Ancient History

The forest of Mirkwood is ancient beyond the reckoning of Elves and Men - it is said that the first-born Elves came through the eaves of this great woodland when they first travelled west to the call of the Valar, and some lingered under the eaves of the great wood. When men awoke not all heeded the call west, and some of the original strains of humanity may be unchanged in the blood of the woodmen of Mirkwood.

The forest of Greenwood the Great has little known history through the First and Second ages, save that in around Second Age 1,000 King Oropher and his son, Thranduil came over the mountains from Lindon and established their kingdom in the northern hills. It is presumed that they came east with a host of fellow Sindar Elves, though the majority of his kingdom is made up of Silvan Elves or Nandor – those born under the eaves of the forest, without sight of the Sea.

Oropher and his son went to war in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men at the end of the Second Age, leading a great host of Elves. Oropher was an impetuous leader and charged without waiting for the command of Gil-Galad. Thus the Elven-king met death on the Dagorlad at the black gates of Mordor. Thranduil was now king and survived the siege of Barad-dűr to lead but a small part of his father’s host back to The Greenwood.

For a time all was still in the forest as the remaining Orcs and creatures of Sauron were driven from its eaves. Alas! for the Greenwood was not destined to retain its vestigial beauty. At the turn of the first millennia of the Third Age a Shadow fell over the southern part of the wood.

Giant Spiders, Orcs and other vicious creatures were seen in the forest as the trees grew darker, twisting in the noisome mists and smogs that belched from the hill that was now spoken of as the Dol Guldur, ‘Hill of Sorcery’ in the Sindarin tongue of the Elves.

The Necromancer had come, for this was the only name given to the force the dwelt beneath the summit, and soon his dreadful name was spoken in hushed voices by Elves and Men alike.

Now of old the name of that forest was Greenwood the Great, and its wide halls and aisles were the haunt of many beasts and of birds of bright song; and there was the realm of King Thranduil under the oak and the beech. But after many years, when well nigh a third of that age of the world had passed, a darkness crept slowly through the wood from the southward, and fear walked there in shadowy glades; fell beasts came hunting, and cruel and evil creatures laid there their snares.

Then the name of the forest was changed and Mirkwood it was called, for the nightshade lay deep there, and few dared to pass through, save only in the north where Thranduil's people still held the evil at bay. Whence it came few could tell, and it was long ere even the Wise could discover it. It was the shadow of Sauron and the sign of his return. For coming out of the wastes of the East he took up his abode in the south of the forest, and slowly he grew and took shape there again; in a dark hill he made his dwelling and wrought there his sorcery, and all folk feared the Sorcerer of Dol Guldur, and yet they knew not at first how great was their peril.

- The Silmarillion

So it was that Greenwood the Great was dubbed Mirkwood.

For many centuries the Shadow that was Sauron grew, nurturing his power. In Third Age 1636 came a terrible plague, issuing from the Dol Guldur itself and killing over half of the woodland folk of that region before devastating the population of Osgiliath and central Gondor. The king Telemnar and his sons died in the plague and Gondor waned in the years following.

In the centuries following the plague, as men recovered there numbers and re-ordered their king-less realms, the nefarious presence of ‘The Necromancer’ in Dol Guldur became well-known to both the wise and fearful common folk far and wide. Gradually he built his power beneath the peak of Dol Guldur, gathering evil things to his hand whilst his greatest servants, the Ringwraiths, terrorised Middle-earth; the Captain of the Ringwraiths destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Arnor as the Witch-king of Angmar, and the nine, possibly accompanied by Sauron, besieged and took Minas Ithil in Third Age 2,000, changing its name to Minas Morgul.

In the year 2063 Gandalf came to Dol Guldur, intent on discovering the nature of ‘The Necromancer’ - then suspected to be a Ringwraith, and not Sauron himself. Sauron fled before him and ‘the watchful peace’ ensued until 2460, when The Necromancer returned to Dol Guldur and evil gathered with fresh strength. At this time the White Council was formed to counter the gathering threat.

The truth remained hidden and only suspected until 2850, when Gandalf went into Dol Guldur to find Thrain, receive the key of Erebor and learn the truth - that The Necromancer was indeed Sauron incarnate and restored to power.

Finally in 2941 Saruman consented to attack Dol Guldur - he led the White Council and a host of Lórien’s Elves in an assault on the tower of the Necromancer. Sauron was prepared, however, and gave way in feint once more - Mordor had long been readied for his return. Southern Mirkwood and most of the northern region was, by now, entirely rotten. The White Council were not able to cleanse it and withdrew, thinking Dol Guldur safe - at least for now.

By 2951 one of the Nazgűl had re-occupied Dol Guldur and from there assaulted Lothlórien in the War of the Ring. Although it is not written in any histories, it is assumed that great hosts of Orcs, Trolls and other unspeakable beasts were gathered in the dark armies of Southern Mirkwood and may have been led by Nazgűl.

The remainder of Mirkwood’s history in the Third Age is best told thus by Middle-earth’s greatest historian;

After the fall of the Dark Tower and the passing of Sauron the Shadow was lifted from the hearts of all who opposed him, but fear and despair fell upon his servants and allies. Three times Lórien had been assailed from Dol Guldur, but besides the valour of the elven people of that land, the power that dwelt there was too great for any to overcome, unless Sauron had come there himself. Though grievous harm was done to the fair woods on the borders, the assaults were driven back, and when the Shadow passed, Celeborn came forth and led the host of Lórien over Anduin in many boats.

They took Dol Guldur, and Galadriel threw down its walls and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleansed. In the North also there had been war and evil. The realm of Thranduil was invaded, and there was long battle under the trees and great ruin of fire; but in the end Thranduil had the victory. And on the day of the New Year of the Elves, Celeborn and Thranduil met in the midst of the forest; and they renamed Mirkwood Eryn Lasgalen, The Wood of Greenleaves. Thranduil took all the northern region as far as the mountains that rise in the forest for his realm; and Celeborn took the southern wood below the Narrows, and named it East Lórien; but all the wide forest between was given to the Beornings and the Woodmen. But after the passing of Galadriel in a few years Celeborn grew weary of his realm and went to Imladris to dwell with the sons of Elrond. In the Greenwood the Silvan Elves remained untroubled, but in Lórien there lingered sadly only a few of its former people, and there was no longer light or song in Caras' Galadon.

- Appendix to the Red Book