A “very” sketchy analysis of the Lord of the Rings Amazon series interactive map

So Amazon just released an interactive map in what appears to be the beginning of a long and tantalising marketing campaign leading to the release of the secretively-termed “Lord of the Rings series”.

The interactivity of this map lies in the user’s ability to zoom in or out of the familiar layout of Middle-earth and scroll across the landscape features. Suffice to say, the map is quite bare – lacking any sort of geographical names or other details.

So what clues can we gather from this rather uncommunicative map. I decided to undertake a quick exercise to analyse the map, and avoid the hundreds of other fan theories most likely spawning out there on the internet.

What follows is my own, unbiased (most probably totally erroneous, but fun-making) analysis of what this map could mean …

On Were-worms

Hunting the elusive creature

You pick up a copy of The Hobbit and start reading the first chapter.

Halfway through you encounter the following statement made by Bilbo Baggins:

“Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert.”

Identity and Origins of the Nazgûl

Introduction

There have been many theories and speculations on the possibilities of who and where Sauron’s greatest servants came from.

Book Review: The Real Middle-earth

This post is dedicated to a book review – the first-ever on this blog.

I was privileged enough to be approached by author Michael Muhling and asked to do a review of his new book on Tolkien’s inspiration for Middle-earth. I jumped at the opportunity and after having read the work, I can now share my thoughts on it here.

The Real Middle-earth: Discovering the Origin of The Lord of the Rings, by Michael Muhling is an in-depth analysis into the history and central figures of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia); reflecting on these aspects as being a possible source of inspiration for the major locations, cultures (and characters) in The Lord of the Rings.