If the people of Middle-Earth made a map of their world or an area of it, did they put west on the top of the map? Or did they have north on the top like the map in the Lord of the Rings looks like? If the former, are there any modern day maps of Middle-Earth that put west on the top?
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1What makes you think they put west on top?– Molag BalJun 11, 2016 at 6:45
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21They all put west on top, but they spell it north to keep things simple.– Major StackingsJun 11, 2016 at 6:48
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4I have no idea why you'd think west would be on top of their maps. Tempted to VTC as unclear what you're asking, but I'd rather wait for an explanation.– Wad CheberJun 11, 2016 at 6:53
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3I think you might be saying that since Paradise was in the West, they would put it at top, much as Medieval European map-makers sometimes put East at top due to the presumed location of the Garden of Eden. Is that correct?– AdamantJun 11, 2016 at 7:04
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3If you were implying that Valinor would be at the top of the map, and Valinor was West, could you edit that into your question? It would definitely improve clarity, but I don't want to do it in case I misunderstood your reasoning.– AdamantJun 11, 2016 at 7:20
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2 Answers
Thror's map (as hand-drawn by Tolkien) had a Eastward slant
Other maps of Middle-Earth seems to have had a more common Northward-pointing compass rose
answered Jun 11, 2016 at 7:02
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5I suspect the first one you posted is the only one that answers the question, since it is the only one we know existed in-universe. Jun 11, 2016 at 7:03
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Were any of the other maps discovered by Tolkien? The whole set of books was written based off of writings he found, right? (in-universe) Jun 11, 2016 at 7:08
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1I wonder whether the Eastward slant is in imitation of medieval maps, which placed Eden in the place of prominence. Middle-Earth does have a similar geography, and Cuivenen is eastish, as Wad noted.– AdamantJun 11, 2016 at 7:09
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2Even if the first is in-universe, it has been translated into English, presumably from the Common Tongue!– PJTraillJun 11, 2016 at 11:42
Almost certainly, yes.
Not always (witness the Dwarven map with east at the top), but it was evidently the usual orientation in the West-lands.
Appendix E to The Lord of the Rings:
The names of the letters most widely known and used were… númen, hyarmen, rómen, formen=west, south, east, north…. These letters commonly indicated the points W, S, E, N even in languages that used quite different terms. They were, in the West-lands, named in this order, beginning with and facing west; hyarmen and formen indeed meant left-hand region and right-hand region (the opposite to the arrangement in many Mannish languages).
Now, this doesn't explicitly say that maps were drawn with west at the top, but "south = left, north = right" very strongly implies it!
Additionally, there is an implied contrast (which Tolkien was probably hinting at with that "Mannish languages" remark) with medieval European maps, which customarily had east at the top (hence the use of "orient", or "east", as a verb meaning "to point towards"). This "facing east" was more than just a language convention, it was a cartographic one too; and so we can infer that the same goes for Middle-earth.
answered Jun 11, 2016 at 9:50
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3Well spotted, Tim Pederick. As to Thror’s map, it was perhaps for private use and convenience rather than conforming to cartographic conventions.– PJTraillJun 11, 2016 at 11:43
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1"Orient" comes from the Latin word for "rising," as that is the direction from which the Sun rises. I believe the "point towards" meaning came later.– jwodderJun 12, 2016 at 2:19
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2Mannish example: the Sanskrit word cognate to dexter can mean ‘south’ among other things. Jun 12, 2016 at 3:17
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1@jwodder: Exactly. Even in Latin, oriens "rising" also meant "east", but my Latin dictionary, at least, doesn't have the sense "point towards", which suggests that it only entered in with descendant languages–so definitely later. Jun 12, 2016 at 6:19