“Now the great and fair country of Beleriand lay on either side of the mighty river Sirion, renowned in song, which rose at Eithel Sirion and skirted the edge of Ard-galen ere he plunged through the pass, becoming ever fuller with the streams of the mountains. “South of Ard-galen the great highland named Dorthonion stretched for sixty leagues from west to east great pine forests it bore, especially on its northern and western sides.” In the Silmarillion we have a lot of more distances given.

Reading the context of that text passage above does actually give us very good hints. However, how reasonable is this assumption? Thus the text might become once again (more) consistent with the 2nd Silmarillion Map and also the Ambarkanta Map V. This assumption (almost) resolves the inconsistency. Karen Wynn Fonstad, the author of the popular Atlas of Middle-earth suggested that Tolkien’s statement in the Silmarillion should be interpreted as an actual travelling distance and not a linear distance (“as the crow flies”). So, the distance in the text is more than twice the distance displayed in the 2nd Silmarillion Map. “But Morgoth, as has before been told, returned to Angband, and built it anew, and above its doors he reared the reeking towers of Thangorodrim and the gates of Morgoth were but one hundred and fifty leagues distant from the bridge of Menegroth far and yet all too near.” However, from Tolkien’s later writing for the Silmarillion we have the following statement: Christopher Tolkien estimated the distance from Menegroth to Angband on the 2nd Silmarillon map as 73 leagues or 218 miles (see History of Middle-earth, Volume 11).

1926-1930 and 2nd Silmarillion Map from the early 1930’s). On the one hand, Tolkien did show us Angband on his earlier maps of Beleriand ( 1st Silmarillion Map from ca. What is the problem here? Why is Angband not displayed on the official map of the Silmarillion? However, a discussion with u/Lothronion and u/EvieGHJ on my previous article ( Where was Utumno?) revealed that there is actually no consensus on Angbands location. For quite a long time I have thought that we do know the definite location of Angband.

Angband lotr