Tolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]

User talk:Hyarion

2006-07-27T08:36:03Z

Gimli:

==Need Help With Footnotes!==
Hyarion, I need help getting the footnotes working on the [[Chamber of Mazarbul]] page. Could you help? Thanks so much.

-Old Took

:I saw you added that on the [[Talk:Chamber of Mazarbul|talk page]] but wasn't sure what you meant as the links work fine for me. What doesn't seem to be working for you? When I click them it sends the page down to align the top line with the relevant footnote, and when you click the up arrow it will jump you back up to the in-text citation. Am I missing something? Keep in mind the footnotes aren't very effective as the page can only scroll so much, thus rending it incapable of going all the way down to the correct reference. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 22:24, 3 April 2006 (EDT)

::Sorry, it was a browser problem of mine. Everything's fine now! -Old Took

==Question==
Hello, Hyarion!

I hope this is the right place to send messages - if not, please erase this.

Well, I was suprised to see that I was the second person to register in here, but that's even better: there's plenty of room to fill in.

I found these pages - as you might guess - via the Finnish Kontu forum, where the administrator Merri had posted a message informing about possibilities for co-operation. So I hope there will be more Finns to register in. I'll send my contributions when I have time to do that - quite irregularly, I'm afraid, but let's hope the best.

yours, Tik

By the way, how does one start writing a new article to which there exists no previous
link? I couldn't figure that out, being quite unaccustomed to Wiki. The only way I could start writing a new article was to edit a previous one and add there a new internal link and continue editing that one.

:I have a feeling that will be a common one (because I had to figure that one out myself) so I'll post that on the help page. All you have to do is type in your address bar, something like http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Title of Page (it will even insert the underscores for you) and you will be directed to a page that does not exist and you can edit it that way.

:Also, something I broke my own rule on, its a good idea to type a 'signature' when adding a comment to a discussion, otherwise no one knows who wrote it. I wish mediawiki would do it automatically, but until I fix that, a good standard to use is like mine below, just type "&mdash ;" but take the space out between the h and the semicolon...I can't figure out how to show those literally. You can also use -- it's just a matter of preference. And then type 4 ~ in a row. The first one prints out your name, second the time, 3rd the date, and 4th the timezone I believe.

:EDIT: Hm...looks like your one step ahead of me, on your pages, you have exactly that.

:EDIT: On second thought I'm going to move this to User:Hyarion because I'll probably keep this page to say what the English translation of Hyarion is. -- [[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:41, 12 Jun 2005 (EDT)

== Answer To Your Question ==
A lot of my stuff is at my LJ, [http://www.livejournal.com/users/brighty11/ ~~Black Sun~~], and some is at Parma, OF and Elfsheen, but a lot is just on my hard disk. :)

— [[User:BrightSideoftheDark|Brighty]] 6:22, 25 Aug 2005 (EDT)

== Bokkie Moans ==
Hey

Can you try and make a [[Special:Sandbox]] for us users to try stuff out in?
makes editing family lines and such easier...

I've spotted a difference of opinion... 8-)
I've been trying to remove all the '''Hobbits Category''' entries from the different hobbits, but I see you add them still... It did make it easier for me to check who had been edited...
I guess we want them back?

* Ah, hehe. That is something I was debating. I wonder if it is possible to have a 'Hobbits' cateogry and in it, list the hobbit family names, but have it also contain a list of all the hobbits since those are sub-categories. I guess when it comes down to it I just want a page that lists all the Hobbits, whatever way works I'm fine with. Sorry I totally forgot you were removing those, heh, I'll look into it to see what way will work. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:44, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)
::I'll leave the Hobbit category be then. I guess it would be just as useful to have all the hobbits in one big list, as it was. Just add a category for the specific family too, like you did 8-)
I've got my doubts about double pages like [[Sam Gamgee]] and [[Samwise Gamgee]].
It basically is one and the same person, only a nickname or shortform. I would rather see 1 article with a list of "aliases"... --[[User:Bokkie|Bokkie]] 17:42, 14 Sep 2005 (EDT)
:I understand where you're coming from and I'll keep thinking about it, but for the time being I still say that it would be more beneficial to have the names on seperate pages, because each name has a specific meaning. For example [[Aragorn Elessar]] and [[Strider]] and such, you can go into great detail about the different names and people who called him that, places he used it, and the [[Elvish]] translations along with the old english meanings, etc. This would tend to drag down the [[Aragorn Elessar]] page to list all the names/information on it. For things like [[Sam Gamgee]] there is not going to be as much information to talk about it, but just to keep the same system I think it's best to keep it. In the future we can list when he is referred to as 'Sam' and by whom. Just my opinion though. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 00:15, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)

== Sandbox ==
Good idea, I'll add that to the to-do list while I upgrade the new wiki software, which should greatly improve the left menu, I'm going to be able to add things like links to the letters A-Z or links to races or to whatever we want and in different tables, if you have any suggestions let me know. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:39, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)

==What Happened to Me?==
This is Brighty - what happened to me? I tried to log in and it said I don't exist. Weird.
::Were you using "BrightSideoftheDark"? Your still on the userlist, odd. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:51, 3 November 2005 (EST)

== Cirith Gorgor and related bands ==
Hey Hyarion,

Like Blind Guardian not all songs relate to Tolkien, but the ones that do stick to theme. Do you want bands to stick with just a band page?
:Honestly it's up to you, that's the best part, no one person has full control and we as a community can make decisions, but with the [[Blind Guardian]] page I just copied that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Guardian for now and have yet to remove the unnecessary links, which was my fault because you were basing your articles off that. With Blind Guardian, as with [[Cirith Gorgor (band)|Cirith Gorgor]] it is tricky because the [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] theme is greater in some albums and songs than others so there is no easy fine line. In the end more information is always better than less and if in the future we deem the articles as unnecessary it won't take any effort to remove them. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 18:05, 28 November 2005 (EST)
::Ah ok. I was gonna just throw up a band page but saw all the information on Blind Guardian I figure I better not slack and add some more :P I'll clean it up and keep it that way in the future.

== Barrowdowns Mb ==
Hey Hyarion,

I like your idea about the barrowdowns.com MB, I say lets do it.-Goldfinger

==Spam==
Hi Hyarion Firstly love this site! Secondly we have a troll adding porn links: Hfskodweyb I have edited and deleted the nonesense twice but it reappears. you may need to block this spammer {{unsigned|Sancho proudfoot}}
:Good morning Sancho! Yes unfortunately we do get bots from time to time. Luckily they are just trying to gain PageRank so they normally try to hide the links. In an upcoming patch we will be forcing unregistered users to type in some random numbers/letters from an image to stop the bots. This one managed to register which makes it a bit more difficult to stop but the best we can do is add an extension that only allows people to edit X amount of pages in X amount of minutes which I'm looking into as well. Thanks for keeping an eye on it.
--[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 10:57, 14 April 2006 (EDT)

== Ñoldor vs. Noldor ==
Hello. You asked about the use of ñ, and the answer's pretty complicated. First let me say the I changed the n to ñ just to be consistent in the text - I really don't care much one way or the other. And here's the long story behind it all...

Ñ is used as a nasal plosive by Tolkien, so it would sound something like "ng" in "song" or "king". This is Quenya in its purist form. The Vanyar in Aman would say "Ñoldor", not "Noldor". Occasionally you will even see "Ñoldor" spelled "Ngoldor". However, in Middle Earth, the mixing of languages changed pronounciations, so by the Third Age an elf would just as likely say "Noldor", as "Ñoldor". Older pronounciations did continue into the Third Age; for example the name "Elrond". Quenya in the Third Age tended to drop the "d" at the end of words, but Elrond was always referred to by his archaic name, rather than by "Elron".

You wanted citations, but I can't name them off the top of my head. Check out this page: http://www.uib.no/people/hnohf/ndnn.htm for more info. He's a linguist that knows his stuff and where I got my knowledge of Quenya.

So there you go, the sordid tale of "ñ". The whole thing comes down to whether the text is referring to ancient "Ñoldor" or the "Noldor" of the Third Age. If a final decision needs to be made, I would use "Noldor" throughout the site and mention in passing that "Ñoldor" is the older spelling and pronounciation of the word.

Hope this helps. --[[User:ebakunin|ebakunin]]

== More on Spam ==
In regards to the spam comment above: since the site uses MediaWiki, it's very easy to disallow anonymous editing. While it will slightly slow down the growth of the site, it adds a layer of protection that a wiki needs to stay relevant to its audience. Few bots can handle the complexity of registering, especially if email confirmation is required. It's a bit of a pain for casual users, but it's worth it in the long run. Just my two cents. --[[User:ebakunin|ebakunin]]

:Thanks for your input. While I think at this point in time disallowing anonymous editing goes a bit against the wiki definition, a new version of the engine has been released which forces anonymous editors to type a randomly generated word which would stop the spam bots rather effectively. Email confirmation is something which currently is required but should bots continue to register then we will require it (or force a word verification on register). --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 19:19, 17 April 2006 (EDT)

== Requested articles ==
If it is possible, it might be good to allow those who have not logged in request a page or request a page’s expansion. [[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 16:05, 17 April 2006 (EDT)

:That's definitely something I've had in the queue for a while. I'll try and add that today, on second thought I'll just add that right now. Even if they aren't logged in they can still make whatever page they want, and just add the <nowiki>{{stub}}</nowiki> tag to let us know it needs to be worked on. But I still think we need a Request an article and maybe like you said a request a page's expansion. Maybe we can just add the stub tag if we want it to be expanded, and then have a "Expansion of the week" where each week we focus on a stub and work on rewriting it and making it better. Thanks for the input. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:16, 17 April 2006 (EDT)

== Uploading pictures ==
I Have been trying to add a photo, but I get the message ".jpg]] is not a valid picture format"

What am I doing wrong ( perhaps you can give an 'idiot's guide' on adding photos. (The one I wish to upload is saved in my hard drive) {{unsigned|Sancho proudfoot}}

:Odd, I've never had any problems with uploading images. What is the destination filename you are using? From here it looks like you are maybe typing the destination filename as "<nowiki>[[Blah.jpg]]</nowiki>" when all you really need to say is "Blah.jpg", no need for any brackets. Let me know if that helps. When I upload images I don't even bother altering the destination filename as it will automatically insert whatever your file is called on your computer. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 15:52, 17 April 2006 (EDT)

::Ok that worked, but haven't any idea of how to link it to the relevant page. Can you move it please? {{unsigned|Sancho proudfoot}}

:::Great! I'll go ahead and show you how to link and let you do it, better to teach than to do :) Here is an example of the image at [[Alan Lee]]:

:::<nowiki>[[Image:Alan Lee (Greg Martin Photography).jpg|thumb|200px|Image of ''Alan Lee'' courtesy of [http://www.gregmartinphoto.com/ Greg Martin Photgraphy]]]</nowiki>

:::The first part "<nowiki>Image:Alan Lee (Greg Martin Photography).jpg</nowiki>" is your image name, make sure to include the .jpg What I usually do is go to the actual image and copy the title. Then if you want it to be a thumbnail, which I usually do, I add |thumb, then if its not the right size you can specify how many pixels you want, |200px to |300px is usually around the average. Then you can specify the caption. After that add your closing brackets and you are good to go. Let me know if you have any questions. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:11, 17 April 2006 (EDT)

==Non-standard Text==
Hyarion,

I was hoping the wiki could add a list of non-standard letters at the bottom of the edit page, like the list featured in Wikipedia. It would help with First Age entries, where there are a lot of accents. Thanks for the help. --[[User:Ebakunin|Ebakunin]] 02:15, 20 April 2006 (EDT)

:Good morning Ebakunin, this is a feature which I've been meaning to implement, thanks for reminding me. If you haven't already noticed I've added the extension and you can now insert special characters :) I don't think we need as many characters as Wikipedia so if you see any unnecessary ones feel free to remove them from [[MediaWiki talk:Edittools]] Thanks for your continued contributions --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:47, 20 April 2006 (EDT)

==Duplicate Entries==
To decrease the number of repetitive entries, I think we should start using the #REDIRECT tag more often. For example, check out the changes I made to the ''Hill of Tears'' and related entries via the ''Recent changes'' option. Most of the related entries, such as ''Haudh-en-Ndengin'', were just a recap of the main entry. I think using the #REDIRECT will cut down on time, hosting space, and allow editors to focus on quality. What ya think? --[[User:Ebakunin|Ebakunin]] 01:33, 24 April 2006 (EDT)

:I think this is probably for the best as it gets confusing having so many multiple stub articles and one main article. The tricky part is going to be choosing a primary article to use. Do you use the [[Quenya]] name, [[Sindarin]] name, [[Dwarvish]] name, [[Westron]] name, most used name, birth name, etc etc. I'm wondering if we should put the redirect pages in the categories...it might cause confusion because you would have [[Gaffer Gamgee]] and [[Old Gaffer]] etc but at least if people were searching for a specific term and didn't know its other meanings, they could find it alright. Thanks for all your contributions. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 01:38, 24 April 2006 (EDT)

== Please delete a page ==
[[Talk:Sauron Defeated]] is spam, so please delete it. - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rotemliss rotemliss] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Rotemliss Talk]) 04:42, 24 April 2006 (EDT)

:Good morning Rotemliss, thanks for the heads up, page is deleted. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 08:07, 24 April 2006 (EDT)

Would you please delete [[Caitimo]], it's an incorrect redirect page. Thanks. --[[User:Ebakunin|Ebakunin]] 21:24, 27 April 2006 (EDT)

:Done. Next time go ahead and add the <nowiki>{{Afd}}</nowiki> template, that way we can work on getting a standard for a deletion process. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:53, 27 April 2006 (EDT)

== User talk:Hyarion vs. Community Forums ==
I think many of the entries here should rather have been posted in the Community Forums, as they concern Community matters and not User:Hyarion matters. Mb you should transfer them? --[[User:Earendilyon|Earendilyon]] 01:27, 28 April 2006 (EDT)

:Good idea. I'll transfer them right now. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:12, 28 April 2006 (EDT)

== Double Check Nasmith Images ==
Hyarion, you need to go through all the Nasmith images you uploaded, as there are duplicates. For example, ''The Pillars of the Kings'' and ''The Argonath'' are the same image, as are ''Illuin, Lamp of the Valar'' and ''Illuin - Lamp of the Valar''. Thanks. {{unsigned|Ebakunin}}

:There are a couple duplicates and a couple which are relatively similar but different pieces. What I'm hoping to do is go back through them and state the material used to make them, and which calendars/books they appeared in. Thanks for keeping an eye out. In the future if you ever see a duplicate just go ahead and add <nowiki>{{afd}}</nowiki> to the lesser quality image. Thanks for all your help. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 18:55, 30 April 2006 (EDT)

==Favorite Race pics==
Don't worry about cropping those images for the Favorite Race templates - I can do them easily and quickly. I should have them done by the end of the day. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 11:20, 7 May 2006 (EDT)

:Ah that would be great! Thanks :) Once you upload them that will give me an incentive to finish all the infoboxes for the favorite races as I think we only have a couple done. They will look much better with those cool icons than the boring text that is currently there. Thanks again. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:24, 7 May 2006 (EDT)

::Done!--[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 11:37, 7 May 2006 (EDT)

:::Awesome, I've made the basic templates, but they need some major color overhauls. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 12:10, 7 May 2006 (EDT)

::::It would also be nice if the text was larger - perhaps in a different font?--[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 12:44, 7 May 2006 (EDT)

:::::That's possible. I want to try and make all the userboxes have a standard such as the [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Userbox_templates Star Wars wiki], lets try changing the background/text color, or maybe even adding another sentence, if its still too small then we can make the font bigger or change the font style, though we have to be careful the font style is standard on a good majority of computers. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 12:51, 7 May 2006 (EDT)

== Browser Crossover Problems ==
Hyarion, I do all my browsing on Firefox, but when I recently checked the site on IE I noticed that the _ character does not display in < code > sections. Compare [[Amrod]] in FF and IE. Is there anyway to fix the problem? Thanks. --[[User:Ebakunin|Ebakunin]] 00:10, 8 May 2006 (EDT)

:Uhoh, what has that darn Microsoft broken now, I use FF as well. Looks like your right, we can use dashes for now, which reminds me I need to install the template system that Wikipedia uses so we can use a fancier family tree system; an example at the bottom of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrimbor this page]. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 00:21, 8 May 2006 (EDT)

::I could just create the family trees and save them as .jpg images, then upload them. I can do that easily, if you wish. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 06:52, 8 May 2006 (EDT)

:::Hm, let's hold off on that for now. I'm afraid if we have them all as .jpgs that would be a lot of work and we wouldn't be able to alter anything. Maybe if we finalized all the trees with the new templates then we could make images for other sites to use or something. Good idea though. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 08:38, 8 May 2006 (EDT)

== Family trees ==
I tried out the [[template:familytree|familytree template]] and couldn't get it to work. Has anyone else had any luck with it? Thanks. --[[User:Ebakunin|Ebakunin]] 14:48, 15 May 2006 (EDT)
:Heh ya, I only halfway got it working so its not just you, there's a few more templates I have to make as its fairly complex. I'll see if I can get it working tonight, I'll let you know when its up and operational. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 19:45, 15 May 2006 (EDT)

== Tim Hildebrandt ==
Hyarion, would you please make the featured image one of [[Tim Hildebrandt]]? He's one of the most important artists for Tolkien's work and his passing should be featured. Thanks. --[[User:Ebakunin|Ebakunin]] 11:15, 14 June 2006 (EDT)

:Great idea, doing so now. I'll make him the featured artist on our [[Gallery]] page, just in case anyone knows about it, heh. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 13:44, 14 June 2006 (EDT)

::Is there any way to make the gallery page better known? As well, is there any way for you to enable one or two of us to change the featured picture each day? Some pictures last for weeks on the Main Page. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 20:47, 19 June 2006 (EDT)

:::The goal is to start putting links on the left side to main pages, such as the ''Gallery'', but it still needs a lot of work before we do that. Thanks for reminding me about the Featured Image, what I'm going to do is separate the main page into sections and probably allow anyone to edit the Image section. Though eventually what I'd like to do is have the Featured Image and Featured Article be on the same subject, and we would vote on the Featured Article. The entire main page could use a redesign if you ask me. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:44, 19 June 2006 (EDT)

== Quote Template ==

The quote template doesn't work properly when the quote contains a hard return; I had to leave the hard return out of the quote in the [[Talk:Serpent Lord]] discussion (before ''Then Théoden was aware of him''). It also doesn't react on the indentation by the use of colons. --[[User:Earendilyon|Earendilyon]] 08:32, 25 June 2006 (EDT)

:Heyo, just got back from a small vacation hence my lack of edits lately. The quote template is kind of a hack, hopefully we can have more efficient means later on. Try using <nowiki><br /></nowiki> for a new line and maybe <nowiki><blockquote></blockquote></nowiki> for a tab. I'll look into an easier solution. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:42, 25 June 2006 (EDT)

== Increase in spam ==
Hyarion, I am wondering about the number of Spammers at a time. I remember when I first joined you were blocking spammers and vandals daily. Then all of a sudden it stopped. Now it has started up again. Are there like spammer clubs where they all chose to target a certain wiki? Or is it one person with access to many computers? Just curious. --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 15:24, 26 June 2006 (EDT)

:Thanks for bringing this up as I've been meaning to mention the situation. Before we had no spam protection so everyday I was having to revert vandals but then I installed an extension which forces anonymous users who post external links to verify they aren't a bot by solving a simple math problem such as 1+1=?. This had solved 99% of the bot spam to date, but unfortunately as the recent bot was spamming numbers and no links, it became difficult to catch. It looks like the bot has moved on but if it continues I'll look into another extension where we block someone from specifically adding a bunch of numbers. None of the attacks are actual humans against us, they are simple bots that use a proxy server to hide their IP and spam random wikis. Now the funny spam is the stuff where actual humans try to screw with articles, I don't mind those as much :) --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:50, 26 June 2006 (EDT)

=="Unfinished" template==

Hyarion, could you please create an "unfinished" template? It should say something like this: '''''Unfinished'''; this article is incomplete. You can help Tolkien Gateway by completing this article''. On longer more time-consuming articles (such as the [[Fall of Gondolin]]) I noticed the need, and right now would like it as I work on the [[Lay of Leithian cantos]]. By the way, which [[Tilkal]] image do you prefer (see the forums for User Awards)? --[[User:Narfil Palùrfalas|Narfil Palùrfalas]] 16:24, 10 July 2006 (EDT)

== Thanks! ==

Hey Hyarion. I just want to say thank you for taking me under your wing, so to speak. I greatly appriciate it! Thank you! -[[User:Lord Aragorn1414|Lord Aragorn1414]] 14:46, 20 July 2006 (EDT)

:No worries mate :) Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions and thanks for all your contributions. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 15:14, 20 July 2006 (EDT)

== cool ==
the tengwar text is really neat! not sure how to install it though. No problem about the maps. it does feel like that with the wikis. I guess its the same with alot of subjects, not just tolkien [[User:Gimli|Gimli]] 04:36, 27 July 2006 (EDT)

File:Gimli - Third Age realms.gif

2006-07-26T16:43:02Z

Gimli: based on gnu map on wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Middle-earth.jpg]

based on gnu map on wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Middle-earth.jpg]

Talk:Main Page

2006-03-09T07:53:37Z

Gimli: /* license? */

As my knowledge of all things [[Tolkien]] is far inferior to that of some things [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki Wiki], I want to suggest some things...

First of all: Page titles such as [[Barahir grandson of Faramir]] should be avoided as much as possible. Only when there are more than one [[Barahir]]s should this be used. If you have to do this, do it this way: '''Barahir (grandson of Faramir)''' so you don't forget whether or not you added that dratted comma...

Further it might be an idea to add a sort of "pub" for this kind of discussions. - [[User:Bokkie|Bokkie]] 18:04, 3 Sep 2005 (EDT)

==Good Ideas==
Great points. Barahir is one of those names that are used quite frequently, i.e. [[Barahir son of Bregor]], [[Barahir son of Hador]], [[Barahir grandson of Faramir]], etc. In the beginning I was debating whether to do the parenthesis or not, but now that you bring it up, it is most likely something that we need to use.

A portal for discussion other than the main page is a good idea too, I'll try and think of a good name for something, although [[Portal]] might work, heh.

Thanks for your comments. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:45, 5 Sep 2005 (EDT)
==Feedback==
Very intresting wiki site!... Thanx! --[[User:213.228.84.66|213.228.84.66]] 18:31, 15 October 2005 (EDT)

* Thanks for the compliment :) It's people like you who keep me motivated. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 18:45, 15 October 2005 (EDT)

== license? ==
Is the content here GFDL? [[User:Gimli|Gimli]] 07:18, 6 March 2006 (EST)

:What do you mean? --[[User:Earendilyon|Earendilyon]] 07:36, 6 March 2006 (EST)

::I mean is it available under the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License - can it be copied to other sites under the provisions of that licence? Also if content has been copied from wikipedia, shouldnt it be acknowledged? [[User:Gimli|Gimli]] 08:30, 6 March 2006 (EST)

:::Hello [[User:Gimli|Gimli]], yes our content is under the same license, GNU FDL as [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]. Any articles derived from Wikipedia will be rewritten so we have no plans to add an acknowledgement on the articles at this time. [http://lotr.wikicities Wikicities] is free to copy our content but it is disappointing to see so many wikis working against eachother. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 10:26, 6 March 2006 (EST)

::::Hi Hyarion, I was doing alot of work on the [http://lotr.wikicities.com/wiki lotr wiki] without realising this site existed until a few days ago. now Im not sure what to do since the lotr wikicities community is going fairly well but has nowhere near as many articles as here. not sure if its worth trying to copy or what - perhaps there could be some way we could agree to format/arrange articles differently to justify having 2 tolkien wikis [[User:Gimli|Gimli]] 19:47, 6 March 2006 (EST)

:::::Ya I'm not really sure either. There's also [http://www.thetolkienwiki.org The Tolkien Wiki] and a couple other wikis out there too. I honestly can't think of any aspects the two wikis would differ on off the top of my head but let me know if you think of anything. I know Robin from the lotr wiki said he was going to concentrate on [[The Lord of the Rings]] and since we cover more than just that they didn't want to merge. Competition is always nice but I just don't like watching us waste our time doing the same things. Let me know what I can do. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 20:39, 6 March 2006 (EST)

::::::That sounds alright to me especially since I am not very familiar with [[Silmarillion]] related things - I guess just because of the wikis names wikicities could focus on LOTR and you on JRR Tolkien himself? [[User:Gimli|Gimli]] 02:53, 9 March 2006 (EST)

Talk:Main Page

2006-03-07T00:47:26Z

Gimli: /* license? */

Talk:Main Page

2006-03-06T13:30:50Z

Gimli: /* licence? */

Talk:Main Page

2006-03-06T12:18:02Z

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Middle-earth

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'''Middle-earth''' is the name used for the inhabitable parts of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional [[Arda]] (ancient Earth) where the (canonical) stories in his legendarium take place. "Middle-earth" is a literal translation of the Old English term ''middangeard'', referring to this world, the habitable lands of men. Tolkien translated 'Middle Earth' as ''Endor'' (or sometimes Endóre) and ''Ennor'' in the [[Elvish]] languages [[Quenya]] and [[Sindarin]], respectively. Mythologically, the north of Endor became the Eurasian land-mass after the primitive Earth was transformed into the round world of today.

Middle-earth's setting is in a fictional period in Earth's own past. Tolkien insisted that Middle-earth is Earth in several of [[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien|his letters]], in one of them (no. 211) estimating the end of the [[Third Age]] to about 6,000 years before his own time. The action of the books is largely confined to the north-west of the Endor continent, implicitly corresponding to modern-day Europe. [[The History of Middle-earth]] is divided into several Ages: ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' deal exclusively with events towards the end of the [[Third Age]] and conclude at the dawn of the [[Fourth Age]], while ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' deals mainly with the [[First Age]]. The world ([[Arda]]) was originally flat but was made round near the end of the [[Second Age]] by [[Eru Ilúvatar]], the Creator.

Much of the knowledge of Middle-earth is based on writings that Tolkien did not finish for publication during his lifetime. In these cases, this article is based on the version of the Middle-earth legendarium that is considered [[Canon|canonical]] by most [[Tolkien fans]].

== The name ==
The term "Middle-earth" was not invented by Tolkien, rather it existed in Old English as ''middanġeard'', in Middle English as ''midden-erd'' or ''middel-erd''; in Old Norse it was called ''Midgard''. It is English for what the Greeks called the οικουμένη (''oikoumenē'') or "the abiding place of men", the physical world as opposed to the unseen worlds (''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', 151).

''Middangeard'' occurs half-a-dozen times in [[Beowulf]], which Tolkien translated and on which he was arguably the world's foremost authority. (See also [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] for discussion of his inspirations and sources). See Midgard and Norse mythology for the older use.

Tolkien was also inspired by this fragment:

:''Eala earendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended.''
:''Hail Earendel, brightest of angels / above the middle-earth sent unto men.''

in the Crist poem of Cynewulf. The name ''earendel'' (which may mean the 'morning-star' but in some contexts was a name for Christ) was the inspiration for Tolkien's mariner [[Eärendil]].

The name was consciously used by Tolkien to place ''[[The Hobbit]]'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', and related writings.

Tolkien began to use the term "Middle-earth" in the early 1930s in place of the earlier terms "Great Lands", "Outer Lands", and "Hither Lands" to describe the same region in his stories. "Middle-earth" is specifically intended to describe the lands east of the Great Sea ([[Belegaer]]), thus excluding [[Aman]], but including [[Harad]] and other mortal lands not visited in Tolkien's stories. Many people apply the name to the entirety of Tolkien's world or exclusively to the lands described in ''[[The Hobbit]]'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', and ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.

In ancient Germanic and Old Norse mythology, the universe was believed to consist of nine physical worlds joined together. The world of Men, the Middle-earth, lay in the centre of this universe. The lands of Elves, Gods, and Giants lay across an encircling sea. The land of the Dead lay beneath the Middle-earth. A rainbow bridge, [[Bifrost Bridge]], extended from Middle-earth to Asgaard across the sea. An outer sea encircled the seven other worlds (Vanaheim, Asgaard, Alfheim, SvartAlfheim, Muspellheim, Nidavellir, and Jotunheim). In this conception, a "world" was more equivalent to a racial homeland than a physically separate world.

== The world ==
''Main article: [[Arda]]''

Tolkien stated that the geography of Middle Earth was intended to align with that of our real Earth in several particulars. ([The_Letters_of_J._R._R._Tolkien Letters] #294) Expanding upon this idea some suggest that [http://people.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~lalaith/Tolkien/Grid.html if the map of Middle Earth is projected on our real Earth], and some of the most obvious climatological, botanical, and zoological similarities are aligned, the [[Hobbits]]' [[Shire]] might lie in the temperate climate of England, [[Gondor]] might lie in the Mediterranean Italy and Greece, [[Mordor]] in the arid Turkey and Middle East, South Gondor and Near [[Harad]] in the deserts of Northern Africa, [[Rhovanion]] in the [[Forests]] of Germany and the steppes of Western and Southern Russia, and the Ice Bay of [[Forochel]] in the fjords of Norway.

''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are presented as Tolkien's retelling of events depicted in the [[Red Book of Westmarch]], which was written by [[Bilbo Baggins]], [[Frodo Baggins]], and other Hobbits, and corrected and annotated by one or more Gondorian scholars. Like Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' or Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories, the tales occupy a historical period that could not have actually existed. Dates for the length of the year and the phases of the moon, along with descriptions of constellations, firmly fix the world as Earth, no longer than several thousand years ago. Years after publication, Tolkien 'postulated' in a letter that the action of the books takes place roughly 6,000 years ago, though he was not certain.

Tolkien wrote extensively about the linguistics, mythology and history of the world, which provide back-story for these stories. Many of these writings were edited and published posthumously by his son [[Christopher Tolkien|Christopher]].

Notable among them is ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', which provides a Bible-like creation story and description of the [[cosmology]] which includes Middle-earth. ''The Silmarillion'' is the primary source of information about [[Valinor]], [[Númenor]], and other lands. Also notable are ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'' and the multiple volumes of ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'', which includes many incomplete stories and essays as well as numerous drafts of Tolkien's Middle Earth mythology, from the earliest forms down through the last writings of his life.

== Cosmology ==
''Main article: [[Ainulindalë]]''

The supreme deity of Tolkien's universe is called [[Eru Ilúvatar]]. In the beginning, Ilúvatar created spirits named the [[Ainur]] and he taught them to make music. After the Ainur had become proficient in their skills, Ilúvatar commanded them to make a great music based on a theme of his own design. The most powerful Ainu, [[Melkor]] (later called [[Morgoth]] or "Dark Enemy" by the elves), Tolkien's equivalent of Satan, disrupted the theme, and in response Ilúvatar introduced new themes that enhanced the music beyond the comprehension of the Ainur. The movements of their song laid the seeds of much of the history of the as yet unmade universe and the people who were to dwell therein.

Then Ilúvatar stopped the music and he revealed its meaning to the Ainur through a Vision. Moved by the Vision, many of the Ainur felt a compelling urge to experience its events directly. Ilúvatar therefore created [[Eä]], the universe itself, and some of the Ainur went down into the universe to share in its experience. But upon arriving in Eä, the Ainur found it was shapeless because they had entered at the beginning of Time. The Ainur undertook great labours in these unnamed "ages of the stars", in which they shaped the universe and filled it with many things far beyond the reach of Men. In time, however, the Ainur formed [[Arda]], the abiding place of the Children of Ilúvatar, Elves and Men. The fifteen most powerful Ainur are called the [[Valar]], of whom Melkor was the most powerful, but [[Manwë]] was the leader. The Valar settled in Arda to watch over it and help prepare it for the awakening of the Children.

Arda began as a single flat world, which the Valar gave light to through two immense lamps. Melkor destroyed the lamps and brought darkness to the world. The Valar retreated to the extreme western regions of Arda, where they created the Two Trees to give light to their new homeland. After many ages, the Valar imprisoned Melkor to punish and rehabilitate him, and to protect the awakening Children. But when Melkor was released on parole he poisoned the Two Trees. The Valar took the last two living fruit of the Two Trees and used them to create the Moon and Sun, which remained a part of Arda but were separate from Ambar (the world).

Before the end of the [[Second Age]], when the Men of Númenor rebelled against the Valar, Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor, separated [[Valinor]] from the rest of Arda, and formed new lands, making the world round. Only Endor remained of the original world, and Endor had now become Eurasia.

==Geography==
[[Image:Middle-earth map.PNG|thumb|Map of Middle-earth]]
J.R.R. Tolkien never defined the geography for the entire world associated with ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. In ''[[The Shaping of Middle-earth]]'', volume IV of ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'', Christopher Tolkien published several remarkable maps of a "flat Earth" which his father had devised for the first Silmarillion mythology. These maps were cannibalized by Karen Wynn Fonstad to project possible compatible but entirely non-canonical "whole world maps" reflecting a world consistent with the historical ages depicted in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Hobbit'', and ''The Lord of the Rings''.

The only maps ever prepared by Christopher Tolkien and/or J.R.R. Tolkien for the world encompassing ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' were published as foldouts or illustrations in ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. Early conceptions of the maps provided in ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' were included in several volumes, including "The First Silmarillion Map" in ''The Shaping of Middle-earth'', "The First Map of the Lord of the Rings" in ''[[The Treason of Isengard]]'', "The Second Map (West)" and "The Second Map (East)" in ''[[The War of the Ring]]'', and "The Second Map of Middle-earth west of the Blue Mountains" (also known as "The Second Silmarillion Map") in ''[[The War of the Jewels]]''.

None of these maps are consistent with the several "flat Earth" maps, and the extraordinary "flat Earth" concept only survived into the Middle-earth mythology (established in print by the 1950 and later editions of ''The Hobbit'' and all editions of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'', ''[[The Road Goes Ever On]]'', and ''The Silmarillion'') as a narrative structure which was not illustrated in any capacity by either J.R.R. Tolkien.

Any discussion of the geography of Arda (prior to the changes which resulted in the enlargement of Arda to become what Tolkien identified as the Solar System) can only be speculative and fraught with conflicts and contradictions.

The Endor continent, which in the "flat Earth" phase of Middle-earth's mythological history was only one of several which were later either reshaped or taken away from the world (identified by Tolkien as "Ambar" in several texts, but also identified as "Imbar", the Habitation, in later post-LoTR texts), was originally conceived of (by Tolkien, in the earlier ''Silmarillion'' mythologies) as conforming to a largely symmetrical scheme which was marred by Melkor. The symmetry was defined by two large sub-continents, one in the north and one in the south, with each of them boasting two long chains of mountains in the eastward and westward regions. The mountain chains were given names based on colours (White Mountains, Blue Mountains, Grey Mountains, and Red Mountains).

The various conflicts with Melkor resulted in the shapes of the lands being distorted. Originally, there was a single inland body of water, in the midst of which was set the island of [[Almaren]] where the Valar lived. When Melkor destroyed the lamps of the Valar which gave light to the world, two vast seas were created, but Almaren and its lake were destroyed. The northern sea became the [[Sea of Helcar]] (Helkar). The lands west of the Blue Mountains became [[Beleriand]] (meaning, "the land of the Valar"). Melkor raised the [[Misty Mountains]] to impede the progress of the Vala Orome as he hunted Melkor's beasts during the period of darkness prior to the awakening of the Elves.

The violent struggles during the [[War of Wrath]] between the Host of the Valar and the armies of Melkor at the end of the First Age brought about the destruction of Beleriand. It is also possible that during this time the inland sea of Helcar was drained.

From the time of the destruction of the two lamps until the time of the Downfall of Númenor, Ambar was supposed to be a "flat world", in that its habitable land-masses were all arranged on one side of the world, the shape of which Tolkien did not specify. It is generally assumed that he envisioned a disk-like face for the world which looked up to the stars. A western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar (and the Eldar). The middle lands, Endor, are generally identified with "Middle-earth". The eastern continent was not inhabited.

When Melkor poisoned the Two Trees of the Valar and fled from Aman back to Endor, the Valar created the Sun and the Moon, which were separate bodies (from Ambar) but still parts of Arda (the Realm of the Children of Iluvatar). The Middle-earth mythology presupposes that Arda became a system of separate bodies traversing the universe at that time. 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.

According to the accounts in both ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'', when [[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. ''[[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.

The Endor continent became approximately equivalent to the Eurasian land-mass, but Tolkien had proceeded too far with his fictional geography to provide any realistic correlations between the narrative of ''The Lord of the Rings'' and Europe or near-by lands. It is therefore assumed that the reader understands the world underwent a subsequent undocumented transformation (which some people speculate Tolkien would have equated with the Biblical deluge) sometime after the end of the Third Age.

== Peoples ==
''Main article: [[List of Middle-earth peoples]]''

Middle-earth is home to several distinct intelligent species. First are the Ainur, angelic beings created by Ilúvatar. The Ainur sing for Ilúvatar, who creates Eä to give existence to their music in the cosmological myth called the ''[[Ainulindalë]]'', or "Music of the Ainur". Some of the Ainur then enter Eä, and the greatest of these are called the [[Valar]]. [[Melkor]] (later called ''Morgoth''), the chief personification of evil in Eä, is initially one of the Valar.

The other Ainur who enter Eä are called the [[Maiar]]. In the First Age the most active Maia is [[Melian]], wife of the Elven King [[Thingol]]; in the Third Age, during the [[War of the Ring]], five of the Maiar have been embodied and sent to Endor to help the free peoples to overthrow Sauron. Those are the [[Istari]] (or ''Wise Ones'') (called [[Wizards]] by Men), including [[Gandalf]], [[Saruman]], [[Radagast]], [[Alatar]] and [[Pallando]]. There were also evil Maiar, called Umaiar, including the [[Balrogs]] and the second Dark Lord [[Sauron]].

Later come the [[Children of Ilúvatar]]: [[Elves]] and [[Men]], intelligent beings created by Ilúvatar alone. ''The Silmarillion'' tells how Elves and Men awaken and spread through the world. The Dwarves are said to have been made by the Vala [[Aulë]], who offered to destroy them when Ilúvatar confronted him. Ilúvatar forgives Aulë's transgression and adopts the Dwarves. Three tribes of Men who ally themselves with the Elves of [[Beleriand]] in the First Age are called the [[Edain]].

As a reward for their loyalty and suffering in the [[Battles of Beleriand|Wars of Beleriand]], the descendants of the Edain are given the island of [[Númenor]] to be their home. But as described in the section on [[#History of Middle-earth|Middle-earth's history]], Númenor is eventually destroyed and a remnant of the Númenóreans establish realms in the northern lands of Endor. Those who remained faithful to the Valar found the kingdoms of [[Arnor]] and [[Gondor]]. They are then known as the [[Dúnedain]], whereas other Númenórean survivors, still devoted to evil but living far to the south, become known as the [[Black Númenóreans]].

Tolkien identified Hobbits as an offshoot of the race of Men. Although their origins and ancient history are not known, Tolkien implied that they settled in the [[Anduin|Vales of Anduin]] early in the Third Age, but after a thousand years the Hobbits began migrating west over the [[Misty Mountains]] into [[Eriador]]. Eventually, many Hobbits settled in the [[Shire]].

After they are granted true life by Ilúvatar, the Dwarves' creator Aulë lays them to sleep in hidden mountain locations. Ilúvatar awakens the Dwarves only after the Elves have awakened. The Dwarves spread throughout northern Endor and eventually found seven kingdoms. Two of these kingdoms, Nogrod and Belegost, befriend the Elves of [[Beleriand]] against Morgoth in the First Age. But the greatest Dwarf kingdom is [[Khazad-dûm]], later known as [[Moria]].

The [[Ents]], shepherds of the trees, are created by Ilúvatar at the Vala [[Yavanna]]'s request to protect trees from the deprivations of Elves, Dwarves, and Men.

[[Orcs]] and [[Trolls]] are evil creatures bred by Morgoth. They are not original creations but rather "mockeries" of the Children of Ilúvatar and Ents, since only Ilúvatar has the ability to give being to things. The detailed origins of Orcs and Trolls are unclear (Tolkien considered many possibilities and frequently changed his mind). It seems most likely that the Orcs were bred largely from corrupted Elves or Men or both. Late in the Third Age, the Uruks or [[Uruk-hai]] appear: a race of Orcs of great size and strength. (Some claim that by the end of the Third Age, the only Uruks properly called Uruk-hai are those serving Saruman.) And Saruman breeds Orcs and Men together to produce "Men-orcs" and "Orc-men"; at times, some of these are called "half-orcs" or "goblin-men". (There is no consensus as to whether Saruman's Uruk-hai were among these. The books contain no hint of the "pod grown" Uruk-hai portrayed in [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]].)

Seemingly sapient animals also appear, such as the [[Eagles]], [[Huan]] the Great Hound from [[Valinor]], and the [[Wargs]]. The Eagles are created by Ilúvatar along with the Ents, but in general these animals' origins and nature are unclear. Some of them might be Maiar in animal form, or perhaps even the offspring of Maiar and normal animals.

==Languages==
''Main article: [[Languages]] of [[Middle-earth]]''

Tolkien devised two main Elven languages which would later become known to us as [[Quenya]], spoken by the [[Vanyar]], [[Noldor]], and some [[Teleri]], and [[Sindarin]], spoken by the Elves who stayed in [[Beleriand]] (see below). These languages were related, and a [[Common Eldarin]] form ancestral to them both is postulated.

Other languages of the world include
*[[Adûnaic]] – spoken by the [[Númenor|Númenóreans]]
*[[Black Speech]] – devised by [[Sauron]] for his slaves to speak
*[[Khuzdul|Khuzdûl]] – spoken by the [[Dwarves]]
*[[Rohirric]] – spoken by the [[Rohirrim]] – represented in the Lord of the Rings by Old English
*[[Westron]] – the 'Common Speech' – represented by English
*[[Valarin]] – the language of the Ainur.

== History of Middle-earth ==
''Main article: [[History of Arda]]''

The history of Middle-earth is divided into three time periods, known as the [[Years of the Lamps]], [[Years of the Trees]] and [[Years of the Sun]].

The Years of the Lamps began shortly after the [[Valar]] finished their labours in shaping Arda. The Valar created two lamps to illuminate the world, and the Vala [[Aulë]] forged great towers, one in the furthest north, and another in the deepest south. The Valar lived in the middle, at the island of [[Almaren]]. [[Melkor]]'s destruction of the two Lamps marked the end of the Years of the Lamps.

Then [[Yavanna]] made the [[Two Trees]] named [[Telperion]] and [[Laurelin]] in the land of [[Aman]]. The Trees illuminated Aman, leaving the rest of Arda in darkness, illuminated only by the stars. At the start of the [[First Age]] the [[Awakening of the Elves|Elves awoke]] beside Lake [[Cuiviénen]] in the east of Endor, and were soon approached by the Valar. Many of the Elves were persuaded to undertake the [[Great Journey]] westwards towards Aman, but not all of them completed the journey (see [[Sundering of the Elves]]). The Valar had imprisoned Melkor but he appeared to repent and was released on parole. He sowed great discord among the Elves and stirred up rivalry between the Elven princes [[Fëanor]] and [[Fingolfin]]. He then slew their father, king [[Finwë]] and stole the [[Silmarils]], three gems crafted by Fëanor that contained light of the Two Trees, from his vault, and destroyed the Trees themselves.

Fëanor persuaded most of his people, the [[Noldor]], to leave Aman in pursuit of Melkor to [[Beleriand]], cursing him with the name ''[[Morgoth]]''. Fëanor led the first of two groups of Noldor. The larger group was led by [[Fingolfin]]. The Noldor stopped at the [[Teleri]]'s port-city, [[Alqualondë]], but the Teleri refused to give them ships to get to Middle-earth. The first [[Kinslaying]] thus ensued, Fëanor and many of his followers attacked the Teleri and stole their ships. Fëanor's host sailed on the stolen ships, leaving Fingolfin's behind to cross over to Middle-earth through the deadly [[Helcaraxë]] (or Grinding Ice) in the far north. Subsequently Fëanor was slain, but most of his sons survived and founded realms, as did Fingolfin and his heirs.

The Years of the Sun began when the Valar made the Sun and it rose over the world, [[Imbar]]. After several great battles, a [[Long Peace]] ensued for four hundred years, during which time the first Men entered Beleriand by crossing over the [[Blue Mountains]]. When Morgoth broke the [[siege of Angband]], one by one the Elven kingdoms fell, even the hidden city of [[Gondolin]]. The only measurable success achieved by Elves and Men came when Beren of the [[Edain]] and Luthien, daughter of [[Thingol]] and [[Melian]], retrieved a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. Afterward, Beren and Luthien died, and were restored to life by the Valar with the understanding that Luthien was to become mortal and Beren should never be seen by Men again.

Thingol quarrelled with the Dwarves of Nogrod and they slew him, stealing the Silmaril. With the help of Ents, Beren waylaid the Dwarves and recovered the Silmaril, which he gave to Luthien. Soon afterwards, both Beren and Luthien died again. The Silmaril was given to their son [[Dior]] [[Half-Elven]], who had restored the Kingdom of [[Doriath]]. The sons of [[Fëanor]] demanded that Dior surrender the Silmaril to them, and he refused. The Fëanorians destroyed Doriath and killed Dior in the second Kinslaying, but Dior's young daughter Elwing escaped with the jewel. Three sons of [[Fëanor]] – [[Celegorm]], [[Curufin]], and [[Caranthir]] – died trying to retake the jewel.

By the end of the age, all that remained of the free Elves and Men in [[Beleriand]] was a settlement at the mouth of the River [[Sirion]]. Among them was [[Eärendil]], who married [[Elwing]]. But the Fëanorians again demanded the Silmaril be returned to them, and after their demand was rejected they resolved to take the jewel by force, leading to the third Kinslaying. Eärendil and Elwing took the Silmaril across the [[Great Sea]], to beg the Valar for pardon and aid. The Valar responded. Melkor was captured, most of his works were destroyed, and he was banished beyond the confines of the world into the [[Door of Night]].

The Silmarils were recovered at a terrible cost, as [[Beleriand]] itself was broken and began to sink under the sea. Feanor's remaining sons [[Maedhros]] and [[Maglor]] were ordered to return to [[Valinor]]. They proceeded to steal the Simarils from the victorious [[Valar]]. But the power of the Simarils was too great for them to hold. Each of the brothers met their fate, one falling into the chasm of fire and the other throwing the jewel into the sea.

Thus began the [[Second Age]]. The Edain were given the island of [[Númenor]] toward the west of the [[Belegaer|Great Sea]] as their home, while many Elves were welcomed into the West. The Númenóreans became great seafarers, but also became increasingly jealous of the Elves for their immortality. But after a few centuries, [[Sauron]], Morgoth's chief servant, began to organize evil creatures in the eastern lands. He persuaded Elven smiths in [[Eregion]] to create [[Rings of Power]], and secretly forged [[the One Ring]] to control the other rings. But the Elves became aware of Sauron's plan as soon as he put the One Ring on his hand, and they removed their own Rings before he could master their wills.

[[Image:numenor.png|thumb|left|200px|A map of Númenor during the Second Age, courtesy of the [http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/ Encyclopedia of Arda].]]

The last Númenórean king [[Ar-Pharazôn]], by the strength of his army, humbled even Sauron and brought him to Númenor as a hostage. But with the help of the One Ring, Sauron deceived Ar-Pharazôn and convinced the king to invade Aman, promising immortality for all those who set foot on the [[Undying Lands]]. [[Amandil]], chief of those still faithful to the Valar, tried to sail west to seek their aid. His son [[Elendil]] and grandsons [[Isildur]] and [[Anárion]] prepared to flee east to Middle-earth. When the King's forces landed on Aman, the Valar called for Ilúvatar to intervene. The world was changed, and Aman was removed from [[Imbar]]. From that time onward, Men could no longer find Aman, but Elves seeking passage in specially hallowed ships received the grace of using the [[Straight Road]], which led from Middle-earth's seas to the seas of Aman. Númenor was utterly destroyed, and with it the fair body of Sauron, but his spirit endured and fled back to Middle-Earth. Elendil and his sons escaped to Endor and founded the realms of [[Gondor]] and [[Arnor]]. Sauron soon rose again, but the Elves allied with the Men to form the [[Last Alliance of Elves and Men|Last Alliance]] and defeated him. His One Ring was taken from him by Isildur, but not destroyed.

The [[Third Age]] saw the rise in power of the realms of Arnor and Gondor, and their decline. By the time of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Sauron had recovered much of his former strength, and was seeking the One Ring. He discovered that it was in the possession of a Hobbit and sent out the nine [[Ringwraiths]] to retrieve it. The Ring-bearer, [[Frodo Baggins]], travelled to [[Rivendell]], where it was decided that the Ring had to be destroyed in the only way possible: casting it into the fires of [[Mount Doom]]. Frodo set out on the quest with eight companions—the [[Fellowship of the Ring]]. At the last moment he failed, but with the intervention of the creature [[Gollum]]—who was saved by the pity of Frodo and [[Bilbo Baggins]]—the Ring was nevertheless destroyed. Frodo with his companion [[Sam Gamgee]] were hailed as heroes. Sauron was destroyed forever and his spirit dissipated.

The end of the Third Age marked the end of the dominion of the Elves and the beginning of the dominion of [[Men]]. As the [[Fourth Age]] began, many of the Elves who had lingered in Middle-earth left for Valinor, never to return; those who remained behind would "fade" and diminish. The Dwarves eventually dwindled away as well. The Dwarves eventually returned in large numbers and resettled Moria. Peace was restored between Gondor and the lands to the south and east. Eventually, the tales of the earlier Ages became legends, the truth behind them forgotten.

==Books==

===Works by Tolkien===

* 1937 ''[[The Hobbit]]''
** The [[Hobbit]] [[Bilbo Baggins]] joins a company of Dwarves and the Wizard Gandalf in a quest to reclaim an old Dwarvish kingdom from the [[Dragons|dragon]] [[Smaug]].
* 1954 ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', part 1 of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''
** Bilbo's cousin and heir [[Frodo Baggins]] sets out on a quest to rid Middle-earth of the [[One Ring]], joined by the [[Fellowship of the Ring]].
* 1954 ''[[The Two Towers]]'', part 2 of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''
** The Fellowship is split apart: while Frodo and his servant [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]] continue their quest, [[Aragorn]], [[Gimli]] and [[Legolas]] fight to rescue the hobbits [[Peregrin Took]] (Pippin) and [[Meriadoc Brandybuck]] (Merry) from [[Orcs]] and to save the Kingdom of [[Rohan]].
* 1955 ''[[The Return of the King]],'' part 3 of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''
** Frodo and Sam reach [[Mordor]], while Aragorn arrives in [[Gondor]] and reclaims his heritage.
* 1962 ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]] and Other Verses from the Red Book''
** An assortment of poems, only loosely related to ''The Lord of the Rings''
* 1967 ''[[The Road Goes Ever On]]''
** A song cycle with the composer [[Donald Swann]] (long out of print but reprinted in 2002)

Tolkien died in 1973. All further works were edited by [[Christopher Tolkien]]. Only The Silmarillion portrays itself as a finished work — the others are collections of notes and draft versions.

* 1977 ''[[The Silmarillion]]''
** The history of the Elder Days, before the Lord of the Rings, including the [[Akallabêth|Downfall of Númenor]]
* 1980 ''[[Unfinished Tales]] of Númenor and Middle-earth''
** Stories and essays related to the ''Silmarillion'' and ''Lord of the Rings'', but many were never completed.

''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'' series:
* 1983 ''[[The Book of Lost Tales 1]]''
* 1984 ''[[The Book of Lost Tales 2]]''
** The original mythologies, introducing many ideas which were used in later mythologies
* 1985 ''[[The Lays of Beleriand]]''
** Two long poems (the Lay of Leithian about [[Beren]] and [[Lúthien]], and the [[Túrin]]ssaga)
* 1986 ''[[The Shaping of Middle-earth]]''
** The first Silmarillion mythology
* 1987 ''[[The Lost Road and Other Writings]]''
** The original Númenor mythology, the second Silmarillion mythology
* 1988 ''[[The Return of the Shadow]]'' (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.1)
* 1989 ''[[The Treason of Isengard]]'' (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.2)
* 1990 ''[[The War of the Ring]]'' (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.3)
* 1992 ''[[Sauron Defeated]]'' (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.4)
** The development of the Lord of the Rings, from 'The Hobbit 2' to what would become more a sequel for 'The Silmarillion'. ''Sauron Defeated'' also includes the second the Númenor mythology.
* 1993 ''[[Morgoth's Ring]]'' (The Later Silmarillion, part one)
* 1994 ''[[The War of the Jewels]]'' (The Later Silmarillion, part two)
** The primary source materials for the published Silmarillion, as well as late materials related to the Silmarillion mythologies. Includes the controversial 'Myths Transformed' section, which documents how Tolkien's thoughts changed radically in the last years of his life.
* 1996 ''[[The Peoples of Middle-earth]]''
** Source material for the appendices in The Lord of the Rings and some more late writings related to The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.
* 2002 ''History of Middle-earth: Index''
** This book has completely integrated all of the indices from the previous twelve volumes into one large index.

===Works by others===
A small selection of the dozens of books about Tolkien and his worlds:

* 1978 ''[[The Complete Guide to Middle-earth]]'' (ISBN 0345449762, [[Robert Foster]], generally recognised as the best reference book on The Lord of the Rings. This guide does not include information from ''Unfinished Tales'' or the ''History of Middle-earth'' series, which leads to some errors by our choice of "canon" above.)
* 2004 ''[[The Annotated Hobbit]]'', [[Douglas Anderson]], a comprehensive study of the publication history of The Hobbit.
* 1981 ''[[The Atlas of Middle-earth]]'' ([[Karen Wynn Fonstad]] – an atlas of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Hobbit'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''The Unfinished Tales''; revised 1991)
* 1981 ''[[Journeys of Frodo]]'' ([[Barbara Strachey]] – an atlas of ''The Lord of the Rings'')
* 1983 ''[[The Road to Middle-earth]]'' ([[Tom Shippey]] – literary analysis of Tolkien's stories from the perspective of a fellow philologist; last revised 2003)
* 2002 ''[[The Complete Tolkien Companion]]'' (ISBN 0330411659, [[J. E. A. Tyler]] – a reference, covers ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Hobbit'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''Unfinished Tales''; substantially improved over the two earlier editions.)

==Adaptations==
===Films===
In [[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien|letter #202]] to [[Christopher Tolkien]], J. R. R. Tolkien set out his policy regarding film adaptions of his works: "Art or Cash". He sold the film rights for ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' to [[United Artists]] in 1969 after being faced with a sudden tax bill. They are currently in the hands of [[Tolkien Enterprises]], which has no relation to the [[Tolkien Estate]], which retains film rights to ''The Silmarillion'' and other works.

The first adaption to be shown was ''[[The Hobbit (1977 movie)|The Hobbit]]'' in 1977, made by [[Rankin/Bass]] studios. This was initially shown on United States [[television.

The following year (1978), a movie entitled ''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'' was released, produced and directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]]; it was an adaption of the first half of the story, using rotoscope animation. Although relatively faithful to the story, it was neither a commercial nor a critical success.

In 1980, Rankin-Bass produced a TV special covering roughly the last half of ''The Lord of the Rings'', called ''[[The Return of the King (1980 movie)|The Return of the King]]''. However, this did not follow on directly from the end of the Bakshi film.

Plans for a live-action version would wait until the late 1990s to be realised. These were directed by [[Peter Jackson]] and funded by [[New Line Cinema]] with backing from the New Zealand government and banking system.
*''[[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' (2001)
*''[[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]]'' (2002)
*''[[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'' (2003)

The films were a huge box office and critical success and together won seventeen [[Awards#Oscars|Oscars]] (at least one in each applicable category for a fictional, English language, live-action feature film, except in the acting categories). However, in adapting the works to film, changes in the storyline and characters offended some fans of the books.

===Games===
The works of Tolkien have been a major influence on role-playing games along with others such as Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, H. P. Lovecraft, and Michael Moorcock. Although the most famous game to be inspired partially by the setting was [[Dungeons & Dragons]], there have been two specifically Middle-earth based and licensed games. These are the [[Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game]] from [[Decipher Inc.]] and the [[Middle Earth Role Play]] game (MERP) from [[Iron Crown Enterprises]]. A Middle Earth play by mail game was originally run by [[Flying Buffalo]] and is now produced by [[Middle Earth Games]]; this game was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame in 1997.

Simulations Publications created three war games based on Tolkien's work. ''War of the Ring'' covered most of the events in the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. ''Gondor'' focused on the battle of Pelennor Fields, and ''Sauron'' covered the Second Age battle before the gates of Mordor. A war game based on the ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' movies is currently being produced by [[Games Workshop]]. A board game also called ''War of the Ring'' is currently published by [[Fantasy Flight Games]].

The computer game [[Angband (game)|Angband]] is a free roguelike D&D-style game that features many characters from Tolkien's works. The most complete list of Tolkien-inspired computer games can be found at http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/

EA Games has released games for the gaming consoles and the PC platform. These include ''The Two Towers'', ''The Return of the King'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth|The Battle for Middle Earth]]'', and ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age|The Third Age]]''. Vivendi released ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game)|The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' while Sierra created ''The War of the Ring'', both games that proved highly unsuccessful.

Apart from this game, many commercial computer games have been released. Some of these derived their rights from the Estate, such as ''[[The Hobbit (computer game)|The Hobbit]]'' — others from the movie and merchandising rights.