The Atlas of Middle-earth
Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
Dedication
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Map
Introduction
THE FIRST AGE
The First Age
Valinor
Beleriand and the Lands to the North
The Great March
The Flight of the Noldor
Realms—Before the Great Defeat
Menegroth, the Thousand Caves
Nargothrond
Gondolin
Thangorodrim and Angband
Coming of Men
Travels of Beren and Lúthien
Travels of Túrin and Nienor
The Battles of Beleriand
THE SECOND AGE
Introduction
Refugee Relocation
Advent of the Dark Years
Númenor
Voyages of the Númenóreans
The Realms in Exile
The Last Alliance
THE THIRD AGE
Introduction
Kingdoms of the Dúnedain
Battles
The Great Plague
Wainriders and Angmar
Deepening Difficulties
Migrations of Hobbits
Migrations of Dwarves
REGIONAL MAPS
Introduction
The Shire
Eriador
Wilderland
The Misty Mountains
The Brown Lands, the Wold, The Downs, and the Emyn Muil
The White Mountains
Mordor (and Adjacent Lands)
THE HOBBIT
Introduction
Over Hill and Under Hill: Goblin-town
Out of the Frying Pan
Beorn’s Wide Wooden Halls
Attercop, Attercop
Thranduil's Caverns
Lake-town
Lonely Mountain
The Battle of Five Armies
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Introduction
Hobbiton and Bag End
Along the Brandywine
On the Barrow-downs
At the Prancing Pony
Weathertop
Rivendell
Moria
Lothlórien
Helm’s Deep
Isengard
Edoras
Dunharrow
Minas Tirith
The Morannon
Henneth Annûn
The Path to Cirith Ungol
The Tower of Cirith Ungol
Mount Doom
The Battle of the Hornburg
Battles in the North
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields
The Battle of the Morannon
The Battle of By water
Pathways
Bag End to Rivendell
Rivendell to Lórien
Rauros to Dunharrow
Dunharrow to the Morannon
The Journey of Frodo and Sam
The Road Home
The Fourth Age
THEMATIC MAPS
Introduction
Landforms
Climate
Vegetation
Population
Languages
Appendix
Notes
Selected References
Index of Place Names
Index of Selected Place Names for The History of Middle-earth
About the Author
To
Todd, Mark, and Kristi
—(still pieless)—
who have shared ten years of trials
and triumphs from Middle-earth,
and to Kit Keefe, my cheery and
courageous friend who first
lent me The Lord of the Rings
The compass rose on the title page was modified from the heraldic device of Eärendil the Mariner, a design by J.R.R. Tolkien.
© George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd., 1973, 1977, 1979
The runes shown were those used on all maps in Middle-earth, regardless of language. Note that the chief compass point was west, toward Valinor.
númen (west) formen (north)
hyarmen (south) rómen (east)
Copyright © 1991 by Karen Wynn Fonstad
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
www.hmhco.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Fonstad, Karen Wynn.
The atlas of Middle-earth / Karen Wynn Fonstad.—Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-618-12699-6 (pbk.)
1. Tolkien, J.R.R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892–1973—Settings. 2. Middle Earth (Imaginary place)—Maps. I. Title.
G3122.M5F6 1991
823'.912—dc20 91-25932
CIP MAP
eISBN 978-0-547-52440-5
v1.0514
Acknowledgments
Although the quality and accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the product within these pages rests entirely with the author, the work could never have been completed without the encouragement and assistance of many people:
My husband, Todd, an associate professor of geography, who not only lent emotional support, but also provided references and guidance during the critical initial evaluations of the physical geography for the regional and thematic maps.
My mother, Estis Wynn, who painstakingly typed much of the original manuscript, and my sister Marsa Crissup, who retyped it all on a computer.
My husband’s parents, Fay and the late Ward Fonstad, my good friends Lea Meeker and Zenda Gutierrez, and others of my family and friends who listened to my woes, watched the children, ran errands, and forgave me for being too busy to return their good will.
The many readers who have shared their enthusiasm, questions and suggestions during the ten years the Atlas has been available.
Numerous University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh faculty members who answered my questions, including Paul Johnson, William and Doris Hodge, Andrew Bodman, Nils Meland, the late Donald Netzer, Neil Hardman, Donald Bruyere, Herbert Gaede, Ronald Crane, and Marvin Mengeling.
Lisa Richardson, who introduced me to Liquid Eraser™ ink remover!
James M. Goodman, my major professor at the University of Oklahoma, who instructed me in cartography and directed my thesis, giving me the invaluable knowledge of how to organize a long paper.
The staff of Marquette University’s Department of Special Collections and University Archives, who cheerfully gave access to the Tolkien Manuscript Collection, notably Chuck Elston and Taum Santoski. Without the drawings made available at Marquette, this Atlas would have required much more work in the beginning, and would have required far more extensive revision.
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Department of Geography, Cartographic Services, Learning Resources Center, and the Oshkosh Public Library, from which many of my references were drawn.
Houghton Mifflin’s editors and other personnel, who were enthusiastic and supportive from the outset. Special thanks go to my editors on the two editions, Stella Easland on the original, and Ruth Hapgood on the revision, and to Anne Barrett, my delightful first contact.
Robert Foster, without whose excellent glossary the original atlas would have taken much longer to complete.
Christopher Tolkien, whose release of The Silmarillion supplied the spark that began my work, and who has performed a monumental task in organizing The History series.
And especially J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote not only enthralling books, but also meticulous ones. Only such breadth of knowledge and attention to detail could provide the data for an entire atlas—and a revision!
Foreword
In the summer of 1988, a reader (who due to the inadequacy of my ‘non-filing’ system must remain unknown) asked a question which has frequently been posed since the release of The Atlas of Middle-earth in 1981: “Are there any plans to publish a paperback edition?” Of more importance, however, was the reader’s second question: “Will the atlas be revised based on the History of Middle-earth series?” This edition is the direct response to both of those queries.
Even before the original atlas went to press, it required revision when Houghton Mifflin sent the typescript of Unfinished Tales, which was not expected to arrive until after the atlas was in print. Christopher Tolkien apparently began immediately on The History, with the first volume copyrighted in 1983.
Volumes one through five of The History covered the period through the downfall of Númenor, while volumes six through nine expanded on The Lord of the Rings.1 The History thus far has two notable omissions. Except for Unfinished Tales, there is no publication expanding on The Hobbit or the appendices relating the history of the early Third Age, and there may not be.2
The importance of The Hobbit in the history of the evolution of Middle-earth lies then, at this time, in the fact that it was published, and that a sequel to it was demanded . . . Its significance for Middle-earth lies in what it would do, not in what it was.3
Early in the process, the decision was reluctantly made to use The History simply as a reference to confirm and/or elaborate on the original atlas, rather than to add maps and discussion comparing various forms of the stories The History relates. The wealth of information simply could not be incorporated into the atlas without complete redesign, which would double the length, and, most important, produce possible confusion to the thousands of readers who had read only the original (finalized) version of the Middle-earth tales. Also, to avoid simple duplication, History references are listed only when they are correct or if they add extra insight or information to the existing text.
Within the role of correcting the original atlas, The History had an impact in three areas: additional drawings and maps not previously available; more detailed discussions in early versions which were absent (but not necessarily replaced) in the final published accounts; and additional names for many locations. The revision also incorporates suggestions from readers. There has been no attempt to standardize the atlas with maps, drawings, and writings of non-Tolkien sources.
The maps detailing the lands of the earlier ages, especially those in volume four, The Shaping of Middle-earth, were especially helpful in remapping the whole of Arda. In the original atlas the world maps were based strictly on analysis of the written text.
In the volumes covering The Lord of the Rings, one crucial role of The History was the assignment of the various drawings and maps to the appropriate version of the text. This information immediately clarified why some of the sketches that had been available from Marquette University archives during the initial writing and design of the atlas differed in some details from the published descriptions, notably Isengard, Dunharrow, and Minas Tirith.
While Christopher Tolkien states that The Lord of the Rings was created “in waves”4 (the author writing a section of the tale, then recommencing several chapters back), the striking impression is often of the similarities rather than the differences—although it is more intriguing to analyze the latter! Tempting as it was to trace Tolkien’s visions through the various stages, those interested must be referred to The History. The same was true of the many changes of the pathways and chronology. “The Tale of Years” continued to stand as the authority for the quest of the ring, as well as the Elder Days.5
Figure 1
Introduction
LIKE BILBO, I have always loved maps. I was first introduced to The Lord of the Rings in 1969 as a graduate assistant in cartography, when one of the students in my class chose to redraft the map of Middle-earth as her term project. She did not complete her map by the semester’s end. I do not know if she ever did, but the work and the idea stuck with me.
Two years later I finally read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Immediately I developed an explorer’s need to map and classify this (to me) newfound world. The complexity of history, diversity of landscapes, and proliferation of places were so overwhelming that I longed to clarify them with pen and ink for my own satisfaction. I wished for one gigantic indexed map, showing every place-name and all the pathways. Rereadings, so numerous that I have ceased to count them, only reinforced this need. Finally, I tackled the project. With no schedule except my own, the work went slowly. The publication of The Silmarillion filled so many gaps, and added so many new complexities, that I finally realized no one map could ever be sufficient; and from that realization came this atlas.
Tolkien warned us not to ask to see the “bones” boiled to make the “soup,”6 but in the preface to The History Christopher Tolkien stated: ‘Such inquiries are in no way illegitimate in principle; they arise from an acceptance of the imagined world as an object of contemplation or study valid as many other objects of contemplation or study in the all too unimaginary world.’7 In accord with this attitude many of us have such an insatiable desire to look into every corner of Middle-earth that we seem unable to follow Tolkien’s advice. So, properly warned, I shall attempt to show you some of the “bones.”
Tolkien’s “Sub-Creation”
In “On Fairy-Stories” Tolkien explained that in order to make an imaginary land (and the story that takes place within it) believable, the Secondary World must have the “inner consistency of reality.”8 The more a Secondary World differs from our Primary one, the more difficult it becomes to keep it credible. It demands “a kind of elvish craft.”9
Tolkien did not wish to create a totally new Secondary World. In an interview he once responded, “If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it’s my wonder and delight in the Earth as it is, particularly the natural earth.”10 He also wanted to provide a new mythology from the English viewpoint.11 So he took our world, with its processes, and infused it with just enough changes to make it “faerie.” This was the basis of all the decisions necessary for the atlas: (1) What would it be like in our Primary World? (2) How was it affected by the Secondary World?
Round Versus Flat
Although Kocher suggested that we should not look too closely into a question that Tolkien chose to ignore,12 the consideration of whether this world was round or flat is inescapable for the cartographer attempting to map a world. One reference strongly indicated that Arda was originally flat: At the time of the fall of Númenor, Valinor was removed from Arda; then “the world was indeed made round,” although those permitted could still find the “Straight Road” to Valinor.13 Prior to the change, the usage of the phrase “Circles of the World”14 referred not to a planetary spherical shape, but rather to the physical outer limits or “confines.”15 The maps and diagrams in The Shaping of Middle-Earth, “The Ambarkanta,” all confirm this interpretation.
Tolkien was envisioning his world much as our medieval cartographers viewed our own.16 They showed the earth as a disk, with oceans around the circumference. The top was oriented toward “Paradise” in the east. Conversely, Tolkien stated that in Middle-earth the compass points began with and faced west17—apparently toward Valinor, their Paradise. In spite of Tolkien’s comment, however, all his maps were oriented for his readers rather than for inhabitants of Middle-earth. They show north at the top, and those in this Atlas do the same.
From the edge of the disk, however, the reader sees the ‘Vista’ (inner airs) domed above the land surface, and the solid ‘Ambar’ (earth) below; with ‘Vaiya’ (the encircling ‘seas’—but obviously not used in the usual sense of seas) separating the whole from ‘Kúma’ (the Void).18 There is
no contradiction in the statement “it was globed amid the Void,”19 for the diagrams clearly demonstrate that Middle-earth could be both round and flat! So we can safely consider Middle-earth as flat—at least until the Fall of Númenor . . .
After the fashion of the world was changed, and Arda was made round, there were cartographic difficulties. The maps of Middle-earth included in The Lord of the Rings showed both a north arrow and a bar scale. This means that both distance and direction were considered to be accurate—an impossibility in mapping a round world. One of the biggest mapping problems through the centuries has been putting a round world on a flat piece of paper. It is impossible for all distances to be correct in any case. If the direction is consistent, then the shapes and areas are distorted. Maps of small areas can ignore the variations as negligible, but continent and world-sized maps cannot. Accuracy of any of these properties can only result in inaccuracy of the others. How many of us once thought Greenland was larger than South America thanks to wall maps at school!
So we return to the beginning—Tolkien’s world, at least after the Change, was round; yet it appears to have been mapped as flat. The only reasonable solution is to map his maps—treating his round world as if it were flat. Then Middle-earth will appear to us as it did to Tolkien. After all, how few of us really perceive ourselves as living on a rounded surface, even though we know it is!
Indexing Locations
One of the major goals of this project was to provide an index with which places could be readily located. In an atlas of the Primary World, coordinates would be listed using latitude and longitude. We have been given neither. Latitude can be roughly guessed by climatic clues—seasons and wind patterns. These alone indicate that the familiar lands of the northwest must have lain in roughly the locale of Europe. Tolkien, upon questioning, was even reported to have said that Middle-earth is Europe,20 but later denied it.21