Nevrast

The coastland

Nevrast lay along the western sea between the firth of Drengist in the north and the sea-cliffs south of Mount Taras. On the east it was closed by the southward-reaching arm of the Ered Wethrin, and on the north by the Ered Lómin, so that it formed a wide bowl of low ground open only to the sea. Its middle was taken up by the shallow lake Linaewen and the marshes and reed-beds about it, which were full of water-birds. The land was reckoned part of Hithlum in the first years of the Noldor.

Nevrast had been the home of Sindar of the coast since before the Sun, and when Turgon came there with his following of Noldor the two peoples became one. Turgon built his halls at Vinyamar under the great cape of Mount Taras, the westernmost mountain of the north, and ruled there for more than a century. It was in Nevrast that Ulmo came to him and to Finrod in dreams and set them on the paths that led to the founding of Gondolin and Nargothrond.

After Turgon's departure

When Gondolin was ready, Turgon led all his people out of Nevrast in secret, and the land was left empty. No Elf or Man dwelt there afterward, and only the birds and the sea-wind remained about Vinyamar. Long after, Tuor, escaping from Hithlum through the Gate of the Noldor, was led by swans down through Nevrast to the deserted city, and there found the shield, mail and sword that Turgon had left at Ulmo's command. On the shore below, Ulmo himself rose out of the sea and gave Tuor his errand to Gondolin. Nevrast went under the sea with the rest of the coast at the end of the Age.