General Map Of Middle-earth - Tolkien Gateway

This article describes a concept which is mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien's works, but was never given a definite name.

The General Map of Middle-earth is the first, unnamed small-scale map of the Westlands that was drawn by Christopher Tolkien in late 1953, for the first edition of The Lord of the Rings.[1][note 1] J.R.R. Tolkien referred to this map as the "general small-scale map of the whole field of action",[2] the "small-scale general map of the whole scene of action and reference"[3] or the "general map".[4][5] The map was made in haste based on sketches of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien consulted this map during his writing.[6]

In versions after 1970 some printings of the map by Allen & Unwin included river-names that were firstly introduced in Pauline Baynes's A Map of Middle-earth, namely Adorn and Glanduin/Swanfleet. This version of the map is printed in The Fall of Númenor, with Glanduin and Swanfleet being erroneously applied to the upper course of the Isen.[7]

The map was re-drawn in 1980 by Christopher and has been since included in editions after the year.

Errors

Christopher Tolkien admitted that there were both "minor" and "major defects" and oddities, and while his father used the map as the basis of his writing, he often noted its inadequacies. In the long term, Christopher regretted that his father did not proceed to make a better map of his own.[6]

Some of the errors include:

• The main name of Harondor appears as "South Gondor" which is the translation of the actual name.[8]
• The Misty Mountains were written as "Hithaiglin" in the original map, which was corrected to "Hithaeglir" in more recent maps.[8]
• Nan Curunir is spelt as "Nan Gurunir", representing an earlier version of the writing.[8]
• The small mountainous range north of Hollin shouldn't be actually mountains but rather "an ever wider land of bleak hills, and deep valleys filled with turbulent water".[8][9]
• Of former Arnor only the region of Rhudaur is named, oddly omitting Arthedain and Cardolan.[6]
• The map suggests that the Icebay of Forochel is the small gulf north of Eriador. C. Tolkien realised that the name rather refers to the immense region of sea surrounded by the Cape of Forochel.[6][8]
• Forodwaith is labelled as being a part of the wider Northern Waste, if not a separate region. C. Tolkien later became sure that the two are synonymous.[6]
• The portion of the East Road between the Weathertop to the Ford of Bruinen was supposed to have two big curves, which were not depicted in the final map, creating a discrepancy with the text of the First Edition. The text was altered in the later editions in order to be more faithful to the map.[10]

Annotated copy

A copy of the map with annotations by J.R.R. Tolkien and Pauline Baynes has been published online with permission of Blackwell’s Rare Books. This annotated copy, found in Baynes' copy of The Lord of the Rings, was used by Baynes in preparing "A Map of Middle-earth".[11][12] Blackwell's Rare Books also released online a copy of the map with the annotations digitally transcribed for clarity.[13]

Successor

While authoring Unfinished Tales, Christopher Tolkien considered including the map and inserting additional place-names mentioned in the book. He instead chose to redraw the map entirely, maintaining the same "style and detail" while adding new information and correcting the map's "minor defects".[6] This new map is called "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age".[1]

Notes

1. ↑ The name "General Map of Middle-earth" was first used by Hammond and Scull in their book The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion.

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, "The Maps of The Lord of the Rings", pp. lv-lxvii
2. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 137, (dated 11 April 1953)
3. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 144, (dated 25 April 1954)
4. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 162, (dated 18 April 1955)
5. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 187, (undated, written April 1956)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Introduction", "The Map of Middle-earth"
7. ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. lxvi
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. lxiii
9. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Return of the Shadow, "The Story Continued: XXIV. The Ring Goes South, Note on the Geography and the contemporary Map", p. 441
10. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Return of the Shadow, "The First Phase: XI. From Weathertop to the Ford, Note on the course of the Road between Weathertop and Rivendell"
11. ↑ Alison Flood, "Tolkien's annotated map of Middle-earth discovered inside copy of Lord of the Rings" dated 23 October 2015, The Guardian(accessed 24 March 2018)
12. ↑ Daniel Helen, "Map annotated by Tolkien found in Pauline Baynes’s copy of The Lord of the Rings" dated 24 October 2015, The Tolkien Society(accessed 24 March 2018)
13. ↑ Daniel Helen, "Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth transcribed" dated 10 November 2015, The Tolkien Society(accessed 24 March 2018)

Maps of Arda made by or for J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit:	Thrór's Map · Map of Wilderland
TLOTR:	A Part of the Shire · General Map of Middle-earth · Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor · The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age
Other:	Map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North · Númenórë‎
Baynes:	A Map of Middle-earth · There and Back Again
Early maps:	The earliest map‎ · I Vene Kemen · The First 'Silmarillion' Map · Ambarkanta maps · The Second 'Silmarillion' Map · The First Map of 'The Lord of the Rings' · The 1943 Map of 'The Lord of the Rings' · The Second Map of 'The Lord of the Rings' · The Third Map of 'The Lord of the Rings'

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• 23 August 2024

Contents Back to top Contents

• 1 Errors
• 2 Annotated copy
• 3 Successor
• 4 Notes
• 5 References