30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 4
Jan. 4th, 2025 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elennaloreDay 4 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.
Today's prompt: Home Sweet Home, Part One. Think about a geographical location where your character lived. Learn more about what life in that location might have been like: the climate, topography, seasonal changes, flora and fauna, or anything else related to that physical location.
Mairon has lived in many different geographical locations in different times, and I must admit choosing between them for this prompt was not easy (because I was surely not going to write about all of them - this is a relaxed challenge). Should I take Almaren, the paradise of perpetual light in the Spring of Arda? Perhaps the fiery underground world of Utumno, or the northern volcanic world of Angband? Or perhaps the land of Mordor that Sauron created on his own, defying the laws of nature and geography while doing that?
This is a challenge given by Silmarillion Writers' Guild and I'm a Silmarillion writer, so I decided to leave Mordor out, as fascinating as that land is (I might return to it later during this challenge, though, who knows). This brings me back to Angband, which is fascinating in its own way. As my prompt fill, I concentrate on the topography and the climate of Angband.
Angband was situated in the northwestern part of Middle-earth, below and on the south slopes of the Iron Mountains. Over the fortress, the triple peaks of Thangorodrim were the most prominent mark of the area. Southwards from Angband lay the green grassy plain of Ard-galen that later became a wasteland after an ecocatastrophe at the beginning of Dagor Bragollach when it was hit by rivers of flame and poisonous gases. After this, the plain was called Anfauglith (Land of Gasping Dust). On the other side of the Iron Mountains, north from Angband were the regions of everlasting cold and Dor Daedeloth (on both sides of the mountains). The Iron Mountains were impossible to climb, but there must have been underground routes to the north-side of the mountain range through Angband's cavernous tunnels. It was unclear how close the shores of the great sea were, but I like the headcanon that the Angband inhabitants had an open passage to the sea in the north. The area around Angband had a prominent volcanic activity and Thangorodrim consisted of three active volcanic mountains. The area also suffered from earthquakes.
The climate there was cold, but how cold exactly depended on the distance of the area to the sea. I think the sea was far enough away so that Angband would have got a continental climate with cold winters and extreme seasonal changes (which sounds indeed something Melkor would have preferred). Perhaps there was even a subarctic climate north of Angband. One theory is that Melkor, as a Vala, might also have powers to affect the severity of the climate, even though the proximity of the (north) sea had otherwise made the winters milder.
Angband's geography feels, interestingly, a lot like that of Iceland of our world, but the climate could have been more like that of Siberia.
Sources used
1. Tolkien Gateway wiki
2. Karen Wynn Fonstad: The Atlas of Tolkien's Middle-earth
Today's prompt: Home Sweet Home, Part One. Think about a geographical location where your character lived. Learn more about what life in that location might have been like: the climate, topography, seasonal changes, flora and fauna, or anything else related to that physical location.
Mairon has lived in many different geographical locations in different times, and I must admit choosing between them for this prompt was not easy (because I was surely not going to write about all of them - this is a relaxed challenge). Should I take Almaren, the paradise of perpetual light in the Spring of Arda? Perhaps the fiery underground world of Utumno, or the northern volcanic world of Angband? Or perhaps the land of Mordor that Sauron created on his own, defying the laws of nature and geography while doing that?
This is a challenge given by Silmarillion Writers' Guild and I'm a Silmarillion writer, so I decided to leave Mordor out, as fascinating as that land is (I might return to it later during this challenge, though, who knows). This brings me back to Angband, which is fascinating in its own way. As my prompt fill, I concentrate on the topography and the climate of Angband.
Angband was situated in the northwestern part of Middle-earth, below and on the south slopes of the Iron Mountains. Over the fortress, the triple peaks of Thangorodrim were the most prominent mark of the area. Southwards from Angband lay the green grassy plain of Ard-galen that later became a wasteland after an ecocatastrophe at the beginning of Dagor Bragollach when it was hit by rivers of flame and poisonous gases. After this, the plain was called Anfauglith (Land of Gasping Dust). On the other side of the Iron Mountains, north from Angband were the regions of everlasting cold and Dor Daedeloth (on both sides of the mountains). The Iron Mountains were impossible to climb, but there must have been underground routes to the north-side of the mountain range through Angband's cavernous tunnels. It was unclear how close the shores of the great sea were, but I like the headcanon that the Angband inhabitants had an open passage to the sea in the north. The area around Angband had a prominent volcanic activity and Thangorodrim consisted of three active volcanic mountains. The area also suffered from earthquakes.
The climate there was cold, but how cold exactly depended on the distance of the area to the sea. I think the sea was far enough away so that Angband would have got a continental climate with cold winters and extreme seasonal changes (which sounds indeed something Melkor would have preferred). Perhaps there was even a subarctic climate north of Angband. One theory is that Melkor, as a Vala, might also have powers to affect the severity of the climate, even though the proximity of the (north) sea had otherwise made the winters milder.
Angband's geography feels, interestingly, a lot like that of Iceland of our world, but the climate could have been more like that of Siberia.
Sources used
1. Tolkien Gateway wiki
2. Karen Wynn Fonstad: The Atlas of Tolkien's Middle-earth
no subject
Date: 2025-01-16 03:03 pm (UTC)Huh! I never actually thought of temperatures in Angband, except maybe a bit hot whenever a Balrog was around. Interesting thoughts, thank you!