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Atlas 5

First atlas of Middle Earth

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unseen wald
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29 views2 pages

Atlas 5

First atlas of Middle Earth

Uploaded by

unseen wald
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beleriand

To produce a detailed world map it was necessary to piece together the

mapped and unmapped portions of Arda. While the map from the

Ambarkanta provided a rough world-wide view, the crucial locale during

the First Age was Beleriand. It was necessary to establish both scale and

relationship to the rest of Middle-earth. All the ‘Silmarillion’ maps

excluded both the northern and southern extremes of the area. The original

key to the latter was the location of the Dwarf Road to the cities of Belegost

and Nogrod, where the Ered Luin were broken asunder in the Great Battle,

forming the Gulf of Lune. With the publication of The History, however, it

became possible to confirm the placement by superimposing the “First

Map”29 designed for The Lord of the Rings over the “Second ‘Silmarillion’

Map”30—aligning the locations of Tol Fuin over Dorthonion (Taur-nu-Fuin)

and of the isle of Himling with the city of Himring. Although the index

grids used on both the maps used squares of the same dimension (100 miles

on a side, as are those of the Atlas), the lettered axis differed by fifty miles,

and neither letters nor numbers coordinated. This difference was merely one

of inconvenience, however. With one exception* it was possible to

reconfirm the relative size and location of the distances within the area that

were mentioned in the text:

1) Menegroth to Thangorodrim *150 leagues31

2) Highlands of Dorthonion E-W 60 leagues32

3) Nargothrond to Pools of Ivrin 40 leagues33

4) Nargothrond to Falls of Sirion 25 leagues34

5) East Beleriand, Sirion to Gelion 100 leagues35

6) River Sirion 130 leagues36

7) River Narog 80 leagues37

8) River Gelion

a) Confluence Greater and Little to River Ascar 40 leagues38

b) Total length, “twice . . . Sirion” 260 leagues39

For this atlas, the southern coast was mapped at a point 260 leagues from
the sources of River Gelion—based on the assumption that the river

continued its southwesterly flow. This brought the coast near that of the Bay

of Belfalas. The southwestern tip was extended to emphasize the bayed

shape of the Bay of Balar. The area was shown as forested, assuming the

circumstances that produced Taur-im-Duinath would have prevailed.

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