Rhûn

In the fictional world of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien, Rhûn (IPA: [r̥uːːn]) was a large region of eastern Middle-earth. Rhûn (which is also the Elvish word for "east") was the name used for all lands lying east of Rhovanion, around and beyond the inland Sea of Rhûn, from where came many attacks on Gondor and its allies during the Third Age of Middle-earth.

Literature

Almost nothing can be known of the lands beyond the Sea of Rhûn from Tolkien's written work, though it is vaguely described in The Fellowship of the Ring as a realm of "wide uncharted lands, nameless plains, and forests unexplored". The wizard Gandalf had never explored these lands, and though Aragorn is said to have travelled to them, there is no report of what he did while there.

Rhûn's ancient geography can be gleaned a little from The Silmarillion; throughout most of the First Age the vast Sea of Helcar was located there and beyond that the Orocarni ('red mountains'). Somewhere in the east, too, lay Cuiviénen and Hildórien, where Elves and Men first awoke: all the Children of Ilúvatar could trace their ancestries back to the eastward regions of Middle-earth.

Rhön Mountains

The Rhön Mountains are a group of low mountains (or Mittelgebirge) in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end of the East Hesse Highlands (Osthessisches Bergland), are partly a result of ancient volcanic activity. They are separated from the Vogelsberg Mountains by the Fulda River and its valley. The highest mountain in the Rhön is the Wasserkuppe (950.2 m) which is in Hesse. The Rhön Mountains are a popular tourist destination and walking area.

Origins

The name Rhön is often thought to derive from the Celtic word raino (=hilly), but numerous other interpretations are also possible. Records of the monks at Fulda from the middle ages describe the area around Fulda as well as more distant parts of the Rhön as Buchonia, the land of ancient beech woods. In the Middle Ages beech was an important raw material. Large scale wood clearing resulted in the "land of open spaces" (Land der offenen Fernen), 30% of which, today, is forested.