# A View of Middle Earth ---- from Orbit **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548 "2014-10-17T00:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/1 "2014-10-17T00:16:47Z")
I stumbled across this, and thought it was pretty cool: > **[Science Visualized • EXQUISITE MIDDLE-EARTH-FROM-SPACE IMAGES Travel to...](https://mucholderthen.tumblr.com/post/75605636518/exquisite-middle-earth-from-space-images-travel-to)** > > EXQUISITE MIDDLE-EARTH-FROM-SPACE IMAGES Travel to the land of hobbits and wizards, elves and orcs! > > > Created by Outerra, using the M-E digital elevation model |  Underwire February 4, 2014 at WIRED > > > > > JRR Tolkien’s... ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/2 "2014-10-17T02:01:55Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/3 "2014-10-17T16:14:15Z")
Classy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/4 "2014-10-17T18:43:56Z")
Middle Earth as seen by Earendil. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/5 "2014-10-18T19:01:01Z")
Wow, it even seems to cut off properly! Nice. you see, according to the geologist who wrote [_The Last Ringbearer_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer), the single continent of Middle Earth [doesn’t make geological sense](http://pages.citebite.com/d3t8m2t7j6xoa)\* unless it’s part of a larger world which isn’t mentioned. > [@](#): > > However, Tolkien the philologist had obviously had a very weak interest in this last, non-living component of Middle Earth – its physical geography – and created it only because he had to, with predictable results. > […] > (To explain: If a planet has a single continent – Middle Earth – it means that the convection currents in the planet’s mantle form a single cell, meaning that the entire “light” part of the continental crust has gathered over the point where the mantle material sinks toward the core, like foam gathers over the bathtub drain. (This had happened on Earth at least twice, in mid-Proterozoic and late Paleozoic, which is when two super-continents of Megagea and Pangea formed.) When subcontinents collide, they bunch up into folds (e.g., the Himalayas that arose at the collision of the Indian subcontinent with the Eurasian plate). This means that there ought to be a huge mountain plateau like Tibet smack in the center of Middle Earth; where is it? > […] > It turns out that all the seeming contradictions of Middle Earth’s natural history can be resolved with a single assumption: that Tolkien is describing only the northwestern part of the local landmass, rather than the whole thing. Actually, it’s not even an assumption: Tolkien’s map is obviously intentionally cut off in the south and the east; why should we assume that his world ends there? There’s enough room there for the hypothetical central plateau or even other continents and archipelagos. Granted, his book completely rewrites what happened in _LOTR_ as being a fictionalized tale written by the victors, but I think this part applies even if you assume everything happened as depicted. (The economics idea that follows is pretty good, too.) \*Note that you need to read beyond the highlight. That’s just there to get a direct link to the section in question. I couldn’t highlight the whole thing, so I tried to stop in such a way that implies you are supposed to keep reading. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/6 "2014-10-18T19:09:21Z")
Yes, he calls himself a paleontologist, but he also seems to dabble in geology. I meant to edit that when I saw it in the link. I didn’t mean to imply he was an expert in the field, just that he knew a little bit about geology, which he would need to as a paleontologist. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/7 "2014-10-18T23:48:40Z")
I don’t see Tol Morwen anywhere. Too small? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/8 "2014-10-19T05:25:19Z")
Tol Morwen would be over the northwest horizon, out of sight. It was originally in the western portion of Beleriand and all of that is off the map area. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/9 "2014-10-19T15:37:57Z")
_Hobbits in SPACE!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/10 "2014-10-19T16:22:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Yes, he calls himself a paleontologist, but he also seems to dabble in geology. I meant to edit that when I saw it in the link. I didn’t mean to imply he was an expert in the field, just that he knew a little bit about geology, which he would need to as a paleontologist. _Philologist_ (study of languages), not paleontologist (study of ancient life). I’m not aware that Tolkien knew anything much about either paleontology or geology. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/11 "2014-10-19T17:15:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > _Philologist_ (study of languages), not paleontologist (study of ancient life). I’m not aware that Tolkien knew anything much about either paleontology or geology. I believe **Big T** was talking about Kirill Eskov, the author of “The Last Ringbearer”, the book he was quoting. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/12 "2014-10-19T17:20:30Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I believe **Big T** was talking about Kirill Eskov, the author of “The Last Ringbearer”, the book he was quoting. [Emily Litella]Never mind.[/Emily Litella] ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/13 "2014-10-19T22:05:05Z")
I apologize if this has been mentioned, but Tolkien clearly intended to place this story on the same Earth we live on, albeit in some remote past, and presumably without any intention to conform with scientists’ estimation of what the world looked like at any given point. This much is clear from the author’s papers and unfinished works. In LOTR, from either the appendices or the prologue–I forget which–it’s made clear that the landmass shown in the maps is roughly co-extensive with northwest Eurasia. My take on it is that Tolkien wanted his tale to be set in a vaguely familiar geographic setting but still have the creative license he needed to write the story at all. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-view-of-middle-earth-from-orbit/701548/14 "2014-10-20T23:22:43Z")
Anyone got similar sites on the Discworld or Narnia ?