The Lord of the Ringsis known for Middle-earth, but Middle-earth is just one continent in Arda, which is the world within Eä - the universe created by J.R.R. Tolkien.Middle-earth’s God, Eru Ilúvatar, created spirit beings called Ainur first, and they lived with him in the Timeless Halls outside Eä. Eru proposed a musical theme and the Ainur sang the magical Ainulindalë, which Eru then revealed had visualized a plan for Eä. The 15 most powerful Ainur, the Valar, went down into Eä with Ainur of a lesser degree called Maiar, and together they built what they had visualized.
As Eru ordained, these Ainur couldn’t leave Eä until it was ended. Outside Eä lay the void. The Vala Melkor sought total control and gathered many Maiar to his service. The other Valar opposed Melkor and his forces from the Days before Days into the First Age. Coming to be known inthe Elvish language Quenyaas Morgoth, or “Black Foe,” Melkor was eventually defeated and cast into the void until the final battle, the Dagor Dagorath, a story Tolkien didn’t finalize. Meanwhile, realms rose and fell in Arda untilThe Lord of the Rings' Third Age, making the full map of Middle-earth intricate and complex.
The Shire
Eriador
The Shire may be Middle-earth’s most famous spot, inhabited byLord of the Rings’main character, Frodo Baggins.The Shire was the home of Frodo’s friendsSamwise Gamgee, Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took, and Bilbo Baggins, the main character ofPeter Jackson’sThe Hobbitmovies. The Shire is practically synonymous with Howard Shore’s legendary “Concerning Hobbits,” which sounds just like coming home. Shore’s soundtrack toThe Lord of the Ringsmovies made the Shire seem as beautiful and peaceful as Tolkien described it.
The Shire was a politically defined Hobbit territory in Eriador, a western Middle-earth region that spanned the area from the western Blue Mountains to the Misty Mountains eastward. Previously, it had contained Arnor, which became subdivided into Arthedain, Cardolan, and Rhudaur, which eventually fell.Hobbits migrated westwardand reached the by-then unsettled Eriador, with Fallohides entering in the year 1150 of the Third Age. Hobbits agreed the bounds of the Shire with King Argeleb II of Gondor in T.A. 1601.
Before time
33,537
10,061
Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
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3,441
T.A. 1 - 3021
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The Shire was divided into the North, South, East, and West Farthings. The East and West Marches were outside the Farthings. Tookland was inhabited mostly by Tooks and was a large region in the Westfarthing. Buckland was east of the Brandywine River, otherwise known as the Baranduin. Most inhabitants of Buckland were the Brandybuck family. The Westmarch was to the west of the farthings.Bag End was in Hobbiton, which was in Westfarthing and reasonably central in the Shire.
Bree
Just off the Great East Road,Bree was one of the Shire’s earliest settlementsand was just east of Buckland. Bree was the chief village of Bree-land. Bree-landers claimed to have been the first smokers of pipe-weed, which the Shire was famous for. Hobbits lived together with Men of Bree, who had settled Bree in the Elder Days (before the Second Age).
Grey Havens
The Grey Havens were in western Eriador. Also known as Mithlond, the havens were ruled by Círdan the Shipwright,Middle-earth’s oldest Elfin the Third Age.Ships set sail from the Grey Havens to and from the continent of Aman, which had been removed from the Circles of the World in the Second Age and was only accessible by the Straight Road. Aman’s most famous realm was Valinor, the land of the Valar.
All 15 Types Of Men In Lord Of The Rings Explained
There were many different civilizations of Men in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, with Peter Jackson’s movies just scratching the surface.
When the War of Wrath sankthe realm of Beleriand, the Blue Mountains were split and water flowed into the gap, forming the Gulf of Lhûn.The Grey Havens were formed at the start of the Second Agearound this gap. The remnant of Beleriand, Lindon, was above and below the Gulf of Lhûn, to the west of the Grey Havens.
Dunland
Dunland constituted the southernmost part of Eriador and was inhabited by Dunlendings. The Dunlendings were employed by Saruman to help him fight Rohan, as seen inThe Lord of the Rings:The Two Towersmovie.Dunlendings had been in conflict with Rohanever since Rohan’s people, the Rohirrim, were granted disputed land by Gondor’s king. The Rohirrim had come from Rhovanion to a land that the Dunlendings were protective of.
The Warner Bros. anime movieThe Lord of the Rings: the War of the Rohirrimwill cover the Rohirrim’s conflict with the Dunlendings, out on August 14, 2025.
The Dunlendings sprung from the Haladin, a reclusive house of the Edain - the first Men, and those who hadn’t sided with Morgoth in the battles of the Elder Days (perThe Peoples of Middle-earth). They first settled Dunland in the Second Age, fleeing the ruthless colonization of Númenóreans returning from Númenor.The Dunlendings were long sundered in language and culture from the Edain-descended Númenóreans, which didn’t help relations. When Gondor formed, Dunland became its territory, but it eventually withdrew.
Rivendell
Misty Mountains
Rivendell was founded by Elrond in S.A. 1697 as he fled from Sauron’s forces during the War of Sauron and the Elves.Elrond and his people took sanctuary in this outpostin the Misty Mountains, having run from Eregion as it fell to Sauron. Rivendell became one ofthe greatest Elvish strongholds in Middle-earth, protected by Elrond and Vilya, his Ring of Power.
Sauron began construction on Barad-dûr
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Sauron befriended the Elves of Eregion as Annatar
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Rings of Power were forged
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The Three great Elven Rings were forged
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The One Ring was forged, Barad-dûr was completed, Sauron openly proclaimed himself
1600
Sauron began to prepare to invade Eriador
1605
The War of the Elves and Sauron began
1693
Sauron invaded Eriador
1695
Sauron sacked Eregion and killed Celebrimbor. Rivendell was founded. The Dwarves assailed Sauron. Khazad-dûm closed.
1697
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Númenóreans defeated Sauron
1700
Sauron was driven from Eriador and fled to Mordor. First White Council held
1701
Ar-Pharazôn seized the scepter
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Sauron became Pharazôn’s prisoner in Númenor
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Númenor fell
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Elrond’s daughter, Arwen, lived with him in Rivendell for much of her life. She also spent a lot of time with her grandparents, Galadriel and Celeborn, in Lothlórien. As distant relations of Elrond,the Chieftains of the Dúnedain were fostered in Rivendellsince T.A. 2012, which was how Aragorn came to be raised there and met Arwen.
Moria
Moria was located in the middle of the Misty Mountains and was otherwise known as Khazad-dûm.Khazad-dûm was one of the greatest Dwarvish coloniesin Middle-earth history since the Years of the Trees.Khazad-dûm was founded in the Elder Daysby Durin the Deathless, who awoke under Mount Gundabad, the northernmost point of the Misty Mountains. The Dwarves were the creation of Aulë, the smith, one of the eight Aratar, the 15 Valar, and one of Tolkien’s greatest demigods.
Moria was reclaimed by Balin in T.A. 2989, taken by Orcs in T.A. 2994, and finally resettled by Durin VII in the Fourth Age.
Blessed with the Imperishable Flame by Eru, Dwarves were given life. Durin was the first Dwarf, the oldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves.Durin ruled Khazad-dûm with his peopleuntil their mining unearthed a Balrog in T.A. 1981 and the colony was deserted. Moria was reclaimed by Balin in T.A. 2989, taken by Orcs in T.A. 2994, and finally resettled by Durin VII in the Fourth Age.
Fangorn Forest
Fangorn Forest was the realm of the Ents inThe Lord of the Rings. Merry and Pippin famously adventured through it with Treebeard inThe Two Towersbook and movie. Fangorn Forest is at the southeastern end of the Misty Mountains and may be named after the Ent Fangorn.Fangorn Forest was the easternmost remnant of a huge forestthat spanned Middle-earth in the Elder Days but was devastated by Númenórean expansion.
Isengard
Isengard is at the foot of the Misty Mountains, flanked by the Ring of Isengard. This circle of mountains protected Orthanc, Isengard’s great tower, originally built by early Gondorians as they were settling Middle-earth afterthe fall of Númenor. Led by Elendil and his sons, Isildur and Anárion, thefleeing Númenóreans built the Realms in Exile, founding settlements and structures that would remain great long into the Fourth Age and beyond.
The Lord of the Ringsis one novel, but it was first published in three parts, between 1954 and 1955, due to its length, and is still often published in three parts.
Orthanc’s keys were passed to Gondor, while the local Rohirrim and Dunlendings warred. Saruman offered to manage Isengard, which Gondor and Rohan, who were allies, welcomed. Gradually,Saruman fell under Sauron’s swayand populated Isengard withOrcs and Uruk-hai. However, the Ents reclaimed this territory during the War of the Ring.
Mirkwood
Rhovanion
Mirkwood was known as Greenwood the Great before the shadow fell over it. Occupying perhaps the better part of Rhovanion, Mirkwood is partially what gave the region its name, with Rhovanion being Sindarin (Elvish) for “Wilderland.“Greenwood the Great possibly connected to Eriador’s Old Forestin the Elder Days before the War of Wrath and migrating civilizations changed Middle-earth’s structure.
Karen Wynn Fonstad’sThe Atlas of Tolkien’s Middle-earthis the most lore-accurate Tolkien cartography since Tolkien’s own maps.
Nandor Elves migrating from Cuiviénen settled Greenwood, which eventually fell into the hands of Sindar Thranduil, father of Legolas. In the Third Age,Sauron built Dol Guldur in southern Greenwood, and dangerous flora and fauna spread from it, turning Greenwood into Mirkwood. After Sauron fell, Galadriel and Celeborn conquered Dol Guldur and divided Mirkwood between themselves, Thranduil, the Beornings, and the Woodmen. They renamed it the Wood of Greenleaves.
Lothlórien
Just east of the Misty Mountains, Lothlórien was first occupied by Nandor Elves but was established as the realm ofLord of the Ringsfame by Amdir near the start of the Second Age. Amdir rejected the common Elvish choice of sailing back West to Valinor after the War of Wrath. With Beleriand sunk and only Lindon remaining, most Elves departed Middle-earth for Valinor, but those who stayed spread out. Sindar Elf Amdir and his son, Amroth, took over the rule of Lothlórien.Noldor noble Galadriel and her husband, Celeborn, moved thereand assumed leadership in the Third Age.
