The Gladden Fields as shown on this map.
The Gladden Fields were a marshland located in the vale of the Gladden river, and on the banks of the river Anduin. It was there that the One Ring was lost by Isildur, and found again centuries later by Déagol the Stoor.
Geography[]
The fields started near the mouth of the river Gladden, and went on beyond where it joined the Great River, extending onto its eastern banks. It was a region of many dark pools and islets, with beds of reeds and rushes and many wildflowers - a particularly common flower being the Yellow Iris, which grew there in profusion.
In ancient times when the Silvan Elves were in the region, there was a pool or lake at the intersection of the two rivers; however, over time this receded, forming the marshes.
History[]
In the First Age, the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm built a road through the region, raising a causeway to carry it through the marshes. With the closing of Khazad-dûm following the War of the Elves and Sauron the road became disused and nothing remained of it in the area by the Third Age.
It was at the Gladden Fields that Isildur and his sons were travelling to Rivendell when they were assailed by Orcs in TA 2. Isildur, in an attempt to escape, jumped into the river, using the Ring to be hidden. However, the Ring slipped from his finger as he swam away, landing in the riverbed, and Isildur was slain by Orcs' arrows on the bank of a small islet.
The fields were later settled by Stoors around TA 1356. The Ring remained undiscovered.
Around two and a half millennia after the ambush, in TA 2463, the Hobbit Déagol found the ring when he was fishing with his cousin Sméagol: an especially large fish pulled him under the water and, spotting it amongst the weeds, he took it to the bank. Ensnared by the Ring's power, the two fought over it, and ultimately it went to Sméagol, who killed Déagol and was eventually twisted into the creature called Gollum.
Later, around TA 2851, Saruman began searching the wetlands for the Ring. He found the Elendilmir, the token of Royalty of Arnor, which Isildur had been wearing at the time of the attack and the casket that had once held the Ring. At the meeting of the White Council that year, Saruman overruled Gandalf's suggestion that they drive Sauron from his stronghold in Dol Guldur.
Sauron also sent his servants to search for the Ring. When Saruman learned of this, he agreed to an attack on Dol Guldur in TA 2941 to prevent Sauron from finding the Ring. At the meeting of the White Council in TA 2953, Saruman pretended that the Ring had been carried downriver to the Sea.[1]
In TA 3018 the Nazgûl searched the area looking for 'Shire' and 'Baggins' but discovered only long abandoned ruins of Stoor dwellings.
In adaptations[]
The Gladden Fields in The Lord of the Rings Online
In The Lord of the Rings Online, the Gladden Fields form at the bottom of the Gladden Falls, through which waters of the Gladden River drop from Lake Gladdenmere further upstream. Remains of long-abandoned Holbytlan dwellings can be found at the edges of the fields. Saruman's ultimately fruitless search for the One Ring went as far as dredging portions of the marshland to sift through the relics found below, and remains of the now-abandoned dredging machines still dot the Gladden Fields.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Gladden Velde |
| Albanian | Gëzoj Fushat |
| Amharic | ጝላዸን ፊአልድስ |
| Arabic | فرح الحقول |
| Armenian | Գլադդեն Ֆիելդս |
| Azerbaijani | Sevindirmək Sahələri |
| Basque | Alaitu Eremuak |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Гладден Фіелдс |
| Bengali | প্রসন্ন ক্ষেত্র ? |
| Bosnian | Gladden Polja |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Перуникови поля |
| Catalan | Camps Gladios |
| Chinese | 格拉頓平原 |
| Croatian | Gladdenska Polja |
| Czech | Kosatcová Pole |
| Danish | Irissletten / Åkandeengene |
| Dutch | Lissevelden |
| Esperanto | Gladden Kampoj |
| Estonian | Võhumõõgaväljad |
| Filipino | Sumaya mga patlang |
| Finnish | Kurjenmiekkakentät |
| French | Champs de Flambes
Champs aux Iris Champs d'Iris |
| German | Schwertelfelder |
| Greek | πεδία χαροποιώ ? |
| Hebrew | שדות הסיפנים (lit. Field of reeds, named after the prevalent reeds in the area) |
| Hungarian | Nősziromfölde |
| Icelandic | Gladden Reitur ? |
| Indonesian | Bidang Gladden |
| Irish Gaelic | Réimsí Gladden |
| Italian | Campi Iridati |
| Kannada | ಗ್ಲ್ಯಾಡೆನ್ ಜಾಗ |
| Kazakh | Қуанышты өрістер (Cyrillic) Qwanıştı örister (Latin) |
| Korean | 기쁘게 필드 |
| Latin | Laetificas Agris |
| Latvian | Priecēt Lauki |
| Lithuanian | Pradžiuginti Laukai |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Гладден Фиелдс |
| Maltese | Oqsma Gladden |
| Malaysian | Bidang Gladden |
| Manx | Magheryn Gladden |
| Nepalese | ङ्लद्देन क्षेत्रहरु |
| Norwegian | Sverdliljevollene |
| Persian | غلادن زمینه های |
| Polish | Pola Gladden |
| Portuguese | Campos Gladden / Campos de Lis |
| Romanian | Domenii Gladden |
| Russian | Ирисная низина (lit. Iris lowland, named after the yellow iris in which it's abundant) |
| Serbian (Cyrillic) | Гладенска поља |
| Serbian (Latin) | Gladenska polja |
| Slovak | Šťastné polia |
| Slovenian | Gladdenovo polje |
| Spanish | Campos Gladios |
| Swedish | Liljeängarna |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Гладден Фиелдс |
| Tamil | கிளாடன் புலங்கள் |
| Thai | ทุ่งแกลดเดน |
| Turkish | Ferah Çayırlar |
| Welsh | Meysydd Gladden |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Ґладден поля ? |
| Urdu | علاڈےن فیےلدس ? |
| Yiddish | גלאַדדען פֿיעלדס |
References[]
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age"