The geography of Middle-earth encompasses the physical, political, and moral geography of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, strictly a continent on the planet of Arda but widely taken to mean the physical world, and Eä, all of creation, as well as all of his writings about it. [1] Arda was created as a flat world, incorporating a Western continent, Aman, which became the home of the godlike Valar, as well as Middle-earth. At the end of the First Age, the Western part of Middle-earth, Beleriand, was drowned in the War of Wrath. In the Second Age, a large island, Númenor, was created in the Great Sea, Belegaer, between Aman and Middle-earth; it was destroyed in a cataclysm near the end of the Second Age, in which Arda was remade as a spherical world, and Aman was removed so that Men could not reach it. The first adaptation to be shown was The Hobbit in 1977, made by Rankin-Bass studios. This was initially shown on United States television. The Years of the Sun began when the Valar made the Sun and it rose over the world. After several great battles, a long peace ensued for four hundred years, during which time the first Men 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 Iron 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. Shelton, Luke (19 February 2021). "The Best (And Worst) Reference Books For Tolkien". Luke Shelton . Retrieved 29 October 2021.

Bilbo's cousin and heir Frodo Baggins sets out on a quest to rid Middle-earth of the One Ring, joined by the Fellowship of the Ring. Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981). The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-31555-2. The history of Middle-earth is divided into three time periods, known as the Days before days, Years of the Trees, and Years of the Sun; the last is typically sub-divided further into four Ages. The Misty Mountains are a fictional mountain range in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy setting of Middle-earth. It was also called Hithaeglir (“mist-peak-line” in Sindarin), the Mountains of Mist, or the Towers of Mist. The range stretched continuously for some 900 miles (1440 kilometers) across the continent of Middle-earth. Lothlórien, also known as Lorien, was a forest and Elven realm near the lower Misty Mountains. It was first settled by Nandorin Elves, but later populated by Ñoldor and Sindar under Celeborn of Doriath and Galadriel, daughter of Finarfin. It was located on the River Celebrant, southeast of Khazad-dûm, and was the only place where the golden Mallorn trees grew. Minas Tirith

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It was inhabited by all the Free peoples of Middle-earth, being the location of many of the most important events of the Second and Third Ages. By the end of the Third Age, its main inhabitants were Hobbits of the Shire and Men of the surrounding lands. Esgaroth Tolkien's stories chronicle the struggle to control the world (called Arda) and the continent of Middle-earth between, on one side, the angelic Valar, the Elves and their allies among Men; and, on the other, the demonic Melkor or Morgoth (a Vala fallen into evil), his followers, and their subjects, mostly Orcs, Dragons and enslaved Men. [T 2] In later ages, after Morgoth's defeat and expulsion from Arda, his place is taken by his lieutenant Sauron, a Maia. [T 3]

The Pelennor Fields was a large field surrounding (mostly to the east) Minas Tirith, the largest city and capital of Gondor. Rhûn Tolkien devised two predominant Elvish languages that would later be called Quenya, spoken by the Vanyar, Ñoldor, and some Teleri, and Sindarin, spoken by the Elves who stayed in Beleriand (see below). These languages were related, and a Common Eldarin form ancestral to them both is postulated. Beleriand was a vast region located in north-western Middle-earth during the First Age. Originally, its name referred only to the area around the Bay of Balar, but in time the name was also applied to the entire land. The root of the word, Beler or Balar, is believed to refer to the Maia Ossë, who often dwelt at the shores of Balar. The War of Wrath at the end of the First Age brought the destruction of the entire continent (except Lindon), and its descent into the sea. Dol Guldur Here Are The Biggest Academy Award Milestones In Oscars History". Hollywood.Com. 3 February 2016 . Retrieved 3 March 2021.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 with the War of Wrath. Morgoth was captured, most of his works were destroyed, and he was banished beyond the confines of the world into the Door of Night. However, in the latter half of the Third Age, the stronghold came into the possession of Saruman, becoming his personal realm and home until his defeat in the War of the Ring. Khazad-dûm Bree was a village, of Men and hobbits, in Middle-earth, located east of the Shire and south of Fornost in Eriador. It’s home to the famous inn The Prancing Pony, owned and run by Barliman Butterbur. Beleriand This is from the Crist poems by Cynewulf. The name Éarendel was the inspiration for Tolkien's mariner Eärendil, [T 5] who set sail from the lands of Middle-earth to ask for aid from the angelic powers, the Valar. Tolkien's earliest poem about Eärendil, from 1914, the same year he read the Crist poems, refers to "the mid-world's rim". [3] Tolkien considered middangeard to be "the abiding place of men", [T 6] the physical world in which Man lives out his life and destiny, as opposed to the unseen worlds above and below it, namely Heaven and Hell. He states that it is "my own mother-earth for place", but in an imaginary past time, not some other planet. [T 7] He began to use the term "Middle-earth" in the late 1930s, in place of the earlier terms "Great Lands", "Outer Lands", and "Hither Lands". [3] The first published appearance of the word "Middle-earth" in Tolkien's works is in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings: "Hobbits had, in fact, lived quietly in Middle-earth for many long years before other folk even became aware of them". [T 8] Extended usage [ edit ] Arda versus "Middle-earth": Middle-earth is in geographic terms the name of the continent inhabited by Elves, Dwarves and Men, excluding the home of the Valar on Aman, while Arda is the name of the world. However, "Middle-earth" is widely used for the whole of Tolkien's legendarium. [4] (Depicted: Arda in the Years of the Trees) Stories and essays related to the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings, but many were never completed.

Flood, Alison (23 October 2015). "Tolkien's annotated map of Middle-earth discovered inside copy of Lord of the Rings". The Guardian.Thank you very much for your letter. ... It came while I was away, in Gondor ( sc. Venice), as a change from the North Kingdom, or I would have answered before. [13] Campbell, Alice (2013) [2007]. "Maps". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. pp.405–408. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The Silmarillion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2.

The development of The Lord of the Rings, from 'The Hobbit 2' to what would become more a sequel for ' The Silmarillion'. Sauron Defeated also includes another version of the Númenor connection It is unknown to what people of Middle-earth Tom Bombadil belonged. As to his nature, Tolkien himself said that some things should remain mysterious in any mythology, hidden even to its inventor. Bowers, John M. (2019). Tolkien's Lost Chaucer. Oxford University Press. p. The term "Middle-earth" was not invented by J.R.R. Tolkien. Rather, it comes from Middle English middel-erde, itself a folk-etymology for the Old English word middangeard ( geard not meaning 'Earth', but rather 'enclosure' or 'place', thus 'yard', with the Old Norse word miðgarðr being a cognate). It is Germanic for what the Greeks called the οικουμένη ( oikoumenē) or "the abiding place of men", the physical world as opposed to the unseen worlds ( The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 151). The word Mediterranean comes from two Latin stems, medi- , amidst, and terra, (earth/land), meaning "the sea placed at the middle of the Earth / amidst the lands".