What Did Tolkien's Rivendell Really Look Like?
- Miriam Ellis
- Jun 6
- 8 min read
I'd live in the Shire if I could, but if I were to have just one epic adventure in my life, I'd let The Road sweep me off to Rivendell. That cloistered refuge of lore-keeping and loveliness is a high place after my own heart. When creatives attempt to paint or otherwise portray this famed spot on the map of Middle-earth, we have a wealth of clues to draw on to keep us as faithful as possible to J.R.R. Tolkien's beautiful vision.
Today, I'd like to share what I've learned from studying the sources, and also talk a little about the artistic process of filling in details where blanks exist in the available materials. Additionally, I would like to try to share the never-faded thrill I feel at the idea of approaching Rivendell through hobbit eyes.
1911 - A Year of Special Magnificence
As Tolkien scholar John Garth puts it in his The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien:
"A single visit to Switzerland laid the foundations for almost every mountain scene Tolkien wrote. His account of it...is his frankest statement of debt to real places...the Alps were a lasting revelation."
Young Tolkien's 1911 walking party through Switzerland became a lifelong wellspring of inspiration for him both as an author and illustrator. I know of about a half-dozen sketches of Rivendell, drawn from the magnificence of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, preparator to his fully-finished watercolor for The Hobbit. It is an illustration I deeply cherish. The foreground birch, alone, may be one of the most sensitive depictions of a tree ever rendered by human hands.
As readers, we are lavishly treated to Tolkien's multimedia storytelling of how it would have felt to approach Rivendell. We can both read and look at his sense of the grandeur of the mountain setting. His Swiss impressions are lovingly conveyed in every stroke of the pen, pencil and brush. My only sorrow is that his illustrations of the actual dwellings are rendered so small because they are necessarily dwarfed by the alpine scale. To more fully envision this hallowed place, we must zoom in on both the images and the text.
The fine details we have about Rivendell
Tolkien's writings give us many tantalizing glimpses of the dark carved wood and many stairs and refectories and gathering halls and gardens of Rivendell, but what about the details of what Tolkien illustrated for us visually?
Preparatory to attempting to paint Rivendell myself, I blew up every image I could find, studied multiple views of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and filled pages of my sketchbooks with notes from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in an effort to really see the place. In magnifying Tolkien's watercolor and taking into account the other sketches, I arrived at this study-painting of his depiction of the approach to The Last Homely House.
I want to be sure to mention that other eyes may perceive the details of Tolkien's watercolor differently, due to the smallness of the original, but what I see is a main stone building fronted by a limed or plastered porch with three round arches and a round tower at one side. The porch is roofed in golden tiles while the rest of the building is roofed in terra cotta-style tiles. A square tower with large, square windows, rises from the back side of the roof. A second building is glimpsed behind the first, with a wooden roof and sides. All the buildings feature ornaments at their peaks and rooflines.
In studying Tolkien's illustrations, it became clear to me that he not only came away from his Swiss trek bedazzled by the mountains, waterfalls, and rivers, but that the gothic and Renaissance architecture of the country had made a lasting impression on his mind.
The Swiss aesthetic becomes very clear Tolkien source material for Rivendell when you begin studying places like the 15th century Church of the Lauterbrunnen and countless similar buildings throughout the country. The use of stone, plaster, plainness, squareness, ornamentation, wood, tiling, pitched peaks and numberless towers all accord very well with how Tolkien drew and painted Rivendell.
Moviegoers may struggle to reconcile this alpine style with, for example, Peter Jackson's depiction of Rivendell, but I personally find Tolkien's tastes in this matter readily relatable, because, as a Californian, the mission architecture I've grown up with has much in common with some of the more austere features of historic Swiss buildings. The white front porch of Rivendell, in particular, would look quite at home on any nearby mission, with monks standing in for the elves. In fact, I'm not the first Tolkien fan to suggest that Rivendell might best be imagined as a sort of Middle-earth monastery.
The one feature of Tolkien's Rivendell that I couldn't find a Swiss analog for was the roof of that front porch, which is clearly golden. As I mention in my new book, The Art of Mercy in Middle-earth, I found it, instead, in Innsbruck, Austria, from which he traveled by train. I can't validate that Tolkien saw the famous Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) landmark, built in 1500, but it's the best explanation I can find for why his Rivendell porch has a uniquely beautiful roof in the finished watercolor instead of a more typical one of wood or terra cotta. In some of the other sketches, both the stone building and its porch are roofed in gold. I would love to hear if other Tolkien readers have noticed the Austrian landmark and thought about it in connection with Rivendell.
The other aspect of the front porch worth noting is that this is almost certainly not the porch on which the Council of Elrond takes place in The Lord of the Rings. Based on my study of all maps and textual references available to me, and helpful conversations with Tolkien loremasters, that porch would be at the back of the main building. Within the next few months, I'll be sharing a new painting that gives a view of this area, but, as far as I've been able to decipher, Tolkien's east-facing council porch was never illustrated by him. And that brings us to our next question.
How can we fill in the Rivendell blanks to envision it as Tolkien did?
Tolkien's Rivendell has enchanted generations of readers, and many podcast guests say it's the one place in Middle-earth they most want to visit. It's a wonderful act of imagination to try to see the place as the Professor did.
Here is a big topic I've raised with the fandom: Tolkien's illustrations of Imladris, taken in sum, depict, at most, 3 large buildings; must it not have been larger than this, based on what we know if its history?
We know from the legendarium that Rivendell was founded by Elrond in the Second Age when he and Celeborn were driven toward the mouth of the Bruinen by their foes. Elrond looks at the excellent position of the valley with its defensive mountain palings and realizes it is a worthy location for a stronghold. To become a stronghold, The Last Homely House must have been capable of housing a fairish number of elven warriors.
Additionally, we know that Rivendell withstands a desperate siege until Gil-galad comes to free it, and that Gil-galad and Elendil live at Rivendell for three years gathering their forces for The Last Alliance.
Again, this suggests that a massive army could be housed there as well as fed. To withstand the siege, the Rivendell elves must either have had a closed-loop self-sustaining farming practice or massive storehouses of imported foodstuffs that lasted until they were rescued. There is nothing in Tolkien that I've read which suggests that elves can make food for an army appear by "magic". Forests can yield a lot to eat, of course, but both the Second and Third Age accounts of Rivendell appear to depict a large settlement with a bountiful table and no end of room for guests.
From details like these, I've had to conclude that Tolkien only had the time to visually illustrate a small part of Rivendell for us. Even the description of Sam leading Frodo from his bed to the feast in 'Many Meetings' in The Lord of the Rings suggests a large estate built around gardens...so much so that I've personally decided that the immense dining room the Fellowship hobbits reach is not the same one Bilbo and the dwarves are taken to in The Hobbit. I feel Bilbo would have recorded that he and Gandalf and Thorin and Company are led to a huge public dining hall filled with elves, but the map-reading scene sounds rather intimate on a close reading. Perhaps Elrond maintained a private dining room for himself and his family or closest friends and special guests.
And as for Bilbo's retirement at Rivendell, it struck me that if it was really a place in which guests could find some of everything they most enjoyed, I couldn't really imagine the elderly hobbit feeling cozy in living quarters designed for folk who are regularly more than six-and-a-half feet tall. If Barliman Butterbur could construct the North Wing of the Prancing Pony Inn for hobbit comfort, just imagine the chamber Elrond and his folk might have delighted in devising for their resident hobbit.
All to say that I think there were many places to walk, dine, and rest your head at Imladris, and I've so enjoyed working within the alpine aesthetics which clearly captured Professor Tolkien's heart. It's an exciting challenge, taking all of the information he has given us and then having to make decisions about how to fill in the blanks.
For example, we know Bilbo's room has a fire in it, but what would the fireplace look like? I decided it would be a stone fireplace, based on the use of stone in Tolkien's own illustration of the visible buildings. We know the elven love of lanterns, but what might the lanterns look like? I decided that Rivendell elves might craft lanterns ornamented with the pine tree elements of their cherished mountain home.
For me, illustrating Tolkien entails an endless series of decisions like these which I take to heart, because I want to do everything I can to work faithfully within the master-vision he has created, adhering as best as I can to the source material and trying to fill in the many blanks with care and respect. Because, like Bilbo, I'm enchanted by places like Rivendell, I want to imagine how it would feel to arrive there. This is a key motivation for my painting.
What You Would See If You Got To Ride Down To Rivendell?
After trading jests with the tra-la-la lally elves in the trees and crossing the bridge over the river on an evening near Midsummer, the Last Homely House would appear like a dream refuge to any weary traveler. Imagine it as Bilbo first sees it. Try to step into the hobbit's place.
Perhaps the last aura of the alpenglow would make the great white porch rose and lavender, and lantern light might reveal a bit of the gold on its roof. A beautiful elf whom your heir will one day encounter in the Woody End stands tall upon the pale path, his silver lantern blazing like a quiet beacon. Elrond Half-elven, the venerable loremaster, comes out to embrace his old friend Gandalf in greeting, and while your host's daughter is likely away from home and staying with her grandparents just now, his fine sons, Elladan and Elrohir, bend down to welcome you...and perhaps to wonder over the smallness of hobbits. Elrond's children are merry, they are grave, they are full of wisdom and power. They show you their enchanting lanterns of silver and gold.
Indeed, the whole scene before you twinkles as elves wander the gardens bearing lights and singing to the stars, and there is a moonlight-like glow about their feet. One golden-haired elf, in particular, fills you with awe. You don't know his name, but one day, he will rescue your cousin. Your dwarven companions have reservations about this place, and an ancient history of difficulties with the elves, but all you behold is gracious and fair. More light spills into the night from many high windows and the great open doors, and there is the promise of a plentiful table and a soft bed after so many days and nights on The Road. You are utterly enchanted. You are falling in love with the elves!
I hope this video short captures Bilbo's wonder at arriving at Rivendell and helps you feel like you've gotten to really be there, up-close, for a few moments. J.R.R. Tolkien's genius in making us long with all our hearts to get to "be there" is truly unique, and I hope this article has enhanced your personal vision of his outstanding sub-creation!
