User:Protospace/Towards a Canonical Geography of Arda

This essay is currently in development. The purpose of this essay is to establish, as best as possible, a "canonical" geography of Arda that lies outside of the regions shown on the maps appearing in the The Lord of the Rings, the Unfinished Tales, and The Silmarillion. The reason this essay is needed is because of the proliferation of "fan fiction" maps--most notably, the maps in Atlas of Middle-earth, but also many other fan-created maps that can be found across the Internet--that, while interesting (and admirable!) on their own accord, contain too much non-canonical speculation or flat-out inaccuracies to be truly useful. I hope that this essay will help to dispel some of persistent false about Arda's geography, such as the idea that Mordor was once under the Inland Sea of Helcar or that the term "Middle-earth" refers only to the areas seen on the maps published in Tolkien's lifetime.

One of the goals of this essay is to provide a comprehensive catalog of all known information about the uncharted territories of Middle-earth. This requires reading Tolkien's works with a fine-tooth comb, and if I have missed anything, I welcome you to contact me to let me know.

Note that this essay does not discuss in any great detail the regions of Arda shown in the published maps (except they are where relevant to discerning unmapped regions), about which much has already been written.

Canon

First, a note on "canon": this essay accepts as canonical, first and foremost, only what Tolkien said explicitly or what can be reasonably inferred from what he said (and in the latter case, I will make the inferences clear). This means that this essay relies entirely on primary sources. Fan works are not canon, and will not be treated as such in this essay.

Of course, even within the primary sources, there isn't always clarity on what is canonical--because Tolkien never finished writing his entire legendarium before he passed away (the chief books he published during his lifetime were The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit). Even The Silmarillion is not entirely trustworthy, as demonstrated by some of Tolkien's latest writings in the final three volumes of The History of Middle-earth.

In determining what is canonical within the primary sources, I generally follow the principles set out in Steuard Jensen's excellent essay, "Tolkien's Parish: The Canonical Middle-earth". I suggest reading the entire essay (it's short), but quoted below are the core principles it discusses, listed in order of precedence:

"The inner consistency of reality": Above all, the accepted canonical facts about Middle-earth must describe an internally consistent world. That consistency must be natural, too: "acts of God" should be limited to those Tolkien described, and less complicated solutions are generally preferable. Consistent with published texts [i.e., those published in Tolkien's lifetime]: The writings that Tolkien completed and shared with the world should take precedence over those he did not. This seems to have been Tolkien's own strategy most of the time (yes, he made revisions, but not often, and we don't have that freedom). If those texts are themselves inconsistent, things get more complicated; most agree that The Lord of the Rings takes precedence over the others, but seeking a mutually consistent solution is best. Minor problems such as typographical errors are probably best solved by deducing Tolkien's intent from earlier notes and drafts (like those in the "History of The Lord of the Rings" books). Preserves the general structure of the mythology: While details both large and small changed all the time, Tolkien's legendarium retained the same basic outline for most of his life. Although Tolkien occasionally considered radical changes to that structure, our only hope of constructing a complete picture of Middle-earth is to base it on the best developed version of the stories. Thus... Based on Tolkien's latest and best developed statements: Tolkien spent most of his life trying to perfect his tales of Middle-earth, so the latest version of each tale or essay is our best guide to his vision. Note, however, that some of his early stories are also some of his most vivid: they may convey the "feel" of events in the history of Middle-earth more successfully than later versions, even when their details are entirely untrustworthy. Makes a satisfying and enjoyable story: This certainly opens the door wide to personal preferences, but it is not a bad way to decide between variants that otherwise seem comparably reliable. Provides as much information as possible: As a general rule, err on the side of accepting information, even if only tentatively. Don't reject all of a detailed intermediate draft because a few parts of it contradict a later sketch. ― Steuard Jensen, Tolkien's Parish: The Canonical Middle-earth

To give a sense of how these principles will be applied in this essay, consider the The Ambarkanta and its associated maps, Map IV and Map V, which are published in The Shaping of Middle-earth. This is an early work that Tolkien developed many years before he conceived The Lord of the Rings. As will be explained in more detail below, some of Arda's features as described in The Ambarkanta are inconsistent with Tolkien's later statements. For example, description of the Sea of Helcar stretching eastward all the way to the Blue Mountains―are inconsistent with the geography of Eriador during the First Age that we can gleam from Tolkien's later statements in the Unfinished Tales, The War of the Jewels, and The Peoples of Middle-earth. This violates principles #1 and #4, and thus cannot be considered canonical. But other features, such as the existence of the "Dark Land" continent in Map V, remain consistent with his later statements, even if he never again mentioned those features in any of his later writings. Thus, in accordance with principle #6, the existence of the Dark Land can be considered canon.

One other point is worth mentioning here, and it relates to principle #3. In Tolkien's later years, he began revising his mythology to make Arda "round" throughout its entire history, rather than having Arda change from a flat-earth to a round-earth during the downfall of Numenor. While this is a fascinating reworking of Arda's history and geography, Tolkien never completed making this radical change before he passed away. Because this "round world version of the Silmarillion" was never completed, Christopher Tolkien did not include it in The Silmarillion, and the consensus among devoted Tolkien readers is generally that he made the correct choice. Indeed, the round world version of the Silmarillion is the classic example of a principle #3 violation, and it will not be treated as canonical by this essay.

What follows is a sketch of the remainder of the essay's content, which is still in development

Structure of Arda and the meaning of "Middle-earth"

Three initial regions of land: Aman, Middle-earth, Land of the Sun. During the Second Age, Numenor existed as a fourth region, but was destroyed.

In the First Age, Middle-earth separated into two landmasses, one of which was called the Dark Land, and the other which (where the events of The Silmarillion, LotR, and The Hobbit occur) has no overall name (except possibly "Hither Lands", if that name is not synonymous with all of Middle-earth?).

Middle-earth

Connecting Beleriand to Eriador and beyond

Iron Hills were not remnant or part of Iron Mountains: Peoples p. 306

Great Gulf, Bay of Belfalas, and Blue Mountains

Great Gulf in First Age probably does correspond to Bay of Belfalas in Third Age:

• Blue Mountains became lower toward the south, then vanished just before reaching the Great Gulf. This allowed for migration from Eriador into Beleriand around the southern end of the mountains (there is no mention that the Great Gulf was so far south that migrants had to exit Eriador and enter Harad before entering Beleriand).
  • Shaping p. 306 (Ambarkanta): " 'beyond the River Gelion the land narrowed suddenly, for the Great Sea ran into a mighty gulf [Great Gulf] reaching almost to the feet of the Eredlindon, and there was a strait [Straits of the World] of mountainous land between the gulf and the inland sea of Helcar, by which one might come into the vast regions of the south of Middle-earth'."
  • War of J. p. 109 (The Grey Annals) (para. 26, referring to p. 12): In the first version of the GA, it's stated "[E]vil creatures came up even to Beleriand, over passes in the mountains, or up from the south where their heights fell away." Christopher Tolkien notes that the text in italics is "probably referring to the region of the Great Gulf." (In the second version of the GA, which is scarcely changed from the first, the italic words in the preceding quote are replaced with through the dark forests, probably referencing "Taur-im-Duinath" and possibly other southern forests west of the Blue Mountains, as mentioned in para. 2 ("But south of the mouths of Sirion it [Beleriand] had no sure boundaries; for there were pathless forests in those days between the unpeopled shores and the lower waters of Gelion".) It's unclear why this change was made between the versions, but both versions are consistent with the idea that you could travel from Eriador to Beleriand through a gap between the Great Gulf and the Blue Mountains)
  • Peoples p. 307 (approx. 1969): "Not long after [the Folk of Beor entered Beleriand,] the first of the three hosts of the Folk of Hador came up from southward, and two others of much the same strength followed before the fall of the year. ... They had crossed Eriador and reached the eastern feet of the Mountains (Ered Lindon) a year or more ahead of all others, but had not attempted to find any passes, and had turned away seeking a road round the Mountains, which, as their horsed scouts reported, grew ever lower as they went southwards."
  • See also War of J., The Grey Annals pp. 104 (para. 2, referring to p. 5) & 105 (para. 6, referring to p. 6), and also The Later Quenta Silmarillion, p. 193 (para. 6, referring to same paragraph of the earlier Quenta Silmarillion in The Lost Road)

• Ambarkanta map suggests that an Africa-looking continent lays below Great Gulf (as noted by Christopher Tolkien in the Ambarkanta, see Shaping p. 305). In the LotR map, Harad is beneath the Bay of Belfalas, and we know it corresponds with Africa (from annotated LotR map discussing lines of latitude, info on the peoples of Harad, etc.).

Inland Seas

Sea of Helcar

Sea of Rhun is not a shrunken version of the Sea of Helcar: Peoples pp. 373-374, 391-392 & War of J pp. 373-374.

Sea of Helcar did not extend into Eriador or cover Mordor: War of J pp. 13, 110, 384-385 (White Mnts, and vales of Anduin on the coast of Sea [infer Belegear] in First Age); Unfinished Tales 399-400 (White Mnts, Ithilien, Anduin, Coasts of Haradwaith existing in First Age) Peoples p. 390 n. 14 & Unfinished Tales 399-400 (Mordor existing in First Age).

Sea of Helcar might not have existed at all, given Tolkien's comments about Elven shipmaking: Peoples pp. 391-392 (mentioned that Elves made ships for lakes near their first homes, but no mention of Helcar; made better ships only once reaching Sea of Rhun). But see Morgoth's Ring [page number to that needed]

References

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