Editing Rohan, Middle-earth (section)

== Geography ==
{{further|Geography of Middle-earth}}

[[File:Gondor sketch map.svg|thumb|upright=2.5|Sketch map of part of Middle-earth in the Third Age. Rohan is top centre, below the southern end of the Misty Mountains and [[Fangorn]] forest, and west of the River Anduin.]]

In Tolkien's Middle-earth, Rohan is an inland realm. Its countryside is described as a land of pastures and lush tall grassland which is frequently windswept. The meadows contain "many hidden pools, and broad acres of [[Cyperaceae|sedge]] waving above wet and treacherous bogs"<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=Book III, Chapter 5 "The White Rider"|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref> that water the grasses. The cartographer [[Karen Wynn Fonstad]] calculated Rohan to be 52,763 square miles (136,656&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) in area (slightly larger than [[England]]).{{sfn|Fonstad|1994|page=191}}

=== Borders ===
{{anchor|Isengard}}

Rohan is bordered to the north by the [[Fangorn]] forest, home to the [[Ent]]s (tree-giants){{efn|[[Old English]] ''ent'' meant "giant", as in the phrase ''orþanc enta geweorc'', "cunning work of giants".{{sfn|Shippey|2001|p=88}}}} led by [[Treebeard]], and by the great river Anduin, called Langflood by the Rohirrim. To the northeast are the walls of Emyn Muil. After the War of the Ring, the kingdom is extended northwards over the Limlight to the borders of [[Lothlórien]].<ref name="ReferenceB" group=T>{{harvnb|Peoples|loc="The making of Appendix A"|p=273|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1996}}}}</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Unfinished Tales|loc="Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", (ii) The Ride of Eorl|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1980}}}}</ref> To the east are the mouths of the River Entwash, and the Mering Stream, which separated Rohan from the Gondorian province of Anórien, known to the Rohirrim as Sunlending. To the south lie the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains (''Ered Nimrais'')]]. To the west are the rivers Adorn and Isen, where Rohan borders the land of the [[Dunlendings]]. To the northwest, just under the southern end of the [[Misty Mountains]], lies the walled circle of Isengard around the ancient tower of Orthanc; at the time of the War of the Ring, it had been taken over by the evil [[Wizard (Middle-Earth)|wizard]] [[Saruman]]. The area of the western border where the Misty Mountains and the White Mountains drew near to each other is known as the Gap of Rohan.<ref name="ReferenceB" group=T/>

{{anchor|Edoras}}

=== Capital ===
{{anchor|Eorl the Young}}

The capital of Rohan is the fortified town of '''Edoras''', on a hill in a valley of the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]].<ref name="King of the Golden Hall" group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=book III ch. 6 "The King of the Golden Hall"|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref> "Edoras" is Old English for "enclosures".<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/009456 eodor]</ref> The town of Edoras was built by Rohan's second King, Brego son of Eorl the Young. The hill on which Edoras is built stands in the mouth of the valley of Harrowdale. The river Snowbourn flows past the town on its way east towards the Entwash. The town is protected by a high wall of timber.

{{anchor|Meduseld}}

[[File:Viking longhouse - Borg 01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mead hall]] at [[Borg, Norway]]]]

'''Meduseld''', the Golden Hall of the Kings of Rohan, is in the centre of the town at the top of the hill.<ref name="King of the Golden Hall" group=T/> "Meduseld", Old English for "[[mead hall]]",<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/022577 medu-seld]</ref> is meant to be a translation of an unknown Rohirric word with the same meaning. Meduseld is based on the mead hall [[Heorot]] in ''[[Beowulf]]''; it is a large hall with a thatched roof that appears golden from far off. The walls are richly decorated with tapestries depicting the history and legends of the Rohirrim, and it serves as a house for the King and his kin, a meeting hall for the King and his advisors, and a gathering hall for ceremonies and festivities. It is at Meduseld that [[Aragorn]], [[Gimli (Middle-earth)|Gimli]], [[Legolas]], and [[Gandalf]] meet with King [[Théoden]].<ref name="King of the Golden Hall" group=T/> Legolas describes Meduseld in a line that [[Beowulf and Middle-earth|directly translates a line of ''Beowulf'']], "The light of it shines far over the land", representing ''líxte se léoma ofer landa fela''.<ref>{{harvnb|Shippey|2005|p=141}}: it is line 311 of ''[[Beowulf]]''.</ref> The hall is [[Anachronism in Middle-earth|anachronistically]] described as having [[Louver|louvres]] to remove the smoke, derived from [[William Morris]]'s 1889 ''[[The House of the Wolfings]]''.{{sfn|Wynne|2006|p=575}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=William |author-link=William Morris |title=The House of the Wolfings |date=1904 |orig-year=1889 |publisher=[[Longmans, Green, and Co.]] |chapter=Chapter 1 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2885/2885-h/2885-h.htm |quote=In the aisles were the sleeping-places of the Folk, and down the nave under the crown of the roof were three hearths for the fires, and above each hearth a luffer or smoke-bearer to draw the smoke up when the fires were lighted.}}</ref>{{Clear}}

=== Other settlements ===
{{anchor|Firienfeld|Dunharrow|Harrowdale|Snowbourne|Aldburg}}

Upstream from Edoras, deeper into Harrowdale, are the hamlets of Upbourn and Underharrow. At the head of [[Dunharrow]] (from Old English ''Dûnhaerg'', "the heathen fane on the hillside"<ref>{{harvnb|Lobdell|1975|p=183}}</ref>) is a refuge, Firienfeld, in the White Mountains.<ref name="The Muster of Rohan" group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=Book III, Chapter 5 "The Muster of Rohan"|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref> Aldburg, capital of the Eastfold, is the original settlement of Eorl the Young. The Hornburg, a major fortress guarding the western region, is in [[Helm's Deep]], a valley in the White Mountains.<ref name="Helm's Deep" group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=Book III, Chapter 7 "Helm's Deep"|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref>

=== Regions ===
The kingdom of Rohan, also called the Mark, is primarily divided into two regions, the East-mark and the West-mark. They are each led by a marshal of the kingdom. Rohan's capital, Edoras, lies in a small but populous region in the centre south of the kingdom, the Folde.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Nomenclature|p=771|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1967}}}}</ref> In an earlier concept, Rohan's capital region was called the King's Lands, of which the Folde was a sub-region to the south-east of Edoras.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Unfinished Tales|loc=part 3, ch. V. Appendix (i)|p=367|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1980}}}}</ref> North of the Folde, the boundary between the East-mark and West-mark runs along the Snowbourn River and the Entwash.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Unfinished Tales|loc=part 3, ch. V. Appendix (i), footnote|p=367|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1980}}}}</ref> Most of the rest of Rohan's population is spread along the foothills of the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]] in both directions from the Folde. In the West-mark the Westfold extends along the mountains to [[Helm's Deep]] (the defensive centre of Westfold) and to the Gap of Rohan. Beyond the Gap of Rohan lies the West Marches, the kingdom's far west borderland.<ref name="Helm's Deep" group=T/> The Eastfold extends along the White Mountains in the opposite direction (and was thus a part of the East-mark). It is bound by the Entwash to the north. Its eastern borderland is called the Fenmarch; beyond this lies the Kingdom of Gondor.<ref name="Road to Isengard" group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=book III, ch. 8 "Road to Isengard"|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref>

The centre of Rohan is a large plain, divided by the Entwash into the East Emnet and the West Emnet.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Nomenclature|pp=769, 778|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1967}}}}</ref> These regions fell respectively into the East-mark and the West-mark. The northernmost region of Rohan, and the least populous, is the Wold. The Field of Celebrant (named for a synonym of the River [[Silverlode]]), even further north, is added to Rohan after the [[War of the Ring]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Peoples|loc=part 1, ch. IX (iii)|p=273|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1996}}}}</ref>