Aerandir wrote:
When Morgoth was defeated, the world was 'broken' in the battle, and actually all of Beleriand is now under the sea.
Agreed that, although Lindon remains in the Third Age, Ossiriand is essentially (or mostly) gone, as Treebeard's song echoes. Treebeard's verse also refers to the
"highland of Dorthonion" specifically, concluding with
"And now all those lands lie under the wave." I mention this as the Island of Tol Fuin (see Unfinished Tales) is really rather large, and yet even Christopher Tolkien notes that Tol Fuin
"must be the highest part of Taur-nu-Fuin" -- and we know that this was the later name of Dorthonion (which again, according to Treebeard's verse was under the waves). In other words, I would think such a large remnant of Beleriand would be notable... if it really still existed [in an external sense].
According to Tolkien's own index, Beleriand was the
"lost land of [the] Elder Days (of which Lindon was all that remained in the Third Age)' [published in The Lord of the Rings, a Reader's Companion]. Moreover, there are no maps
published in Tolkien's day, including the maps in the revised Lord of the Rings and the Pauline Baynes map [which Tolkien helped with] that illustrate Tol Fuin and Himling. For myself, I believe that these two Island were ultimately rejected by Tolkien, or at least forgotten -- part of an old map, representing an older idea that never resurfaced in the 1950s or later.
One idea that does surface in later texts hails from
The Wanderings Of Hurin:
"And a seer and harp-player of Brethil, Glirhuin, made a song saying the Stone of the Hapless should not be defiled by Morgoth nor ever thrown down, not though the Sea should drown all the land. As after indeed befell, and still the Tol Morwen stands alone in the water beyond the new coasts that were made in the days of the wrath of the Valar. But Hurin does not lie there, for his doom drove him on, and the Shadow still followed him." The War of the Jewels
Quote:
So, Ossiriand is now known as Lindon, and that's where Gil-galad and most of the elves fled during the breaking of the world. So actually, the Grey Havens are in the middle of Ossiriand, or what used to be called Ossiriand.
Sorry to be pedantic but I don't think the Grey Havens can be in the
middle of what was once Ossiriand, as the eastern boundary of Beleriand appears to be the Blue Mountains. Also, I'm not sure Tolkien had fully fleshed out where the folk of Beleriand were going to flee before the host of the West arrived. In
The Tale of Years [War of the Jewels] at least, it was noted, after the last kin-slaying and Earedil's arrival in Valinor:
"The last free Elves and remnants of the Fathers of Men are driven out of Beleriand and take refuge in the Isle of Balar." Tolkien tinkered around with this text in general, but never seems to have revised this entry at least [for whatever reason], except possibly the date.
Anyway, according to the
Quenta Silmarillion, later, when the war was won, we are told that there was a great building of ships upon the shores of the Western Sea, and we know that Gil-galad remained and set up his kingdom in Lindon:
"That country had of old been named Lindon by the Noldor, and this name it bore thereafter; and many of the Eldar still dwelt there, lingering, unwilling yet to forsake Beleriand where they had fought and labored long." [OF The Rings Of Power And The Third Age]. So, and not that anyone said otherwise, the name Lindon was an old name, derived in the First Age, although the Sindar had previously named the land Ossiriand, Land of Seven Rivers:
"The Exiled Noldor also usually referred to the Eryd Luin as Eryd Lindon, since the highest parts of that range made the eastern borders of the country of Lindon." JRRT, Quendi And Eldar, The War of the Jewels
Anyway, just my three cents.
That all said, in any case, the matter of the survival of Beleriand was a changing concept over the years, and according to Christopher Tolkien [see notes on section 28, Conclusion to
Quenta Silmarillion, The Lost Road And Other Writings] its evolution is not easy to trace, especially when one adds in what may have survived, or not, after the Fall of Numenor as well. The conclusion of the constructed Silmarillion, published in 1977, has been edited, and leaves out some description, including the seeming survival of Western Isles and the
Land of Leithian for example. But this text is essentially an early-ish work, and although Tolkien made some cursory corrections to it later, even Christopher Tolkien warns that the conclusion to
Quenta Silmarillion was never fully revised and updated by his father.