Probably founded at the time of the Great Journey (long before the First Age), though this is uncertain.
Lothlorien (Lórien of the Blossom) was also called Dwimordene (Galadriel’s magical wood), the Golden Wood (The forest of the golden mallorn trees), Laurelindórenan (Land of the Valley of Singing Gold), Lindórinand (Vale of the Land of the Singers), and Lórien (Land of Gold).
Sindarin was the most used elven-language in Lothlorien, though most had an accent, because many of the Lorien elves were of Silvan origin.
Like those of Northern Mirkwood, the people of Lothlórien were mostly Silvan Elves of Nandorin descent, who were originally of all the Eldar those who most closely resembled the lost Avari of the east. As such, their earlier settlements lay scattered throughout the wide forests on both sides of the upper Anduin, having originally lingered there upon refusing the crossing of the Hithaeglir in very ancient times.
Long before the beginning of the First Age, the Elves of the Great Journey travelled westward through the lands of Middle-earth. Coming to the Great River Anduin and the high peaks of the Misty Mountains, some of the Elves of the clan of the Teleri fell away from the journey, and settled in the woodlands east of the Mountains. These were the original Silvan Elves, who lived on either side of the River. At this time in their history, all of this people still lived close together, with some dwelling in the land that would later be called Lórien, and the others settling around the hill of Amon Lanc in the far south of Greenwood the Great.
It must have been in the time these Elves were living closely together that the Silvan Elvish language appeared. As history passed, the Elves would move away from one another, and mingle with other Elvish peoples, so that the Silvan branch of Elvish would eventually become extinct. Nonetheless, relics of that ancient tongue survived in some well-known place-names and personal names, such as Caras Galadhon, Amroth and even Lórien itself.
The Silvan Elves dwelt in their twin woodland realms for many centuries, but in the Second Age the emerging power of Sauron began to drive them apart. Oropher was the ruler of the Elves who dwelt in the Greenwood, and he began to seek safety by moving his people northwards, away from Amon Lanc and away from the Silvan Elves who lived to the west of the Great River.
Unlike their cousins in the east, the Silvan Elves of Lórien remained settled in their land throughout their known history. We know little of their existence well into the Second Age, where we find them ruled by a Sindarin Elf named Amdír2. After the destruction of Eregion in the middle Second Age, many of its exiles had escaped through Khazad-dûm into the east, and had joined the Silvan Elves of Lórien and ultimately mingled with them.
Amdír was lost in the wars at the end of the Second Age. In the time of his son Amroth, Durin's Bane was unleashed in Khazad-dûm. After this time, especially with the power of Sauron growing in Dol Guldur to the east, many of Lórien's people fled into the south. Amroth himself was among them, and he was drowned in the Bay of Belfalas far from his kingdom. It was at this time, a little more than a thousand years before the War of the Ring, that Galadriel and Celeborn became the Lord and Lady of Lórien.
Amdir (a Sindarin elf), ruled and was King of Lorien until the Second Age ended. Then, Amroth, his son, followed in his father's footsteps and became King of Lorien. But, disaster struck when he became overly preoccupied with his lover Nimrodel, and Lothlorien was badly defended and unfortified.
Celeborn and Galadriel came to the forest in the middle of the Third Age. But, already, Lorien had been tainted by rumour. The Galadhrim had closed off it's borders to other races, even the Greenwood elves.Nenya, Galadriel's ring, guarded the realm of Lorien. Time and it's effects were unlike time outside of Lorien. That is why after their stay in Lothlorien, the hobbits were surprised to find out that almost a month had passed.
Lorien held through the Third Age, sheltering the Fellowship of the Ring after their flight from the mines of Moria, during it's dangerous quest to destroy the One Ring.
Galadriel's ring, Nenya, after the War of Ring ended, lost all it's power, and the magic of Lothlorien began to fade. The elves had deserted the realm by the time that Aragorn died.
GALADRIEL (gaa laa'dree ell)
Galadriel was tall and beautiful, with the golden hair of her father Finarfin, and was called Altariel in Eldamar. This was translated as Galadriel, meaning "Lady of the Light", in Sindarin.
Galadriel was born in Valinor while the Two Trees were still alive. She and her brothers joined the Exile of the Noldor, coming across to Middle-earth across the northern ice. During the First Age of the Sun in Beleriand, Galadriel lived with her brother Finrod in Nargothrond, before entering the Sindar realm of Doriath where she was befriended by Melian and Thingol, her great-uncle. There, she met and married the Grey-elf, Celeborn.
From the beginning of the Second Age, the couple and their only child Celebrían, lived in Lindon; then in the eighth century they moved to Eregion, the realm of the Elven-smiths.
Later Galadriel and Celeborn crossed the Misty Mountains and came to rule over their own kingdom in the Golden Wood of Lothlórien. Commanding Nenya, one of the Three Elven Rings of Power, Galadriel used her power to weave a ring of enchantment and protection around Lothlorien.
During the time of the War of the Ring, Galadriel gave shelter and magical gifts to the Fellowship of the Ring. During the War itself, Galadriel repelled three attempts at invasion by orcs, and used her powers to bring down the walls of Dol Guldur and cleanse Mirkwood.
In year TA 3021, on September 29th, The Three Keepers of the Elven Rings departed from the Grey Havens to sail to the Undying Lands, Galadriel having been given permission by the Valar to return.
CELEBORN (kehl'eh borne)
Celeborn was tall and silver-haired. His name meant "Silver tree".The Noldorin version of his name was Teleporno.
The grandson of Elmo, Celeborn was born in Doriath where he met Galadriel. It was he who gave her that name (her real name was Artanis), meaning "radiant garland". They lived initially in Doriath, but they left before its ruin and moved to Eriador. Many Noldor and Sindar followed them.
Celeborn's history is so closely connected to Galadriel's that very little can be told about his life and deeds separately.
He survived the Sack of Eregion and with his wife and daughter Celebrían he moved to Lothlórien where he became the lord of the wooded realm.
During the War of the Ring, the Fellowship came to Lothlórien he received them and gave them useful advice. When evil in Dol Guldur became a threat to Lothlórien, he attacked and conquered its fortress and Galadriel threw down its gates. After the war ended, he met with king Thranduil of Mirkwood and they agreed that South Mirkwood, where Dol Guldur lay, would be added to the kingdom of Lothlórien.
After Galadriel sailed to the west, he joined his grandsons Elladan and Elrohir in Rivendell. It is unknown when, or if, he joined Galadriel in the Undying Lands
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Lothlorien is found to the southeast of Khazad-dûm, or northwest of Moria Gate. The Anduin (The Great River) runs beside it, then branches into the River Celebrant, which is where Lorien's banks are found. West are the Misty Mountains, and South is Fangorn.
Lothlorien was approximately 50 miles across from east to west and 30 miles from north to south. The forest originally stretched farther south, almost merging with Fangorn, but the trees receded over time. The open field south of the woods was called Parth Celebrant, and this area was originally considered part of the realm of Lothlorien, though no Elves dwelled there.
A stream called the Nimrodel came down from the Misty Mountains and flowed into the northwestern corner of Lothlorien. There was a beautiful waterfall on the Nimrodel in which it was said one could hear the singing of the Elf-maiden for whom the stream was named. The Nimrodel was shallow enough to wade across just below the falls. There was once a bridge over the stream, but it was taken down for defensive reasons.
The Nimrodel joined the Silverlode, or Celebrant - a swift, deep river of cold mountain waters that flowed southeastward through Lothlorien to the Anduin. The Elves used ropes tied between trees on either bank as temporary bridges to cross the Silverlode. There was a path along the southwestern bank of the river, and there were also straight, smooth paths on the northeastern side.
The northeastern part of Lothlorien was known as the Naith, or the Gore, because it formed a wedge-shaped piece of land between the Silverlode and the Anduin. The area where the land came to a point was named Egladil, or the Angle.
In the Naith at the heart of Lothlorien was Cerin Amroth. The hill stood in an open space among the trees. On its grassy slopes bloomed elanor and niphredil. At the top of Cerin Amroth were two rings of trees; the outer trees had white bark, and the inner trees were golden-leaved mallorn-trees. There was a tall tree at the center of the double ring that had a white flet high in its branches. From this flet one could look out over the Golden Wood.
The Galadhrim of Lothlorien were known for living in trees on flets. Some flets were simple platforms, while others had houses built on them. Most of the dwellings in Lothlorien were in the Angle. The majority of the Elves lived in the throughout the woods of the Angle, but many also lived in Caras Galadhon, the City of the Trees.
Caras Galadhon stood on a hill surrounded by a wall and a moat. The city gate was on the southwestern side. There were many tall mallorn-trees in the city with flets in their branches. In the largest tree was the dwelling of the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien, which consisted of several flets and a large hall built around the tree trunk. At the foot of the hill there was an enclosed garden where Galadriel kept her Mirror.
About ten miles southeast of Caras Galadhon, at the very tip of the Angle, was a green lawn called the Tongue. Here the Silverlode merged with the Anduin. There was a small haven for boats called a hythe on the Silverlode side of the Tongue.
The woods of Lothlorien appeared golden all year round. The leaves of the mallorn-trees turned gold in the fall and remained through the winter. In spring, the golden leaves fell and carpeted the ground, while new leaves of green and silver sprouted and golden blossoms bloomed on the trees. Mallorn-trees did not grow elsewhere in Middle-earth, except for one tree in the Shire that was a gift to Sam Gamgee from Galadriel.
Lothlorien was a place of great beauty and peace. Through the power her Ring, Nenya, Galadriel protected Lothlorien not only from evil and danger, but also from the slow decay of time. When Frodo Baggins visited Lothlorien, he observed:
It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain.
The Fellowship of the Ring: "Lothlorien," p. 365
Mallorn (maa'llorne)
Mallorn (plural mellyrn - the word is Sindarin) is a kind of large tree. The Quenya form of 'mallorn' is malinornë (plural malinorni).
Mellyrn are described as similar to beeches in the shape of boughs and leaves. Their bark was smooth and silver-grey, and the leaves turned golden in autumn. The golden leaves remained on the tree through the winter and fell to cover the ground in the spring, when new leaves sprouted, which were green on top and silver underneath, and golden flowers bloomed on the branches in clusters like a cherry. Frodo Baggins explained that he could feel the life of the tree when he touched a mallorn in Lothlórien. The fruit of a mallorn was a nut with a silver shale.
Mallorn-trees originally grew on Tol Eressëa and probably also grew in Valinor. The Ñoldor may have introduced mellyrn to Gondolin when they came to Middle-earth, but these were all destroyed with the city. The Elves of Tol Eressëa brought mallorn-trees to the Men of Númenor, and they grew on the shores around the Bay of Eldanna in that land. Even Tar-Aldarion, the great Ship-King, did not cut down these trees.
Mallorn-nuts were given by Tar-Aldarion to his friend Gil-galad, the Ñoldorin King of Lindon. The mellyrn did not grow in Lindon, but Galadriel took some nuts with her to Lothlórien, where they grew to immense heights. Lothlórien became known as the Golden Wood because of mallorn-trees.
Caras Galadhon, the city of Galadriel and Celeborn in Lothlórien, was built in the branches of huge mallorn-trees. The Fellowship spent the night in a flet (a sort of platform) in a mallorn-tree nearby and were later given lembas wrapped in mallorn-leaves.
Galadriel gave Samwise Gamgee a box of soil containing a single silver mallorn nut. After the War of the Ring, Sam planted the nut in the Shire, in the Party Field where the Party Tree had stood. It was the only mallorn-tree in Middle-earth outside of Lórien. When the tree bloomed in the next summer it was said that all the Shire became golden from the flowers.
Meanings:
The word "mallorn" means "golden tree" from "mal" meaning "gold" and orn meaning "tree." The plural of "mallorn" is "mellyrn", but "mallorn trees" is also an acceptable plural. The Quenya word is "malinornë", with its plural being "malinorni.
Lorien Ale a reveared drink even by the heartiest of dwarves. At least the ones lucky enough to be allowed to drink it. A drink that lifts the spirit and mind. Although too much results in the same effect as that of normal ale. It is famous among the travellers and the weary human, elven, dwarven, or even by halflings. It is the greatest source of the merriment of elves, who have a higher resistance to its potency in great amounts. It is made in a secret process using many ingridients. The key ingridients include the Key ingridients include the pure, fresh and freezing cold waters of the rivers Nimrodel and Celebrant, and sap from the great Mallorn trees of Lorien. The recipie is a closely guarded secret of the master elven brewers.
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