Middle-earth

Middle-earth is a conworld by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Middle-earth is certainly one of the most famous and most popular conworlds ever created, being the defining example of a high fantasy world which influenced countless other conworlds. For instance, the modern notions of Elves and Dwarves originate in Middle-earth.

Development of the world (extra-fictional)

Tolkien developed his world in stages. The earliest version, as laid out in the Book of Lost Tales, took shape between 1915 and 1920. At this time, there was no "Second" or "Third Age"; the Book of Lost Tales, like the later Quenta Silmarillion, only covers the events from the creation of the world to the defeat of Melko (Morgoth) and the destruction of Beleriand. Also, the Book of Lost Tales featured a framework story involving an Anglo-Saxon mariner, Eriol, later called Ælfwine, who ventures on the Atlantic Ocean, finds the Elven island Tol Eressea, and gets the old tales told by the Elves. The Elves themselves are also different from later versions in that, while being a heroic and human-sized race in the Elder Days from which the tales tell, had dwindled and become tiny sprites as they are found in Victorian fairy tales. (Also, Tolkien used the words elf and fairy inconsistently to refer to the same race.) Also, the Dwarves were conceived as an evil race, while hobbits did not occur at all.

Tolkien later dropped both the framework story and the notion of dwindling elves. In the 1930s, he added two originally foreign matters to the legendarium, corresponding to the Second and Third Ages. The first was Númenor, an adaptation of the story of the fall of Atlantis. The second was the hobbits and the events concerning them. The children's book The Hobbit (published in 1937) was originally quite independent from the legendarium, though it mentioned a few elements from it, such as the Elves (including the character Elrond), a sword forged in the ancient Elven city of Gondolin, and the Great March of the Eldar. Only with The Lord of the Rings the story of The Hobbit was fully intertwined with the legendarium.

History (fictional)

Creation

The history of Middle-earth begins with a creation myth according to which Eru Ilúvatar (God) created the Ainur (angels) and taught them a great music from which the world (Arda) was born. As in the Judeo-Christian tradition, the impersonation of evil is a fallen angel, Melkor, later known as Morgoth. The Valar (the greatest of the Ainur) set up their residence in Aman, a continent in the west of Arda, separated from Middle-earth proper by a wide ocean.

The Two Trees and the Awakening of the Elves

By this time, there is no sun and no moon, and Arda is lit only by stars. The Valar create two great, luminous trees in Aman as a source of light, and fortify Aman against Melkor. After a long time, the Elves awake at the shore of Cuiviénen, an inland sea in Middle-earth. The Valar invite them to come to Aman, but only a part of the Elves, the Eldar, accept and begin the Great March westward, while others, the Avari, refuse. The Eldar are divided into three groups, the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Teleri. Of these, the Vanyar and the Noldor all go to Aman, while the Teleri split: some reach Aman, while the Sindar stay behind in Beleriand, and the Nandor in the valley of the Anduin river.

Middle-earth conlangs

• Quendian

• Quenya
• Sindarin

• Adûnaic

• Westron

• Khuzdul
• Black Speech
• several others

This article is part of a series on the languages and worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien. Conlangs: Adûnaic * Avarin * Black Speech * Khuzdul * Quenya * Quendian * Sindarin * Westron Conworld: Middle-earth Conpeoples: Elves Terms and techniques coined: Diachronics * Legendarium * Lámatyáve * *