![]() Tolkien wrote in “Akallabeth” and “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” that Middle-earth’s geography was changed near the end of the Second Age. Some people have wrongly stated this is my speculation – it’s not. More importantly, the Second Age geography of Middle-earth prior to the Downfall of Numenor was different from the geography depicted by the Third Age map you see published in The Lord of the Rings. Numerous cartographers have noted through the years that it would be logically impossible to match these maps accurately. ![]() HOWEVER…The Silmarillion map supposedly represents a “flat” world geography whereas the Lord of the Rings map supposedly represents a “round” world geography. But see below for why this is a misleading hybridization. ![]() You can see the graphic here (no Facebook account required). UPDATED 2020: The Tolkien Compass published a reasonable attempt to combine the maps on Facebook. In The Treason of Isengard (Volume VII of The History of Middle-earth) Christopher also mentions a scale of 2cm to 100 miles for the “First Map” for The Lord of the Rings.Īssuming one reproduced scans of these grid-lined maps such that four of the Silmarillion grid-boxes fit within 1 of the LoTR grid-boxes, you might be able to approximate an overlap between the two regions. What I have been able to find is that in The Lost Road and Other Writings (Volume V of The History of Middle-earth) Christopher notes a scale of 3.2cm to 50 miles for the “Second Silmarillion Map” and in The War of the Rings (Volume VIII of The History of Middle-earth) he notes a scale of 2cm to 100 miles for the “Second Map” for The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately I cannot find the reference as I write this article (hence, my memory of the passage may be wrong), but I believe that Christopher Tolkien suggested in The History of Middle-earth that (one of) the Silmarillion (maps) and (one of the) Lord of the Rings maps could be viewed side-by-side if the Silmarillion map was adjusted to half-scale. Q: Do Any Maps Accurately Show Beleriand and Eriador Together?ĪNSWER: I am not aware of any such maps, although I have reviewed many attempts to join them.
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