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Tolkien said that his Middle-earth is our Earth , but in a fictional period in the past, estimating the end of the Third Age to about 6,000 years before his own time.(''Letters'', no. 211, footnote) The History Of Tolkien's Middle-earth is divided into several Ages. The novel '' The Hobbit '' and the main text of '' The Lord Of The Rings '' deal exclusively with events toward the end of the Third Age and conclude at the dawn of the Fourth Age , while '' The Silmarillion '' deals mainly with the First Age . HISTORICAL CONCEPTIONS In ancient ), Dwarves ( Niðavellir ), Gods ( Asgard and Vanaheim ), and Giants ( Jotunheim and Muspelheim ). Other Norse scholars place these seven worlds in the sky, in the branches of Yggdrasil the "World Ash Tree". In either case, the world of Men (known by several names, such as Midgard , Middenheim, and Middle-earth) lay in the centre of this universe, while Bifröst , the rainbow bridge, extended from Middle-earth to Asgard. Hel , the land of the Dead, lay beneath the Middle-earth. Etymology The term "Middle-earth" was not invented by Tolkien, and he would not dispute this. It occurs in Early Modern English Shakespeare, William . '' The Merry Wives Of Windsor '', Act V, Scene 5. as a development of the Middle English word ''middel-erde'' (cf. modern German ''Mittelerde''), which developed in turn from Old English ''middanġeard'' (the "g" being soft, i.e "yard"Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, ''A Guide to Old English'', Sixth ed., p. 360)The word ''middangeard'' appears several times in the Beowulf poem.. ''Middangeard'' descends from an earlier Germanic word and so has Cognate s in languages related to Old English such as the Old Norse word ''Miðgarðr'' from Norse Mythology , transliterated to modern English as '' Midgard ''. By the time of the Middle English period, ''middangeard'' was being written as ''middellærd'', ''midden-erde'', or ''middel-erde''. A slight difference of wording, but not general meaning, had taken place as ''middangeard'' properly means "middle enclosure" instead of "middle-earth"."-geard" (Old Norse ''garðr'') means, among other things, "yard" or "enclosure", while "-erde" (Old Norse ''jörð'') means "earth". Nevertheless ''middangeard'' has been commonly translated as "middle-earth". Tolkien followed this course. USE BY TOLKIEN The concept of ''middangeard'' was considered by Tolkien to be the same as a particular usage of the Greek word - '' Oikoumenē '' (from which the word Ecumenical is derived). In this usage Tolkien says that the ''oikoumenē'' is "the abiding place of men"(''Letters'', nos. 151, 183 and 283); by this he means it is the physical world in which man lives out his life and destiny, as opposed to the unseen worlds, like Heaven or Hell . "Middle-earth is ... not my own invention. It is a modernization or alteration ... of an old word for the inhabited world of Men, the ''oikoumene'': middle because thought of vaguely as set amidst the encircling Seas and (in the northern-imagination) between ice of the North and the fire of the South. O. English ''middan-geard'', mediaeval E. ''midden-erd'', ''middle-erd''. Many reviewers seem to assume that Middle-earth is another planet!"(Letters, no. 211) Tolkien encountered the term ''middangeard'' in an Old English Fragment he studied in 1914 : ::''éala éarendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended.'' ::Hail Earendel, brightest of angels / above the middle-earth sent unto men. This quote is from the second of the fragmentary remnants of the Crist poems by Cynewulf . The name ''Earendel'' was the inspiration for Tolkien's mariner Eärendil .(''Letters'', no. 297) In Tolkien's stories of the First Age of his world, Eärendil set sail from the lands of Middle-earth to ask for aid from the angelic powers, the Valar . He was later raised by the Valar into the skies, and set to sail in his ship Vingilot as a star and bright beacon of hope for Men and Elves in Middle-earth."Now when first Vingilot was set to sail in the seas of heaven, it rose unlooked for, glittering and bright; and the people of Middle-earth beheld it from afar and wondered, and they took it for a sign, and called it Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope". (''The Silmarillion'', "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath") Tolkien's earliest poem about Eärendil, from 1914, the same year he read the Crist poems, refers to "the mid-world's rim".(''The Ring of Words'', pg. 164) The term Middle-earth is not, however, used in Tolkien's earliest writings about his created world, writings that date from the early 1920s and which were later published in '' The Book Of Lost Tales '' (1983-4), nor is the term used in '' The Hobbit '' (1937). Tolkien began to use the term "Middle-earth" in the later part of the 1930s, in place of the earlier terms "Great Lands", "Outer Lands", and "Hither Lands" that he had used to describe this region in his stories. The term Middle-earth appears in the drafts of ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the first published appearance of the word "Middle-earth" in Tolkien's works is in the Prologue to that work: "...Hobbits had, in fact, lived quietly in Middle-earth for many long years before other folk even became aware of them." Usage and misunderstandings The term Middle-earth can be also applied as a nickname of the entirety of Tolkien's creation, instead of the more appropriate, but less known terms Arda which refers to Tolkien's world (including Celestial Bodies ), and Eä , which refers to the universe. This is seen also in the title of books such as '' The Complete Guide To Middle-earth '', '' The Road To Middle-earth '', '' The Atlas Of Middle-earth '', and in particular the series '' The History Of Middle-earth '', all of which cover areas outside of the strict geographical definition of the term Middle-earth. A possible explanation is that the word Arda is never mentioned in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and it was not until the 1977 publication of ''The Silmarillion'' that readers learned of the word. The term "Middle-earth" is sometimes mis-capitalised as "Middle-Earth"An example of this spelling is the Blind Guardian album '' Nightfall In Middle-Earth ''. and the hyphen is sometimes incorrectly omitted as well, as in "Middle Earth", "Middle earth" and "Middleearth". Geography See Also: Arda Within the overall context of his Legendarium , Tolkien's Middle-earth is part of his created world of Arda , which itself is part of the wider creation called Eä . "Middle-earth" is specifically intended to describe the lands east of the Great Sea ( Belegaer ), thus excluding Aman , but including Harad and other mortal lands not visited in Tolkien's stories. However, Tolkien never finalized the geography for the world associated with '' The Hobbit '' and '' The Lord Of The Rings ''. In '' The Shaping Of Middle-earth '', volume IV of '' The History Of Middle-earth '', Christopher Tolkien published several remarkable maps, of both the original flat earth and round world, which his father had created in the latter part of the 1930s. Karen Wynn Fonstad drew from these maps to develop detailed, but non-canonical, "whole world maps" reflecting a world consistent with the historical ages depicted in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Hobbit'', and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Maps prepared by Christopher Tolkien and J.R.R. Tolkien for the world encompassing ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' were published as foldouts or illustrations in ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. Early conceptions of the maps provided in ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' were included in several volumes, including "The First Silmarillion Map" in ''The Shaping of Middle-earth'', "The First Map of the Lord of the Rings" in '' The Treason Of Isengard '', "The Second Map (West)" and "The Second Map (East)" in '' The War Of The Ring '', and "The Second Map of Middle-earth west of the Blue Mountains" (also known as "The Second Silmarillion Map") in '' The War Of The Jewels ''. Within his stories, Tolkien translated the name "Middle-earth" as '' Endor '' (or sometimes ''Endórë'') and ''Ennor'' in the Elvish Language s Quenya and Sindarin , respectively. Endor was originally conceived of as conforming to a largely symmetrical scheme which was marred by Melkor . The symmetry was defined by two large sub-continents, one in the north and one in the south, with each of them boasting two long chains of mountains in the eastward and westward regions. The mountain chains were given names based on colours (White Mountains, Blue Mountains, Grey Mountains, and Red Mountains). The various conflicts with Melkor resulted in the shapes of the lands being distorted. Originally, there was a single inland body of water, in the midst of which was set the island of Almaren where the Valar lived. When Melkor destroyed the lamps of the Valar which gave light to the world, two vast seas were created, but Almaren and its lake were destroyed. The northern sea became the Sea Of Helcar (Helkar). The lands west of the Blue Mountains became Beleriand . Melkor raised the Misty Mountains to impede the progress of the Vala Oromë as he hunted Melkor's beasts during the period of darkness prior to the awakening of the Elves . The violent struggles during the War Of Wrath between the Host of the Valar and the armies of Melkor at the end of the First Age brought about the destruction of Beleriand. It is also possible that during this time the inland sea of Helcar was drained. The world, not including associated celestial bodies, was identified by Tolkien as "Ambar" in several texts, but also identified as "Imbar", the Habitation, in later post-''Lord of the Rings'' texts. From the time of the destruction of the two lamps until the time of the Downfall of Númenor, Ambar was supposed to be a "flat world", in that its habitable land-masses were all arranged on one side of the world. His sketches show a disc-like face for the world which looked up to the stars. A western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar (and the Eldar ). The middle lands, Endor, were called "Middle-earth" and they are the site of most of Tolkien's stories. The eastern continent was not inhabited. When Melkor poisoned the Two Trees of the Valar and fled from Aman back to Endor, the Valar created the Sun and the Moon, which were separate bodies (from Ambar) but still parts of Arda (the Realm of the Children Of Ilúvatar ). A few years after publishing ''The Lord of the Rings'', in a note associated with the unique narrative story "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" (which is said to occur in Beleriand during the War Of The Jewels ), Tolkien equated Arda with the Solar System; because Arda by this point consisted of more than one heavenly body. According to the accounts in both ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'', when Ar-Pharazôn invaded Aman to seize immortality from the Valar, they laid down their guardianship of the world and Ilúvatar intervened, destroying Númenor, removing Aman "from the circles of the world", and reshaping Ambar into the round world of today. '' Akallabêth '' says that the Númenóreans who survived the Downfall sailed as far west as they could in search of their ancient home, but their travels only brought them around the world back to their starting points. Hence, before the end of the Second Age, the transition from "flat Earth" to "round Earth" had been completed. Correspondence with the geography of Earth Tolkien described the region in which the Hobbits lived as "the North-West of the Old World, east of the Sea",(''The Lord of the Rings'', Prologue) which indicates a connection to England and the north-western region of Europe (the Old World ). However, as he noted in private letters, the geographies do not match, and he did not consciously make them match when he was writing: "As for the shape of the world of the Third Age, I am afraid that was devised 'dramatically' rather than geologically, or paleontologically."(''Letters'', no. 169) "...if it were 'history', it would be difficult to fit the lands and events (or 'cultures') into such evidence as we possess, archaeological or geological, concerning the nearer or remoter part of what is now called Europe; though the Shire, for instance, is expressly stated to have been in this region."(''Letters'', no. 211) In another letter, he made correspondences in latitude, ''not'' equations, between Europe and Middle-earth: "The action of the story takes place in the North-west of 'Middle-earth', equivalent in latitude to the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean. ... If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy."(''Letters'', no. 294) He did confirm, however, that the Shire , the land of his Hobbit heroes, was ''based on'' England: "'The Shire' is based on rural England and not any other country in the world..."(''Letters'', no. 190) In the Prologue to ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien writes: "Those days, the Third Age of Middle-earth, are now long past, and the shape of all lands has been changed..." History See Also: Ainulindalë History of Arda In ''The Silmarillion'' the history of Middle-earth is divided into four time periods, known as the Ainulindalë , the Years Of The Lamps , the Years Of The Trees and the Years Of The Sun . In Tolkien's universe God is called Eru Ilúvatar . In the beginning, Ilúvatar created spirits named the Ainur and he taught them to make music. After the Ainur had become proficient in their skills, Ilúvatar commanded them to make a great music based on a theme of his own design. The most powerful Ainu, Melkor (later called Morgoth or "Dark Enemy" by the elves), disrupted the theme. In response, Ilúvatar introduced new themes that enhanced the music beyond the comprehension of the Ainur. The movements of their song laid the seeds of much of the history of the as yet unmade universe and the people who were to dwell therein. Then Ilúvatar stopped the music and he revealed its meaning to the Ainur through a vision. Moved, many of the Ainur felt a compelling urge to experience its events directly. Ilúvatar therefore created Eä, the universe itself, and some of the Ainur went into the universe to share in its experience. But upon arriving in Eä, the Ainur found it was shapeless because they had entered at the beginning of time. The Ainur undertook great labours in these unnamed "ages of the stars", in which they shaped the universe and filled it with many things far beyond the reach of Men. In time, however, the Ainur formed Arda, the abiding place of the Children of Ilúvatar, Elves and Men. The fifteen most powerful Ainur are called the Valar ; Melkor was the most powerful, but Manwë was the leader. The Valar settled in Arda to watch over it and help prepare it for the awakening of the Children. Arda began as a single flat world, to which the Valar gave light through two immense lamps. Melkor destroyed the lamps and brought darkness to the world. The Valar retreated to the extreme western regions of Arda, where they created the Two Trees to give light to their new homeland. After many ages, the Valar imprisoned Melkor to punish and rehabilitate him, and to protect the awakening Children. But when Melkor was released on parole, he poisoned the Two Trees. The Valar took the last two living fruit of the Two Trees and used them to create the Moon and Sun, which remained a part of Arda, but were separate from Ambar (the world). Before the end of the Second Age , when the Men of Númenor by the deceits of Sauron, Morgoth's most powerful servant of all and chief captain, rebelled against the Valar, Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor, separated Valinor from the rest of Arda, and formed new lands, making the world round. The Years of the Lamps began shortly after the Valar finished their labours in shaping Arda. The Valar created two lamps to illuminate the world, and the Vala Aulë forged great towers, one in the furthest north, and another in the deepest south. The Valar lived in the middle, on the island of Almaren. Melkor's destruction of the two Lamps marked the end of the Years of the Lamps. Then Yavanna made the Two Trees named Telperion and Laurelin in the land of Aman. The Trees illuminated Aman, leaving the rest of Arda in darkness, illuminated only by the stars. At the start of the First Age the Elves Awoke beside Lake Cuiviénen in the east of Endor, and were soon approached by the Valar. Many of the Elves were persuaded to undertake the Great Journey westwards towards Aman, but not all of them completed the journey (see Sundering Of The Elves ). The Valar had imprisoned Melkor but he appeared to repent and was released on parole. He sowed great discord among the Elves and stirred up rivalry between the Elven princes Fëanor and Fingolfin . He then slew their father, king Finwë and stole the Silmaril s, three gems crafted by Fëanor that contained light of the Two Trees, from his vault, and destroyed the Trees themselves. Fëanor persuaded most of his people, the Noldor , to leave Aman in pursuit of Melkor to Beleriand, cursing him with the name ''Morgoth''. He and his sons swore an oath to recover the Silmarils, whatever the cost. Fëanor led the first of two groups of Noldor. The larger group was led by Fingolfin. The Noldor stopped at the Teleri port-city, Alqualondë , but the Teleri refused to give them ships to get to Middle-earth. The first Kinslaying ensued when Fëanor and many of his followers attacked the Teleri and stole their ships. Fëanor's host sailed on the stolen ships, leaving Fingolfin's behind. The second group had little choice but to cross over to Middle-earth through the deadly Helcaraxë (or Grinding Ice) in the far north. Subsequently Fëanor was slain, but most of his sons survived and founded realms, as did Fingolfin and his heirs. The Years of the Sun began when the Valar made the Sun and it rose over the world, Imbar . After several great battles, a Long Peace ensued for four hundred years, during which time the first Men, the Edain , entered Beleriand by crossing over the Blue Mountains . When Morgoth broke the Siege Of Angband , one by one, the Elven kingdoms fell, even the hidden city of Gondolin . The only measurable success achieved by Elves and Men came when Beren of the Edain and Lúthien, daughter of Thingol and Melian , retrieved a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. Afterward, Beren and Lúthien died, and were restored to life by the Valar with the understanding that Lúthien was to become mortal and Beren should never be seen by Men again. Thingol quarrelled with the Dwarves of Nogrod and they slew him, stealing the Silmaril. With the help of Ents, Beren waylaid the Dwarves and recovered the Silmaril, which he gave to Lúthien. Soon afterwards, both Beren and Lúthien died again. The Silmaril was given to their son Dior Half-Elven , who had restored the Kingdom of Doriath . The sons of Fëanor demanded that Dior surrender the Silmaril to them, and he refused. The Fëanorians destroyed Doriath and killed Dior in the second Kinslaying, but Dior's young daughter Elwing escaped with the jewel. Three sons of Fëanor — Celegorm , Curufin , and Caranthir — died trying to retake the jewel. By the end of the age, all that remained of the free Elves and Men in Beleriand was a settlement at the mouth of the River Sirion . Among them was Eärendil, who married Elwing . But the Fëanorians again demanded the Silmaril be returned to them, and after their demand was rejected they resolved to take the jewel by force, leading to the third Kinslaying. Eärendil and Elwing took the Silmaril across the Great Sea , to beg the Valar for pardon and aid. The Valar responded. Melkor was captured, most of his works were destroyed, and he was banished beyond the confines of the world into the Door Of Night . The Silmarils were recovered at a terrible cost, as Beleriand itself was broken and began to sink under the sea. Fëanor's last remaining sons, Maedhros and Maglor , were ordered to return to Valinor . They proceeded to steal the Silmarils from the victorious Valar . But, as with Melkor, the Silmarils burned their hands and they then realized they were not meant to possess them and that the oath was null. Each of the brothers met his fate: Maedhros threw himself with the Silmaril into a chasm of fire, and Maglor threw his Silmaril into the sea. Thus, one Silmaril ended in the sky, worn by Eärendil, a second in the earth, and the third in the sea. Thus began the Second Age . The Edain were given the island of Númenor toward the west of the Great Sea as their home, while many Elves were welcomed into the West. The Númenóreans were blessed by the Valar with long life, three times that of lesser men. They became great seafarers, and in their days of glory, came to Middle-earth to teach the lesser men great skills. However, the Númenóreans grew jealous of their immortal brethren, the Elves. At the height of their power (if not wisdom), the Númenóreans ruled over the Men of Middle-earth, instead of helping them. After a few centuries, Sauron , Morgoth's chief servant, began to organize evil creatures in the eastern lands. He persuaded Elven smiths in Eregion to create Rings Of Power , and secretly forged the One Ring to control the other Rings. But the Elves became aware of Sauron's plan as soon as he put the One Ring on his hand, and they removed their own Rings before he could master their wills. During this time, the Shadow grew over Númenor, as kings no longer laid down their lives when they had lived to the fullest, but rather clung greedily to life. Númenor, ever thankful to the Valar and Eru in the past, now neglected to pay tribute, growing ever more restless about the Doom of Man, the curse of mortality. The people of Númenor became divided between the King's Men, those who would see the power and dominion of Númenor grow and their gratitude towards the Elves and Valar wane, and the Faithful, who still maintained their ties with the Elves, and still paid heed to the words of Eru. With his newfound might and growing dominion over Middle-earth, Sauron claimed that he was the King of Men. Ar-Pharazôn, the last king of Númenor, thinking that none but he should have this title, sailed to Middle-earth with an army to challenge Sauron's claim. Sauron, seeing the might of Númenor at its noontide, knew that he could not stand against them. So he allowed himself to be captured and taken back to Númenor as a hostage. Soon, Sauron's deceit and fair-seeming words won him favor with the King. He lied to the King, and told him that Melkor, Lord of Darkness, was the true God and that Eru was but an invention of the Valar. Thus began the persecution of the Faithful, who were sacrificed in the name of Melkor. Finally, as Ar-Pharazôn grew old, Sauron, using the the power of the One Ring, told the King that none, not even the Valar of Valinor, could challenge the might of Númenor, and that the King should assail Valinor, and by setting foot on the Undying Lands, achieve immortality. Ar-Pharazôn, fearing death, assembled a massive fleet and set sail for the Undying Lands. Amandil , chief of those still faithful to the Valar, remembering the embassy of Eärendil, set sail to seek mercy from the Valar. To disguise his intent, he sailed first to the east, and then sailed west, but was never heard from again. His son Elendil and grandsons Isildur and Anárion kept the Faithful out of the coming war and made preparations to flee by ship. When the King's forces landed on Aman, the Valar called for Ilúvatar to intervene. The world was changed, so that Aman was removed from Imbar. From that time onward, Men could no longer find Aman, but Elves seeking passage in specially hallowed ships received the grace of using the Straight Road , which led from Middle-earth's seas to the seas of Aman. The mighty fleet of Ar-Pharazôn and the land of Númenor, were utterly destroyed, and with it the fair body of Sauron; but his spirit endured and fled back to Middle-earth. Elendil and his sons escaped to Endor and founded the realms of Gondor and Arnor . Sauron soon rose again, but the Elves allied with the Men to form the Last Alliance and defeated him. Gil-galad , High King of the Elves, Elendil , the ruler of Gondor and Arnor, and Anárion , son of Elendil, were slain, but when it seemed all hope was lost, his other son Isildur took up his father's sword and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, thus diminishing his power and achieving victory and peace for a time. But Isildur refused to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom , against all advice, and took it as a Weregild for his father and brother. However, the Ring soon betrayed him, as it abandoned him during an ambush of Orcs at the Gladden Fields; Isildur was slain and the Ring was lost in the Anduin River for a time. The . At the last moment, he failed, but with the intervention of the creature Gollum —who was saved by the pity of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins —the Ring was nevertheless destroyed. Frodo with his companion Sam Gamgee were hailed as heroes. Sauron was destroyed forever and his spirit dissipated. The end of the Third Age marked the end of the dominion of the Elves and the beginning of the dominion of Men . As the Fourth Age began, many of the Elves who had lingered in Middle-earth left for Valinor, never to return; those who remained behind would "fade" and diminish. The Dwarves eventually dwindled away as well, and they also returned in large numbers to Moria and resettled it. Under King Elessar ( Aragorn of the Arthedain), peace was restored between Gondor and the lands to the south and east. Languages See Also: Languages of Middle-earth Tolkien devised two main Elven languages which would later become known to us as Quenya , spoken by the Vanyar , Noldor, and some Teleri , and Sindarin , spoken by the Sindar , the Elves who stayed in Beleriand (see below). These languages were related, and a Common Eldarin form ancestral to them both is postulated. Tolkien compared the use of Quenya as like Latin , with Sindarin as the common speech.(''Letters'', no. 144) Other languages of the world include
Culture See Also: Middle-earth peoples Middle-earth is home to several distinct intelligent species. First were the Ainur, angelic beings created by Ilúvatar. The Ainur sang for Ilúvatar, who created Eä to give existence to their music in the cosmological myth called the ''Ainulindalë'', or "Music of the Ainur". Some of the Ainur then entered Eä, and the greatest of these were called the Valar . Melkor (later called ''Morgoth''), the chief personification of evil in Eä, was initially one of the Valar. The other Ainur who entered Eä are called the Maiar . In the First Age the most active Maia was Melian, wife of the Elven King Thingol ; in the Third Age, during the War Of The Ring , five of the Maiar were embodied and sent to Endor to help the free peoples to overthrow Sauron. Those are the Istari (or ''Wise Ones'') (called Wizard s by Men), including Gandalf , Saruman , Radagast , Alatar and Pallando . There were also evil Maiar, called Umaiar, including the Balrog s and the second Dark Lord, Sauron . Later came the Children of Ilúvatar: Elves and Men, intelligent beings created by Ilúvatar alone. ''The Silmarillion'' tells how Elves and Men awaken and spread through the world. The Dwarves are said to have been made by the Vala Aulë, who offered to destroy them when Ilúvatar confronted him. Ilúvatar forgave Aulë's transgression and adopts the Dwarves. Three tribes of Men who allied themselves with the Elves of Beleriand in the First Age are called the Edain . As a reward for their loyalty and suffering in the Wars Of Beleriand , the descendants of the Edain were given the island of Númenor to be their home. But as described in the section on Middle-earth's History , Númenor was eventually destroyed and a remnant of the Númenóreans established realms in the northern lands of Endor. Those who remained faithful to the Valar found the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. They were then known as the Dúnedain , whereas other Númenórean survivors, still devoted to evil but living far to the south, became known as the Black Númenóreans . Tolkien identified Hobbits as an offshoot of the race of Men. Although their origins and ancient history are not known, Tolkien implied that they settled in the Vales Of Anduin early in the Third Age, but after a thousand years the Hobbits began migrating west over the Misty Mountains into Eriador . Eventually, many Hobbits settled in the Shire . After they were granted true life by Ilúvatar, the Dwarves' creator Aulë laid them to sleep in hidden mountain locations. Ilúvatar awakened the Dwarves only after the Elves have awakened. The Dwarves spread throughout northern Endor and eventually founded seven kingdoms. Two of these kingdoms, Nogrod and Belegost, befriended the Elves of Beleriand against Morgoth in the First Age. The greatest Dwarf kingdom is Khazad-dûm , later known as Moria . The Ent s, shepherds of the trees, were created by Ilúvatar at the Vala Yavanna 's request to protect trees from the depredations of Elves, Dwarves, and Men. 's recent Movie Trilogy - although Jackson's idea may have been inspired by Gandalf's reference, in ''The Fellowship of the Ring,'' to "all the orcs ever ''spawned''" '' added ''.) Trolls were rarely seen and Treebeard says in ''The Lord of the Rings'' they were mockeries of Ents, they are stupid creatures, foul mouthed and brutal. If they were struck by daylight they turned to stone. In an episode of ''The Hobbit'', three trolls catch Bilbo and his Dwarf companions, and plan on eating them. Sapient animals also appear, such as the Eagles , Huan the Great Hound from Valinor , and the Warg s. The Eagles were created by Ilúvatar along with the Ents, but in general these animals' origins and nature are unclear. Some of them might have been Maiar in animal form, or perhaps even the offspring of Maiar and normal animals. The giant spiders such as Shelob were descended from normal spiders and Ungoliant , who is possibly an Ainu. BOOKS ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are presented as Tolkien's retelling of events depicted in the Red Book Of Westmarch , which was written by Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, and other Hobbits, and corrected and annotated by one or more Gondorian scholars. Tolkien wrote extensively about the Linguistics , Mythology and History of the world, which provide Back-story for these stories. Many of these writings were edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher . Notable among them is '' The Silmarillion '', which provides a creation story and description of the Cosmology that includes Middle-earth. ''The Silmarillion'' is the primary source of information about Valinor , Númenor , and other lands. Also notable are '' Unfinished Tales '' and the multiple volumes of '' The History Of Middle-earth '', which includes many incomplete stories and essays as well as numerous drafts of Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology, from the earliest forms down through the last writings of his life. Middle-earth works by Tolkien
Tolkien died in 1973. All further works were edited by Christopher Tolkien. Only ''The Silmarillion'' is presented as a finished work — the others are collections of notes and draft versions.
MAPS Tolkien prepared several maps of Middle-earth and the regions of Middle-earth in which his stories took place. Some were published in his lifetime, though some of the earliest maps were not published until after his death. The main maps were those published in ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion''. A map of Númenor was published in ''Unfinished Tales''. Note that the subcontinent Beleriand (left) was later subsumed by the ocean at the end of the First Age; the Blue Mountains at the right edge of the map of Beleriand, are the same Blue Mountains that appear on the extreme left of the map of Middle-earth in the Third Age (right). |
Image:Middle-earthjpgA Redrawing Of The Map Of The North-western Part Of Middle-earth At The End Of The
| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/Third_Age" class="copylinks">Third Age Original map published in '' The Lord Of The Rings '' |
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