Middle-earth
Endor, the body of the world's story
The Story
Middle-earth, Endor in the High Speech, is the central continent on which mortal and immortal histories collide. It was the land the Eldar woke to under the stars at Cuiviénen. It was the stage of the wars of Beleriand, where the Noldor came in pursuit of Morgoth. It was where Sauron forged the Rings; where Númenor's exiles built Arnor and Gondor; where the One Ring was lost and found again.
From the woken Eldar to the Last Ship, every story of Arda that mortals tell happens here. Aman is the land of the Powers; Middle-earth is the land of the world.
The Land
A continent taller than wide, with a deeply indented western coast and three vertical mountain ranges running roughly north to south.
- Misty Mountains, the long vertical spine running down the continent's centre.
- Blue Mountains, the western range; in the First Age, the eastern boundary of Beleriand.
- Red Mountains, the far eastern range, at the edge of the named world.
- White Mountains, the horizontal range in the south, dividing Rohan from Gondor.
- Anduin, the Great River, running south from the highlands to the Bay of Belfalas.
- Three western bays, the Icebay of Forochel, the Gulf of Lune, and the Bay of Belfalas.
- Sea of Rhûn, the great inland sea in the east, where the named world fades.
Neighbours