Woodland Realm

The Woodland Realm is the great kingdom of the Silvan Elves in northern Mirkwood. It is ruled by King Thranduil, from his seat in the Elvenking's Halls.

Summary

The Woodland Realm was founded in the S.A. 750 by Oropher, a Sindarin Elf from Doriath who had migrated east from Lindon. His Realm once spanned the whole southern Greenwood, with the chief dwellings of the Elves being at the Hill of Amon Lanc. The Elves were forced to migrate north as a result of Sauron's rising influence, and Oropher's realm began to shrink. The Silvan Elves suffered greatly during the War of the Last Alliance, where Oropher was slain together with many of his people at the Battle of Dagorlad.

His son Thranduil took the throne, and although the Silvan Elves enjoyed many years of peace, a shadow fell on the south of the Forest, and it became known as Mirkwood. Thranduil's realm retreated before it, and he ultimately settled in the far north of the Forest, protected by the Mountains of Mirkwood and the Enchanted River. Here he established his seat at the Elvenking's Halls, an underground fortress resembling ancient Menegroth. The Elves of the Woodland Realm today are a secretive, insular people, though they do conduct trade with their Mannish and Dwarven neighbours, with whom they are on amicable terms.

Climate and ecology

The vegetation zones of the Woodland Realm are as follows:

D25 - East Central European submontane acidophilous fir forests

F12 - Central European-southwest Sarmatian subcontinental mixed pine-pedunculate oak forests, locally alternating with pine forests

F57 - Central European sessile oak-hornbeam forests