List of Middle-earth Rivers - B

B

Baranduin

Also called Brandywine, the fourth-longest river in Middle-earth behind the Anduin, the Celduin (or Running), and the Greyflood/Hoarwell (or Gwathló/Mitheithel). Originating from Nenuial (Lake Evendim) in northern Eriador, the river flowed through the easternmost reaches of the Shire, forming its eastern border except for Buckland which lay between it and the Old Forest. Its only major crossings in the Shire were the Brandywine Bridge (originally Bridge of Stonebows) on the East Road, Bucklebury Ferry, and Sarn Ford in the Southfarthing. Skirting the Old Forest to the south, the river then crossed Sarn Ford and flowed to the north of the depopulated region of Minhiriath before flowing into the Sundering Sea to the north of the forested region of Eryn Vorn. The name Baranduin was Sindarin for "golden-brown river". The Hobbits of the Shire originally gave it the punning name Branda-nîn, meaning "border water" in original Hobbitish Westron. This was later punned again as Bralda-hîm meaning "heady ale" (referring to the colour of its water), which Tolkien renders into English as Brandywine. To the Hobbits of the Shire, the Brandywine was the boundary between the known and unknown, and even those who lived in Buckland on the immediate opposite shore were considered "peculiar". No tributaries of the Baranduin are described except those near or in the Shire: The Water - central Shire, from the northwest; the Stockbrook, arising in the Woody End; the Shirebourn - rising in Green-Hill country with a tributary Thistle Brook; and Withywindle from the Old Forest. There is a Girdley Island in the river just above the Brandywine Bridge.

Brithon

A river of the Falas. Its name is Sindarin, probably meaning "pebbly", from brith "broken stones".

Brilthor

A tributary of Gelion. It was the fifth from the north of the seven rivers that defined Ossiriand.

Bruinen

Also Loudwater, a major tributary of the Mitheithel (or Hoarwell) river. The Bruinen began with two tributaries in the Misty Mountains, one of them was begun at the High Pass where Goblin Town was later dug. The river formed the southern border of the Kingdom of Arnor and later the petty-realm of Rhudaur, south of it lay Eregion or Hollin. The southern arm of the Bruinen flowed through the deep valley where Elrond founded the refuge of Imladris or Rivendell. Elrond had some control over the river. The Bruinen had only one point where it could be passed, a ford near Rivendell. This ford, and by extension the river, was called the Edge of the Wild. When Thorin Oakenshield and company went to reclaim Erebor, they passed the Bruinen after their adventure with the Trolls, before they rested at Rivendell. At the beginning of the War of the Ring, Frodo Baggins was carried on Glorfindel's horse towards the Ford of Bruinen, with the Ringwraiths in hot pursuit. It was at the ford Frodo, poisoned by a deadly wound, made his stand, and defied the Witch-king of Angmar. This lured the Ringwraiths into the Bruinen, and Elrond and Gandalf the Grey released a great flood, which took the form of horses made out of water due to Gandalf's magic. This flood killed the horses of the Ringwraiths.