Mirkwood

Mirkwood was the name of a forest in Germanic legends. The Old Norse word myrkviðr means "darkwood"; mirk is Old English for "dark", cf. '. The localisation varies between the sources.

Related Topics:
Old Norse - Old English

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• The Maeotian marshes which separated the Goths from the Huns in the Norse Hervarar saga.
• The forest that separates the Huns from the Burgundians.
• Kolmården ("the dark forest"), in Sweden, in Sögubrot and in legends such as that of Helge Hundingsbane.
• Uncertain locations, such as in the Völundarkviða, where it is probably located somewhere else in Scandinavia (Weyland is here described as a Finnish prince, which would make him a Saami prince).
• Mythological. In other sources, such as the Edda, e.g. Lokasenna, the location seems to be between Asgard and Muspelheim, as Muspell's sons ride through it at Ragnarök. Stanza 42:

The name was borrowed by J. R. R. Tolkien as the name of a great wood east of the Misty Mountains in Rhovanion, in his fictional Middle-earth.

Related Topics:
J. R. R. Tolkien - Misty Mountains - Rhovanion - Middle-earth

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Mirkwood: Tolkien's Mirkwood ►