The Baranduin or Brandywine is a fictional river in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
Flowing out of Nenuial or Lake Evendim in northern Eriador, the river flows eastward for about 60 miles before turning generally southward; after about another 120 miles it flows through the easternmost reaches of the Shire, forming its eastern border except for Buckland which lies between it and the Old Forest. Its only major crossings in the Shire were the Brandywine Bridge and the Bucklebury Ferry.
Skirting the Old Forest to the south, the river then loops south-westward, crossing an old road at Sarn Ford and flowing 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. 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.
