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The Lone-lands was an area in Eriador, or may even have been synonymous with it.



Lone-lands was a name used by Hobbits (and possibly Men of Bree) for the wilderness east of Bree. Roads were considerably worse there than in the Shire, and no-one dwelt there anymore by the end of the Third Age. There were many abandoned castles in the hilly region, which gave it a wicked look.[1]

Lone-lands and Eriador

It is a subject of some debate whether the Lone-lands and Eriador are one and the same. Etymologies given for Eriador certainly suggest such a thing.[2][3] The two mentions of "Lone-lands" were not added until the revised, 1966 edition of The Hobbit,[4] well after the introduction of the word "Eriador" in The Fellowship of the Ring.[5] As the latter was spoken by Aragorn, who would know the Sindarin name, and the former by Bilbo, who would not (yet) know the "foreign" name, it is not inconceivable that they refer to the same land.[2]

Portrayal in adaptations

1988: J.R.R. Tolkien's War in Middle Earth:

"Lone-lands" is a name given to the area south of Weathertop.

2003: The Hobbit (2003 video game):

The narrator mentions the Lone-lands when Thorin and Company travel from Hobbiton to the Trollshaws.[6]

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

The Lone-lands is a region between Bree-land and the Trollshaws. It included The Forsaken Inn to the far west to the Last Bridge to the far east.


  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Roast Mutton" (Second edition)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fredrik Ström, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), "Letters to VT", Vinyar Tengwar, vol. 42, July 2001, p. 4
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in The Lord of the Rings" in Parma Eldalamberon (ed. Christopher Gilson), vol. 17, July 2007, p. 28
  4. Wayne G. Hammond, Douglas Anderson, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography, "A: Books by J.R.R. Tolkien", pp. 30-31
  6. The Hobbit (2003 video game), "Roast Mutton"