Beleriand
the lost world; the First Age happened here
The Story
Beleriand is the world the sea took. Here the Noldor came out of Aman in pursuit of Morgoth and the stolen Silmarils. Here Thingol of Doriath wove the Girdle of Melian around his hidden kingdom. Here Turgon raised Gondolin, the seven-named city in its mountain ring. Here Beren and Lúthien took a Silmaril back from Morgoth's iron crown.
Here Túrin slew Glaurung the dragon, and himself, on the river Teiglin. Here Fingolfin rode alone to the gate of Angband and there fought Morgoth and there fell. When the Valar finally came in the War of Wrath, they drew the very poison out of the world, and the world broke. Beleriand sank beneath the Sundering Sea and stayed there.
The whole First Age happened here. Of all that intricate map, only the easternmost strip remained above the waves, the narrow coast of Lindon, where Gil-galad would build his last keeping.
The Land
A green river-laced subcontinent at the western edge of Middle-earth, a triangle pointing north, with Thangorodrim's three iron peaks at its apex above Morgoth's fortress of Angband.
- Hithlum & Dor-lómin, the cold northwest region; the land of Húrin and Túrin.
- Doriath, central forested heartland, ringed by the Girdle of Melian; Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, at its centre.
- Gondolin, Turgon's hidden city in its ring of encircling mountains.
- Nargothrond, Finrod's hidden city, carved beneath the river Narog.
- Ossiriand, the easternmost strip between the Blue Mountains and the river Gelion; the Land of Seven Rivers.
- Sirion, the great river running the full length of Beleriand from the northern highlands to the southern sea.