Lindil - Thank you for the references concerning the population of Middle-earth.
One of the things that has troubled me about Tolkien's work is the absence of people! Even allowing for the fact that, as an epic, he is concentrating his focus on those few civilizations that have a direct involvement in combating Mordor, Middle-earth has always seemed to me to be a strangely barren land.
Even allowing for the wars and the Dark Plague, it seems odd that there are so few settlements, towns, freeholds, or even the odd woodcutter here or there.
Where the heck did everyone go?
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