Middle Earth Map Notes

I've taken a few other fantasy maps to task.  Seeing as I just saw the Hobbit (first film), figured it was time to take a stab at what is basically the iconic map of fantasy literature, Middle Earth.

First, the map:

Middle Earth

Okay basically the area we call middle earth, is an area bounded by Forodwaith, Thun, Mordor, Gondor and the Great Sea.   Note I am not going to try and put all the accent marks and diacreticals in this piece.

Watersheds

In terms of watersheds we have everything west of the Misty Mountains (and south of their extension, the White Mountains, much of which is part of the Greyflood drainage basin... and on the other side we have the Great River Anduin, which flows through a gap between Mindolluin (the mountain above Minas Tirith) and some smaller hills called the Emyn Armen which look like a continuation of the white mountains.  

However, we also have two large enorheic basins which drain into landlocked "seas" (lakes).  All of Mordor is basically one endorheic basin draining into the "Sea" of Nurnen, and you have the larger Rhun basin likewise draining into the "Sea" of Rhun.   While the northern part of Mordor is barren, by accounts the southern part, Nurn, around the Sea of Nurn is actually green and fertile, and that is where Sauron had slave farms producing the food for his vast armies.    Still, as an endorheic basic this means we must have enough rainfall to sustain the rivers that flow into the lake to keep it stable.  If we had more rainfall in theory the lake would enlarge, and in theory enough could have turned Mordor into a giant lake.   Well in theory it would have an outlet in Udun, the one break in the mountains, or at least it would had Sauron not built Morannon (the Black Gate).  There is a tiny piece of Mordor drained by the Morgulduin stream that flows into the Anduin, this stream flows past Minas Morgul.

The Rhun basin includes the Celduin (aka the River Running) and its tributary the Forest River which joins it at Long Lake, and flows across Mirkwood.   In fact its source in the Gray Mountains is very close to the Anduin.  This means for all its might the Anduin does not pull that much a watershed from its eastern bank, at best maybe half of Mirkwood is in its basic, which places a divide running down the middle of Mirkwood.  On the map every tributary of the Anduin (and it doesn't really have any great ones) are short rivers tumbling down the Misty Mountains.   (there is one river that looks like it flows in from the east, the Greylin, but that is actually a source stream of the Anduin.  Its source is very close indeed to the Forest River.   It does perhaps drain the Dead Marshes.

The Celduin is interesting as it commands a huge basin.   It has a tributary called the Carnen (Redwater) whose source is in the Iron Hills, meaning at least part if not all of these hills are inside the Rhun basin.  For more detail of the main branch of the Celduin, we turn to the map from the hobbit:

Hobbit Map

This confirms even more of the Mirkwood being in the Rhun basin as we have a tributary of the Forest River, the Enchanted River also being part of the watershed.    We do see some mountains in wood (aptly titled "Mountains of Mirkwood".   I'm going to hazard a guess that the watershed south of these mountains is more towards Anduin, and north more towards the Celduin (River Running).  But that is just a guess.

and for more detail, Thror's map which was carried by Thorin Oakenshield.

Thror's map

Note that North is to the left in this map.   One intersting note is that the Forest River is depicted as a larger river than the Running River (Celduin).  Implying that it may be the principle source.   This would make sense, as it is longer, flows through a green vegated landscape and has a long tributary of its own.   The Running River on the other hand...  Its source is depicted as basically Erebor.  The Lonely Mountain.     Which is a presumably volcanic peak standing alone in a flat plain, miles from anything higher than it.   Which begs the question what kind of water table exactly could it hold, such to source a river like the Celduin.  The mountain's upper peak is apparently snowcapped, it must be to source such a river.  Even so it would not have that much to draw upon.   So I conclude the Forest River is actually the parent stream, though this may be obfuscated by the fact they both meet in Long Lake, and the natural inclination may have been to map it as if the stream in the same direction were.

Volcanos

It is notable that at least two prominent peaks... Erebor and Doom both appear to be volcanic in origin.  Erebor has all the signs of volcanism, arms that appear to have been "flows" and being isolated from any other mountain.   (if you really want to debate whether it is volcanic, I suggest this thread.    Further, its steep flanks point to a thicker, less hot magma than the basaltic variety we see in Hawaii, that would result in a much more gradual shield volcano (unlesss it subsequently eroded which is possible).     This might explain why its lava was unsuitable to destroy the one ring.   Only problem is Mount Doom itself does not appear to be a shield volcano either.  Unless Sauron just willed it that way.   But if you cop that out, you can use that for anything (e.g., the mountains around Mordor for example)./

Anyway those are just some quick observations.   There's a ton more to break down, will see if i feel the urge to continue...

Revolution Map Fun part 2

More revolution map stuff.

This week's episode sees our heroes encounter a bridge at "Freeport". Apparently that is the only bridge over the river because the Militia blew up all the other ones.   We are told this is 290 miles from Philadelphia.     Okay, there is a Freeport, Pennsylvania.   Which is on the Alleghany River, presumaby the river they are talking about, and the headstream of the Ohio River.  Which according to google maps is 288 miles from Philadelphia on foot.   They river is depicted as a raging torrent.   They also say that if they can't use this bridge (which is full of Monroe Militia) the nearest crossing is in Morgantown, 100 miles away.  Presumably they mean Morgantown West Virginia.   Which is not on the Allegany, but is on the Monongahela River, which joins the Alleghany to form the Ohio river.   The junction of these river is a little town called Pittsburgh.

The Militia would have had their work cut out for them blowing up every bridge between Freeport and Morgantown including every bridge in Pittsburgh, as well as presumably ones upstream the Alleghany (which granted does run a long while).  Also this bridge does not have a railroad.   We saw the train just a couple episodes ago run all the way to Philadelphia.  Why not walk along the tracks, presumably they cross the river, no?

Eventually after an option to find a guy with a boat fails.. they get the bright idea of swimming across which is made up to be dramatic (presumably it is a raging torrent the entire distance), but is accomplished in short order.

The purpose of this blog is not to go over the non-geographical failings of the show (I could go on about the bad guy a supposed tactical genius picking an ambush spot in some woods as the only place that provided sound tactical cover, a small area with junked cars), just to highlight the geographical stuff.

We also got some more shots of a wall map.

Some towns are in Red, some are in Black.    My initial guess was the ones in red are destroyed, but we did see that Chicago, while dangerous was inhabited and living off of fish from Lake Michigan.   Maybe the black ones are?  or maybe it indicates the presence of a militia garrison, who knows at this point.   Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati, Akron, Lansing and Milwaukee are among the ones I could make out at a quick glance.

The camera also briefly pans over stuff farther west:

Here we see the California Commonwealth.   And the western portion of the Plains Nations along with the wasteland between th em.   Note the Plains nation goes well into and past the rockies into the great basin, to a large lake.   At first I thought this was meant to be the Great Salt Lake, but its shape isn't quite right...   it is also way too big to be Tahoe.   You can seen the San Fransisco Bay area to the left... I guess it has to be the Great Salt Lake, perhaps the perspective of the camera throws us off a bit.  Also as for the shape it is an endoheric lake meaning increased rainfall levels could cause it to swell (unlike Tahoe which while part of an endoheric basin (meaning its waters do not reach the sea) it has an outlet, the Truckee river, which flows into Pyramid Lake which would be more prone to such fluctuations).

At one point the dialogue mentions the Monroe Republic is sending a diplomatic delegation to the California Commonwealth, a journey which could take years, and "those heathens" might send the delgation home in a box.

Overall this seems a remarkably large area to hold together in a "republic" without modern means of communication.   Especially one seemingly built on fear and backstabbing and paranoia of its dictator.   We don't see any means of long distance communication other than the train, no smoke signals, mirrors, semaphor, horns, etc.

Anyway not sure if we'll have much more to look at.  Apparently the show had enough budget to buy usage of Led Zepplin music next episode, which apparently was where the show needed money spent to fix its problems...

Revolution Map Analysis

Revolution Map Analysis.

We got an interesting glimpse at a map used by the NBC show "Revolution" (nutshell - all electricity stops working, 15 years later people vie for control of resources and people) of how much of North America is now constituted...

Alright.   Making up what was once the US:

• The Monroe "Republic" - where our show is set.  Capital revealed as Philadelphia, Independence Hall.  Consists of:  Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Parts of Virginia, The Mid-Atlantic States, New England, The Maritime Provinces, and parts of southern Québec.. up to the Gaspar peninsula.
• The Georgia Confederation - one of the main rivals of the Monroe Republic.  Term Confederation can't be accidental, implying it is somehow tied to the confederacy.  Consists of Kentucky, the rest of Virginia, and everything south.. including eastern Louisiana (more on that in a bit).
• The "Plains Nation" - sounds like a rather boring name, but also sounds like they imply it is somehow tied to indians (i.e., the "plains nations".Basically everything west of the Mississippi, although oddly hewing to the Minnesota / Wisconsin state line (St Croix river and whatever it goes overland).  Runs basically to the rockies.
• Texas.  Boundary between them and the Plains Nation appears to be the Arkansas River.  Includes most lf Louisiana, though not on the current Mississippi course. (again more on that below).   Interestingly Texas extends well down into Mexico.   But calls itself Texas implying Texas controls this area, not Mexico.
• Wasteland.   Assume this is an area that no one governs and no one wants.   This seems to include much of the Mountain time zone.  Also includes the Sonora area of Mexico.  Hard to tell but it looks like it also contains a larger Great Salt Lake.   Hard to tell for certain but Washington state looks to be about the same shade, so it might be an extension of Wasteland.
• California Commonwealth - California, Oregon, and parts of Nevada.   A notebook or something was set over its northern boundary so not sure on its extent.  It   Also includes all of Baja California.

Notes:

•  Overall I find it odd how many boundaries stick to old state boundaries, as well as the US-Canada boundary.
• In what I take to be some actual forethought on the part of the show, they show it not using the current Mississippi route through New Orleans and into the Mississippi River Delta.  They show it going basically along the Atchafalaya River route that the Mississppi "wants" to take, that the US Army Core of Engineers prevented with the Old River Control Structure.     I take it they have concluded in the absense of maintenance by the federal government the Mississippi overcame the Old River Control Structure and rerouted (as it used to do before the levees) to the Atchafalaya River route.  An act which would lead to the inevitable erosion of the delta perhaps as far back as New Orleans itself.    
• Nothing is really said about Canada at all... though it is odd that the Monroe Republic seems to respect the sovereignty of Ontario.   Despite having two (former?) metropoli right on the border... Detroit and Buffalo... it does not extend into Ontario at all.   Further east however it incorporates New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, presumably Prince Edward Island and what looks like Québec south of the Saint Lawrence, up to and including the Gaspar peninsula.   This strikes me as odd, there is a language difference and Québec has always struck me as an area that would abosutely stick together on its own if things came to that.   Of course this could just be an idle map of "claimed" territory.  Perhaps the Monroe Republic is interested in claiming the Saint Lawrence seeway given its ports on the Great Lakes.  But if so, why stay out of Windsor, Niagara, etc?   
• The Plains Nation sticks mostly to the US-Canada Border, being either the 49th parallel or the Rainy River/Lake of the Woods in Minnesota...except a significant chuck that appears to follow the Red River of the North up to Winnipeg, then the Assinboine River until roughly Regina (Saskatchewan), then back southeast along the Souris River (the upper part of the river, not further east where it joins the Assinboine).   This rather odd shape would bisect both Winnipeg and Regina.   
• There is also an odd shape between the Plains Nations and the northern parts of "Wasteland".  Doesn't seem to follow the continental divide.  Almost looks like it stretches near yellowstone.  I may need to overlay another map to verify what this is.

Sorry for the long delay.

Not dead yet...

Just need a good topic for a new geography-related post.