<Tr> <Th> Notable locations </Th> <Td> - (large regions) - Eriador Gondor Harad Mordor Rhûn Rohan Wilderland - (notable First Age places) - Almaren, Beleriand, Cuiviénen, Gondolin, Thangorodrim, the Two Lamps - (other notable places) - Arnor, Barad - dûr (the Dark Tower), Erebor (the Lonely Mountain), Fangorn, Isengard, Khazad - dûm (Moria), Lindon & the Grey Havens, Lothlórien, Minas Tirith, Mirkwood, the Misty Mountains, Mount Doom, Rivendell, the Shire </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Notable characters </Th> <Td> Eru Ilúvatar Valar Maiar Wizards (Istari) Elves Men Dwarves Hobbits Ents Eagles Dragons Orcs Trolls </Td> </Tr> <P> Middle - earth is the fictional setting of much of British writer J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium . The term is equivalent to the term Midgard of Norse mythology, describing the human - inhabited world, i.e. 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, take place entirely in Middle - earth, and Middle - earth has also become a short - hand to refer to the legendarium or its fictional universe . </P> <P> Within his stories, Tolkien translated the name "Middle - earth" as Endor (or sometimes Endórë) and Ennor in the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin respectively, sometimes referring only to the continent that the stories take place on, with another southern continent called the Dark Land . </P>

Where is middle earth in lord of the rings