Customer Reviews

Maps of Middle Earth: The Lord of the Rings Map Set

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This set consists of six maps, each of which folds out to about 22" by 16", and a booklet. The maps don't cover all of Middle Earth -- instead they are regional maps that cover all the main action of "The Lord of the Rings".

The six maps are as follows, in more or less the order in which the characters in "The Lord of the Rings" encounter them.
1. The Shire. Includes all of the Shire, and goes beyond to include Lake Evendim in the north, the beginning of the Gulf of Lune in the west, and Bree on the far eastern edge. Hence it also includes the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs.
2. Eregion. From Lothlorien in the southeast to Bree in the northwest; includes the Misty Mountains from just north of Fangorn up to the southern edge of the Ettenmoors. This one is at 30 miles to the inch; the others are all at 20 miles to the inch.
3. Rohan. Includes Isengard at the western edge of the map; all of Fangorn forest, north as far the field of Celebrant at the southern edge of Mirkwood, and east to the east shore of the Anduin, including the Emyn Muil.
4. West Gondor. The Lefnui river runs down the west edge of this map, which covers Pinnath Gelin, the Blackroot Vale, and Dol Amroth in the southeast.
5. East Gondor. Belfalas in the southwest, with Dol Amroth just off the map; the mouths of the Anduin and east as far as south Ithilien and the foothills of the Mountains of Shadow. Minas Tirith is there, of course, and Osgiliath, but Minas Morgul is off the eastern edge of the map. Cair Andros is right at the north edge.
6. Mordor. Mordor is a nice rectangular shape for a map, and the map covers it more or less exactly, with the addition of Ithilien as far as Osgiliath down the west edge.

The maps are not colourful--click on the image of the box on the Amazon page and you'll see an enlarged view that shows the legend areas of all six maps; the colouring there is just as it is on the maps themselves, so that should give you an idea. However, despite the lack of strong colour, the calligraphy and cartography are beautiful.

Reeve does not appear to have taken any liberties that I can see with the topography as described by Tolkien, either by inventing extra names to fill in blank spaces or changing anything. I was a bit surprised to see how large the Shire was, though; it's the same land area as Rohan, which simply astonished me -- I thought of it as a tiny place, perhaps sixty or so miles across, but Reese makes it over 250 miles from west to east, including Westmarch and Buckland. I went back to the original maps at the back of "The Return of the King", and realized that Tolkien had in fact drawn it at least 150 miles across--the scale is so small it's hard to be precise--but it's still surprising.

The booklet includes information about all the major regions of Middle Earth, whether or not they are on the map. On the back cover is a map of all of Middle Earth. Sadly, there's no overall poster to go with it--I'm still looking for a good one. The booklet is informative and moderately detailed; I would guess it's a handbook for a role-playing game, since a game is mentioned in the cover, but there are no more details.

Overall, this is an attractive set of maps for a good price. The weak points are the lack of colour, and the fact that only parts of Middle Earth are mapped.

Amidst the loads of movie merchandise generated by the Lord of the Rings movies, this is one item in particular that stands above the rest as a spectacular edition to both the movies and the books. Included are six wonderfully large maps of the different regions of Middle-Earth, including the vast plains of Rohan and its adjoining lands, the dark land Mordor, the northern wilds of Eregion (the lands that lie west of the Shire, including Bree, Weathertop, the Trollshaws, Rivendell, Hollin, Caradhras, Moria and Lothlórien), two maps to show both West and East Gondor, and a highly-detailed map of the four farthings of the Shire.

Each map is highly detailed, and looks quite similar to the ones drawn for the Lord of the Rings books. The maps (if you succeed in making the creases in them disappear) are high quality, and worthy of framing if you want.

There is also an excellent 32-page book that takes you over each region included on each map, examining its importance to the Fellowship's Quest, and to the history of Middle-Earth in general. The book includes all six maps shrunk down to page-size in the back, a general map of Middle-Earth on the back cover, and an index for location reference.

Cheers to Daniel Reeve and crew for their excellent calligraphy work as well as research and planning. This set is a perfect compliment to the books. For those who enjoyed the movies and want to learn more, for those of you who want to brush up on some Tolkien knowledge so your well-versed friends won't have such an edge on you, and for Tolkien fans everywhere, you will love this set.

I bought this collection of maps when actually looking for a poster of the whole Middle Earth. The maps have an antique look and feel on them and the whole package is of excellent quality. The detail of the drawings is good but simple, I think it could've been more detailed. You cannot place the maps to show the continuity between them because they are not all based on the same scale. And, its missing a very important map which is that of Mirkwood and the Lonely Mountain. Anyway, I recommend it but only if you don't mind my findings.

These maps are drawn by Daniel Reeve, who was responsible for the cartography in the movie trilogy. There are six 17" x 22" archival quality collector's maps which show: The Shire, West Gondor, East Gondor, Rohan, Eregion, and Mordor. Also included is a 32-page guide to the lands of Middle-earth which recounts in detail the history and characteristics of virtually all of the places and regions of Middle-earth. Their beauty and quality makes them definitely worth the money.

These maps are truly beautiful. I am in the process of framing them and they look very impressive when hung on a wall. The map of the Shire is by far the most detailed, and the booklet included has an enormous amount of information in it. I agree with the other reviewer, however, that this set would have been even better if it included Thorins Map. Im very much looking forward to Set 2 due for release this summer!!

These maps are great! They cover the whole path of the fellowship, with great attention to detail, and although missing the Mirkwood area (For it is no involved much in The Lord of the Rings) these almost cover all of Middle-Earth! They are also, surprisingly, unique, as I have scoured the internet for something similar, but did not find anything! For the price these are an absolute bargain, I would heartily recommend them!

Wow, these are amazing drawings. A must have for any lord of the rings fan, or just anyone who likes maps. These extremely well drawn maps are accompanyed with a 32page book explaining alot of stuff so that's a bonus right there.