Middle-Earth

To the east of the Shire, beyond the Old Forest, rise the green-grey hills known in Hobbit-legend as the Barrow-downs. It is a maze-like country, made of grassy ridges rising one after another, with deep green hollows in between. If on a journey, it is much wiser to travel around them, especially since the great East Road lies immediately north of the Downs. If a traveller must pass through them, they go quickly and only when the sun is up. By day, the scent of turf is strong and sweet, and the air itself is often still when caught between hillside and hillside, silent except for the high calls of strange birds. As one proceeds eastward coming from the forest, the hills grow higher and steeper, their tops crowned with mounds and standing stones. When the sun begins to set, a mist rises to obscure the landscape, slowly turning into a thick and cold fog, covering the land as a shroud.