Outline of Middle-earth

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the real-world history and notable fictional elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy universe. It covers materials created by Tolkien; the works on his unpublished manuscripts, by his son Christopher Tolkien; and films, games and other media created by other people.

Contents

Middle-earth – fantasy setting created by Tolkien, home to hobbits, orcs, ents, dragons, and many other races and creatures.

Primary sources

Authors

Published works

By J. R. R. Tolkien

Posthumously published

Edited by Christopher Tolkien

These works present extended selections of Tolkien's legendarium (the large body of documents relating to The Silmarillion), with extensive notes and posthumous editing by his son Christopher. The separate 4-volume body of his comments on the drafts of The Lord of the Rings is included as volumes 6–9.

The History of Middle-earth
Early legendarium
1 The Book of Lost Tales 1 (1983)
2 The Book of Lost Tales 2 (1984)
3 The Lays of Beleriand (1985)
4 The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986)
5 The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987)
The History of The Lord of the Rings
6 [1] The Return of the Shadow (1988)
7 [2] The Treason of Isengard (1989)
8 [3] The War of the Ring (1990)
9 [4] Sauron Defeated (1992)
The later Silmarillion
10 [1] Morgoth's Ring (1993)
11 [2] The War of the Jewels (1994)
Further details
12 The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)

Additional materials from the legendarium, with Christopher Tolkien's commentary.

Edited by other scholars

Audio recordings

Graphical works

Translation

Adaptations and developments

Maps

Spoken word

Radio

Motion pictures

Peter Jackson

Stage

Games

Tabletop games

Video games

Parodies

Geography

Cosmology of Eä

Continents of Arda

Nations and regions

Natural features

Cities and other populated places

History

Artefacts

Events

First Age
Third Age

Characters

First Age

House of Finwë

House of Elwë and Olwë

House of Marach

Others

Second Age

Third Age

Thorin and Company

The Fellowship of the Ring

Wizards :

Elves

Men

Other characters

Culture

Races

Ainur

Men

Monsters

Other

Languages

Elvish languages

Other

Folklore and poetry

Analysis

Influences

Components

Literary devices

Sources

Themes

Music

Scholarship

Institutions

Journals

Scholars

Biographical works

Works

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Silmarillion is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by Guy Gavriel Kay, who became a fantasy author. It tells of Eä, a fictional universe that includes the Blessed Realm of Valinor, the ill-fated region of Beleriand, the island of Númenor, and the continent of Middle-earth, where Tolkien's most popular works—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—are set. After the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien's publisher, Stanley Unwin, requested a sequel, and Tolkien offered a draft of the writings that would later become The Silmarillion. Unwin rejected this proposal, calling the draft obscure and "too Celtic", so Tolkien began working on a new story that eventually became The Lord of the Rings.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heraldry of Middle-earth</span> Heraldry in Tolkiens Middle-earth

J. R. R. Tolkien invented heraldic devices for many of the characters and nations of Middle-earth. His descriptions were in simple English rather than in specific blazon. The emblems correspond in nature to their bearers, and their diversity contributes to the richly-detailed realism of his writings.

Tolkien's monsters are the evil beings, such as Orcs, Trolls, and giant spiders, who oppose and sometimes fight the protagonists in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Tolkien was an expert on Old English, especially Beowulf, and several of his monsters share aspects of the Beowulf monsters; his Trolls have been likened to Grendel, the Orcs' name harks back to the poem's orcneas, and the dragon Smaug has multiple attributes of the Beowulf dragon. The European medieval tradition of monsters makes them either humanoid but distorted, or like wild beasts, but very large and malevolent; Tolkien follows both traditions, with monsters like Orcs of the first kind and Wargs of the second. Some scholars add Tolkien's immensely powerful Dark Lords Morgoth and Sauron to the list, as monstrous enemies in spirit as well as in body. Scholars have noted that the monsters' evil nature reflects Tolkien's Roman Catholicism, a religion which has a clear conception of good and evil.

In Tolkien's legendarium, ancestry provides a guide to character. The apparently genteel Hobbits of the Baggins family turn out to be worthy protagonists of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo Baggins is seen from his family tree to be both a Baggins and an adventurous Took. Similarly, Frodo Baggins has some relatively outlandish Brandybuck blood. Among the Elves of Middle-earth, as described in The Silmarillion, the highest are the peaceful Vanyar, whose ancestors conformed most closely to the divine will, migrating to Aman and seeing the light of the Two Trees of Valinor; the lowest are the mutable Teleri; and in between are the conflicted Noldor. Scholars have analysed the impact of ancestry on Elves such as the creative but headstrong Fëanor, who makes the Silmarils. Among Men, Aragorn, hero of The Lord of the Rings, is shown by his descent from Kings, Elves, and an immortal Maia to be of royal blood, destined to be the true King who will restore his people. Scholars have commented that in this way, Tolkien was presenting a view of character from Norse mythology, and an Anglo-Saxon view of kingship, though others have called his implied views racist.