The Middle-earth reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Middle-earth

Sponsorship the way you would do it
Middle-earth is the continent on J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional ancient Earth where most of the tales of his legendarium take place.

The term "Middle-earth" was not invented by Tolkien; it is English for Old Norse Midgard and meant the world of men in the mythological universe of the Germanic people. Middangeard occurs, for instance, half a dozen times in Beowulf, which Tolkien translated and worked much on it as a scholar (Also see J. R. R. Tolkien on discussion of his inspirations and sources). See Midgard and Norse mythology for the older use.

Tolkien was also inspired by this fragment:

Eala earendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended.
Hail Eärendel, brightest of angels / above the middle-earth sent unto men.

in the Crist poem of Cynewulf (notice also the name Eärendel, which led to the name Eärendil).

The name was consciously used by Tolkien to place The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and related writings. Tolkien's great mythological tales of Middle-earth are meant to be taken, fictitiously, as an ancient history of the Earth, particularly of Europe, from several thousand years before the lands took their present shape.

Although 'Middle-earth' strictly refers to a specific continent (called Endor in Quenya and Ennor in Sindarin, meaning "middle land"), representing what we know as Eurasia and Africa, the term is often used to refer to this entire 'earth' (properly called Arda). This because Aman was removed from Arda, and the Eastlands were unknown, and thus 'Middle-earth' was the only known part of the world.

If the map of Middle-earth is projected on our real Earth (a rough approximation at best), and some of the most obvious climatological, botanical, and zoological similarities are aligned, we get the Hobbits' Shire in the temperate Southern England, Gondor in the Mediterranean Italy and Greece, Mordor in the arid Turkey and Middle East, South Gondor in the deserts of Northern Africa, the Rhovanion in the forests of Eastern Europe and the steppes of Western and Southern Russia, and the Ice Bay of Forochel in the fjords of Norway.

Tolkien wrote extensively about the linguistics, mythology and history of the land, which form the back-story for these stories. Most of these writings, with the exception of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, were edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher. Notable among them is The Silmarillion, which describes a larger cosmology which includes Middle-earth as well as Valinor, Númenor, and other lands. Also notable are Unfinished Tales and the multiple volumes of The History of Middle-earth, which include incomplete stories and essays as well as detailing the development of Tolkien's writings from early drafts through the last writings of his life.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings present themselves as the life work of Bilbo, Frodo and other Hobbits: see the Red Book of Westmarch. It is clear that Middle-earth is supposed to take place in north-western Europe in an imaginary time long before recorded history: the lands of the Shire resemble England precisely because they occupy the same geographical position. Like Shakespeare's King Lear or Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories, the tales occupy a historical period that could not have actually existed.

Table of contents
1 A note on "truth" and canon
2 Cosmology
3 Historical periods
4 Characters
5 Races
6 Places
7 Major languages
8 Items
9 Unions
10 Battles
11 Timeline
12 Games
13 External Links
14 References

A note on "truth" and canon

It is remarkably difficult to speak of what is true in the context of Middle-earth, perhaps more so than for any other fictional world, such as Greek mythology. There are various reasons for this:

As essentially only The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil were published during Tolkien's lifetime, only those works (in their latest editions) can be considered true canon, and even then questions remain about a few minor deviations from his intent (as can be seen from the drafts of LOTR in the History of Middle-earth series). The Silmarillion was heavily edited for consistency with the LOTR and internal consistency and therefore is by some considered to be canonical, however Christopher Tolkien himself has stated multiple times after its publication that the book contains many factual errors introduced by this editing. Unfinished Tales and the Silmarillion sections of History of Middle-earth (HoME) have not generally received such editing for consistency, and they therefore are not only at points inconsistent with the published Silmarillion, but also with the LOTR or even themselves.

An example of the canon question is the lineage of Gil-galad. In the published Silmarillion he is said to be the son of Fingon, but as disclosed in the HoME Tolkien considered many arrangements before apparently deciding that he was the son of Orodreth, who would then also be displaced as a son of Finarfin and turned into Finarfin's grandson instead. If the published Silmarillion is taken as canon all later material must be discarded, but if the later writings by Tolkien are taken as canon the Silmarillion must be rewritten, a task which Christopher Tolkien has stated he will not do as he is now retired. So we are left with a Quenta Silmarillion which contradicts the original author's intentions, but which is the only consistent narrative in existence for most of the traditions. The latter third of the Quenta Silmarillion in particular was never rewritten by Tolkien as a whole after the early narrative of his youth.

A further problem is reconciling The Hobbit with The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was revised by Tolkien to make it more consistent with its sequel, but there are still problems. For example, Bilbo and the Dwarves took far too long to reach Rivendell when a map from LOTR is used to gauge the distance, which can only be explained with great difficulty if at all. There are additional problems as well, such as the exact location of the Troll encounter. When writing The Hobbit Tolkien did not yet consider that the world of Hobbits might be the same as his Middle-earth, but he still included several references to his (at the time) unpublished tales to give the story a sense of depth. Thus Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield wield swords from Gondolin, and Elrond, ruler of Rivendell, is Half-elven.

Middle-earth map
A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth after the end of the First Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda

Cosmology

Historical periods

  1. Years of the Lamps
  2. Years of the Trees
  3. Years of the Sun
    1. First Age
    2. Second Age
    3. Third Age
    4. Fourth Age

Characters

What follows is a brief and inevitably incomplete listing of characters from Tolkien's work who lived in Middle-earth. Note that characters are sorted according to several groups, and may appear multiple times. For a full list of characters see: List of Middle-earth characters.

First Age

House of Finwë

Sons of Fëanor House of Fingolfin House of Finarfin House of Elwë and Olwë House of Bëor House of Marach Descendants of Lúthien and Beren Descendants of Idril and Tuor Haladin of Brethil Others For a list of the Valar, see that article.

Second Age

Kings of Númenor: see Kings of Númenor

Sauron, aka Annatar

Ringwraiths or Nazgûl

Third Age

Thorin and Company

The Fellowship of the Ring Kings of Gondor: see Kings of Gondor

Kings of Arnor: see Kings of Arnor

Kings of Arthedain: see Kings of Arthedain

Chiefs of the Rangers of Arnor: see Chiefs of the Dúnedain

Stewards of Gondor: see Steward of Gondor

Kings of Rohan: see Kings of Rohan

Wizards or Istari:

Dwarves of Durin's folk: see Durin's folk

Other characters

Races

Places

The stories takes mostly place in Beleriand, Eriador, and Rhovanion, but there are many other places in Middle-earth.

See also Aman, Númenor for places outside Middle-earth.

Nations and large regions

First Age only:

Present after the First Age: See also Regions of Gondor, Realms of Arda.

Natural features

Middle-earth was carefully designed by Tolkien, and contains many natural features such as rivers, mountains, seas, etc..

Large waters

Mountains and Hills

Rivers

First Age only:

See also the Seven rivers of Ossiriand


Present after the First Age:


See also Rivers of Gondor

For a full list of rivers, see: List of Middle-earth rivers.



Cities, fortresses and other populated places

First Age only:

Present after the First Age:
See also Cities of Gondor


Major languages


Items


Weapons


Unions


Battles


Timeline

See Timeline of Middle-earth.

For a full list of Middle-earth related articles, see: List of Middle-earth articles.


Games


Role-playing Games

The works of Tolkien have been a major influence on role-playing games along with others such as Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft and Michael Moorcock. Although the most famous game to be inspired partially by the setting was Dungeons & Dragons, there have been two specifically Middle-earth based and licensed games. 
These are the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game from Decipher Inc and the Middle Earth Role Play game (MERP) from Iron Crown Enterprises.


War Games

Simulations Publications created three  war games based on Tolkien's work.  War of the Ring covered most of the events in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Gondor focused on the battle of Pelennor Fields, and Sauron covered the Second Age battle before the gates of Mordor.


Computer Games

The computer game Angband is a free roguelike D&D-style game that features many characters from Tolkien's works.


External Links


References

   






J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium


Finished works
The Hobbit |
The Lord of the Rings |
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil |
The Road Goes Ever On |
Bilbo's Last Song


Posthumous works (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
The Silmarillion |
Unfinished Tales |
The History of Middle-earth
The Book of Lost Tales |
The Lays of Beleriand |
The Shaping of Middle-earth |
The Lost Road and Other Writings |
The History of The Lord of the Rings |
Morgoth's Ring |
The War of the Jewels |
The  Peoples of Middle-earth 


List of Middle-earth articles |
writings |
characters |
peoples |
rivers |
realms |
ages