Eryn Galen

Note that some features shown on this map, such as Erebor and Dale, belong to a later period of history, and did not exist during the period that the Forest was known as Eryn Galen.

The Elvish name for the great forest of Mirkwood before the Shadow of Dol Guldur spread from its southern regions. The name translates as 'green wood', and so the old Mannish name for the Forest was 'Greenwood the Great'. After the coming of the Necromancer, the name of the Forest was changed to Taur-nu-Fuin or the better known 'Mirkwood', and so it remained for nearly two thousand years until the end of the Third Age. After the final Fall of Sauron, the darkness was lifted and the Forest was renamed by Celeborn and Thranduil; they chose a new name that reflected the ancient one, and so the Greenwood of ancient Eryn Galen became Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves.