We are bringing you a map of Middle-earth (Lord of the Rings), and all the key locations that can be found on it. Check it out below. We will also explain in detail all of those locations with help from Tolkien Gateway.
Middle-earth key locations are:
- Amon Hen
- Angmar
- Arnor
- Bree
- Beleriand
- Dol Guldur
- Edoras
- Erebor
- Ered Luin
- Ered Mithrin
- Ered Nimrais
- Eriador
- Esgaroth
- Evendim
- Fangorn
- Forochel
- Gondor
- Harad
- Helm’s Deep
- Isengard
- Khazad-dûm
- Lone Lands
- Lothlórien
- Minas Tirith
- Mirkwood
- Misty Mountains
- Mordor
- Mount Doom
- Númenor
- Osgiliath
- Pelennor Fields
- Rhûn
- Rivendell
- Rohan
- Rhovanion
- Shire
- Trollshaws
- Weathertop
Map of Middle-earth
Middle-earth Key Locations
Amon Hen
Amon Hen was a hill in the Emyn Muil at Nen Hithoel’s west. At its summit was the ruined structure known as the Seat of Seeing.
Angmar
Angmar was a realm established in TA 1300 by the Lord of the Nazgûl later called the “Witch-king of Angmar” – located in a northern fork in the western Misty Mountains, and founded with the sole purpose of weakening the northern realm of Arnor. The land was known in part for its cold and snowy weather.
Arnor
Arnor, also known as the Northern Kingdom, was a kingdom of men located in the land of Eriador in Middle-earth.
Bree
Bree was a village, of Men and hobbits, in Middle-earth, located east of the Shire and south of Fornost in Eriador. It’s home to the famous inn The Prancing Pony, owned and run by Barliman Butterbur.
Beleriand
Beleriand was a vast region located in north-western Middle-earth during the First Age. Originally, its name referred only to the area around the Bay of Balar, but in time the name was also applied to the entire land. The root of the word, Beler or Balar, is believed to refer to the Maia Ossë, who often dwelt at the shores of Balar. The War of Wrath at the end of the First Age brought the destruction of the entire continent (except Lindon), and its descent into the sea.
Dol Guldur
Dol Guldur, also known as the Hill of Dark Sorcery, was Sauron’s stronghold and base of operations while secretly regaining his power as “The Necromancer”. It was located in the south of Mirkwood for over two thousand years in the Third Age. Dol Guldur was a seat of power for Sauron as he regained his strength before returning to Mordor.
Edoras
Edoras is the city of Rohan. It is where the King of Rohan resides, and is where the Rohirrim live. Edoras is built at the end of the valley of Harrowdale, which lies under the great mountain Starkhorn. The river Snowbourn flows past the city on its way west towards the Entwash. The city was protected only by a high wall of timber, and a one-way road allowed access to the city. The city was built by Rohan’s second king Brego.
Erebor
The Lonely Mountain, or Erebor, was a mountain in the north-east of Rhovanion. It was the source of the river Running, and a major Dwarven stronghold, the Kingdom under the Mountain at the end of the Third Age and well into the Fourth.
Ered Luin
The Ered Luin or Blue Mountains, also known as Ered Lindon, is the mountain range at the far west of Eriador.
Ered Mithrin
The Grey Mountains (or Ered Mithrin in Sindarin) was a large mountain range to the north of Rhovanion. Their western end connected to the Misty Mountains at the site of Mount Gundabad.
Ered Nimrais
The White Mountains, or Ered Nimrais was a great mountain range that lay between Calenardhon/Rohan in the North and Gondor in the South. They ran 600 miles (965 kilometers) from Thrihyrne in the north-west to Mindolluin and Amon Tirith in the east. A low spur sprung off south-west, and ended at Ras Morthil.
Eriador
Eriador was the large region in the north-west of Middle-earth, defined between Lindon and the Blue Mountains to the west and Rhovanion and the Misty Mountains to the east.
It was inhabited by all the Free peoples of Middle-earth, being the location of many of the most important events of the Second and Third Ages. By the end of the Third Age, its main inhabitants were Hobbits of the Shire and Men of the surrounding lands.
Esgaroth
Esgaroth, or Lake-town, is a fictitious community of Men upon the Long Lake that appears in the 1937 novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. Constructed entirely of wood and standing upon wooden pillars sunk into the lake-bed, the town is south of the Lonely Mountain and east of Mirkwood. The town’s prosperity is apparently built upon trade between the Men who inhabit it, and the Elves and the Dwarves of northern Middle-earth. The chief mode of transport of the people of Esgaroth is stated to be their boats.
Evendim
Evendim is a region located between the Shire and the northern Forochel, and west of The North Downs. A vast region dominated by the majestic lake from which it gets its name, Lake Evendim is also known as Nenuial which is Sindarin for “Lake of Twilight”. Here the dwindling numbers of Dúnedain have struggled for long to honour their heritage.
Fangorn
Fangorn Forest was a deep, dark woodland that grew beneath the southern Misty Mountains, under the eastern flanks of that range. It gained notoriety as the habitat of the Ents in the Third Age. The forest, known as Entwood in Rohan, was named after the oldest Ent, Fangorn.
Fangorn Forest was the oldest part of Treebeard’s realm, and it is here the Ents retreated following widespread deforestation caused by Númenóreans and other events leading up to the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age. Fangorn was within the borders of Gondor, but centuries passed without any Gondorian visiting to prove or disprove the legends around the Forest.
Forochel
The area of Forodwaith that lay north of Eriador was known as Forochel, together with the great bay and cape which carried the same name. This area roughly corresponded with the area where the Blue Mountains and the Iron Mountains once met.
Gondor
Gondor is the name of the kingdom that appears in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Gondor is the kingdom of Dúnedain, founded by Isildur and Anárion, sons of Elendil, after the fall of Númenor. Elendil himself founded the fraternal kingdom of Arnor in the north. Gondor is located west of Mordor with which he was in a long war.
Harad
Harad, fully named Haradwaith, was the immense realm located south of both Gondor and Mordor. The Men of Harad were known as Southrons or Haradrim (“South-multitude”).
Helm’s Deep
Helm’s Deep, named for Helm Hammerhand, was a fortified gorge in the White Mountains located below the Thrihyrne. It lay near the Westfold, and was commonly known as the location of the Hornburg. It was later made famous by the Battle of the Hornburg, a major battle of the War of the Ring.
Isengard
Isengard, also known as Angrenost (‘Iron Fortress’) in Sindarin, was one of the three major fortresses of Gondor, and held within it one of the realm’s Palantiri.
However, in the latter half of the Third Age, the stronghold came into the possession of Saruman, becoming his personal realm and home until his defeat in the War of the Ring.
Khazad-dûm
Khazad-dûm, also commonly known as Moria or the Dwarrowdelf, was an underground kingdom beneath the Misty Mountains. It was known for being the ancient realm of the Dwarves of Durin’s Folk. It was the greatest kingdom ever built by the Dwarves.
Lone Lands
The Lone-lands was a name used by Hobbits (and possibly the Bree-landers) for the wilderness east of Bree-land. This area contained, among other features, the Weather Hills and Weathertop. Roads were considerably worse there than in the Shire, and no one dwelt there anymore by the end of the Third Age. There were many abandoned castles of Rhudaur in the hilly region, which gave it a wicked look.
Lothlórien
Lothlórien, also known as Lorien, was a forest and Elven realm near the lower Misty Mountains. It was first settled by Nandorin Elves, but later populated by Ñoldor and Sindar under Celeborn of Doriath and Galadriel, daughter of Finarfin. It was located on the River Celebrant, southeast of Khazad-dûm, and was the only place where the golden Mallorn trees grew.
Minas Tirith
Minas Tirith is a fictional city in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. It became the heavily fortified capital of the kingdom of Gondor in the second half of the Third Age. It had originally been built to guard the former capital, Osgiliath, from attack from the west, but became the capital when Osgiliath fell into ruin following the Kin-strife (a civil war) and the Great Plague.
Mirkwood
Mirkwood was a great forest in Middle-earth located in the eastern region of Rhovanion between the Grey Mountains and Gondor.
It was also known as Greenwood the Great, Eryn Galen or Taur-e-Ndaedelos, and was later re-named Eryn Lasgalen, the Wood of Greenleaves.
Misty Mountains
The Misty Mountains are a fictional mountain range in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy setting of Middle-earth. It was also called Hithaeglir (“mist-peak-line” in Sindarin), the Mountains of Mist, or the Towers of Mist. The range stretched continuously for some 900 miles (1440 kilometers) across the continent of Middle-earth.
The Misty Mountains first appeared in Tolkien’s 1937 book, The Hobbit. They feature also in The Lord of the Rings.
Mordor
Mordor is located in the east of Middle-earth and is surrounded by mountains. The only entrance to Mordor is the Black Gate in the northwest, and the former Gondorian city of Minas Ithil after the fall was renamed Minas Morgul occupied by Sauron.
Mordor is a wasteland where only Sauron’s servants live. Sauron completely perverted Mordor and raised his kingdom there. The basement of the mountain is in Mordor, and in it, Sauron forged the Ring of Power.
Although Sauron was destroyed in the War of the Last Alliance, he remained in the tower of Barad-Dur and supervised Middle-earth from it. When Sauron was finally destroyed, Mordor was no longer a threat to the free peoples of Middle-earth.
Mount Doom
Mount Doom is a fictional volcano in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. It is located in the northwest of the Black Land of Mordor and close to Barad-dûr. Alternative names, in Tolkien’s invented language of Sindarin, include Orodruin (“fiery mountain”) and Amon Amarth (“mountain of fate”).
Númenor
Númenor was a kingdom of Men, established on an island brought up out of the sea by the Valar in the early Second Age, after the final ruin of Beleriand. The culture of the Númenóreans originated there shortly afterwards.
Osgiliath
Osgiliath was the capital city of Gondor. During the War of the Ring, the abandoned city gained strategic importance as a crossing point over the Anduin, both for the Men of Gondor and Orcs of Mordor.
Pelennor Fields
The Pelennor Fields was a large field surrounding (mostly to the east) Minas Tirith, the largest city and capital of Gondor.
Rhûn
Rhûn, also known as The East and Eastlands in the Westron tongue, is a large region in the far eastern part of Middle-earth. It was the home and kingdom of the Easterlings in the Second and Third Ages. It had many different groups who ultimately fought together and were in Sauron’s service.
Rivendell
Rivendell, also known as Imladris, was an Elven town and the house of Elrond located in Middle-earth. It is described as “The Last Homely House East of the Sea” in reference to Valinor, which was west of the Great Sea in Aman.
Rohan
Rohan was a great kingdom of Men, located in the land once known as Calenardhon, situated in the great vale between the Misty Mountains to the north and the White Mountains to the south. The land of Rohan extended from the fords of the river Isen in the west, up to the shores of the river Anduin in the east. The forest of Fangorn lay within the borders of Rohan, and the Elven city of Lorien lay to the north of the river Limlight.
Rhovanion
Rhovanion or Wilderland was a large region of northern Middle-earth. The Great River Anduin flowed through it, and the immense forest of Greenwood the Great also lay within its borders.
Shire
The Shire was the homeland of the majority of the hobbits in Middle-earth. It was located in the northwestern portion of Middle-earth, in the northern region of Eriador, within the remains of the Kingdom of Arnor.
By the Third Age it was one of the few heavily-populated areas left in Eriador. Its name in Westron was Sûza, “Shire,” or Sûzat, “The Shire.” Contrary to popular misconception, the Shire was not the birthplace of Frodo Baggins, as he was born in Buckland, which at the time was not part of the Shire despite being colonized by Shire hobbits.
At the end of the Third Age, Saruman (known then as Sharkey) tried to take control of it for a very short period, but was killed in the Battle of Bywater, which ended the War of the Ring.
Trollshaws
Trollshaws were the upland woods, consisting at least partly of beech trees, that lay to the west of Rivendell between the Rivers Hoarwell and Loudwater.
On the hills of the Trollshaws were shallow caves, such as the Troll’s Cave, and Mannish castles and towers.
Weathertop
Weathertop, also known as Amon Sûl, was a hill in the Eriador region of Middle-earth, the southernmost and highest summit of the Weather Hills. The watchtower at its top overlooked the Great East Road in central Eriador, east of Bree, about halfway between the Shire and Rivendell.
