Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor

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The original map by Christopher Tolkien

The Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor[note 1] is an unnamed map reproduced in The Return of the King and in one-volume editions of The Lord of the Rings.[1]

Creation

Tolkien said to Rayner Unwin that a map of Gondor would be needed for the second and third volumes[2] which would clarify the courses of the characters (Aragorn, the Rohirrim and Frodo. He had however a lot of trouble displaying the distances correctly, and considered quitting the attempt.[3] As he reminisced, it took him

"many days, the last three virtually without food or bed, to drawing re-scaling and adjusting a large map, at which [Christopher] then worked for 24 hours (6 a.m. to 6 a.m. without bed) in re-drawing just in time."
― J.R.R. Tolkien[4]

More recently the map was redrawn in 1988 by Shelly Shapiro, and then by Stephen Raw for the new editions of the Lord of the Rings since 1994.

Description

The map is 5 times enlarged from the general Map of Middle-earth[3] and depicts most of the regions where the events of The Return of the King took place, and traversed by the characters.

Unlike the other general or regional maps, this one was drawn like a topographic map, with the mountains depicted by detailed contour lines, representing elevation.

Its main feature is the White Mountains, surrounded by most of Gondor (as it was in the late Third Age), south-eastern Rohan, and (north-)western Mordor.

Notes

  1. The name "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor" appears to be coined by Hammond and Scull.

References

Maps of Arda made by or for J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit:  Thrór's Map · Map of Wilderland
 TLOTR:  A Part of the Shire · General Map of Middle-earth · Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor · The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age
Other:  Map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North · Númenórë‎
Baynes:  A Map of Middle-earth · There and Back Again
Early maps:  The earliest map‎ · I Vene Kemen · The First 'Silmarillion' Map · Ambarkanta maps · The Second 'Silmarillion' Map · The First Map of 'The Lord of the Rings' · The 1943 Map of 'The Lord of the Rings' · The Second Map of 'The Lord of the Rings' · The Third Map of 'The Lord of the Rings'