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Lore

This is ArdaCraft's recreation of the Trollshaws, an area of wooded hills to the west of Rivendell between the rivers Hoarwell and Loudwater. By the time of The Lord of the Rings, they had been abandoned for hundreds of years, though the Dúnedain still dwelt to the south of them, in the region known as the Angle.

The Trollshaws were within the borders of Arnor and later of the smaller realm of Rhudaur. The Men of Rhudaur built castles and towers on the top of some of its hills. Even after the fall of Rhudaur, Men still lived in small villages amongst the hills for centuries.

They are most famous as the location where Thorin and Company ran into three trolls during the Quest of Erebor. The dwarves were saved by Bilbo Baggins's guile and Gandalf's intervention, when the rising sun turned the trolls to stone. Sixty years later, Strider, Frodo and the other hobbits passed through them on their way to Rivendell, and happened upon the trolls' cave and the stony remains of the beasts themselves.

Shaws is an archaic word meaning "thicket, wood".


Construction

The hills were first created in WorldPainter, where most of their vegetation was added. Once they were exported and on the server, ruins were built, hills and cliffs were edited to add extra detail, and streams were dug.

For anyone who is interested in seeing a detailed timeline of the project's construction, the Trollshaws project thread on our forums provides a good overview.

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The Trollshaws form part of a larger project which seeks to recreate Middle-earth in its entirety. Credit goes to creepyboy666 for leading this project, and to the entire community of builders for helping out.

The Trollshaws can be viewed from above on ArdaCraft's dynmap. There is no download avaliable, but ArdaCraft is a non-whitelisted server which anyone is welcome to come and explore, provided they have installed our modpack first.

All information can be found on our website.