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Gwaihir the Windlord · 08-04-2003, 01:55 AM

Actually, there were maps of this region drawn by Tolkien himself; however, the ones I have seen are all very rudimentary and in most cases from an early stage of development.

You are right, though -- the northern coastlines of Middle-Earth are something I have always vaguely wondered about. The regions are adequately described, though -- which would in fact make it apparently easy to draw a map about, really -- although not much of importance was ever really there.

Apart from Angband, of course. Angband (originally an outlier of Utumno, which you mentioned, although the lands in that region appear to have warped and changed after the War of the Powers) is pretty well described; a map isn't really needed, although the fact that it is positioned about a millimetre above the map given in the Silm is slightly irritating. It is true, not much more effort would have been needed to draw it in.

Have a look at here., though. By the look of it it might well be authentic... hmm, slightly exagerated drawing of Thangorodrim though, but gives a damn good idea of what it was meant to look like. You can see that the coast come in not too far North of Angband; I think this probably holds true for much of that missed from the North of Middle-Earth, so that while it's a shame we aren't acutally missing too much.

You can find quite a few interesting maps on the net, although, as I said, nearly all of these show JRRT's world in it's early conceptual state.

Hmmm, it would indeed be interesting if we could indeed come up with a mapped greater Middle-Earth than the one we've got now. Unless other maps that are adaptable do exist, C. Tolkien is probably the only person that could help in this, unless further 'conjectural' mapping was done independantly. I must admit, though, that there is something uncomfortable about the prospect of doing this. =/

Edit for dancing spawn's benefit: try google-image-searching to find your map (or any other pic you'd care to obtain, actually). You can't do without a map of Beleriand, you know [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]. You'd better take a look here: Map of Beleriand from back of Silmarillion.

[ August 04, 2003: Message edited by: Gwaihir the Windlord ]

08-04-2003, 01:55 AM	#3
Gwaihir the Windlord Essence of Darkness Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Evermore Posts: 1,420	Actually, there were maps of this region drawn by Tolkien himself; however, the ones I have seen are all very rudimentary and in most cases from an early stage of development. You are right, though -- the northern coastlines of Middle-Earth are something I have always vaguely wondered about. The regions are adequately described, though -- which would in fact make it apparently easy to draw a map about, really -- although not much of importance was ever really there. Apart from Angband, of course. Angband (originally an outlier of Utumno, which you mentioned, although the lands in that region appear to have warped and changed after the War of the Powers) is pretty well described; a map isn't really needed, although the fact that it is positioned about a millimetre above the map given in the Silm is slightly irritating. It is true, not much more effort would have been needed to draw it in. Have a look at here., though. By the look of it it might well be authentic... hmm, slightly exagerated drawing of Thangorodrim though, but gives a damn good idea of what it was meant to look like. You can see that the coast come in not too far North of Angband; I think this probably holds true for much of that missed from the North of Middle-Earth, so that while it's a shame we aren't acutally missing too much. You can find quite a few interesting maps on the net, although, as I said, nearly all of these show JRRT's world in it's early conceptual state. Hmmm, it would indeed be interesting if we could indeed come up with a mapped greater Middle-Earth than the one we've got now. Unless other maps that are adaptable do exist, C. Tolkien is probably the only person that could help in this, unless further 'conjectural' mapping was done independantly. I must admit, though, that there is something uncomfortable about the prospect of doing this. =/ Edit for dancing spawn's benefit: try google-image-searching to find your map (or any other pic you'd care to obtain, actually). You can't do without a map of Beleriand, you know [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]. You'd better take a look here: Map of Beleriand from back of Silmarillion. [ August 04, 2003: Message edited by: Gwaihir the Windlord ]