User:YLSS/Sandbox3

=Rohan=

Concept and creation
some early conceptions: herdsmen etc. that were not under the Shadow

Change of narrative significance
No certain reasons for the introduction of Rohan during the writing of The Lord of the Rings, which occured shortly after that of Gondor, are recorded. In Tolkien's manuscripts of 1939 it first appears as a justification of why the Company of the Ring would have to cross the Misty Mountains by the Red Pass above Moria: "the passes further south ... were all guarded years ago – they lead straight into the country of the Beardless Men". This was immediately changed to "the country of the Horsemen", and several Sindarin names were proposed for it: Thanador, Ulthanador, Borthendor, Orothanador, and finally "Rohan [= Rochan(dor) = Horseland]"; a contemporary note calls the people Ro(c)hiroth and gives the descriptive Greek equivalents, Hippaneletians and Anaxippians. The hostility of this realm was explained by that "the Horsekings have long been in the service of Sauron", and for some time Tolkien held to this view, developing an idea that the Ringwraiths rode Rohan horses.

Next year Saruman's fortress of Isengard was introduced, from the beginning placed on the borders of Rohan; intentionally or not, after some time it took on itself the role of southern barrier and imposed a new significance on local horses – providing Gandalf a swift return to the Shire after escaping Saruman. The image of the Rohiroth was lightened, and the phrase that they "pay tribute yearly in horses to Mordor ... but are not yet under the yoke" survived into the published The Lord of the Rings from this time, although it has decreased in "correctness". At their next appearance in Tolkien's writings, the Horsemen are planned to fight against Mordor in the final battle, but no other role is foreseen for them, with all characters passing their realm round. As put by Christopher Tolkien, "the structure of that narrative ... would be wholly changed, and changed above all by the emergence of the Kingdom of Rohan into the full light of the story".

This process was only gradual, speeded by the needs of the plot. When Tolkien came to write the relevant chapters in 1942, an idea appeared that Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli would borrow Rohan horses in order to rescue Merry and Pippin, and later he decided that it was not "an old man" who would have "discomfited" the Orcs, but the just-introduced éored of Horsemen, and that Aragorn would visit the King of the realm to vindicate his dismissal by their leader Éomer. It had long been suggested that Isengard and Rohan would not be at peace, and that the Ents would "seek help of the Rohiroth" in their conflict with Saruman; now that the story was, in Tolkien's words, "writing itself", he involved the main characters into the war, planning that Gandalf and Aragorn would save Rohan.

?
Influence by Beowulf and The Wanderer

=Moria=

Early development
Tolkien first introduced Moria during the writing of The Hobbit, as a former dwelling of the dwarves that had been sacked by goblins. As he later recalled, "the Mines of Moria had been a mere name", and when he began composing The Lord of the Rings, he did not foresee that it would reappear in the new story. When the narrative progressed in 1938 to the events in Rivendell, Tolkien decided that something should be told of the future fates of characters from his earlier novel, and for Balin, Ori and Óin he proposed that "they went out to colonize – being told of rich hills in the South. But after a time no word was heard of them". Christopher Tolkien has suggested that at first this colony may not have been equated with Moria, and that they became one and the same when his father again reached Rivendell in a wave of rewriting next year.

Either immediately or quite soon the location of Moria was settled as under the pass over the Misty Mountains that the Company of the Ring would fail to take, and on a southward extension of the Map of Wilderland from The Hobbit the geography was quickly developed to its final state. The only difference was that at first only one mountain was singled out (the later Caradhras), and references to three peaks began to appear with the statement that their image was reflected by the Mirrormere. While composing relevant chapters, Tolkien unpremeditatedly introduced Hollin, which led to the story of former friendship between it and Moria, and elaborated the original idea of the Mines' richness in common silver into the unique mithril.

The nature of the Mines themselves was portrayed as haunting, cold and dark with an intention to avoid duplicating the Lonely Mountain; on the other hand, when describing the ancient riches in Gimli's song, Tolkien reused verses from The Lay of Leithian, where they applied to the Thousand Caves of Menegroth and had been partly suggested by C. S. Lewis. The structure of the Mines was little changed from original versions, the chief difference being that for some time Tolkien explored the idea of two western entrances: the one through which the Company entered was "Elven-door", and the other "Dwarven", located further to the south. The design of the former was developed using at least six successive drawings, with newly added symbolic elements being progressively redistributed among concerned peoples.

After a new recommencement of composition in 1940–41, Tolkien changed his view that the dwarves had been driven out of Moria by goblins "after many wars", stating now that they had fled from "things long buried", and writing down first germs of the story that the dwarves organised the war against orcs in revenge for Thrór's killing. Christopher Tolkien gathered that originally the Balrog, which had appeared already in the earliest plot outline, was unconnected to that before which the dwarves had fled, since the latter is referred to as "evils", with the statement that lower chambers are "full of [it]". It was only when Tolkien hesitantly came to a conclusion that the Balrog had indeed remained under the mountains since the Elder Days and had not only recently been sent from Mordor, that the creature assumed the role of Durin's Bane.

Rejected names
Few names with Elvish etymologies were employed by Tolkien during the writing of The Hobbit, and whether Moria was from the start one of them is unknown, but an evidence for contrary may be present in the fact that during first stages of composition of The Lord of the Rings he hesitated between interpreting it as "Black Gulf" or as "Black Pit". The first sample of Dwarvish language in the new novel – Uruktharbun – could have been intended to refer either to Moria or to the later Dimrill Dale, while the soon-established Khazad-dûm was usurped from Nogrod, which up to that time had been explained as "Dwarfmine". For the neighbourhood of Moria different designations were tried out by Tolkien in course of writing relevant chapters, changing as he progressed. As a result, his manuscripts and a contemporary map contain an amout of names hardly equated elsewhere in his writings.

The earliest geographical features to appear shared a common pattern: the Red Pass, River Redway, the Red Valley and the Ruddyhorn mountain. The last one eventually became Redhorn and alone preserved the original element; its Sindarin translation was selected among Bliscarn, Carnbeleg, Taragaer, Carad(h)ras and Rhascaron. The names of the other two peaks were at first reminiscent of this one: Celebras or Silverhorn and Fanuiras or Horn of Cloud, with Dwarvish equivalents Zirakinbar and Udushinbar, respectively.

Proposals for Elvish name of River Redway were Crandir, Rathgarn, Nenning, Caradras, Narosîr and Ruinnel, and at its first emergence the stream on the opposite side of the mountains was labeled "Caradras dilthen the Little Redway", at once being changed to Sirannon the Gatestream. Later Tolkien, inspired by a phrase: "Redway rises in the black wat[er of the Mirrormere]", decided to rename the river to Blackroot, Morthond in Sindarin and Buzundush in Khûzdul; in a following chapter its sourse was accordingly stated to have been "a deep well of dark water almost black". When the story passed to Lothlórien and the river came to flow through the heart of this Elven realm, Tolkien transposed the name Blackroot with Silverlode, which had before referred to a river of Gondor, and assigned it an Elvish translation Celeb(rind)rath and Dwarvish Kibilnâla.

The "Red Valley" was given Sindarin equivalents Caron-dûn, Narodûm, Dunruin and similar, but the later names Dimrill-dale and Nanduhiriath [sic] were introduced quite early. Following this, the Red Pass of Cris Caron was redesignated as "Dimrill-stair (Pendrethduhir)", and at a later time was "spilt" to Redhorn Gate and Dimrill-stair. The lake in the Dimrill Dale originally appeared as Glassmere, and once Tolkien proposed to give it a Sindarin name Helevorn that he had already used for a lake in The Silmarillion.

Late development
Peoples of M-e

=Mordor=

Concept and creation
=Refernces=