148
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Accepted
What lies in Mordor besides Mount Doom and Barad-dur?
Mordor has more than just a mountain and a tower. As you can see from Tolkien's annotated map (bottom), the Mountain of Doom and Tower of Sauron merely make up a small corner of Mordor, namely the ...
- 77.5k
115
votes
Accepted
What was the tallest structure built in Middle-earth?
It depends what you mean by "structure"
In terms of freestanding structures, which I think you are most interested in, it would probably be Barad-dûr with a height of at least (and even perhaps much ...
- 11k
112
votes
Does everyone always eat, drink and sleep for free everywhere in Middle-earth?
Firstly, as Lord of the Rings is conceived to be taking place long ago in essentially our world, yes, to some degree, people were expected to provide free food and lodging for strangers. This was ...
- 25k
105
votes
Accepted
Was the Lonely Mountain, where Smaug lived, a volcano?
Speaking as a geologist: The Lonely Mountain is probably an extinct volcano. J. R. R. Tolkien depicted the mountain several times in sketches and watercolors, and in most of them the volcano is steep-...
- 18.2k
97
votes
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Are there other dragons in Middle-earth by the time of The Hobbit?
I think in The Hobbit "An Unexpected Party" the Dwarves talk shop, including discussing "the depredations of dragons" indicating that Smaug is not the only dragon then active in Middle-earth. In the ...
- 42.2k
85
votes
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Are the mountains surrounding Mordor natural?
Mordor was probably created during the War of Wrath
This is a footnote from one of Tolkien's late texts:
[Orodruin and its eruptions] were a relic of the devastating works of Melkor in the long ...
- 11k
70
votes
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What is the oldest object in Middle-earth?
The Silmaril cast by Maedhros into a chasm, is in Middle-Earth, deep in Middle-earth in fact; and is one of the oldest objects in it, having been crafted by Fëanor in the early-to-middle First Age ...
- 1,472
53
votes
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Plate Tectonics in Middle Earth; an in-universe explanation?
The in-universe explanation is that much of the geography of Middle-earth is not the result of natural processes, but rather of mythological events, conflicts, etc.
Some quotes from the Silmarillion, ...
44
votes
Did maps in Middle-Earth have west on the top?
Almost certainly, yes.
Not always (witness the Dwarven map with east at the top), but it was evidently the usual orientation in the West-lands.
Appendix E to The Lord of the Rings:
The names of the ...
- 3,386
38
votes
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What exactly is Middle-earth in Tolkien's Legendarium?
"Middle-earth" has several meanings
It has a very specific cosmological definition: all the lands and seas of the world (Arda), excluding Aman (where the Valar live). However, it is also ...
- 11k
36
votes
Accepted
What was Mordor's history before Sauron settled there?
There is no known history of Mordor before Shelob's arrival. From her introduction in The Two Towers we can imagine there being a time when Elves and Men travelled that way more frequently, suggesting ...
- 164k
35
votes
What lies in Mordor besides Mount Doom and Barad-dur?
Mordor isn’t a complete desert. The southern part has fields producing food for Sauron’s armies (bold added):
Neither he [Sam] nor Frodo knew anything of the great slave-worked
fields away south ...
- 1,498
31
votes
Why is there darkness/evil in Middle-earth and why couldn't the Valar fix this?
The Marring of Arda was intentional
The idea of Arda Marred (as it's commonly referred to) is a direct reflection of the downfall of Man in the bible and the imperfections of the world. Similar to the ...
- 77.5k
29
votes
What's the tallest mountain in Middle-earth?
Middle-earth
In Middle-earth throughout all time it is almost certainly Thangorodrim:
And looking out from the slopes of Ered Wethrin with his last sight he beheld far off the peaks of Thangorodrim, ...
- 77.5k
27
votes
Accepted
What types of dragons are there in Middle-earth and how and why do they differ?
There were Fire-drakes and Cold-drakes
The first fire-drake to issue from the gates of Angband was Glaurung; he was said to have sired the other fire-drakes and they are also the most common.
Again ...
- 77.5k
25
votes
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Are the Maiar more powerful than the Istari?
The Istari are Maiar
Olorin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten.
We must assume that they [the Istari] were all Maiar...
For with the consent of Eru they [the Valar] sent members of their ...
- 77.5k
25
votes
Accepted
Who was the last elf in Middle-earth?
There is no last Elf in Middle-earth - there's still Elves here!
Elves cannot live in Middle-earth indefinitely, embodied. Though the Three Rings helped keep them around and embodied, all Elves in ...
- 25k
24
votes
Accepted
Where are the Grey Havens?
No, this is correct
The Grey Havens are where Círdan maintains the Elven ships that travel over the Sea. This is also mentioned a few times in the text; for example (emphasis mine):
'And I've heard ...
- 164k
24
votes
Accepted
What was the final fate of Khazad-dûm (after Durin the 7th)?
Durin the Last first emerges in the second surviving draft of the dwarf section of Appendix A, which originally ended with this line about Moria, right after talking about Dain and Erebor.
And the ...
- 95.3k
23
votes
Accepted
What material are weapons and armors in the Middle-earth forged from?
Steel, Iron, Mithril or Bronze etc...
They used many of the metals that were available to the Nordic peoples in our own early history, as well as the mysterious "Moria Steel" which was known ...
- 77.5k
23
votes
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Can dwarves forge magical weapons as well as Elves can?
Dwarves have forged weapons of the same renown
I'm sure Tolkien would have probably rejected such a classification system, but if you consider the weapons named in your question to be "magical&...
- 95.3k
22
votes
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Was there ever an epidemic of infectious disease in Middle-earth?
Yes, definitely. From LotR:
Introduction:
Thus began the Shire-reckoning, for the year of the crossing of the Brandywine (as the Hobbits turned the name) became Year One of the Shire... There for ...
- 42k
22
votes
What lies in Mordor besides Mount Doom and Barad-dur?
The Eye of Sauron isn't a structure, it is a metaphor for Sauron's watchfulness and gathering of information by natural and magical methods.
Mount Doom isn't a structure, it is a geological feature. ...
- 42.2k
22
votes
Accepted
Did Sauron ever consider that the Valar and/or Eru Ilúvatar may not allow him to conquer Middle-earth?
Sauron could not, of course, be a 'sincere' atheist. Though one of the
minor spirits created before the world, he knew Eru, according to his
measure. He probably deluded himself with the notion that ...
- 2,201
21
votes
Accepted
Is Rohan the same (country) as Arnor?
TL; DR: No. Not only have Arnor and Rohan always been two distinct entities, they had never existed at the same time until Aragorn became king of Gondor and Arnor.
Flaws in the question:
As the ...
- 70.1k
20
votes
Are the mountains surrounding Mordor natural?
Essentially nothing is known about the early history of Mordor, especially not as far back as the earliest days of creation. The only thing I'm prepared to say with certainty is that the Ephel Dúath ...
- 164k
19
votes
Accepted
Did maps in Middle-Earth have west on the top?
Thror's map (as hand-drawn by Tolkien) had a Eastward slant
Other maps of Middle-Earth seems to have had a more common Northward-pointing compass rose
- 702k
19
votes
How much did the livelihood of the Rohirrim rely on agriculture?
The only relevant quote I can think of from LoTR itself is from Book 3, Chapter 7, Helm's Deep, where Théoden regrets that Saruman's army is burning the countryside behind them:
‘They bring fire,’ ...
- 65.4k
17
votes
Story from Middle-earth about the events of "The Lord of the Rings" being a lie
You're probably thinking of Kirill Eskov's The Last Ringbearer, a Russian book that re-tells the story of LoTR from the point of view of Mordor.
From Wikipedia:
Eskov bases his novel on the premise ...
- 65.4k
14
votes
Have Dinosaurs Ever Existed in Arda?
Letter 211:
I did not intend the steed of the Witch-King to be what is now called a 'pterodactyl', and often is drawn (with rather less shadowy evidence than lies behind many monsters of the new ...
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