Fantasy and Alien Blank Basemaps Thread

[jkarr]

Before I use it, I want to check if this is a good base:

i had a friend who had a besitary all about the world of ea, and it had this massive map of the enitre planet, and it showed that the "land under the wabves" was actually further north, and that the eriabor mountains was the souterhn half of the mountains in the old land (cant remember the bleeding name...ive got to reread the silmarilion)

it never mad emuch sense to me, but it was shown that it was further north original, so that the bay of forochel was actually just to the south east of where the landmass was....

also numenor is further north, between eriador and aman...its more central

 

[GenghisKhanfan]

Just want to know if someone could improve this map...like add mountains, deserts, jungles, etc.?

If you do improve it, please post it here. I'd be interested in seeing how it looks.

 

[Beedok]

It looks wrong without the mountains and forests.

 

[Evan]

I would say yours is probably wrong though. As in the Simirillian Tolkien states that the Elves, and later Humans, first awoke around a Great Inland Sea (A big one, very big) far in the East of Middle Earth, and that there were also great forests where many Elves on the Journey to Aman stayed becoming the Dark Elves (They never got to see the Light of the Trees hence the name.)

But that was before the First Age of the Sun; Tolkien says that the Inland Sea of Helcar and the bay of Cuivenin didn't exist anymore by the Third Age. So, they definitely shouldn't be on your map after the Change of the World.

i had a friend who had a besitary all about the world of ea, and it had this massive map of the enitre planet, and it showed that the "land under the wabves" was actually further north, and that the eriabor mountains was the souterhn half of the mountains in the old land (cant remember the bleeding name...ive got to reread the silmarilion)
it never mad emuch sense to me, but it was shown that it was further north original, so that the bay of forochel was actually just to the south east of where the landmass was....
also numenor is further north, between eriador and aman...its more central

I'm not sure about the drowned lands he shows in the Far Harad, but drowned Beleriand is placed rightly. Look at the outlines; yes, Thangorodrim is just west of Forochel. And actually, I think he might be placing Numenor a little too far north - Taniquetil is on the equator, IIRC, which would place Tol Erresea just a little off-center. It was visible from Numenor by naked eye, so Numenor should also be pretty close to the equator.

 

[Thande]

I don't think Taniquetil was ever expressedly said to lie on the equator, but I suppose that's the implication given that the sun followed a path from the summit of Kalormë to that of Taniquetil (IIRC)...

According to stuff about the palantiri, if you look from the Grey Havens you're supposed to see Meneltarma, Tol Eressea and then Taniquetil (or possibly the cleft in the mountains) all in a straight line.

 

[Beedok]

Middle Earth is a fair bit smaller than I thought.

 

[Thande]

Middle Earth is a fair bit smaller than I thought.

Middle-earth is simply a name for the Old World (it's not Tolkien's, it's just his update into modern English of the Anglo-Saxon word middangeard or Midgard).

 

[Beedok]

Middle-earth is simply a name for the Old World (it's not Tolkien's, it's just his update into modern English of the Anglo-Saxon word middangeard or Midgard).

Well I meant the region shown in the maps. I mean it is only about the size of Western Europe (I thought it was easily the size of all of Europe).

 

[Deleted member 4898]

I have actually made maps of Arda in all three ages as based on The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad. I posted them in the Map Thread but they seem to have gone unnoticed.

 

[Thande]

Well I meant the region shown in the maps. I mean it is only about the size of Western Europe (I thought it was easily the size of all of Europe).

The region shown in the LOTR maps is what Tolkien refers to as "The North-west of the Old World, East of the Sea". He said that Mount Doom in Mordor more or less corresponds with Santorini in Italy, so yes it does basically only cover Western Europe...Eastern Europe would be over in Rhovanion and Wilderland. (Appropriately enough, the few names he gives for people from Rhovanion are indeed taken from Slavic languages).

I have actually made maps of Arda in all three ages as based on The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad. I posted them in the Map Thread but they seem to have gone unnoticed.

Well done, That Man. I would recommend you repost them here. The Atlas of Middle-earth is a very fine work in my view.

 

[Beedok]

I have actually made maps of Arda in all three ages as based on The Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad. I posted them in the Map Thread but they seem to have gone unnoticed.

I was just trying to get it UCS scale.

 

[Deleted member 4898]

Here we have Arda in the First Age.

 

[Deleted member 4898]

And in the Second Age.

 

[Thande]

Here we have Arda in the First Age.

More specifically post Darkening of Valinor and the Flight of the Noldor, as you have the Shadowy Seas marked...though then shouldn't Tol Eressea and the Twilit Isles be there instead of the island ferry? Great work btw.

 

[Deleted member 4898]

And this is Arda in the year 490 of the Third Age.

EDIT: Note that the Easterling and Haradrim 'states' are more representations of the area that they settled.

 

[Thande]

And this is Arda in the year 490 of the Third Age.

EDIT: Note that the Easterling and Haradrim 'states' are more representations of the area that they settled.

Have you thought of changing the background for this one? I just want to make it clear that we are now showing a globe rather than a flat circular planet.

 

[Deleted member 4898]

Have you thought of changing the background for this one? I just want to make it clear that we are now showing a globe rather than a flat circular planet.

I never thought of that. What do you suggest?

And if you're interested, I've done numerous maps of the Third Age from TA 490 right up until the beginning of the Fourth Age.

 

[Thande]

I never thought of that. What do you suggest?

And if you're interested, I've done numerous maps of the Third Age from TA 490 right up until the beginning of the Fourth Age.

I am indeed interested. Unfortunately I can't really think of a good alternative background...ideally you would want something more "standard basemap" ish, but that would involve changing the entire projection...

I think if you do keep this background, you probably have to show the edges of the New Lands at the edge of the Bent Seas. Problem is of course Tolkien never said what they looked like, although presumably they would bear a similar vague resemblance to the Americas that Middle-earth does to the modern Old World. Most people seem to basically just put in three blobs that vaguely suggest projecting bits of coastline.

 

[Deleted member 4898]

I am indeed interested.

I'll make a new thread to house them in tomorrow.

Unfortunately I can't really think of a good alternative background...ideally you would want something more "standard basemap" ish, but that would involve changing the entire projection...

I think if you do keep this background, you probably have to show the edges of the New Lands at the edge of the Bent Seas. Problem is of course Tolkien never said what they looked like, although presumably they would bear a similar vague resemblance to the Americas that Middle-earth does to the modern Old World. Most people seem to basically just put in three blobs that vaguely suggest projecting bits of coastline.

I'll try and make some land that looks a bit like the Americas to stick on the map then, as I don't fancy changing the projection of all the Third Age maps I've made.

 

[Thande]

I'll try and make some land that looks a bit like the Americas to stick on the map then, as I don't fancy changing the projection of all the Third Age maps I've made.

No I agree, that'd be a nightmare.

A scale on one of the maps might be useful (I think there's one on the originals from the Atlas) for people like Beedok who want an idea of how it corresponds to distances on an OTL map.