Lake-town, also referred to as Esgaroth, was a small independent settlement of Men in the northwestern part of the Long Lake in Rhovanion. The town was constructed entirely of wood and stands upon wooden pillars sunk into the bed of the Long Lake, south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. Its prosperity was seemingly built on trade between the Men, Elves, and Dwarves of northern Middle-earth.[1]
It was also known as the final resting place of the dragon Smaug, whose bones ended up at the bottom of the lake, and by whom it was destroyed, then subsequently rebuilt[1]
Description
A glimpse of Lake-town by Ivan Cavini
Lake-town may have been separate settlements established on the same site, one predating Smaug's destruction of Dale and the Lonely Mountain in TA 2770[2] and the other built afterwards. Uniquely, of all of the towns, settlements, fortresses, and cities of Middle-earth, Lake-town utilized water as its defense. The Long Lake was also surrounded by towering cliffs and high mountains, all helpful natural barriers that had the potential to aid its defenders in a siege (such as the Easterling invasion of the North in TA 3019). While these defenses slowed and diverted Lake-town's human enemies, it did nothing to prepare its inhabitants against Smaug, who would harass the townsfolk on a regular basis.
History
Origins
Lake-town was founded sometime in the Third Age and its inhabitants traded extensively with the Elves of Thranduil's Woodland Realm, the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and Iron Hills, and their kin in Dale and Dorwinion to the south. In trading with Mirkwood, wine barrels were sent floating down from Thranduil's caverns along the Forest River to Lake-town.
The coming of Smaug to Lake-town, by Matěj Čadil
Third Age
In the year 2941 of the Third Age, the town was visited by Bilbo Baggins and Thorin and Company in their adventure to reclaim the Lonely Mountain. Disturbed by their invasion of his lair, Smaug flew from the mountain in the night and began destroying the town. Some inhabitants escaped by boat, though many perished in the maelstrom of fire. The town's archers bravely attempted to shoot down the dragon, but it was not until Bard the Bowman, who had indirectly learned of a weakness in Smaug's armor, first noticed by Bilbo, managed to kill Smaug that the destruction ended.
Esgaroth in flames below Smaug, as imagined by Spiros Gelekas
Afterwards, Lake-town was rebuilt in greater splendor than before with some of the treasure that Smaug had stolen, though the town's Master ran off with some of the gold. Part of the town's population followed Bard to resettle Dale, helping to make it the capital city of a great realm, with Bard crowned as King. Esgaroth upon the Long-lake and other lands far to the south and east became incorporated into the Kingdom of Dale, with the Lake-men joining their surrounding kin to become the Bardings, the followers of Bard's royal lineage.[4]
Culture & language
As trading people, the Men of Lake-town knew Westron, the Common Speech. However, amongst themselves they used a speech akin to the language spoken by the Men of Dale. A suggested name for this language by linguists is Esgarothian. Being a form of a Northern tongue, it was loosely related to but still distinct from the ancient tongue of the Rohirrim. J.R.R. Tolkien "translated" Westron into English in his text, so to represent its ancient relative that the Rohirrim spoke, he substituted Old English. Thus, Tolkien substituted Old Norse for the language of the Men of Esgaroth (in person and place names, etc.).
The location of Lake-town on a map of Middle-earth
The town was governed by an elected Master of Lake-town whose seat was in the Great House, which was possibly in the market-place. It is not known how regularly elections were held, but the unscrupulous individual who governed the town at the time of the Quest of Erebor had fled into the waste no later than TA 2949, and was replaced by a more honest Master who brought great prosperity.
In adaptations
The Hobbit film trilogy
In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, the clear Eastern design and culture of Lake-town and its inhabitants (including, the military and political leaders) are primarily derived from medieval Russian influences - i.e., the early Rus' states of Kievan Rus' and its successors. Indeed, Lake-town is reminiscent of the old northern Rus' trading city of Novgorod - itself, like Lake-town, also situated on a lake.
Further, as presented in the movies, per the complex nature of Russian ethno-cultural history, Lake-town itself and its people are thereby infused with East Slavic, Finnic, Baltic, Scandinavian and Turkic influences. In the movies, Peter Jackson clearly defines the culture of Lake-town and Dale as a part of the East.
In the behind the scenes material for the second film, it is explained that Lake-town was broken up into twenty-five areas distinguished between poorer areas and more bourgeois areas. The important areas are bolded.[5]
Bourgeois areas:
- North Gate
- Merchant District
- West Gate
- Soldiers District
- Bureaucrats District
- Business District
- Civic Centre
Poor areas:
- Farewell District
- Servants District
- Labourers District
- East Gate
- Warehouse District
- Fish Processing District
- Market District
- Boatbuilding District
- Food District
- South Gate
- Elderly + Sick District
- Bards District
- Immigrant District
- Arrival District
- Tradesmans District
- Craftsman District
- Fishermans District
Gallery
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Translations
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Meer-dorp |
| Albanian | Liqeni-qytet |
| Amharic | ሐይቅ-ከተማ |
| Arabic | بحيرة بلدة (Lake-town)
إسغاروث (Esgaroth) |
| Armenian | Լիճ-քաղաք |
| Assamese | লেক টাউন |
| Azerbaijani | Göl-şəhər |
| Basque | Aintzira-herri |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Азёрны горад (Lake-town)
Эсгарот (Esgaroth) |
| Bengali | লেক শহরে |
| Bhojpuri | झील कस्बा |
| Bosnian | Jezero-grad |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Град на езерото |
| Burmese | ရေကန် မြို့ |
| Cambodian | ទីក្រុងបឹង |
| Catalan | Ciutat del Llac (Lake-town)
Èsgaroth |
| Cebuano | Lungsod sa lanaw |
| Chinese (Hong Kong) | 長湖鎮 |
| Croatian | Jezergrad |
| Czech | Jezerní město |
| Danish | Søenby |
| Dutch | Meerstad |
| Esperanto | Lago-urbo |
| Estonian | Järve linn |
| Filipino | Lawa bayan |
| Finnish | Järvikaupunki |
| French | Bourg-du-Lac / Lacville |
| Frisian | Mar-stêd (Western) |
| Galician | Cidade do lago |
| Georgian | ტბა ქალაქი (Lake-town)
ესგაროთი (Esgaroth) |
| German | Seestadt |
| Greek | Λίμνη-πόλη |
| Gujarati | તળાવ-નગર |
| Haitian Creole | Lak-bouk |
| Hausa | Tafki-garin |
| Hebrew | עיר האגם (Lake-town)
אסגארות (Esgaroth) |
| Hindi | झील शहर |
| Hungarian | Tóváros |
| Icelandic | Vatnabænum |
| Indonesian | Danau kotamadya |
| Irish Gaelic | Loch-baile |
| Italian | Pontelagolungo / Città del Lago |
| Japanese | レイクタウン |
| Kannada | ಸರೋವರ ಪಟ್ಟಣ |
| Kazakh | Көл-қала (Cyrillic) Köl-qala (Latin) |
| Korean | 호수 마을 |
| Kurdish | Gol bajar (Kurmanji) |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Көл шаар |
| Laotian | ເມືອງທະເລສາບ |
| Latin | lacus oppidum |
| Latvian | Ezers-pilsēta |
| Lithuanian | Ežeras-miestas |
| Luxembourgish | Séi-stad |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Езеро-град |
| Maithili | झील शहर |
| Malagasy | Farihy tanàna |
| Malayalam | തടാക നഗരം |
| Malaysian | Tasik bandar |
| Manx | Logh Balley |
| Marathi | लेक-टाउन |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Нуур-хот |
| Nepalese | ताल-शहर |
| Norwegian | Langsjøby |
| Occitan | Estanh ciutat |
| Pashto | د جهيل ښار |
| Persian | شهر دریاچه |
| Polish | Miasto Na Jeziorze |
| Portuguese | Cidade do Lago (Brazil) |
| Punjabi | ਝੀਲ ਦਾ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ |
| Romanian | Lacului Orașul |
| Romansh | Lai Citad |
| Russian | Озёрный город (Lake-town)
Эсгарот (Esgaroth) |
| Serbian | Град језера (Cyrillic) Grad jezera (Latin) |
| Scots | Loch Toun |
| Scottish Gaelic | Loch a 'bhaile |
| Shona | Nyanza-taundi |
| Sindhi | ڍنڍ شهر |
| Sinhalese | ලේක් නගරය |
| Slovak | Jazero-mesto |
| Slovenian | Jezero-mesto |
| Somalian | Harada magaalada |
| Spanish (Spain and Latin America) | Ciudad del Lago |
| Sundanese | Situ kota |
| Swahili | Ziwa mji |
| Swedish | Sjöstaden |
| Tajik Cyrillic | шаҳраки кӯл |
| Tamil | ஏரி-நகரம் |
| Tatar | Күл шәһәр |
| Telugu | లేక్ పట్టణం |
| Thai | เมืองริมทะเลสาบ |
| Tigrinya | ከተማ ቀላይ |
| Turkish | Göl Kasabası |
| Turkmen | Kol Şäher |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Озеро-місто |
| Urdu | جھیل قصبہ |
| Uyghur | كۆل بازىرى |
| Uzbek | Кўл шаҳар (Cyrillic) Ko'l shahar (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Thị trấn hồ |
| Waray | Danaw Bungtó |
| Welsh | Llyn-dref |
| Xhosa | Echibi idolophu |
| Yiddish | אָזערע שטאָט |
| Yoruba | Adágún ilu |
| Zulu | Ichibi idolobha |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Hobbit, "Lake-town"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age"
- ↑ The Atlas of Middle-earth, Thematic Maps, "Languages"
- ↑ The Hobbit, Chapter XIX: "The Last Stage"
- ↑ 10x10 - Realms of the Third Age - Lake-town | hobbit Behind the Scenes on YouTube