East Road

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See also the Great East Road (Zambia)

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction of Middle-earth, the East Road is the road which runs through the Shire.

The Great East Road began originally in Beleriand in the far west, but after the War of Wrath it began on the Gulf of Lune at the Grey Havens. From the havens it climbed eastward over the Tower Hills and the White Downs and entered the Shire just west of its principal village, Michel Delving. From there it continued east through Bywater, past the Three-Farthing Stone and through Frogmorton, and on to the Brandywine Bridge. Beyond the bridge the road passed through the Buckland Gate in the High Hay and left the Shire. It then ran along the northern edge of the Old Forest and the Barrow-downs to a point 30 miles east of the Shire where it crossed the Greenway above Andrath and entered the town of Bree. From the east gate of Bree the road turned south to avoid the Midgewater Marshes and ran along the northern fringe of the South Downs. It then turned back to the northeast, levelling out to run due eastward toward Hithaeglir as it rounded the marshes. From the end of Midgewater, it ran right along the foot of the southernmost of the Weather Hills, Amon Sûl. The Great East Road then led due east to the Last Bridge on the river Mitheithel. From there it traversed the inhospitable Trollshaws until it reached the Ford of Bruinen on the Loudwater below Rivendell. Beyond the ford the road curved northeastward along the ridges high above the valley of Rivendell and climbed into the High Pass of the Misty Mountains. Beneath this pass lay the Goblin Town and Gollum's cave where Bilbo Baggins found the One Ring during the Quest of Erebor. Beyond the mountains the Great Road traversed the grassy uplands west of the Anduin, crossing the Great River at the Old Ford. The road then plunged into the darkness of Mirkwood, ending at the River Running on its eastern side.

The Great East Road was originally laid by the Dwarves during the First Age before the first rising of the Sun, probably during the last Age of Stars, and ran from the Iron Hills through Rhovanion to High Pass via the Old Ford over Anduin. From there it continued across Eriador to the Ered Luin, and then on into Doriath in Beleriand.

The western parts were built to facilitate the passage of companies of dwarf craftsmen (and later, their armed escort) across eastern Beleriand, before the sack of Doriath by the dwarves of Nogrod ended their trade.

After the First Age, and the ruination of Nogrod and neighbouring Belegost, focus shifted to the eastern part of the ancient road, which had been built by the dwarves of Khazad-dûm in the Misty Mountains. Khazad-dûm's inhabitants, the Longbeard dwarves, continued to grow in power and influence, and their trading needs meant that the road from the Iron Hills that travelled through Mirkwood to their gates became widely known. On the western side of the Misty Mountains, after traversing the High Pass, the road continued to the Ered Luin, and this part ultimately became known as the Men-i-Naugrim or "Old Dwarf Road".

When the Númenórean realm in exile of Arnor was founded, the Arnorians took over the maintenance of the Men-i-Naugrim, and built several fortresses on or near it (including Weathertop), and expanded or created bridges over the rivers Baranduin and Mitheithel. After Arnor was divided in T.A.861, the Great East Road formed the boundary between two of its successor states, Cardolan and Rhudaur.

By the time of the War of the Ring in the late Third Age, where the Great East Road met the Greenway lay the ancient village of Bree. A day's ride east lay The Forsaken Inn, beyond which lay Rivendell. West of the crossroads the Hobbits had colonized the Shire, and three of the region's principal towns lay athwart the East Road; Frogmorton, Bywater, and Michel Delving.