A paradise on Middle-Earth

[Andsigil]

I've seen a lot of people mention places in which Tolkien took great pains to describe their beauty and/or the nobility of their inhabitants. Most of them, however, are within such close proximity to danger that one may wish to think twice before living there.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the areas of the Blue Mountains. Forlindon and Harlindon saw no strife after the First Age. Moreover, they were under the rule of both Gil-Galad and Cirdan, and they had a significant colony of dwarves there.

I've always imagined that area having a few human homesteaders somewhere. I can't imagine a better life than having a homestead near the Ered Luin, within proximity of both the dwarves (to share good beer and beef) and the elves (for the times I'm feeling more highbrow).

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the areas of the Blue Mountains. Forlindon and Harlindon saw no strife after the First Age. Moreover, they were under the rule of both Gil-Galad and Cirdan, and they had a significant colony of dwarves there.

Come on - paradise with Dwarves???



However, I think the reason why nobody mentioned the places around Blue Mountains is that it is not significant on first sight in anything. The Grey Havens are more like a sad place, or a "transit station", and the other places around are just "dull".

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Come on - paradise with Dwarves???

Hey you racist, had I not fallen so in love with so many places already, my paradise would be full of dwarves!

The RPG character I've been playing the longest is a dwarf from the Blue Mountains (from a village called Beard Valley, to be precise ), and although it is not a place very much described by Tolkien, I imagine it to be nice, calm, quiet, cool, comfortable... A bit like Finland actually.

*goes away, imagining a big manor full of oiled half-naked dwarf servants bringing me drinks and rubbing my feet*

[Kitanna]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

*goes away, imagining a big manor full of oiled half-naked dwarf servants bringing me drinks and rubbing my feet*

Oh my!

Though a dwarf paradise would definitely be a nice place, I think. Maybe that's just because I love mountains and dwarves are usually inhabiting said mountains. I think Erebor pre-Smaug would be a nice place to retire. The Dwarrowdelf in it's high time also wouldn't be a bad place to make residence.

It is a tough choice to pick a personal paradise in Middle-Earth. Tolkien's descriptions, the various works of art, etc. all make most areas of Middle-Earth seem like perfect places to call home.

Though for me it has always been Rivendell that I label paradise. I could spend an eternity composing bad poetry in the company of elves.

[alatar]

Time brings new thoughts.

There was this place in the woods where I grew up that was grassy. Not vine-covered tree infested, not weedy, not overrun by jaggers or empty steel cans, but just a place covered in grass that was open to the sky. Sure, we had grass all around our house, but this grass, down over the hills in a hard-to-reach part of the woods, never needed mowing. It was always cooler there, as somehow the breeze would find its way through the mess that surrounded it.

I could just lie there some days and stare cloudward.

[Guinevere]

Alatar, your description made me immediately think of Voronwë's tale:

"Yet fairest of all are the willows of Nan-tathren, pale green, or silver in the wind, and the rustle of their innumerable leaves is a spell of music: day and night would flicker by uncounted, while still I stood knee-deep in grass and listened. There I was enchanted, and forgot the Sea in my heart. There I wandered, naming new flowers, or lay adream amid the singing of the birds, and the humming of bees and flies; and there I might still dwell in delight, forsaking all my kin, whether the ships of the Teleri or the swords of the Noldor, but my doom would not so."

This sounds quite paradisiac to me too!

Here is a picture of Voronwë in Nan-tathren, by Anke Eissmann

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

Alatar, your description made me immediately think of Voronwë's tale:

That's near to the place I was thinking of. When writing the post, I forgot the most important part of my description, that it reminded me of what Parth Galen should be.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Kitanna

I could spend an eternity composing bad poetry in the company of elves.

Even when they tease you? I'd hate to encounter a tra-la-la-lally sort who does that

[Galadriel55]

I think that ME as a whole is a paradise. The reason: paradise=perfect place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness. Nothing is perfect, or complete, without a bit of everything on it. That would turn out a bit hard to paint, though!

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I think that ME as a whole is a paradise. The reason: paradise=perfect place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness. Nothing is perfect, or complete, without a bit of everything on it. That would turn out a bit hard to paint, though!

Imagine an entire fresco of Middle-earth THAT would be a Wonder of the World