Its masters do not have any elvish-sounding names as the former kings of Dale, nor is Esgaroth a monarchy. Fictional etymology Ĭompared to Dale, the other town in the valley of the River Running, Esgaroth is the more "mannish" and vernacular settlement.
The text of The Hobbit states that night had fallen and the Men of the town had gone indoors to eat, while in the drawing, it is still day and swan-headed boats (based, they note, on those in Tolkien's painting The Halls of Manwë for The Silmarillion) are still being rowed about the lake. Hammond and Christina Scull note that in an earlier drawing, two Dwarves can be seen crawling out of their barrels, with Bilbo still invisible as he was wearing the Ring, whereas the finished drawing shows the barrels without Dwarves, perhaps at the moment just before Bilbo started to let them out an Elf, poling the raft, has been added. He modelled the town closely on the neolithic pile dwellings that have been found on Swiss lakes, probably based on an artist's conception of such a town such as in Robert Munro's 1908 Les stations lacustres d'Europe aux ages de la pierre et du bronze. The finished drawing shows a town on wooden piles above the lake, accessed by a walkway.
BRIGHT MASTER LOTR SERIES
Tolkien made a series of drawings of Bilbo's escape from the Elves, as he floated with the Dwarves in barrels down to Esgaroth. Concept and artwork Tolkien's pencil and ink drawing of "Lake Town" for The Hobbit shows either a generic scene or a moment before Bilbo has started to let the Dwarves out of the barrels in which they have arrived. He was stated as having run off with a large amount of gold and dying in the epilogue. The Master of the town when Bilbo and Thorin's Company arrived in The Hobbit was portrayed as a capable businessman, but more than a little greedy and cowardly. Master of Lake-town is the title given to the elected leader of Esgaroth.
Thus, Tolkien substituted Old Norse for the language of the Men of Esgaroth (in person and place names, etc.) because it is an ancient relative of Old English.
Tolkien "translated" Westron into English in his text, so to represent the ancient relative of it that the Rohirrim spoke, he substituted Old English. Amongst themselves they spoke an ancient form of it, which was loosely related to but distinct from the also-ancient language of the Rohirrim. The inhabitants of Esgaroth knew the language spoken by most of Tolkien's Middle-earth, Westron. It had been preceded by a larger town, also built over the lake on piles that could still be seen during droughts, but Tolkien never wrote any further account of this. The River Running flowed out of the south of the lake, providing a travel route from Esgaroth all the way downstream to the land of Dorwinion on the Sea of Rhûn. The Lonely Mountain, which could be seen from the town and could be reached by travelling up the Long Lake and then up its northern inflow, the River Running (also called the Celduin). The Forest River provided an upstream route to Mirkwood. It was situated on the western shores of the Long Lake, close to the inflow of the Forest River. Tolkien modelled the town closely on the real neolithic pile dwellings that were discovered near the Alps in the 19th century.įictional role Geography Sketch map of Northeast Mirkwood, showing the Lonely Mountain of Erebor, the River Running, and Esgaroth upon the Long LakeĮsgaroth was located in north-eastern Wilderland, a large inland region of Middle-earth. The Master of Lake-town was said in-universe to be elected from among the "old and wise" scholars have noted that all the same, he was trapped by his greed.
The chief mode of transport of the people of Esgaroth is stated to be their boats.Īt the time in which The Hobbit is set, Esgaroth appears to be a city-state, and a republic with no king (the only real republic shown in Middle-earth). The town's prosperity is apparently built upon trade between the Men who inhabit it, and the Elves and the Dwarves of northern Middle-earth. Constructed entirely of wood and standing upon wooden pillars sunk into the lake-bed, the town is south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. Note: Rowan Raspberry is only available at certain times.Town built upon trade between Men, Elves and Dwarves in northern Middle-earthĮsgaroth, or Lake-town, is a fictional community of Men upon the Long Lake that appears in the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. Bree, in Bree-land, by the Boar Fountain.Rowan Raspberry is currently retired Description Rowan Raspberry is a Seasonal Figments of Splendour Cosmetics barter NPC, and can be found at the following locations:
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