Brown Lands

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location of Brown Lands in Middle-earth marked in red
location of Brown Lands in Middle-earth marked in red

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, the Brown Lands was a region across the Anduin from Fangorn forest. In the First Age the Entwives settled there and began to make gardens, and they also taught the Men that already lived there to perform agriculture. The Entwives gardens (as the region was called at that time) lasted for a long time into the Second Age, until Sauron later blasted the entire area (sometime before the Battle of Dagorlad, as Sauron seemed to have foreseen that the Last Alliance of Elves and Men would march through it to gain provisions), which was when it became known as the Brown Lands. Treebeard appeared convinced that the Entwives were not all destroyed but were "lost". Their ultimate fate remains a mystery.

It is described as withered, as if by fire, without any living green thing.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter IX: The Great River, the fellowship pass by the region in elven boats as they sail down the River Anduin. Interestingly, Aragorn's notable knowledge of geography (and family history) lets him down as he "could not tell" what had "so blasted" the region.

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