Outline of Middle-earth

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 It covers materials created by Tolkien; the works on his unpublished manuscripts, by his son Christopher Tolkien; and films, games and other media created by other people.

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

Media[]

Authors[]

• J. R. R. Tolkien
• Christopher Tolkien

Published works[]

By J. R. R. Tolkien[]

• The Hobbit (1937)
• The Lord of the Rings
  • The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)
  • The Two Towers (1954)
  • The Return of the King (1955)
    • The Scouring of the Shire - a "novelistic" chapter
• The Road Goes Ever On, with music by Donald Swann (1967)

Posthumously published

• The Silmarillion (1977)
• Unfinished Tales (1980)

Edited by John D. Rateliff[]

• The History of The Hobbit (2007) - 2 volumes on the construction of The Hobbit with commentary by the scholar John D. Rateliff

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[]

main article: The History of Middle-earth (12 volumes)

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 The Return of the Shadow (History of LOTR v.1) (1988)

7 The Treason of Isengard (History of LOTR v.2) (1989)

8 The War of the Ring (History of LOTR v.3) (1990)

9 Sauron Defeated (History of LOTR v.4) (1992)

later legendarium

10 Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion v.1) (1993)

11 The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v.2) (1994)

12 The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)

Other stories[]

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

• Tales from the Perilous Realm (1997)
• The Children of Húrin (2007)
• The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (2009)
• The Fall of Arthur (2013)
• The Story of Kullervo (2015)
• Beren and Lúthien (2017)
• The Fall of Gondolin (2018)

Films[]

• The Hobbit (1967) – Gene Deitch's short animated adaptation
• The Hobbit (1977) – an animated musical television special by Rankin/Bass
• The Lord of the Rings (1978) – an animated film of the first half of the book by Ralph Bakshi
• The Return of the King (1980) – the animated sequel to 1977's The Hobbit
• Khraniteli (1991) - a "lost" Russian television play, now recovered
• Hobitit (1993) - a Finnish rendering of the Hobbits' journey in The Lord of the Rings
• The Lord of the Rings film series – the live-action trilogy by Peter Jackson
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• The Hobbit film series – Jackson's three-part prequel to his The Lord of the Rings series
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
  • The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Games[]

Tabletop games[]

• Middle-earth Role Playing (Iron Crown Enterprises, 1984)
• Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (Iron Crown Enterprises, 1991)
• The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (Decipher, Inc., 2002)
• The One Ring: Adventures over the Edge of the Wild (Cubicle 7, 2011)
• Adventures in Middle-earth (OGL supplement by Cubicle 7, 2016)

Video games[]

• The Hobbit (1982)
• Elendor (1991)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• The Hobbit (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (2004)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (2004)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (Game Boy Advance) (2004)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (2006)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king (2006)
• The Lord of the Rings: The White Council (2007; cancelled)
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (2007)
• The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (2009)
• The Lord of the Rings: Tactics (2009)
• The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (2010)
• The Lord of the Rings: War in the North (2011)
• Guardians of Middle-earth (2012)
• Lego The Lord of the Rings (2012)
• Lego The Hobbit (2014)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017)

Geography[]

Cosmology of Eä[]

• Eärendil, the Evening Star
• The Two Trees

Continents of Arda[]

• Middle-earth
• Númenor
• Valinor

Nations and regions[]

• Beleriand
• Dead Marshes
• Gondor
• Harad
• Lothlórien
• Mirkwood
• Mordor
• The Old Forest
• Rohan
• The Shire

Natural features[]

• Mount Doom

Cities and other populated places[]

• Barad-dûr
• Bree
• Dol Guldur
• Esgaroth
• Isengard
• Moria
• Rivendell

History[]

Artefacts[]

• Mithril
• The Palantíri
• Rings of Power
  • The One Ring
  • The Three Rings
• The Silmarils
• Weapons and armour

Conflicts[]

• Battle of Helm's Deep
• Battle of the Pelennor Fields
• Battle of the Morannon
• The Scouring of the Shire

Characters[]

First Age[]

House of Finwë

• Finwë
• Fëanor
• Maedhros
• Finrod Felagund
• Galadriel

House of Elwë and Olwë

• Thingol
• Lúthien

House of Marach

• Húrin
• Túrin Turambar
• Tuor
• Elrond
• Arwen

Others

• Beren
• Sauron
• Ungoliant

Second Age[]

• Elendil
• Isildur

Third Age[]

Thorin and Company

• Thorin Oakenshield
• Balin
• Bilbo Baggins
• Gandalf

The Fellowship of the Ring

• Frodo Baggins
• Samwise Gamgee
• Merry Brandybuck
• Pippin Took
• Aragorn
• Boromir
• Gandalf
• Legolas
• Gimli

Wizards:

• Gandalf
• Radagast
• Saruman

Men

• Aragorn
• Beorn
• Boromir
• Denethor
• Éomer
• Éowyn
• Faramir
• Gríma Wormtongue
• Théoden

Other characters

• Barrow-wight
• Galadriel
• Gollum
• Shelob
• Treebeard
• Tom Bombadil

Culture[]

Races[]

Ainur

• Valar
• Maiar
  • Balrogs
  • Wizards

Men

• Drúedain
• Dúnedain

Other

• Dwarves
• Eagles
• Elves
• Ents
• Hobbits
• Orcs
• Trolls
• Wargs
• Watcher in the Water

Languages[]

Elvish languages

• Common Eldarin
  • Quenya
  • Sindarin

Other

• Adûnaic
• Khuzdul
• Black Speech

Scripts

• Tengwar
• Sarati
• Cirth

Folklore and poetry[]

• A Elbereth Gilthoniel
• A Walking Song
• Namárië
• Song of Eärendil
• The Lay of Leithian
• The Lay of the Children of Húrin
• The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late
• The Road Goes Ever On
• The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
• Beren and Lúthien

Analysis[]

Influences[]

• J. R. R. Tolkien's influences
  • Beowulf

Components[]

• Artwork
• Family trees
• Heraldry
• for Tolkien's invented Languages, see above
• Maps
• Poetry
  • see above for individual poems

Literary devices[]

• Character pairing
• Impression of depth
• Interlacing
• Prose style

Themes[]

• Themes of The Lord of the Rings
• Addiction to power
• Christianity
• Decline and fall
• England
• Environmentalism
• Magic
• Modernism
• Music
• Named weapons
• Time travel
• Race
• Trees and forests
• Women

See also[]

• List of The Hobbit characters
• List of original characters in The Lord of the Rings film series

External links[]

• Tolkien Gateway – wiki about Middle-earth and Tolkien.
• Encyclopedia of Arda – encyclopaedia about Middle-earth.
• The Tolkien Meta-FAQ – answers to commonly asked questions about Tolkien and Middle-earth.
• Michael Martinez Tolkien Essays – a collection of essays on Tolkien and Middle-earth.