From the weird maps files..

[lars573]

Where on earth is middle earth.


Helms deep is appearantly in Switzerland. And Isengard is in Schleswig-Holstien. While the Shire is in Sumerset.

[Beirut]

While the Shire is in Sumerset.

Not sure about that.

Any place that drinks and smokes that much and has Second Breakfast as a cultural institution has to be in Canada.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Apparantly not on earth...

[shlin28]

So all the bad people in Middle-Earth comes from Germany, Asia Minor, the place just above Greece and Africa?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Why is Scandanavia melded into the bizarrely thick Denmark?

[KafirChobee]

Gah!

BTW, Canada has my vote for the Shire - though it brings up the question of snow.

[Pannonian]

1. The Shire is to the north of Eregion.
2. Dorthonion and Anfauglith should be shifted north, so that Dorthonion is around level with Ered Mithrim.

I was going to list a few more points, but then I realised that the map is completely and utterly wrong. Here are the proper maps, as done by JRR and Christopher Tolkien. Note the island of Himling in the top left of the first map.




On the second map, on the top right is an area called Lothlann. To its southwest is an area called Himlad. In between is a line of hills called the March of Maedhros, and on the western end of that is a hill called Himring. This is the isle of Himling from the first map, left when Beleriand was drowned. From this, we can surmise that the Shire is around level with Thargelion, on the other side of Ered Luin (on the right side of the Beleriand map, on the left side of the Middle Earth map). From this, one can further estimate the positions of other Berliandic areas in relation to the Middle Earth map.

Since the original premise is based on an extremely inaccurate Middle Earth map, on which was superimposed a scarcely less inaccurate European map, one can conclude there isn't much to discuss, except how on (middle) earth the original cartographer got things so wrong, and what he was trying to prove by it.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Since the original premise is based on an extremely inaccurate Middle Earth map, on which was superimposed a scarcely less inaccurate European map, one can conclude there isn't much to discuss, except how on (middle) earth the original cartographer got things so wrong

Rubbish.

I'm quite certain the cartographer has found the true location of Middle Earth.

[Sardo]

I happen to have a somewhat more accurate map showing the relative positions of Middle-Earth and Real-Earth stashed away somewhere in my images folder - I knew it would be useful one day!



Sadly, the interwebs page I got it from has long since faded into oblivion. It had a really scientific (and hence incomprehensible to me) explanation of how they arrived at their conclusions. I seem to recall that some time ago, the Tolkien Estate launched a crusade against ME maps on the internet, so that might have something to do with the website's disappearance.

Anyway, Mordor is in the Balkans. That explains a lot.

[master of the puppets]

i'm telling you, middle-earth IS earth during the next age. its in the third age right... well B.C., A.D., ...hobbitD.
its just the post apocyliptic world after we destroy ourselves by splitting the species and right after scientists invent magic.

[El Diablo]

Sorry guys you got it all wrong....

Mordor is in the Southern Alps
Rohan is near Queenstown
The Shire is near Taranaki

Good old Peter Jackson could read the map...

[Shaka_Khan]

Why is Scandanavia melded into the bizarrely thick Denmark?

It's the Ice Age when the sea level was much lower. In those days, even England was connected to France. Of course, I'm not saying that the LotR part was a fact.

[UltraWar]

I can finally invade Middle-Earth. All those years of waiting have paid off!

[Tristuskhan]

Rohan is near Queenstown

Tsss tsss, Rohan is a 5000 souls city in northern Morbihan, Brittany, France.

[Shaka_Khan]

According to the Silmarillion, the elves went to another planet. What if that was meant to be a perception? Maybe the elves are in North America.