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location of Cardolan in Middle-earth marked in red

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Cardolan is a fictional country from J. R. R. Tolkien's universe of Middle-earth.

Cardolan was a successor realm of the Dúnedain kingdom of Arnor. After the death of its tenth King, Eärendur, his sons divided Arnor into the kingdoms of Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan. It was founded in T.A. 861 and existed till the Great Plague of 1636.

The borders of Cardolan extended from the river Baranduin (Brandywine) to the west, the river Mitheithel (Hoarwell) to the east and the river Gwathló (Greyflood) to the east and south. Its northern border was the Great East Road, but Cardolan also claimed the Arthedain-controlled Weather Hills, which contained the fortress of Amon Sûl (Weathertop) and its valuable palantír. For this reason the Weather Hills were claimed by all three kingdoms - Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. This territorial dispute continued until Rhudaur became a vassal of Angmar after the line of the Dúnedain kings failed there.

In T.A. 1050, the branch of Hobbits known as the Harfoots crossed the Misty Mountains, and settled in the South Downs in the west of Cardolan. They were joined about a century later by the Fallohides.

When the kingdom of Angmar arose in northern Eriador, Cardolan became the most important ally of Arthedain. It had to fight the combined armies of both Angmar and Rhudaur. In 1356 Argeleb I of Arthedain was slain in battle with Rhudaur, now allied with Angmar. For a while Cardolan and Arthedain held back Angmar, and in its last years the people became entrenched in their capital region, Tyrn Gorthad, but in 1409 a large Army from Angmar broke into Cardolan and devastated the country. Arthedain could provide little aid, as it was itself under attack. The last King of Cardolan died in this conflict, and Cardolan was shattered. While Arthedain recovered something of her power, Cardolan did not and the region of the Barrow-downs entered hobbit legend as a place of mystery and danger.

Elves of Lindon, Rivendell and Lórien stemmed the tide of Angmar, and for a while relative peace seemed to settle upon Arnor. But in 1636 the Great Plague claimed the life of the King of Gondor, and withered the White Tree. The plague spread north along the Great Road that joined the two kingdoms, and the population of Minhiriath was decimated. About this time the plague also wiped out the Dúnedain hiding in the Barrow-downs and evil spirits came to dwell there. What few folk survived could offer little aid to Arthedain in 1974, when Angmar overwhelmed the last of the kingdoms of Arnor. Until the end of the Third Age, the Dúnedain of Cardolan were only a memory, their tombs and barrows haunted by evil wights sent from Angmar; for the Rangers that wandered over the lands were descended from the people of Arthedain. The only major settlements in old Cardolan were likely to be found along the North-South Road close to Tharbad, until 2912, when terrible floods devastated the lowlands and destroyed Tharbad.

The name Cardolan appears to be dialect Sindarin for "Red Hill Land".

• Arnor

• Map of Cardolan
• The Rangers of Cardolan