The semi-canonical maps of Middle Earth

[Deadshade]

If you want to map Moria, there is quite some research to be done.
To my knowledge no Tolkien's sketch is known even if I think it probable that there had to be one.
It would be a challenging project because Khazad dûm is unique - a symbiosis of rock and architecture. Huge staircases, statues, bridges above chasms, waterfalls, majestic halls ...

A kind of synthesis is :

"Khazad-dûm was a huge array of chambers, passages, mines, halls, stores and pits. In general, areas were either classed as mines or city. The mines were working sections of Khazad-dûm whilst the city was the area of habitation.

The city areas of Khazad-dûm were clustered primarily to the east; these were the oldest parts of the kingdom and had access to the Great Gates. They were structured into seven Levels and seven Deeps. The Levels stretched above the gate whilst the Deeps were set deeper within the mountain below the level of the East-gate. It is possible that the First Level (on which the Great Gates were set) and the First Deep were highly intertwined.

The eastern section of the city spaces had also been delved in such a manner as to have light shafts to illuminate their chambers. One example of this is the Chamber of Mazarbul which was located on the eastern edge of the Seventh Level.

The mine areas of Khazad-dûm were interlaced with the city spaces, but spread also westward toward the Doors of Durin. The mines ran deeper and further than any other tunnels within Khazad-dûm, and it is possible that more of the lower Deeps were given over to mining, although this is only conjecture.

The defined change between mines and city can be seen when the Fellowship pass through Moria - there is a marked difference between the early passages and chambers and those of the city structures illuminated by Gandalf.

Far below Moria, there are abysses, spaces and tunnels not known even by the Dwarves, but known by the Balrog. Unknown beings gnaw the earth and make them, far from the knowledge of any lore. "

[J.Edward]

Hey Deadshade, thanks for all that. That will prove helpful when I get to doing Moria.
Yesterday I spent way too much time looking up place names, river names and such for this Gondor map.
It can be really taxing trying to find obscure names and info for this stuff.
I did make up 2 river names in the western areas, and I still had some unnamed rivers or tributaries. Oh well.
Almost all of the label work is done. I still need to change some of them to be on a curve. Some of the county/province names are not yet curved.
I won't be doing the town/city names on curves. It's just a bit too much curve.
Then I need to decide on the title lettering. Gondor was called the land of stone so maybe that will play into it. Not sure.
I may be open to suggestions on that. Got to do some real work today though so not sure when that will get done.
ME Gondor 01b [working1].jpg

edit - I forgot to mention, I may still do some work on Harondor. Or I may leave it and do that on a different map. Not sure.
I did originally plan to do the land features there.
Oh yes, and I just noticed I need to do those city/town icons or dots.

[J.Edward]

I went ahead and did a bit to Harondor and added the city/town dots.
The rest will have to wait till later tonight.
ME Gondor 01b [working2].jpg
Dol Amroth, Linhir, Pelargir and Minas Tirith will get special icons.
I'll have to come up with unique ones for each that still fir with the dots.

[ChickPea]

How about the "Seven Stars and Seven Stones, and one White Tree" rhyme for inspiration? The stars and the tree are on the royal banner of Gondor. The stones are the palantiri, obviously.

I bet you could come up with something amazing from that.

EDIT: Doh! Forgot to say, map looks fab!

[J.Edward]

ChickPea - I tried to use that by adding the shield.
So I think Gondor is done. I went with stone letters. They're okay but not quite what I had wanted.
I feel like I should have just gone with the shiny silver letters but I thought they might seem plain next to the other titles. Oh well.
Gondor [M1] by sirinkman.jpg
It seems kinda dead here on the guild tonight.
As an added bonus I get to install an air conditioner this weekend. Yay.
Not sure when I will be able to get to Eriador. Or Moria for that matter.

[J.Edward]

Well, I just decided to try the silver letters.
I feel like it looks better for this map, the atlas style.
I like the stone letters but the silver seems more appropriate.
Gondor [M2] by sirinkman.jpg

[- Max -]

Looks great J.!

[Pixie]

I'm not sold to the use of that saturated yellow on such a white&gray map, looks a little out of place. But it might be just me... Something else I also note as strange is the use of the coastal "lines" inside the Great River Anduin. They don't look great at the mouth of the Entwash and at Lorilad.

On the other hand, while those mountains felt strange at the start, I'm completely sold to the stylized effect by now - it's cool.

[ravells]

Super work. Like everyone else, I love the colour choices (Great for print) and the mountain and forest styles. All the elements work so well with each other. For the Moria text, I would go with something more 'brutal' and Dwafish - perhaps a 'carved out of stone' effect with traces of Mithril as Diamond suggested?

[J.Edward]

Thanks to everyone for the input and comments on this so far.
It always helps with a long project.
Thanks Max.
Thank you Pixie. I will see about the water lines. I don't have a preference on that so I'll remove those and see what it looks like.
On the yellow roads - that is a preference so it will probably stay.
Thanks ravells. I was trying to work toward something that seemed like it could be in an atlas, which are often low color or B+W. The yellow roads could be a spot color.
Regarding the Moria lettering - That's what I was trying to do. Maybe it doesn't convey that way? Not sure.

If anyone has any input on the Gondor lettering by all means let me know. I did 2 different ones and I like the silver personally.