What is Middle Earth? Map of JRR. Tolkien’s fantasy world, history, timeline - and when is Rings of Power set?

Lord of the Rings: Power of the Ring has officially dropped on Amazon.

The highly-anticipated series will tell the stories left out of the films, focusing on what happened in Middle-Earth during the second age.

Power of the Ring is the most expensive TV series ever made, with a price tag of $175 million.

J.R.R Tolkien’s stories take place in the fantasy setting of Middle-Earth, but what is it based on and what does it look like?

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is Middle-Earth?

Middle-Earth is the fictional world that the characters of Lord of the Rings reside in.

According to Tolkien’s novels it was created by the Valar and the Maiar in the The Beginning of Time and is the main continent of Earth , also known as Arda.

Why is it called Middle-Earth?

The name “Middle Earth” was not created by Tolkien.

It comes from the Middle English term middel-erde and Old English term middangeard.

Another theory about its origin is from Norse mythology, where the men live in a “Middle Earth” called Midgard.

Is there a map of Middle-Earth?

There are many maps depicting Middle Earth throughout the ages.

Throughout the novels, as the landscapes change, so do the maps that depict them.

You can see a drawing of Middle-Earth in the early Fourth Age by artist Jez Gordon below.

What is Middle-Earth based on?

J.R.R Tolkien created Middle-Earth as the setting for his fantasy novels - The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

The stories depict our Earth, before we inhabited it. Middle-Earth was heavily influenced by a range of mythologies including Nordic, Finnish, Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon England.

Another theory is that Tolkien considered Earth as being based in the middle, with heaven above it and hell below.

Is there a timeline for Middle-Earth?

The timeline of Middle-Earth spans across the ages depicted in Tolkien’s novels.

Events depicted in the novels span the distance of nine thousand years.

The most important stories, that we are familiar with from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings triologies take place in the third age.

However, The Rings of Power is set in the second age, thousands of years beforehand, and will tell us the backstory, with fans speculating the plot will focus on Sauron.

Years in the timeline for Middle-Earth are measured in: Valian Years (V.Y.), Years of Trees, (Y.T), First Age (F.A.), Second Age (S.A.), Third Age (T.A.) and Fourth Age (F.A.).

With each age, the years revert back to the beginning, with a new time being established.

Here is the timeline for Middle-Earth, which is broken up into the following sections:

• The Time Before the Creation of the World and the Beginning of Time
• The Years of Music
• The Beginning of Time - from V.Y. 500 - V.Y. 3500
• Years of the Lamps - from V.Y. 1900 - V.Y. 3500
• Years of the Trees - from Y.T. 1085 - V.Y. 5000
• The First Age - from F.A. 1 - F.A. 590
• The Second Age - from S.A. 1 - S.A 3441
• The Third Age - from T.A. 1 - T.A. 3020
• The Fourth Age - from F.A. 61 - F.A. 121