Middle-earth

Middle-earth is a literal translation into the modern language of the Middle English middel-erde , descended from the Old English word middangeard , which called the real, inhabited world, located in the middle between heaven and hell . Tolkien borrowed the term from the poems of the 8th-century English monk Kinewulf “Christ” and “Elena”.

In Quenya, Middle-earth was called Endor or Endore ( Qu . Endor, Endórë ), "middle earth", in Sindarin, the same name sounded like Ennorath ( Sind. Ennorath ). In various eras, it was also called Abandoned Lands, Outer Lands, Great Lands.

Title translations

• Middle-earth (the most common, appeared in the translation “Lord of the Rings” by V. S. Muravyov and A. Kistyakovsky, the version belongs to A. Kistyakovsky)
• Middle-earth (" The Lord of the Rings " translated by N. Grigorieva)
• Middle-earth ("The Silmarillion " translated by Z. A. Bobyr)
• Middle-earth (The Lord of the Rings translated by M. Kamenkovich and V. Carrick)
• Middle Earth (literal translation of English Middle-Earth)

Middle-earth is a vast continent with a long coastline in the west, gradually extending to the southeast. The shores of Middle-earth are washed by the Great Sea (ocean). In the north, the waters of the sea form the freezing Gulf of Forochel , enclosed by chains of the Blue Mountains, where the state of the gnomes - exiles from Erebor was located, in the south - Belfalas , on the banks of which is the Gondor port of Pelargir and the mighty castle of Dol-Amroth, even further south - Umbar , the citadel corsairs . In the country of Lindon, on the northwestern coast of Middle-earth, in the Gulf of Lun is the elven port city of Gray Havens - the only one from where the ships leave for Valinor . The Isen (Angren), Brandywine (Baranduin) and Anduin rivers flow into the Great Sea, as well as many smaller rivers.

The continent is cut in two by a ridge called Hazy Mountains , in the north of which is the fortress of the Gundabad orcs. At the western foot of the mountains, in the Imladris Valley, is the elven fortified town of Rivendell . To the west of the ridge are the wooded plains of Arnor and Eriador (the lands of the Gray Rangers), with the Shire inhabited by the hobbits in the south and the territory of the former kingdom of Angmar in the north-east. To the east of the ridge lie the trading cities of Dale and Esgarot on the shores of the Long Lake, the estate of the Bardings, as well as the great dwarf kingdom Erebor , located inside the caves of the Lonely Mountain. In the southern spurs of the Misty Mountains there is the Entangan forest Fangorn , to the north of it is the forest of Haladrim Lothlorien , the possession of Galadrieli, and to the southwest is Isengard , the citadel of Saruman .

From the northeastern spurs of the Misty Mountains , the Anduin River flows through the steppes of the kingdom of Rohan . Further, the river stretches through Alorien and Ithilien , separating Gondor and captured by Mordor Ithilien, and flows into the Great Sea in the area of Belfalas . On its right bank lies the kingdom of the southern Dunedain Gondor with its capital in the fortified city of Minas Tirith , directly on the river is the Gondor fortress of Osgiliath . On the left bank, east of the river, a chain of Ash Mountains stretches, cutting off the entire world of Mordor , the country of orcs, trolls and the dark lord Sauron . From the north and south, Mordor is also surrounded by mountains. South of Gondor and Mordor lies the hot, desolate country of Harad , on the western shore of which Umbar is located. Harad is divided into Near and Far Harad. To the east of it is the country of Khand.

The east of Middle-earth has been little studied and populated, mainly, by nomadic Easterling tribes living in the steppes east of Rohan and southeast of the Long Lake, on the shores of the Rune Inland Sea.

The area covered by the map (created by the author himself) is a rectangle of approximately 2,000 by 1,400 miles. This is approximately 7 million km² (if you do not take into account the sea, it corresponds to the territory of Europe ).

• People . Most of Middle-earth is inhabited by people who, in turn, are quite heterogeneous on a national basis. The peoples of Arnor and Gondor comprise the Dunedain , the descendants of the last faithful Numenoreans (trackers of the North and South, the Gondor aristocracy, the inhabitants of Belfalas), the mestizo population (for example, in Lebennin and in the lands of Artedain and Cardolan before the fall of the kingdoms) and the indigenous population who lived there before the arrival of well colonists (hillocks, highlanders of the White Mountains, residents of Lebennin). In the forests of Anorien and Rohan, the mysterious Druedain foresters lived, squat low and almost equal to the elves in the art of living and fighting in the forest. In Angmar and Rudaur there lived fierce mounds that perished after the fall of Angmar, to the south lived the savages of Dunland, the enedwaite and Minhirrit, related to the chaladins of the First Age and desperately hating the Numenoreans, elves and Druedain. The population of Rohan ( rohirrim ) is fair-haired, tall people, mainly engaged in horse breeding, but they are mainly sedentary people, in contrast to their neighbors, nomadic Easterlings living in the steppes of the East. Finally, the people of the South are swarthy, dark-skinned Haradrim , of whom little is known. Barding, lacusters, and beornings lead a predominantly sedentary agricultural way of life, however, while trade and crafts play an important role in the life of bards and lakes, beornings are mainly engaged in agriculture and forest processing and are reluctant to let outsiders through their lands. They are similar externally and internally to the rohirrim, since the ancestors of the latter came to Calenardon from the north - from the vanished kingdom of Rovanion (moreover, if the bards and lakes were descendants of the inhabitants of the outskirts and refugees from the south, then the rohirrim came from the people of Eoted, the descendants of the royal army, and they were ruled by the heir to the crown of Rovanion, who became the first leader of Eoted and ancestor of the kings of Rohan). The extreme north is inhabited by the Lossots - sea animal hunters living in huts near Forokhel Bay and using skis.
• Elves are immortal beings endowed with innate magic, incredible stamina and sharp eyesight. They are divided into the peoples of the Noldor , Sindar , Vaniard , accidents and Teleri . They live in the forests of Mirkwood (Sindar aristocrats, the main population of Nandor), Lothlorien (Nandor, Sindar and some Noldor), in Imladris (Sindar, Noldor and a few others) and on the coast of the Great Sea , in Mithlond (descendants of the Falatrims), Forlond (Noldor) and Harlond (Sindar). Somewhere far in the East, near the Waters of Awakening, the elf’s ancient ancestral homeland, the last and most secretive of the elves live - accidents that refused to leave Middle-earth and go to Valinor ^{[9] [10]} .
• Dwarves are a short, bearded people, created not by the demiurge Eru Iluvatar , but by his disciple Aule . Dwarves live in the dungeons of Khazad Duma , Erebor , Ered Lwin , the Gray Mountains and Iron Hills, as well as the distant eastern mountains, mining precious stones and gold and being famous as unsurpassed metallurgists, blacksmiths and jewelers . After the War of the Ring, the dwarves of the people of Darin also occupied the Shining Caves of Aglarond in Rohan . Few people saw gnome women, but those who saw could not always distinguish them from young male gnomes (perhaps because they are with a beard) ^[11] .
• The Hobbits are a small nation a little over a meter tall, inhabiting the Shire , a country in the northwest of Eriador on the left bank of Brendivin and in small numbers in the Highlands, their homeland is the bank of the Great River at the edge of Lykolesye. This is a small peace-loving folk of farmers, living a patriarchal democratic system and nominally vassal, first to Arnor, and then to the Reunited Kingdom. Outwardly, the hobbits look like half the size of people (for which they were nicknamed half -sockets and perians) with large feet covered with thick fur. Hobbits are distantly related to humans.
• Orcs or goblins are a cruel people created by the Dark Lord Melkor back in the Age of Trees through magical experiments on captive elves. These are scary, fanged creatures with black, yellow or green-brown skin, prone to unmotivated cruelty and cannibalism . Since they were created in the pre-solar era and genetically do not tolerate bright sunlight, they live mainly in underground caves, where they often fight with the dwarves . Melkor's successor, Sauron (and later Saruman ) introduced a special kind of orcs, called the Uruk-hai - higher, stronger. Saruman, copying Sauron in his deeds, created his Uruk-hai who were not afraid of sunlight and outwardly looked more like people. Their main habitats are Mordor , Isengard , Moria and the mountains in the Gundabad region ^[11] , as well as other dungeons of the Misty and Gray Mountains, for example, the City of Goblins .
• Trolls are giant creatures created by Melkor from stone to mock Ents . The growth of trolls is comparable to the growth of ents. They are divided into several types:
  • snowy (they are compared with Helm, King Rohan)
  • stone (afraid of the sun, turn into stone from its rays). Some speak Westron and have quite “human” names (in “The Hobbit ” of one of the trolls who attacked Torin’s detachment, they called William Higgins)
  • mountain
  • cavemen
  • " Ologhai " ( Eng. Olog-Hai , in the Black Speech "tribe of trolls") - trolls who lived in southern Darkshire and in the north of Mordor . Sauron brought them out at the end of the Third Age. Very strong, very dexterous, smart enough and they are one of the few who learned the Black Speech , unlike the native trolls, they were not afraid of sunlight while Sauron commanded them.
• The Ents are a people of giant tree-people, 12-14 feet tall, the guardians of the forest inhabiting the Fangorn forest , an analogue of Russian forest goblins , created by Eru at the request of Valie Yavanna as opposed to the dwarves - the creations of her husband Aule. Ente leader of the 3rd era - Treebeard . In antiquity, male ents broke up with their wives, and since then they have been looking for them for many millennia. Ents are slow, peaceful and fanatically devoted to nature (since they are actually part of the flora of Middle-earth) ^[12] .

Middle-earth is inhabited by completely ordinary terrestrial animals and plants. Of the wild animals mentioned bears, foxes, deer, fallow deer. In the economy, the inhabitants of Middle-earth use horses and ponies. The most common agricultural crops are wheat, rye, barley, various root crops (in particular, potatoes), tobacco, and others. Grapes are cultivated in the lands of Gondor .

Among the unknown plants on Earth are mentioned: Mallirn (the giant trees that make up the Lothlorien forest), Acelas (the royal leaf is a medicinal plant, which, according to legend, the Dunedain brought with them from Numenor ), the White Tree Nimloth (a descendant of the luminiferous Telperion , the Eldest of Drev), which is the state symbol of Gondor and embroidered by Arwen on the banner of Aragorn Ellesar .

Some animals (and even plants) in Middle-earth are speechless. For example, the blackbird in The Hobbit perfectly understands human speech, and the archer Bard of Esgaroth , in turn, understands the thrush of a thrush. It is mentioned that this skill was inherited by Bard - other characters of the thrush did not understand. But Raven Roak not only understands speech, but also speaks with the hobbits and dwarves on the Westron . In addition, gigantic eagles, living in the eastern spurs of the Misty Mountains, own speechless. Giant spiders living in Mirkwood communicate on the Westron . Wolf tongues could also speak Black dialect .

Of the plants that were speechless, the most famous is the Old Elm ( Eng. Old Man Willow ), who almost killed Peregrine Took and Meriadoc Brandyback , who threatened to have a bite to eat if their comrades ( Frodo and Sam ) did not remove the fire from its roots. In addition, Old Elm has the gift of hypnosis.

This information is very scarce, but the sky above the Middle-earth is also very reminiscent of the earth. So, in “The Hobbit”, Bilbo is guided by Ursa Major (the hobbits call this constellation Sickle). The sun and moon are walking in the sky. In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while the hobbits flee from the Shire, Frodo, Sam and Peregrine look at the Heavenly Warrior Menelvagor (in which Orion is unmistakably guessed); in the east rises, shining with wine color, red Borgil (probably Aldebaran ); in addition, the Star Network is visible - Remmirat (probably the Pleiades ).

In the Appendix to the trilogy, describing the Shir calendar, Tolkien indicates the duration of the year in Middle-earth - 365 days, 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes, 46 seconds. This value almost up to seconds coincides with the tropical earth year .

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