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Old 12-28-2012, 10:16 AM   #1
Morsul the Dark
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Did Sauron only want Middle Earth?

This is sort of a two part question.

I've been looking for A full map of Middle Earth most I'm findingg have just the main continent f ME. So first part, How far down does Harad go and how far East does Middle Earth expand?

Secondly did Saurn just want Middle Earth (Gondr Rhohan Shire etc.) r did he want the world including Harad Far Harad the far East, etc.
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Old 12-28-2012, 11:42 AM   #2
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A map like this is as complete as you'll find for Middle-earth. Tolkien's stories are heavily rooted in this northwestern corner of the continent. I feel like the south and east primarily existed to give the world depth. He wrote little on those lands because they were not of much concern to the main story. It's difficult to guess if he would have ever gotten around to writing much more about them than he did.

Sauron, like Melkor/Morgoth before him, seemed interested in ruling whatever he could, but more attracted to things he would have trouble controlling. Such is greed and the desire to dominate - always wanting what you can't have!

The Haradrim (south) and Easterlings (east) were evil and combative; I get the idea of barbaric as well. They fought alongside Sauron, whether under his direct influence or just up for supporting something they can wage war with. Thousands of years before the War of the Ring in the Third Age, Melkor had already ventured south and east, and we know that the men there were heavily involved in "Melkor-worship," as Tolkien calls it once. Sauron too had already had an influence there years earlier as we can see in a ringwraith's identity: Khamūl the Easterling,second greatest of the wraiths.

Also, we know upon arrival of the Istari (wizards), Saruman and the two blue wizards went into the east and only Saruman eventually returned. This time spent east could've been part of Saruman's corruption and betrayal. (While Tolkien was never completely decided about the fate of the two blue wizards, he said they stayed in the east for a long time, speculating that they began cults or magic traditions of their own.)

You should read The Silmarillion as you'll find an Easterling named Ulfang has a part to play. Don't let us spoil it for you.
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Old 12-28-2012, 11:47 AM   #3
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Middle-earth of course refers to all of the "Earth". Eriador, Rovannion,
Gondor, etc. are merely the northwest bits of M-e. Sauron was smart
enough (unlike the late Numenoreans) to stay away from Aman.

Have you tried Karen Fonstad's "The Atlas of Middle-earth"? There are
some interesting speculative maps in the first section "The First Age."
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Old 12-28-2012, 01:49 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin View Post
Middle-earth of course refers to all of the "Earth"
Technically all of "Earth" is refered to as Arda, Middle-Earth is mostly the European part of the world
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Old 12-28-2012, 02:25 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally posted by Kamexkoopa
Middle-Earth is mostly the European part of the world
More than "mostly" the European part of the world. For example, in
Letters #165:
Quote:
Middle-earth...is just a use of Middle English middel-erde
or (erthe), altered from Old English Middengeard: the
name for the inhabited lands of Men 'between the seas'. And although I have
not attempted to relate the shape of the mountains and land-masses to what
geologists may say or surmise about the nearer past, imaginatively this
'history' is supposed to take place in a period of the actual Old World of
this planet.
One way of giving depth to Middle-earth is to only
describe in detail a small portion of it (what is, in effect, Europe) and
describing only vaguely, as someone in much of the medieval period, would
have known of Asia and most of Africa, and probably view it as menacing and mysterious.

Hence, Middle-earth is conceived as Europe, Africa, and Asia, in a time when
(Tolkien would teasingly now allude to continental drift as cause) the Old World
land mass "between the seas" of the Atlantic and Pacific were different.
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Last edited by Tuor in Gondolin; 12-28-2012 at 02:31 PM.
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Old 12-29-2012, 05:06 AM   #6
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I believe it's true to say, is it not, that "Middle-earth" as a continent included the vast lands of Rhūn and Harad as well as "the West", ie Gondor, Rohan, Rhovanion and Eriador? At the end of the Third Age Sauron already more or less controlled all of the East and the South which seemingly made up the majority of Middle-earth's landmass.
It might be worth noting this remark from letter 183:
Quote:
Sauron desired to be a God-King, and was held to be this by his servants; if he had been victorious he would have demanded divine honour from all rational creatures and absolute temporal power over the whole world.
As well as this remark about Sauron from Morgoth's Ring:
Quote:
He probably deluded himself with the notion that the Valar (including Melkor) having failed, Eru had simply abandoned Eä, or at any rate Arda, and would not concern himself with it any more. It would appear that he interpreted the "change of the world" at the Downfall of Nśmenor, when Aman was removed from the physical world, in this sense: Valar (and Elves) were removed from effective control, and Men under God's curse and wrath.
What this would suggest to me is that Sauron's policy in the Third Age was the domination of all of Middle-earth but just Middle-earth; that way he would be the master of as much of Arda as possible while still apparently being free of the interference of the Valar or Eru (although of course he was lying to himself when he thought that either party had abandoned Middle-earth). Sauron knew, or at least thought he knew, his limits, it would seem, and the most powerful he could be was as ruler of the mortal lands of Middle-earth.
So I would say the answer is this: Sauron did only want Middle-earth, but Middle-earth was more than just the West. That being said, he already controlled the rest of it. Only the West was holding out.
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Old 12-29-2012, 11:14 AM   #7
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Remember, in the Third Age Aman and Eressea were no longer part of "the Earth;" Tolkien implies at the end of Akallabeth that the proto-Americas were created at the time of the Downfall and the World Made Round. I have no doubt that ultimately Sauron would have liked to control the New (literally) World as well.
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