Araman
Also calledThe Northern Wastes of Aman
Araman was the bleak coastal strip of Aman north of Eldamar, between the Pelóri and the sea, running up to the Helcaraxë. The Noldor marched along it after the Kinslaying, Mandos pronounced their Doom on its shore, and there Fëanor abandoned Fingolfin's host and sailed away with the ships.
Description
The cold shore
North of Alqualondë the coast of Aman grew narrow and cold. Between the sheer eastern faces of the Pelóri and the sea lay a long waste of stony ground and fog, growing bleaker as it ran north until it reached the ice of the Helcaraxë. This was Araman, a land without dwellings, seldom visited even by the Valar, and the only road by which anyone might leave the Blessed Realm on foot. Melkor and Ungoliant fled through it northward after destroying the Trees and slaying Finwë at Formenos, and it was along the same route that the Noldor followed him.
The Doom of the Noldor
After the Kinslaying, Fëanor led the Noldor north along Araman, part of the host on the stolen swan-ships and part on foot under Fingolfin, while storms sent by Uinen wrecked many of the ships. Far up the coast, on a high rock above the shore, a figure appeared that some said was Mandos himself, and in a great voice pronounced the Doom of the Noldor: that they would be shut out of Valinor, that the Valar would not aid them, that their oath would betray them, that they would die by weapon and by grief and their spirits would wait long in the Halls of Mandos, and that all they began would come to nothing. Finarfin turned back at that word with many of his people and was received again in Tirion. Fëanor's own sons and most of the rest went on.
At the northern end of Araman, where the sea narrowed toward the ice, Fëanor took the ships with his own household and crossed to Middle-earth, leaving Fingolfin's larger host on the shore. Instead of sending the ships back he burned them at Losgar, and the glow was seen across the water. Fingolfin, Fingon, Turgon and Galadriel then had no choice but to go on across the Grinding Ice, and Araman was left empty behind them.
Geography
Araman ran the length of the northern coast of Aman east of the Pelóri, from the region of Eldamar to the Helcaraxë in the far north, where the two continents drew close together across a strait choked with ice. It was the mirror of Avathar in the south, but wider and less shadowed.
Associated figures
Visited
Doomsman of the Valar
Mandos
ValarMandos, properly named Námo, is the Doomsman of the Valar and keeper of the Halls of the Dead, where the spirits of slain Elves wait. He forgets nothing and knows all that will be, save what Eru keeps hidden, and he pronounced the Doom of the Noldor and the judgement on Lúthien and Beren.
The Halls of Mandos on the western shore of Valinor
Timeline
- Y.T. 1495
Melkor's flight
Melkor and Ungoliant escape north through Araman toward the Helcaraxë with the Silmarils.
- Y.T. 1497
Fëanor sails and burns the ships
Fëanor crosses to Middle-earth with the ships and burns them at Losgar, abandoning Fingolfin's host in Araman.
- Y.T. 1495
The Doom of Mandos
On a rock above the shore of Araman the Doom of the Noldor is pronounced; Finarfin turns back.
- Y.T. 1497
Fingolfin turns to the ice
Betrayed, Fingolfin's people leave Araman and begin the crossing of the Helcaraxë.
Sources
- The SilmarillionQuenta Silmarillion, chapters 8, 9