Jump to content

Middle-earth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ausir (talk | contribs) at 11:39, 5 July 2004 (→Inspiration). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.


File:Middleearth.jpg
A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth after the end of the First Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda

Middle-earth is the name for the lands on J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional ancient Earth where most of the tales of his legendarium take place.

Inspiration

The term "Middle-earth" was not invented by Tolkien, rather it existed in Old English as middanġeard, in Middle English as midden-erd or middel-erd; in Old Norse it was called Midgard. It is English for what the Greeks called the oikoumenē or "the abiding place of men", the physical world as opposed to the unseen worlds.

Middangeard occurs half a dozen times in Beowulf which Tolkien translated and was, arguably, the world's foremost expert in. (See also 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 Earendel, brightest of angels / above the middle-earth sent unto men.

in the Crist poem of Cynewulf. The name earendel (which may mean the 'morning-star' but in some contexts was a name for Christ) was the inspiration for Tolkien's mariner 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.

The world

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 was 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 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. According to Tolkien, the Shire is supposed to reside at the approximate location of England's Midlands area (specifically Warwickshire), whereas Minas Tirith in Gondor is comparable to Venice, and Pelargir with Byzantium (Constantinople).

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.

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:

  • Tolkien worked on Middle-earth over the course of decades, making substantial changes. Readers may remember, for example, the differences between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with regard to Gandalf and the Elves. Moreover, toward the end of his life the focus of his writing shifted from pure story telling to more philosophical concerns, which led to a considerable shift in tone and content.
  • Tolkien's writing is laden with details and hints, which can sometimes be contradictory, especially in the posthumously published work. Such information should not take precedence over more explicit statements elsewhere, but it can help to flesh out our understanding of Middle-earth (even if it does at times add confusion). In general, the revised versions of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are considered canon, but with The Silmarillion the matter is more complex.
  • To add to the confusion, in some cases, Tolkien intentionally left some gaps in his works. In one of his letters (#144) he provided both an explanation and an example of this, writing that "even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)." Giving an incomplete picture in this way can be frustrating, but it also makes the invented world feel more natural.
I am doubtful myself about the undertaking. Part of the attraction of the L.R. is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed. Also many of the older legends are purely 'mythological', and nearly all are grim and tragic: a long account of the disasters that destroyed the beauty of the Ancient World, from the darkening of Valinor to the Downfall of Númenor and the flight of Elendil.
Tolkien's letter #247

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.


Books

Works by Tolkien published in his lifetime

Works by Tolkien published posthumously

The History of Middle-earth series:

Books about Tolkien's world by other authors

A small selection of the dozens of books about Tolkien and his worlds:

Films

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. A war game based on the Lord of the Rings movies is currently being produced by Games Workshop.

Computer Games

The computer game Angband is a free roguelike D&D-style game that features many characters from Tolkien's works. The most complete list of Tolkien-inspired computer games can be found at http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Middle-earth&oldid=4453378"