Region
Mirkwood
The great dark forest of Wilderland, once called Greenwood the Great before a shadow settled on it
Mirkwood is the largest forest on the Middle-earth map, filling the center of Rhovanion between the Anduin in the west and the vale of the Celduin in the east. From the Grey Mountains in the north it runs south for something like 400 miles to the Brown Lands. The Old Forest Road, an ancient dwarf-road, crosses it from the Forest Gate in the northwest to the eastern eaves, though by the late Third Age the road is broken and impassable in the middle. The East Bight, a huge square bite taken out of the eastern side, was cleared by Northmen long before the story begins.
It was once Greenwood the Great. The shadow that renamed it came from Dol Guldur, a hill fortress in the southwest of the forest that was occupied around TA 1050 by a Necromancer. Only late did the Wise learn that the Necromancer was Sauron. The White Council drove him out in TA 2941, the same year as the quest of Erebor, but he had already moved openly to Mordor. Dol Guldur was afterwards held by Nazgul, and in TA 3019 the forces there attacked Lothlorien three times before Galadriel threw down its walls.
In the northeast the Wood-elves of the Woodland Realm live under Thranduil, king of the Silvan Elves and father of Legolas. Their halls are cut into a hill beyond a river on the far side of the forest, reached by a bridge, and it is from their cellars that Bilbo floats the Dwarves out in empty barrels down to Lake-town. South of the halls the Mountains of Mirkwood, the Emyn-nu-Fuin, rise in the forest's heart, and the spiders that Bilbo fights spread from the darkness around them.
The Hobbit spends its middle chapters here: the black stream that brings enchanted sleep, the elvish feasts that vanish, the spiders, the capture by the Wood-elves, and the escape by barrel. In The Lord of the Rings the forest is mostly offstage, but it matters twice. Gollum was held here by Thranduil's people and escaped on June 20, TA 3018, and at the end of the war the Wood-elves and the Beornings clear it, after which Thranduil and Celeborn rename it Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Mirkwood on the Middle-earth map?
Mirkwood fills the middle of Rhovanion, east of the Great River Anduin and west of the Long Lake and Erebor, running south from the Grey Mountains for about 400 miles.
Why is it called Mirkwood?
It was Greenwood the Great until a shadow took hold in Dol Guldur around TA 1050. Men of the north renamed it Mirkwood, and after the War of the Ring it was renamed again as Eryn Lasgalen.
Where is Thranduil's realm in Mirkwood?
In the northeast of the forest. The Elvenking's Halls are cut into a hill beyond a forest river, close to the eastern eaves and within reach of Lake-town by water.
What is Dol Guldur?
A fortress on a bare hill in the southwest corner of Mirkwood, close to the Anduin. It was Sauron's base in disguise for centuries before he returned openly to Mordor in TA 2941.