Rivendell

Place from Tolkien's Legendarium Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy
Name	Rivendell
Other names	Imladris Karningul Last Homely House East of the Sea
Description	Refuge of the Elves
Constructed by	Elrond
Realm(s)	None
Lord	Elrond
Type	Hidden Refuge

Location of Rivendell in Middle-earth marked in red

Middle-earth Portal

Rivendell is a direct translation or calque of the Sindarin name Imladris, both meaning "deep valley of the cleft".

Rivendell is located at the edge of a narrow gorge of the river Bruinen (one of the main approaches to Rivendell comes from a nearby ford of Bruinen), but well hidden in the moorlands and foothills of the Hithaeglir or the Misty Mountains. The climate is cool-temperate with moderately warm summers and rather snowy winters.

In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins stopped off at Rivendell with the dwarves on the way to the Lonely Mountain and also on the way back to the Shire with Gandalf.

In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins and his Hobbit companions journeyed to Rivendell, where they met with Bilbo, who had retired there after his 111th birthday, spending his time on his memoirs, There and Back Again. Several other Elves, Dwarves and Men also arrived at Rivendell on separate errands; at the Council of Elrond they learned that all of their errands were related to the fate of the One Ring, and they should decide what to do about it. In the end, it is the Hobbits who influenced the decision.

Elrond lived in Rivendell with his family - his wife Celebrían, their sons Elladan and Elrohir, and their daughter Arwen. Elrond also fostered the young Man Aragorn, who dwelt with them in secret until adulthood. However, Celebrian was traumatized after she was captured and injured by Orcs (though rescued) and eventually left Middle-earth for the realm of Valinor. Arwen (who also lived with her maternal grandparents Galadriel and Celeborn in their realm of Lórien for a time) eventually left Rivendell to become Aragorn's queen after he was crowned king of Gondor,

By the beginning of the Fourth Age, Rivendell was abandoned; Elrond, along with many Elves, left for Valinor as well. Those who did not leave Middle-earth for Valinor migrated to the Elven colony in Ithilien or left for the eastern Elven kingdom of Mirkwood.

[edit] Notes

The physical appearance of the valley of Rivendell is based upon the Lauterbrunnental in Switzerland, where J. R. R. Tolkien had hiked in 1911.{{ME-fact))