Middle-earth cosmology[edit]
Main article: Middle-earth cosmology
One way to understand Middle-earth's place in Tolkien's complex system is to see his whole creation as a series of worlds within worlds. As the outer layer is the whole universe itself, called by Tolkien "Eä". Within Eä are many mysterious and unknown worlds, but the events of his stories take place in the world called "Arda". Arda is what we would call Earth, called by Tolkien "Imbar" or "Ambar" (meaning 'the Habitation') and the sun, moon and stars which revolve around it. Within Arda are the continents of Aman and Middle-earth (which was actually two or even more continents), which are separated from each other by the Great SeaBelegaer (analogous to the Atlantic Ocean). Within his stories, Tolkien translated the name "Middle-earth" as Endor (or sometimes Endórë) and Ennor in the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin respectively, sometimes referring only to the continent that the stories take place on, with another southern continent called the Dark Land.
The western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar and the Elves called the Eldar. An uninhabited Eastern continent is also mentioned, but does not figure in the stories. The island of Númenor lay in Belegaer between Aman and Middle-earth, but was later drowned. In later ages Aman was also removed by the creator Eru Ilúvatar from Arda completely to prevent Men from trying to reach it.
In the beginning Ambar was supposed to be a "flat world", in that its habitable land-masses were all arranged on one side of the world. Tolkien's sketches show a disc-like face for the world which looked up to the stars. However, according to accounts in both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, when the king of Númenor called Ar-Pharazôn invaded Aman to seize immortality from the Valar, they laid down their guardianship of the world and Ilúvatar intervened, destroying Númenor, removing Aman "from the circles of the world", and reshaping Ambar into the round world of today. The Akallabêth says that the Númenóreans who survived the Downfall sailed as far west as they could in search of their ancient home, but their travels only brought them around the world back to their starting points. Hence, before the end of the Second Age, the transition from "flat Earth" to "round Earth" had been completed. New lands were also created in the west, analogous to the New World.
A few years after publishing The Lord of the Rings, in a note associated with the unique narrative story "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" (which is said to occur in Beleriand during the War of the Jewels), Tolkien equated Arda with the Solar System; because Arda by this point consisted of more than one heavenly body (Valinor being another planet and the Sun and Moon being celestial objects in their own right and not objects orbiting the Earth).
The Beginning of Days[edit]
Tolkien wrote that Middle-earth or Endor originally conformed to a largely symmetrical scheme that was marred by Melkor. The various conflicts with Melkor (as well as by the action of the Valar on one occasion) resulted in the shapes of the lands being distorted.
Originally, Arda began as a single flat world and the Valar created two lamps to illuminate it, Illuin and Ormal. The Vala Aulë forged great towers, Helcar in the furthest north, and Ringil in the deepest south. Illuin was set upon Helcar and Ormal upon Ringil. In the middle, where the light of the lamps mingled, the Valar dwelt at the island of Almaren in the midst of a Great Lake. When viewed from space, the geography of Arda was thus symmetrical. When Melkor destroyed the Lamps of the Valar, two vast inland seas (Helcar and Ringil) and two major seas (Belegaer and the Eastern Sea) were created, but Almaren and its lake were destroyed.
The Valar left Middle-earth and went to the newly formed continent of Aman in the west, where they created their home called Valinor. To discourage Melkor from assailing Aman, they thrust the continent of Middle-earth to the east, thus widening Belegaer at its middle and raising five major mountain ranges in Middle-earth which adopted a relatively symmetrical distribution, namely the Blue, Red, Grey, Yellow Mountains and the Mountains of the Wind. This act, however, ruined the symmetry of the shape of the continents and their intervening seas.
Many centuries after Valinor was established, Melkor raised the Misty Mountains to impede the progress of the Vala Oromë as he hunted Melkor's beasts during the period of darkness in Middle-earth prior to the awakening of the Elves.
Additional changes occurred when the Valar assaulted Utumno, some years after the Awakening of the Elves. The North-west of Middle-earth, notably the regions west of the Blue Mountains (named Beleriand) wherein Melkor met the Valar host, was "much broken". Belegaer, the sea between Middle-earth and Aman widened further, creating among other bays one which was the Bay of Balar, the confluence of Sirion. The highland of Dorthonion and the mountains about Hithlum were also a result of the battles.
In the central region of Middle-earth, a Great Gulf (of Belegaer) was formed (the precursor to the later Bay of Belfalas). To the far south, the Inland Sea of Ringil expanded greatly and separated the southernmost part of the continent from the mainland, in effect forming the Dark Land (Hyarmenor) and the Inner Sea, linking by straits the previously separated Belegaer and Eastern Sea.
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