I love love love how his languages and the world’s geography came first, and the story just sort of filled in the gaps with a narrative. Thanks for this! Inspiring me to revisit the maps for my own world building l and get some more detail on them before I keep going in the story!
I am currently reading The Hobbit to my 7 year olds, and they had some questions about what Bilbo could or couldn't see from the Lonely Mountain while he is being described as sitting in the cleft looking out over Mirkwood and seeing the Misty Mountains faintly in the distance and thinking of the Shire beyond them. They thought he should also be able to see Lake Town. So I pulled out both Thoror's map and the big Middle Earth map and showed them what he would have been able to see from that valley on the west side of the mountain. It was not the first time (and won't be the last) that I check back on the maps as I read his work to see what he saw in his mind.
Also, I have the Gondor/Rohan/Mordor map framed in my office.
I love love love how his languages and the world’s geography came first, and the story just sort of filled in the gaps with a narrative. Thanks for this! Inspiring me to revisit the maps for my own world building l and get some more detail on them before I keep going in the story!
I am currently reading The Hobbit to my 7 year olds, and they had some questions about what Bilbo could or couldn't see from the Lonely Mountain while he is being described as sitting in the cleft looking out over Mirkwood and seeing the Misty Mountains faintly in the distance and thinking of the Shire beyond them. They thought he should also be able to see Lake Town. So I pulled out both Thoror's map and the big Middle Earth map and showed them what he would have been able to see from that valley on the west side of the mountain. It was not the first time (and won't be the last) that I check back on the maps as I read his work to see what he saw in his mind.
Also, I have the Gondor/Rohan/Mordor map framed in my office.