Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien's Sub-creation

According to J.R.R. Tolkien, Middle-earth is our world. It is a real place, not a fictional place. But he said that his stories -- set in Middle-earth -- take place in an imaginary time. And the maps he made for Middle-earth do not correspond to real geography because mythologically the world has changed since then due to various great calamities.

Here are excerpts from a few questions about Middle-earth:

Is Middle-earth an Island or Continent?

ANSWER: No. Yes. J.R.R. Tolkien was not very consistent in defining Middle-earth, or in using a single name to refer to "the world". At various times he used Middle-earth, Arda, Imbar, and Ambar to refer to what today we call "the Earth", the round planet upon which we live. But almost any different point of view can be supported by selectively citing Tolkien himself.

Read the full answer here: Q: Is Middle-earth an Island or Continent?

Where On Earth Was Middle-earth?

ANSWER: People who ask where Middle-earth is, or which part of our world is supposed to be Middle-earth, don’t understand what J.R.R. Tolkien meant when he used the name "Middle-earth". Middle-earth was simply the name that ancient Scandinavian and Germanic peoples used for the world in which they lived (Old English gave us middangeard). How that world was envisaged through mythology does not represent how Middle-earth is supposed to look to the reader of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien found many occasions to explain that Middle-earth is simply our world, and that the stories are set in an imaginary past time for our world. He included a transition from a “flat world” that vaguely resembled the Norse/Germanic flat world mythology but which was not directly modeled on that mythology.

Read the full answer here: Q: Where On Earth Was Middle-earth?

Was Middle-earth Real?

ANSWER: The depth and detail that J.R.R. Tolkien provides in The Lord of the Rings is really unlike anything most people have read in fictional works written prior to the 1980s. There are so many descriptions of trees, plants, hills, mountains, weather, and land features that the whole world feels like a place where J.R.R. Tolkien had personally traveled.

Read the full answer here: Q: Was Middle-earth Real?

Is Middle-earth Real?

ANSWER: Middle-earth is real in the sense that the name "middle-earth" is simply an ancient name for our own world (the world of men, within the context of a cosmology that envisioned closely connected worlds of men, gods, elves, dwarves, giants, and the dead). When people ask "is Middle-earth real" seek for "evidence of a real middle-earth" they are undoubtedly looking for information on whether J.R.R. Tolkien really based The Lord of the Rings on true historical or prehistorical events.

Read the full answer here: Q: Is Middle-earth Real?

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