
the Lôdalf
Lôdalf (S. "Wash Tundra", Q. "Lulôlma") was that part of the Northern Wastes which lay to the north of Arthedain and south of the Bay of Forochel. Formed from the ruin of the Iron Mountains at the end of the First Age, the region was desolate by most standards. In most ways it was a somewhat less temperate version of Lothlann. To the south, the Talath Muil, a cool grassland, dotted with trees, marked the border with Arthedain.
The Wash Tundra lay between the Rammas Forod and the Emyn Nimbrith. Most of its rivers emptied into Hûb Helchui, making canoe passage onto the Herd Tundra difficult save for the streams along its western and eastern bounds. It had almost no permafrost, and was therefore less a tundra than a boreal steppe, cold but not overly barren or bog-ridden. The headwaters of Lódalf's streams, wandering amid the rubble of the Rammas Forod, remained marshy, and travelers had been known to disappear in these cold, treacherous swamps, known in infamy as the Mewlip Marshes.
Less bitterly cold and better watered than other regions of Forodwaith, the Wash Tundra was dotted with small stands of trees (mainly conifers) along its streams and rivers. Elk, deer, sheep, reindeer, musk ox and boar all roamed here. They were stalked by large predators, such as bear, wolves, dire wolves and lynx. The waters of the region teamed with waterfowl in the summer; the raucous noise of ducks, geese and loons crowded its streams from late Lothron to early Hithui. With the arrival of these flocks, many smaller mammals and predators, mink, otter, fox, weasel and stoats, came out in number, hunting for unprotected eggs and unwary fowl.
In the winter, reindeer and elk migrated across and around the Emyn Nimbrith from the Herd Tundra into the Wash Tundra. Wolves, snow leopards, and other predators follow the herds, sometimes troubling northern Eriador. The Snow Trolls and white wolves of the North, along with other foul creatures, sometimes took this path in extremely harsh winters, troubling lands as far south as the Shire.
Other names[]
- Lossothlann
References[]
- Jeff J. Erwin:A Traveler's Guide to Lindon