by settlers and transformed into a garden of Gondor.
It was the Dúnedain themselves who ruined the peace of the Summer Hills during the remainder of the age. After the death of Castamir the Ursurper brought the Kin-strife to an end in T.A. 1448, the rebel lords of Harondor, reinforced by the remnants of Castamir's army, fortified the Emyn Laer and held it against the restored king, whose Successor, Aldamir, made war against the rebels for many years with little effect until the line of the Emyn Laer was broken. Within a decade, all Harondor was once again under the rule of Gondor. Much of what Gondor had built in the Emyn Laer lay in ruins after these wars, but worse was to come. The Wainrider invasion of T.A. 1944 destroyed Gondorian civilization in Harondor and left much of it the realm of bandits and nomads. The last kings and first Ruling Stewards of Gondor fortified the Emyn Laer against attacks from the south. This frontier held Haruze armies at bay for centuries, but with the fading of Gondorian power the defenses crumbled. In the last years before the War of the Ring, Gondorian rangers still made excursions into the Laergaladrin, but, as in the days of the ancient Donan, only fanatics and fools entered the peaceful-looking hills south of the river. Beyond them lay an alien, enemy world.
References[]
- MERP:Southern Gondor - The Land
- Fanmodules:MORDOR GAZETTEER