A Window on Middle Earth
Middle Earth fascinated me as a child. I loved the idea of hobbits and wizards running around in rolling valleys, dodging dragons and going on crazy adventures. Growing up in the rolling hills of the English countryside, it wasn’t too hard to imagine being never further away than 2 feet from a hobbit.
There’s a certain picture of the world in my minds eye even to this day, so when I created this piece it immediately reminded me of Middle Earth and in particular, a dwelling with a geometric window that seemed to fit the bill.
Geometric art by Mike Percy Artworks
What is Middle Earth?
According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it is best summed up as:
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy. The term is equivalent to the Miðgarðr of Norse mythology and Middangeard in Old English works, including Beowulf. Middle-earth is the human-inhabited world, that is, the central continent of the Earth, in Tolkien’s imagined mythological past. Tolkien’s most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are set entirely in Middle-earth. “Middle-earth” has also become a short-hand term for Tolkien’s legendarium, his large body of fantasy writings, and for the entirety of his fictional world. Middle-earth is the main continent of Earth (Arda) in an imaginary period of the Earth’s past, ending with Tolkien’s Third Age, about 6,000 years ago.[T 1]Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth mostly focus on the north-west of the continent. This part of Middle-earth is suggestive of Europe, the north-west of the Old World, with the environs of the Shire resembling reminiscent of England, but, more specifically, the West Midlands, with the town at its centre, Hobbiton, at the same latitude as Oxford. Tolkien’s Middle-earth is peopled not only by Men, but by Elves, Dwarves, Ents, and Hobbits, and by monsters including Dragons, Trolls, and Orcs. Through the imagined history, the peoples other than Men dwindle, leave or fade, until, after the period described in the books, only Men are left on the planet.
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There are lots of fascinating resources online about JRR Tolkien’s work, including the LOTR Fandom Wiki which features a lot of Middle Earth imagery, descriptions and thoughtful explainers alongside a community of LOTR fans:
“Middle-earth”, or Endor in Quenya (Ennor in Sindarin) — and in The Book of Lost Tales the Great Lands — are the names used for the habitable parts of Arda after the final ruin of Beleriand, east across the Belegaer from Aman. This continent was north of the Hither Lands shown in the Ambarkanta, and west of the East Sea; and from the beginning of Arda to the end of the Second Age it underwent dramatic geographical changes, caused by Eru Ilúvatar, the Valar and Melkor.
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Truth be told I never got so into it I wanted to hang out with other fans but I liked it enough for it to create a lasting impression on me and remember it fondly whenever I see or create something with a Middle Earth kind of style, as far as my own mind’s eye sees it.
