16 Facts About Rivendell

Rivendell is a valley in JR R Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, representing both a homely place of sanctuary and a magical Elvish otherworld.

Rivendell's feeling of peace may have contributed to the popularity of The Lord of the Rings during the war-troubled 1960s.

Scholars have noted that Rivendell was the home of Elvish song, from the hymn to Elbereth, recalling Tolkien's Catholicism, to the complex Song of Earendil with its multiple poetic devices.

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

The house of Elrond in Rivendell is called The Last Homely House East of the Sea, alluding to the wilderness that lies east of the Misty Mountains.

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Rivendell lay in eastern Eriador at the edge of a narrow gorge of the river Bruinen, well hidden in the moorlands and foothills of the Hithaeglir or Misty Mountains.

Contrary to the map of western Middle-earth published in The Lord of the Rings, the Great East Road did not, in Tolkien's view, lead through Rivendell: Rivendell was maintained as a hidden valley away from the road to the High Pass.

Rivendell was founded in the Second Age after the dark lord Sauron's destruction of the Elvish land of Eregion.

Rivendell survived repeated attacks in the Third Age by the armies of the Witch-king of Angmar.

Rivendell held the heirlooms of the Rangers of the North from the lost kingdom of Arnor, including the shards of Elendil's sword Narsil, the Sceptre of Annuminas, and the Star of Elendil.

The protagonists of The Lord of the Rings meet in Rivendell, attend the Council of Elrond, and decide on the quest to destroy the One Ring.

Matthew T Dickerson, in the JR R Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes that Rivendell consistently represents a sanctuary, a place that felt like home, throughout the legendarium.

Rivendell compares the military-industrial complex with Mordor, and suggests that they yearned for a place of peace, just as Frodo Baggins felt an "overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace… in Rivendell".

Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger writes that both Frodo and Aragorn receive their renewed magic swords in Rivendell, marking them out as heroes in the epic tradition of Sigurd and Arthur, at the start of their quest.

In Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Fellowship of the Ring, Rivendell was represented by Kaitoke Regional Park, New Zealand, though the waterfalls were added with computer-generated imagery.

The Rivendell Winery operated from 1987 to 2008 in New York's Hudson River Valley.