Middle-earth Tours

		Welcome to
	Middle-Earth Tours
		by Kyriel

This site was rated "A" by Entertainment Weekly and has been favorably reviewed by
Yahoo! Internet Life and The Toronto Star. To read more about these and other awards and nominations for Middle-Earth Tours, click here.

Greetings, fellow Tolkien fans! If you're like me, you love The Lord of the Rings, and you love seeing artists' renditions of the people, places, and history of Middle-earth -- but downloading LotR pictures can be a major pain in the neck. I hate the fact that whenever I find a collection of LotR pictures online, I either have to be content with a squinty little thumbnail image or spend five minutes pulling up the full-size picture -- which may not be that great on closer inspection, and which won't fit properly in my browser window, anyway.
This website is my attempt to solve that problem. I've collected all my favorite LotR pictures by a variety of artists, including the great John Howe and Alan Lee; reduced them just enough to make them easy to see and easy to load; and arranged them all by topic. Finally, I've added in quotes from Tolkien and a few comments of my own -- all to give you the best possible idea of what a person or place should really look like. Now you can access several artists' impressions of Gollum or Gondor or whatever at the same time, compare them, and decide for yourself which one really has the goods. Then, if you like a particular picture well enough to load the full-sized version, you can use the links on that page to find it at Rolozo Tolkien, theonering.net, There and Back Again, or the official LotR movie site.
One quick note: if you're a Tolkien newbie, you're certainly welcome to take the tour. But it's only fair to warn you that this site is was created for people who have already read The Lord of the Rings. In other words...

~ Here be spoilers ~

And now, on with the tours!

The People of Middle-Earth: Here you'll find pictures of all the major people groups of Middle-earth, as well as representative characters from each group. You'll notice that some individuals, like Gandalf and Eowyn, inspired so many pictures that I've given them their own separate pages.

Hobbits (Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin), Wizards (Gandalf, Saruman), Bombadil and Goldberry, Elves (Arwen, Elrond, Galadriel, Legolas), Humans (Aragorn, Boromir, Denethor, Éomer, Éowyn, Faramir, Théoden, Wormtongue), Dwarves, Ents, The Bad Guys (The Balrog, Dragons, Gollum, The Nazgûl, Orcs, Spiders, Sauron, Trolls)

The Places of Middle-Earth: Begin in the Shire and join Bilbo, Frodo and the Fellowship on their journeys through Middle-earth. If you stick to the suggested path, you'll follow Bilbo's route on exiting the Misty Mountains, then rejoin the Fellowship in Lothlórien.

The Shire (Bag End, Hobbiton, The Shire at Large), The Old Forest, The Barrow Downs, Bree, Weathertop, The Flight to the Ford, The Ford of Bruinen, Rivendell, (The Council of Elrond), The Misty Mountains (Caradhras, The Lair of the Great Goblin , Moria, Balin's Tomb & Beyond, The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm, The East Face of the Mountains), Beorn's Territory, Mirkwood, Laketown, The Lonely Mountain , Lothlórien, (The Mirror of Galadriel , The Banks of the Silverlode), The River Anduin, (The Argonath, Parth Galen, Amon Hen), The Emyn Muil, The Dead Marshes, Rohan (Edoras, Helm's Deep, Dunharrow), Fangorn Forest, Orthanc, Gondor (Minas Tirith, The Upper Levels , The Pelennor Fields , Ithilien, Osgiliath), Mordor (Barad-Dûr, Morgul Pass, Shelob's Lair, Cirith Ungol, The Black Gate, Mount Doom), Journey's End(s)

The Prequels Tour: Want to know all about the history of Middle-earth before the time of Bilbo and Frodo? This tour will take you from the birth of the world to the birth of Bilbo Baggins.

Menu and pictorial timeline The Valar, The Maiar, The Darkening of Valinor and the Flight of the Noldor, The Elves' Battles with Morgoth, The Tale of Beren and Lúthien, The Tale of Túrin Turambar, Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin, Eärendil the Mariner, The History of the One Ring, The Fall of Númenor

Specialty Tours: Step off the beaten path of LotR, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion and really explore Middle-earth in all its complexity. The routes may be unfamiliar, but they're all Tolkien "canon." Several pictures on this tour are only available here and in the "Artists" section.

The Anduin River Cruise, Strongholds of the Dwarves, Trek The Great East Road, Three Ages of Elvish Homes, The Journey of Galadriel, Remnants of Fallen Númenor, Grand Tour of Valinor, From Sméagol to Gollum The House of the Stewards

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The Mathom-House: "The Mathom-House it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort." --The Fellowship of the Ring, "Concerning Hobbits"

News from Middle-Earth, The Birth of a Nazgul, Survivor, Lord of the Rings Style, Song Parodies, Frequently Asked Questions, Links, Linking to Middle-Earth Tours, Family Trees, Argument Enders Awards, Reviews and Recognitions

The Artists of Middle-Earth: A quoteless tour of all the artists and all the images on this site.

Rob Alexander
Catherine Karina Chmiel
Inger Edelfeldt
Anke-Katrin Eissmann
Roger Garland
Daniel Govar
Michael Hague
John Howe
     Fellowship of the Ring
    The Two Towers
    Return of the King
    The Hobbit & The Silmarillion
Michael Kaluta
Alan Lee
    Fellowship of the Ring
    The Two Towers
    Return of the King
    Hobbit
Luca Michelucci
Ted Nasmith
    Fellowship of the Ring
    The Two Towers
    Return of the King
    The Silmarillion
David Wyatt

Honorable Mention

Art from the Movies
    Fellowship of the Ring
    The Two Towers
    Return of the King
    Character Studies

This site is maintained and updated by me, Kyriel. I am in no way affiliated with Tolkien Enterprises or the Tolkien Estate. I in no way claim the artwork displayed to be my own. Copyrights and trademarks for the books, films, articles, and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and their use is allowed under the fair use clause of the Copyright Law.