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80-482: Tolkien stated that the stories were made to create a world for his elvish languages , not the reverse. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that The Silmarillion derived from the linguistic relationship between the two languages, Quenya and Sindarin , of the divided Elves. The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger states that Tolkien used the Indo-European type of proto-language as his model. In her view,

160-462: A family of several related languages and dialects. In 1937, Tolkien drafted the Lhammas and The Etymologies , both edited and published in the 1987 The Lost Road and Other Writings . They depict a tree of languages analogous to that of the Indo-European languages that Tolkien knew as a philologist. This was internally consistent, but for one thing. Central to the story was the history of

240-432: A Tolkien scholar, notes that Tolkien did not provide the same "elaborate textual history" to contextualise his maps as he did for his writings . Danielson suggests that this has assisted the tendency among Tolkien's fans to treat his maps as "geographical fact". He calls Fonstad's atlas "magisterial", and comments that like Tolkien, Fonstad worked from the assumption that the maps, like the texts, "are objective facts" which

320-647: A kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me." He had started his study of the Finnish language to be able to read the Kalevala epic. The ingredients in Quenya are various, but worked out into a self-consistent character not precisely like any language that I know. Finnish, which I came across when I first begun to construct a 'mythology' was a dominant influence , but that has been much reduced [now in late Quenya]. It survives in some features: such as

400-673: A language. With the sundering of the Elves , all the Elvish languages are presumed to be descendants of this common ancestor, including the two languages that Tolkien developed most fully, Quenya and Sindarin, as shown in the tree diagram. Telerin (Silvan) Nandorin Sindarin Noldorin Quenya (later, Exilic Quenya) Vanyarin Quenya Avarin (6+ languages) In detail, Tolkien invented two subfamilies (subgroups) of

480-506: A map, and made the story fit (generally with meticulous care for distances). The other way about lands one in confusions and impossibilities, and in any case it is weary work to compose a map from a story. Writing in Mythlore , Jefferson P. Swycaffer suggested that the political and strategic situations of Gondor and Mordor in the Siege of Gondor were "analogous to Constantinople facing

560-796: A radical solution: the Noldor adopted the local language, Sindarin, as spoken by the Sindar or Green-Elves, when they settled in Beleriand. That allowed Noldorin to be, more plausibly, a scarcely-altered dialect of Quenya; and it freed up his linguistically-developed material to be rebadged as Sindarin, which would have had a long time to evolve in Middle-earth. This was to some extent an awkward solution, as Sindarin had quite different origins, and should have developed rather differently. Tolkien reshaped his "Tree of Tongues" accordingly. The Etymologies

640-455: A single place in the real world, while other locations have had two or more real-world origins proposed for them. The sources are diverse, spanning classical , medieval , and modern elements . Other elements relate to Old English poetry : several of the customs of Rohan in particular can be traced to Beowulf , on which Tolkien was an expert. Some Middle-earth placenames were based on the sound of places named in literature; thus, Beleriand

720-464: A world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows. Tolkien created scripts for his Elvish languages, of which the best known are Sarati , Tengwar , and Cirth . J. R. R. Tolkien began to construct his first Elvin tongue c. 1910–1911 while he was at the King Edward's School, Birmingham and which he later named Quenya (c. 1915). At that time, Tolkien

800-534: Is Erebor, the Lonely Mountain , once home to Smaug the dragon , and afterwards to Thorin 's dwarves. The large lands to the east of Rhûn and to the south and east of Harad are not described in the stories, which take place in the north-western part of Middle-earth. The events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place in the north-west of the continent of Middle-earth. Both quests begin in

880-568: Is Tolkien's etymological dictionary of the Elvish languages, contemporaneous with the Lhammas . It is a list of roots of the Proto-Elvish language, from which he built his many Elvish languages, especially Quenya , Noldorin and Ilkorin. The Etymologies , never meant to be published, does not form a unified whole, but incorporates layer upon layer of changes. In his introduction to The Etymologies , Christopher Tolkien wrote that his father

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960-528: Is no gender. Tolkien with his Quenya pursued a double aesthetic goal: "classical and inflected". This urge, in fact, was the motivation for his creation of a 'mythology'. While the language developed, he needed speakers, history for the speakers and all real dynamics, like war and migration: "It was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the necessary background of 'history' for Elvish tongues". The Elvish languages underwent countless revisions in grammar, mostly in conjugation and

1040-737: Is the volcanic Plateau of Gorgoroth, with the tall volcano of Orodruin or Mount Doom , where the Dark Lord Sauron forged the One Ring . To the mountain's east is Sauron's Dark Tower, Barad-dur . To the south of Gondor and Mordor lie Harad and Khand. To the east of Rhovanion and to the north of Mordor lies the Sea of Rhûn, home to the Easterlings . North of that lie the Iron Hills of Dain 's dwarves ; between those and Mirkwood

1120-475: The Lhammas and " The Etymologies " Tolkien used the Indo-European type of proto-languages with branches and sub-branches of language families while inventing his various languages of Middle-earth . This picture of increasing separation is analogous to the progressive decline and fall in Middle-earth from its initial perfection, of which the Sundering of the Elves is a major element. In Tolkien's scheme,

1200-582: The Osanwe-kenta and the Lhammas or "The 'Account of Tongues' which Pengolodh of Gondolin wrote in later days in Tol-eressëa". Tolkien wrote out most samples of Elvish languages with the Latin alphabet, but within the fiction he imagined many writing systems for his Elves. The best-known are the " Tengwar of Fëanor", but the first system he created, c. 1919, is the "Tengwar of Rúmil", also called

1280-575: The Great Sea but chose not to cross to Valinor were later called the Sindar ( Grey Elves ); their language was Sindarin . They stayed in the west of Middle-earth and were ruled by Thingol. Many of the Sindar chose to remain behind to look for their lord Thingol (Elwë), who disappeared near the end of the journey. These later inhabited Doriath , and were named the Iathrim or People of the Girdle , for

1360-658: The Lambengolmor ; in Quenya, lambe means "spoken language" or "verbal communication." Known members of the Lambengolmor were Rúmil, who invented the first Elvish script (the Sarati ), Fëanor who later enhanced and further developed this script into his Tengwar , which later was spread to Middle-earth by the Exiled Noldor and remained in use ever after, and Pengolodh, who is credited with many works, including

1440-466: The Noldor . Their language, Noldorin, evolved very slowly in the changeless atmosphere of Valinor . Tolkien had developed its linguistics in some detail. With their return to Beleriand , the language was evidently sharply distinct from Qenya, implying rapid change. As Tolkien worked on The Lord of the Rings , starting soon after The Hobbit was published in 1937, the matter troubled him. He came up with

1520-815: The Second and Third Ages , entering the realm of Mirkwood of the Wood Elves or establishing the kingdoms of Lindon , Eregion , Lothlórien and Rivendell . After the Separation the Avari became divided even more than the Eldar, though little of their history became known to the Elves and Men of the West of Middle-earth, and they barely feature in the legendarium. At least six kindreds existed, and they continued to call themselves 'Quendi', considering those who went away,

1600-616: The Valar , and the Elves called the Eldar . Initially, the western part of Middle-earth was the subcontinent Beleriand ; it was engulfed by the ocean at the end of the First Age . Ossë , on behalf of the Valar, then raised the island continent of Númenor as a gift to the now homeless Men of Beleriand, thenceforth called Númenóreans . After Eru Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor near the end of

1680-471: The pronominal system . The Elven vocabulary was not subject to sudden or extreme change; except during the first conceptual stage c. 1910–c. 1920. Tolkien sometimes changed the "meaning" of an Elvish word, but he almost never disregarded it once invented, and he kept on refining its meaning, and countlessly forged new synonyms. Moreover, Elven etymology was in a constant flux. Tolkien delighted in inventing new etymons for his Elvish vocabulary. From

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1760-401: The sarati . In chronological order, Tolkien's scripts are: This section lists the many sources by Tolkien documenting Elvish texts. A small fraction of Tolkien's accounts of Elvish languages was published in his novels and scholarly works during his lifetime. Posthumously: Many of Tolkien's writings on his invented languages have been annotated and published by Carl F. Hostetter in

1840-605: The Dark Lord Melkor in the First Age to impede Oromë , one of the Valar, who often rode across Middle-earth hunting. The Dwarf -realm of Moria was built in the First Age beneath the midpoint of the mountain range. The two major passes across the mountains were the High Pass or Pass of Imladris near Rivendell , with a higher and a lower route, and the all-year Redhorn Pass further south near Moria. East of

1920-631: The Earth. The extreme west of Middle-earth in the First Age was Beleriand . It and Eriador were separated from much of the south of Middle-earth by the Great Gulf. Beleriand was largely destroyed in the cataclysm of the War of Wrath , leaving only a remnant coastal plain, Lindon, just to the west of the Ered Luin (also called Ered Lindon or Blue Mountains). The cataclysm divided Ered Luin and Lindon by

2000-743: The Eastfarthing, while the once good but corrupted Saruman 's men arrive in the Southfarthing. J. K. Newman compares the adventurous quest to Mordor to "the perpetual temptation felt in the West 'to hold the gorgeous East in fee'" (citing Wordsworth on Venice ), in a tradition which he traces back to Herodotus and to the myth of the Golden Fleece . Tolkien scholars including John Garth have traced many features of Middle-earth to literary sources or real-world places. Some places in Middle-earth can be more or less firmly associated with

2080-522: The Eldar, as deserters. Some of these tribes later journeyed westward, intermingling with the Nandor in Rhovanion , and a few even reached Beleriand , though usually remaining on unfriendly terms with the Sindar. Matthew Dickerson , writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , notes the "very complicated changes, with shifting meanings assigned to the same names" as Tolkien worked on his conception of

2160-405: The Elves and their divisions and migrations. All the same, he notes, Tolkien kept to a consistent scheme. He states that the sundering of the Elves allowed Tolkien, a professional philologist , to develop two Elvish languages , distinct but related, Quenya for the Eldar and Sindarin for the Sindar, citing Tolkien's own statement that the stories were made to create a world for the languages, not

2240-768: The Elves derived in the beginning from the Valar, but they change it even in the learning, and moreover modified and enriched it constantly at all times by their own invention." In his Comparative Tables , Tolkien describes the mechanisms of sound change in the following daughter languages: Qenya, Lindarin (a dialect of Qenya), Telerin, Old Noldorin (or Fëanorian ), Noldorin (or Gondolinian ), Ilkorin (esp. of Doriath ), Danian of Ossiriand, East Danian, Taliska , West Lemberin, North Lemberin, and East Lemberin . In his lifetime J.R.R. Tolkien never ceased to experiment on his constructed languages, and they were subjected to many revisions. They had many grammars with substantial differences between different stages of development. After

2320-649: The Elvish languages. "The language of the Quendelie (Elves) was thus very early sundered into the branches Eldarin and Avarin". These further subdivided as follows: A tradition of philological study of Elvish languages exists within the fiction of Tolkien's frame stories : The older stages of Quenya were, and doubtless still are, known to the loremasters of the Eldar. It appears from these notices that besides certain ancient songs and compilations of lore that were orally preserved, there existed also some books and many ancient inscriptions. Elven philologists are called

2400-685: The Elvish peoples mirrored the fragmentation of their languages. In Tolkien's legendarium , the Elves awoke at Cuiviénen , a bay on the eastern side of the Sea of Helcar, on the continent of Middle-earth , where they were divided into three tribes: Minyar (the Firsts), Tatyar (the Seconds) and Nelyar (the Thirds). After some time, they were summoned by the Vala Oromë , the huntsman, to live with him and

2480-591: The Great Sea, Belegaer , between Aman and Middle-earth; it was destroyed in a cataclysm near the end of the Second Age, in which Arda was remade as a spherical world, and Aman was removed so that Men could not reach it. In The Lord of the Rings , Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age is described as having free peoples, namely Men , Hobbits , Elves , and Dwarves in the West, opposed to peoples under

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2560-742: The Grinding Ice of the far north. These groups of Noldor became known as the Exiles. In Beleriand they became divided by their place of dwelling, namely Hithlum , Gondolin , Dorthonion , Nargothrond and the March of Maedhros . After the War of Wrath that ended the First Age, the greater part of the surviving Noldor and Sindar (mostly mingled into a single people) returned into the West to dwell in Tol Eressëa . The rest remained in Middle-earth throughout

2640-763: The Minyar. Ingwë was the Vanya Elf to travel with the Vala Oromë to Valinor, and became their king. The Vanyar spoke a dialect of Quenya called Vanyarin. Since they stayed in Valinor, they played no part in the wars in Beleriand, except for the War of Wrath that brought an end to the region. The Vanyar, the Noldor, and those of the Teleri who reached Valinor are called the Calaquendi ( Elves of Light ) because they saw

2720-555: The Misty Mountains, Anduin, the Great River, flows southwards, with the forest of Mirkwood to its east. On its west bank opposite the southern end of Mirkwood is the Elvish land of Lothlorien . Further south, backing on to the Misty Mountains, lies the forest of Fangorn , home of the tree-giants, the ents . In a valley at the southern end of the Misty Mountains is Isengard , home to the wizard Saruman . Just to

2800-694: The Mithrim or Grey People , giving their name to the region and the great lake there. Most of them later merged with the Noldor who returned to Middle-earth, especially those of Gondolin . Those who reached Aman were called Amanyar Teleri ; they were also called the Falmari, the People of the Waves , expert with ships and the sea. Those of the Teleri who refused to cross the Misty Mountains and stayed in

2880-630: The North "barbaric", South "the region of decadence", East "danger" but also the "locale of adventure", West "safety" (and uttermost West "ultimate safety"), North-West "specifically English insularity" where hobbits of the Shire live "in provincial satisfaction". Other scholars such as Walter Scheps and Isabel G. MacCaffrey have noted Middle-earth's "spatial cum moral dimensions", though not identically with Magoun's interpretation. In their view, North and West are generally good, South and East evil. That places

2960-777: The Pelennor Fields has parallels with the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields . The Misty Mountains derive from the Poetic Edda , where the protagonist in the Skírnismál notes that his quest will involve misty mountains peopled with orcs and giants, while the mountains' character was partly inspired by Tolkien's travels in the Swiss Alps in 1911. Mirkwood is based on Myrkviðr , the romantic vision of

3040-657: The Rings – as well as the events described in The Silmarillion . The editor of Tolkien Studies , David Bratman , notes that the atlas provides historical, geological , and battle maps, with a detailed commentary and explanation of how Fonstad approached the mapping task from the available evidence. Michael Brisbois, also in Tolkien Studies , describes the atlas as "authorized", while the cartographers Ina Habermann and Nikolaus Kuhn take Fonstad's maps as defining Middle-earth's geography. Stentor Danielson,

3120-604: The Rings , and The Silmarillion . Tolkien's Middle-earth was part of his created world of Arda . It was a flat world surrounded by ocean. It included the Undying Lands of Aman and Eressëa , which were all part of the wider creation, Eä . Aman and Middle-earth were separated from each other by the Great Sea Belegaer , analogous to the Atlantic Ocean . The western continent, Aman, was the home of

3200-431: The Rings , of which it was/is in fact independent. Tolkien stated that he intentionally designed Sindarin to be in relation to Quenya as medieval Welsh is to Latin. Nelson Goering analysed this claim, finding it broadly reasonable, if the relationships are allowed to be of different kinds. In the early 30s Tolkien decided that the proto-language of the Elves was Valarin , the tongue of the gods or Valar: "The language of

3280-606: The River Baranduin (Brandywine), were abandoned. A small part of the region was occupied by Hobbits to form the Shire . To the northwest lay Lake Evendim, once called Nenuial by the Elves. A remnant of the ancient forest of Eriador survived throughout the Third Age just to the east of the Shire as the Old Forest , the domain of Tom Bombadil . Northeast of there is Bree , the only place where hobbits and Men live in

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3360-442: The Second Age, he remade Arda as a round world, and the Undying Lands were removed from Arda so that Men could not reach them. The Elves could go there only by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the sphere of the earth. Tolkien then equated Arda, consisting of both Middle-earth's planet and the heavenly Aman, with the Solar System , the Sun and Moon being celestial objects in their own right, no longer orbiting

3440-428: The Shire and the elves' Grey Havens in the Northwest as certainly good, and Mordor in the Southeast as certainly Evil; Gondor in the Southwest is in their view morally ambivalent, matching the characters of both Boromir and Denethor . They observe further that the Shire's four quadrants or "Farthings" serve as a "microcosm" of the moral geography of Middle-earth as a whole: thus, the evil Black Riders appear first in

3520-421: The Shire, travel east through the wilds of Eriador to Rivendell and then across the Misty Mountains, involve further travels in the lands of Rhovanion or Wilderland to the east of those mountains, and return home to the Shire. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad prepared The Atlas of Middle-earth to clarify and map the two journeys – of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit , and of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of

3600-430: The South of both Fangorn and Isengard is the wide grassy land of the Riders of Rohan , who provide cavalry to its southerly neighbour, Gondor . The River Anduin passes the hills of Emyn Muil and the enormous rock statues of the Argonath and flows through the dangerous rapids of Sarn Gebir and over the Falls of Rauros into Gondor. Gondor's border with Rohan is the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains, which run east–west from

3680-414: The Sundering allowed Tolkien to explain the existence of Norse mythology 's Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar , Dark and Light Elves. The Dark Elves, who lived underground in Svartalfheim ("Black Elfhome"), are rehabilitated by Tolkien as his Moriquendi. The Light Elves lived in Alfheim ("Elfhome") and correspond to his Calaquendi. Most of the Noldor returned with Fëanor to Beleriand in Middle-earth before

3760-452: The Tawarwaith, living in Lothlórien and Mirkwood ; they were also called Silvan or Wood Elves. They were joined there by those Avari who eventually decided to move to the West. The Vanyar were the fairest and most noble of the High Elves; their name means "the Fair", as they have golden hair. Their small clan was founded by Imin, the first Elf to awaken at Cuiviénen, with his wife Iminyë and their twelve companions: they broadly correspond to

3840-406: The Vanyar, meaning the Fair Elves , with golden-blond hair. The Tatyar who migrated west became known as the Noldor or Deep Elves , with deep knowledge of crafts and skills. The Nelyar who went west were known as the Teleri ( Those who come last ) or, as they called themselves, the Lindar or Singers . They stayed on the east of Aman, in Tol Eressëa. Those of the Teleri who reached Beleriand by

3920-414: The absence of any consonant combinations initially, the absence of the voiced stops b, d, g (except in mb, nd, ng, ld, rd , which are favoured) and the fondness for the ending -inen, -ainen, -oinen , also in some points of grammar, such as the inflexional endings -sse (rest at or in), -nna (movement to, towards), and -llo (movement from); the personal possessives are also expressed by suffixes; there

4000-425: The boxshape of Asia Minor "; that "Dol Amroth makes a fine Venice "; that the Rohirrim and their grasslands are comparable to " Hungary of the Magyars , who were weak allies of Byzantine Constantinople"; and that the Corsairs of Umbar resembled the Barbary pirates who served Mehmed the Conqueror . The linguist David Salo writes that Gondor recalls "a kind of decaying Byzantium"; its piratical enemy Umbar like

4080-422: The cartographer must fully reconcile. He gives as an instance the work that she did to make the journey of Thorin's company in The Hobbit consistent with the map, something that Tolkien found himself unable to do. Danielson writes that in addition, Fonstad created "the most comprehensive set" of thematic maps of Middle-earth, presenting geographic data including political boundaries, climate, population density, and

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4160-400: The changes in words between languages. He created a family of invented languages for Elves , carefully designing the differences between them to reflect their distance from their imaginary common origin. He stated that his languages led him to create the invented mythology of The Silmarillion , to provide a world in which his languages could have existed. In that world, the splintering of

4240-576: The control of the Dark Lord Sauron in the East. Some commentators have seen this as implying a moral geography of Middle-earth. Tolkien scholars have traced many features of Middle-earth to literary sources such as Beowulf , the Poetic Edda , or the mythical Myrkviðr . They have in addition suggested real-world places such as Venice , Rome , and Constantinople / Byzantium as analogues of places in Middle-earth. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad has created detailed thematic maps for Tolkien's major Middle-earth books, The Hobbit , The Lord of

4320-426: The dark forests of the North. Scholars have likened Gondor to Byzantium (medieval Istanbul), while Tolkien connected it to Venice. The Corsairs of Umbar have been linked to the Barbary corsairs of the late Middle Ages. Númenor echoes the mythical Atlantis described by Plato . About the origins of his storytelling and the place of cartography within it, Tolkien stated in a letter: I wisely started with

4400-422: The highest Elves are those who deviated least from their initial state (complying with the will of the Valar , travelling to Valinor, and continuing to speak the highest language, Quenya). Conversely, the lowest Elves, the Avari, fragmented into many kindreds with different languages as they eventually spread out across Middle-earth. Tolkien thus intended ancestry to be a guide to character ; the differences between

4480-415: The journals Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon , as follows: See also Douglas A. Anderson , Carl F. Hostetter: A Checklist , Tolkien Studies 4 (2007). Misty Mountains The geography of Middle-earth encompasses the physical, political, and moral geography of J. R. R. Tolkien 's fictional world of Middle-earth , strictly a continent on the planet of Arda but widely taken to mean

4560-454: The light of the Two Trees of Valinor . In Quenya , the language of the Noldor in Valinor, all other Elves were called the Moriquendi ( Elves of Darkness ) in recognition of the fact that they did not see (and did not desire) the Light of Valinor, but later the Sindar were counted among neither of these groups. Instead, Moriquendi was used for all other Elves except Noldor, Vanyar, Falmari, and Sindar. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that

4640-402: The magical 'Girdle of Melian ' that surrounded and protected the kingdom. Those who came to the shores of the Great Sea of Belegaer but decided to stay there, or who arrived too late to be ferried, were called the Falathrim ( People of the Shore ). They were ruled by Cirdan the Shipwright. Those who chose to remain behind and populated the lands to the north-west of Beleriand were called

4720-409: The newly created Gulf of Lune; the northern part was Forlindon, the southern Harlindon. In the northwest of Middle-earth, Eriador was the region between the Ered Luin and the Misty Mountains. Early in the Third Age, the northern kingdom of Arnor founded by Elendil occupied a large part of the region. After its collapse, much of Eriador became wild; regions such as Minhiriath, on the coast south of

4800-473: The other Valar in Valinor, on Aman . The Eldar are those who accepted the summons. Their name, literally Star People , was given to them by Oromë, in their own language, Primitive Quendian . The Avari are those who refused the summons. Half of the Avari (the "refusers") came from the largest tribe, the Nelyar, but most of the Nelyar went on the journey. The Eldar migrated westwards across the north of Middle-earth in their three groups. The Minyar became known as

4880-424: The outset, Tolkien used comparative philology and the tree model as his major tools in his constructed languages. He usually started with the phonological system of the proto-language and then proceeded in inventing for each daughter language the many mechanisms of sound change needed. I find the construction and the interrelation of the languages an aesthetic pleasure in itself, quite apart from The Lord of

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4960-470: The peaceful territories of King Thingol, Denethor, son of Lenwë, collected as many of his scattered people as he could and finally ventured westward over the Ered Luin into Ossiriand. Although in some instances the Green-elves of Ossiriand did participate in the battles and strife concerning Morgoth (the First Battle of Beleriand for example), they were for the most part a simple, peaceful, and reclusive people. The Nandor who stayed around Anduin became known as

5040-413: The physical world , and Eä , all of creation, as well as all of his writings about it. Arda was created as a flat world, incorporating a Western continent, Aman , which became the home of the godlike Valar , as well as Middle-earth. At the end of the First Age , the Western part of Middle-earth, Beleriand , was drowned in the War of Wrath. In the Second Age , a large island, Númenor , was created in

5120-574: The publication of The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), the grammar rules of his major Elvish languages Quenya, Telerin and Sindarin went through very few changes (this is late Elvish 1954–1973). Two magazines ( Vinyar Tengwar , from its issue 39 in July 1998, and Parma Eldalamberon , from its issue 11 in 1995) are exclusively devoted to the editing and publishing of J.R.R. Tolkien's gigantic mass of previously unpublished linguistic papers, including those omitted by Christopher Tolkien from " The History of Middle-earth ". The Elvish languages are

5200-404: The raising of the Sun. Fëanor however sailed in haste in ships stolen from the (Telerin) Falmari. The Falmari resisted, and Fëanor's Noldor fought and killed them in the First Kinslaying, a battle of Elves upon Elves. In addition, Fëanor left behind his half-brother Fingolfin 's Noldor, who also wanted to return. Fingolfin, furious, was obliged to make the perilous journey on foot via the Helcaraxë,

5280-404: The realm of Middle-earth, not with the characters or narrative as one would assume, but with a created set of languages. The stories and characters serve as conduits to make those languages come to life. Inventing language was always a crucial piece to Tolkien's mythology and world building . As Tolkien stated: The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide

5360-409: The reverse. Shippey suggests that the "real root" of The Silmarillion lay in the linguistic relationship, complete with sound-changes and differences of semantics, between the two languages of the divided elves. He adds that the elves are separated not by colour, despite names like light and dark, but by their history, including their migrations. The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger states that in

5440-450: The routes of characters and armies. At the end of the Third Age, much of the northwest of Middle-earth is wild, with traces here and there of ruined cities and fortresses from earlier civilisations among the mountains, rivers, forests, hills, plains and marshes. The major nations that appear in The Lord of the Rings are Rohan and Gondor on the side of the Free Peoples, and Mordor and its allies Harad (Southrons) and Rhûn (Easterlings) on

5520-449: The same villages. Further east from Bree is the hill of Weathertop with the ancient fortress of Amon Sûl, and then Rivendell , the home of Elrond . South from there is the ancient land of Hollin, once the elvish land of Eregion, where the Rings of Power were forged. At the Grey Havens (Mithlond), on the Gulf of Lune, Círdan built the ships in which the Elves departed from Middle-earth to Valinor. The Misty Mountains were thrown up by

5600-400: The sea to a point near the Anduin; at that point is Gondor's capital city, Minas Tirith . Across the river to the East is the land of Mordor . It is bordered to the north by the Ered Lithui, the Ash Mountains; to the west by the Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow. Between those two ranges, at Mordor's northwest tip, are the Black Gates of the Morannon . In the angle between the two ranges

5680-464: The seagoing Carthage ; the Southrons (of Harad) "Arab-like"; and the Easterlings "suggesting Sarmatians , Huns and Avars ". The geologist Alex Acks, writing on Tor.com , outlines mismatches between Tolkien's maps and the processes of plate tectonics which shape the Earth's continents and mountain ranges . Acks comments that no natural process creates right-angle junctions in mountain ranges, such as are seen around Mordor and at both ends of

5760-468: The side of the Dark Lord. Gondor, once extremely powerful, is by that time much reduced in its reach, and has lost control of Ithilien (bordering Mordor) and South Gondor (bordering Harad). Forgotten by most of the rest of the world is the Shire, a small region in the northwest of Middle-earth inhabited by hobbits amidst the abandoned lands of Eriador. With his "Southrons" from Harad, Tolkien had – in

5840-489: The sundering of the Elves reflects the progressive decline and fall in Middle-earth from its initial perfection; the highest Elves are those who deviated least from that state, meaning that in Tolkien's scheme, ancestry is a guide to character . J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) is best known as the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . He was a professional philologist , an expert in

5920-587: The valley of Anduin were called the Nandor ( Those [Elves] who turn back ). Those of the Nandor who later entered Beleriand were called the Laiquendi ( Green Elves or Green People , so named because their attire was often green.) "Laiquendi" was the term in Quenya, while the Sindarin version was "Laegrim". They settled in Ossiriand, an eastern region of Beleriand, and were famous for their singing. Hearing of

6000-484: The various Elvish languages mirror both the Sundering and the events of The Silmarillion . Elvish languages (Middle-earth) The Elvish languages of Middle-earth , constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien , include Quenya and Sindarin . These were the various languages spoken by the Elves of Middle-earth as they developed as a society throughout the Ages. In his pursuit for realism and in his love of language, Tolkien

6080-716: The view of John Magoun, writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia – constructed a "fully expressed moral geography", from the hobbits' home in the Northwest, evil in the East, and "imperial sophistication and decadence" in the South. Magoun explains that Gondor is both virtuous, being West, and has problems, being South; Mordor in the Southeast is hellish, while Harad in the extreme South "regresses into hot savagery". Steve Walker similarly speaks of "Tolkien's moral geography", naming

6160-446: Was "more interested in the processes of change than he was in displaying the structure and use of the languages at any given time." The story of the Elvish languages as conceived by Tolkien from when he began working on The Lord of the Rings is that they all originated from Primitive Quendian or Quenderin, the proto-language of all the Elves who awoke together in the far east of Middle-earth, Cuiviénen , and began "naturally" to make

6240-418: Was already familiar with Latin , Greek , Italian, Spanish, and three ancient Germanic languages : Gothic , Old Norse , and Old English . He had invented several cryptographic codes such as Animalic, and two or three constructed languages including Naffarin. He then discovered Finnish , which he described many years later as "like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of

6320-465: Was borrowed from the Broceliand of medieval romance. Tolkien tried out many invented names in search of the right sound , in Beleriand's case including Golodhinand, Noldórinan ("valley of the Noldor "), Geleriand, Bladorinand, Belaurien, Arsiriand, Lassiriand, and Ossiriand (later used as a name for the easternmost part of Beleriand). The Elves have been linked to Celtic mythology. The Battle of

6400-504: Was especially fascinated with the development and evolution of language through time. Tolkien created two almost fully developed languages and a dozen more in various beginning stages as he studied and reproduced the way that language adapts and morphs. A philologist by profession, he spent much time on his constructed languages. In the collection of letters he had written, posthumously published by his son, Christopher Tolkien , he stated that he began stories set within this secondary world ,

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