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Places in Middle-earth

Aelin-uial

Type: Other Natural Formations

Region: Beleriand & North

Meaning: the Meres of Twilight

Other Names
the Twilit Meres
the Meres of Sirion
the Fens of Sirion

Location: The large marshy area where the river Aros joins the Sirion southwest of Doriath and north of the Andram and the Falls of Sirion.

Description:

Map of Doriath.
Doriath, showing Aelin-uial, the Fens of Sirion.
In the south-west of Doriath, where Aros flowed into Sirion, lay great pools and marshes on either side of the river, which halted there in his course and strayed in many channels. That region was named Aelin-uial, the Twilight Meres, for they were wrapped in mists, and the enchantment of Doriath lay over them.... But south of Aelin-uial the land fell suddenly and steeply; and all the lower fields of Sirion were divided from the upper fields by this fall....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 14, Of Beleriand and its Realms

Morwen... went south through Region, and so came to the shores of Sirion above the Twilit Meres; and there she halted, for Sirion was wide and swift, and she did not know the way....

Therefore Mablung led her to the Twilit Meres. There amid creeks and reeds ferries were kept hidden and guarded on the east shore; for by that way messengers would pass to and fro between Thingol and his kin in Nargothrond. Now they waited until the starlit night was late, and they passed over in the white mists before the dawn. And even as the sun rose red beyond the Blue Mountains, and a strong morning-wind blew and scattered the mists, the guards went up onto the west shore, and left the Girdle of Melian.

The Children of Húrin, Ch 14, The Journey of Morwen and Niënor to Nargothrond

[All] Doriath lay east of Sirion save for a narrow region of woodland between the meeting of Teiglin and Sirion and the Meres of Twilight. By the people of Doriath this wood was called Nivrim, the West March....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 14, Of Beleriand and its Realms

Now Húrin journeyed eastward, and he came to the Meres of Twilight above the Falls of Sirion; and there he was taken by the Elves that guarded the western marches of Doriath....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 22, Of the Ruin of Doriath

Beren passed through Doriath unhindered, and came at length to the region of the Twilight Meres, and the Fens of Sirion; and leaving Thingol's land he climbed the hills above the Falls of Sirion.... Thence he looked westward, and... saw Talath Dirnen, the Guarded Plain, stretching between Sirion and Narog....

The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 19, Of Beren and Lúthien


Etymology
aelin  'lake, pool' in Aelin-uial....

The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names

uial  'twilight' in Aelin-uial, Nenuial.

Ibid.

Contributors:
Lyllyn 8Jul03
Elena Tiriel 10Dec07, 14Mar11

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