Barad Eithel

Haakon

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The fortress of Fingolfin; the seat of the High King of the Noldor. It is set in the eastern foothills of the Ered Wethrin, at Eithel Sirion, the source of the River Sirion.

Another place that will need a combination of location shots and the works of artists. Remember what has been said about Hithlum https://forums.signumuniversity.org/index.php?threads/hithlum.775/ and check out the season 3 sets session.
Map:
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A view from Ard-galen could look something like this, perhaps (Sadlerochit Mts, Alaska):

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Or like this (the Sandia Mts, New Mexico):
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Or this (not sure where this is from):
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While these photos have qualities I like, I think of them mostly as inspiration to get a feel of the general area - I'm sure epople have opinions on the look of the exact location of the tower, and what Sirion should look like here.
 
Somehow I keep thinking that it should look a bit like Minas Tirith in Gondor - but with more beautiful architecture, and with the well of Sirion running through a gate in the wall. There could be an exit above the river gate, with ramps going down on either side.
 
The reason I say this is 1) that it’s supposed to be a point of defence against attacks from Angband - it would be hard to move swiftly down to Ard-Galen from a place that high up on the mountainside; where do they keep their horses, when they get them? (A solution could be to have two parts, a fortress like the one above having a watchtower function, and a more city like system of barracks etc below) and 2) that we’ve established Hithlum as similar to the Scottish Highlands and the border range should not be too high and alp like - and they should also be contrasted to the high, Himalayas type range of Thangorodrim.
 
1. Yes, but that problem could be solved by having much of the fortress within the actual mountain
and having a lower gate near the foot of the hill... they even could have acess to the river in form of some port.

Tol Sirion seems to function just that way...

2. Did we? And even if... i have been to the highlands once and there are quite many way steep mountains and hills in some regions!there even are some regions in scotlans which are called "alps" or could count as "alpine".
 
1. That's more or less the solution I was suggesting, so I like that, but with the difference that I don't think there can be just an opening lower down. The horses can't be kept inside, they will need space.
2. Yes we can call the mountains alps, but there has to be a visual difference between the Ered Wethrin at the point where the Eithel Sirion and the Barad Eithel are, and the Thangorodrim. I don't mind steep mountains at all, it's just that in that picture, they seem to be very high, and I want us to go for a bit lower mountains. We did decide that Mithrim and Hithlum would look like the Scottish Highlands, and while I do agree that those areas very well could have alps around them - why not? - I think that there should be a visual connection or association between this place and those other areas, to make it easier for the viewers to understand how things are connected.
 
Besides, I think that the fact that it is the seat of the High King of the Noldor should make us consider a larger fortress. Again, I do think that we could stay close to your picture, but with added structures at a lower point that are more city-like. It should be almost a bit of a provocation to Morgoth seeing it that close to Angband (well, relatively close).
 
Ok. Well then there is just one thing i have to say: elven horses are not kept in stables.They run free and live pretty much by themselves...
 
Hmm... but how does that a fortress/city? If they don't actually live WITHIN the city...
Ah, sorry I was not making myself clear. I meant city-like as in more of a settlement as opposed to a fortress, and most importantly structures other than ones high up on the mountain or inside of it. But good, we at least agree that the horses need space to roam free.
 
The horses run free all across ard galen as long as that is still possible...
i don't know if they need any pastures WITHIN the city. I mean... MAYBE... if there's war and the Noldor withdraw within their fortifications they might want to have a sort of shelter for their horses too...
 
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