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2018-02-18, 11:28 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
Is There A Larger, Real-World Edoras?
What I’m looking for is a scaled-up version of the site of Edoras in Rohan. Properly speaking, Edoras is the name of Theoden’s capital in the valley of Harrowdale; I can’t find a separate name for the hill it was built on.
The real-world location of the Edoras filming site is Mount Sunday, and I’m trying to find a much larger version of that: an isolated rocky formation rising from a broad, level plain. Mount Sunday is more of a rocky hill, but I’m looking for something more like a moderate-sized mountain, capable of supporting a structure and population greater than Minas Tirith.
The geological term is inselberg, and I’ve tried looking through a variety of those with no success. The closest I can find is a beautiful formation in Sarek National Park in Sweden, but it’s still not large enough for what I’m thinking—and doesn’t have that “outsized Edoras” feel I’m going for. Can anyone think of another natural feature that would be a better fit?
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2018-02-18, 01:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
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2018-02-18, 02:23 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
- Location
- UK
- Gender
Re: Is There A Larger, Real-World Edoras?
I assume you mean a scaled up version of the hill-fort? A good starting point might be to web search for hill forts.
There is a very good reason you won't find a name for the hill in the books - Edoras was near the centre of a depression in a pretty flat plain.
(For me, Edoras is one of the most annoying pieces of completely inappropriate setting in the films, to make it look good Jackson put Edoras on top of a brilliant natural fortress - three sides being much steeper than could be sensibly assaulted - and then left in the line from the book about it being "completely indefensible", a line that really did not work for that Edoras.
Next worst is probably the aerial shots of Bilbo and the dwarves heading East in The Hobbit part one - it's a lovely view of trackless countryside which doesn't really work for a party taking the main road...)
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2018-02-18, 03:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
- Location
- UK
Re: Is There A Larger, Real-World Edoras?
If this is what the OP is looking for, you probably won't find many in the real world that are significantly larger than Mount Sunday. All the ones I know (Castle Rock in Edinburgh, Castle Hill in Stirling and Dumbarton Rock in... Dumbarton) are volcanic plugs - that is to say solidified magma from the inside of volcanoes, left over after the original volcano has eroded away. They generally have three steep sides and one narrow, accessible one due to the prevailing wind, but there's a limit to how big they're going to be.
The other thing that comes to mind is Mount Kilimanjaro. That's practically an inselberg, but I doubt you could build much on it.Last edited by Ninja_Prawn; 2018-02-18 at 03:26 PM.
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2018-02-18, 04:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
- Location
- Manchester, UK
- Gender
Re: Is There A Larger, Real-World Edoras?
What about Table Mountain in Cape Town? The plateau on the top of that is about 2 miles across, plenty of room for a large-ish settlement but not so large you lose the essential "mountain-ness" of it.
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2018-02-22, 11:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Gender
Re: Is There A Larger, Real-World Edoras?
My most inappropriate setting in the movies is right before the moment Sam says that if he takes one more step, he'll be further from home than he's ever been - while he's still in the Shire. That's fine, but we just saw mountains in the background.
But Bilbo specifically said that he's leaving the Shire because "I want to see mountains again. Mountains, Gandalf!"