With J.R.R. Tolkien‘s high-fantasy world of Center-earth being to date faraway from our personal, it is easy to get so caught up in what’s on the map itself that we not often even take into consideration what’s not on it. We all know from The Lord of the Rings that Tolkien crafted limitless stars in his legendarium, however are there different planets too? It is a query that the majority in all probability have not contemplated all an excessive amount of over time, however one that might simply result in some theorizing concerning the far reaches of Tolkien’s cosmos. Although extra-terrestrial life in Tolkien’s universe has not been confirmed (, aside from all of the spirit beings that come from the heavens), the creator did word that different planets do exist in Eru Ilúvatar’s created macrocosm, referred to as Eä in his fictional world. Sure, there are different worlds on the market, we simply do not know a lot about them.
J.R.R. Tolkien Gave Names to Different Planets in Eä
There are just a few locations in Tolkien’s legendarium we all know for certain exist. There’s Arda, which is the Earth itself that largely makes up the Seen World, after which there’s the Unseen World, which offers with lots of the supernatural forces that existed earlier than materials beings like Males, Elves, and Dwarves have been dreamed up. Exterior Eä (the universe) exists the Timeless Halls – much like Heaven, and the Timeless Void – an “eternal darkness” considerably akin to the Christian idea of Hell, which the unique Darkish Lord Morgoth was banished to. However inside the seen and recognized portion of the cosmos (not solely on Arda itself) are different planets additionally. In response to The E-book of Misplaced Tales, Tolkien imagined numerous planets as present inside his created universe, going as far as to call them, as recorded within the tenth quantity of The Historical past of Center-earth (collected by his son, Christopher Tolkien), titled Morgoth’s Ring.
However what are these names? Properly, within the Sindarin language (a type of Elvish), there’s Silindo, Carnil, Elemmire, Luinil, Lumbar, and Nenar. These planets seemingly correlate to Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune, respectively. It is price noting, too, that the aforementioned E-book of Misplaced Tales additionally refers to Jupiter by the title Morwen. We’re undecided why there are two potential names for Jupiter, but it surely’s clear from the sheer breadth of his work that Tolkien had a cause for all the things, particularly names. In any case, none of those planets are talked about elsewhere in Tolkien’s lore or literature, and so they do not issue into the bigger narrative past merely present. However that should not precisely come as a shock contemplating that, for essentially the most half, planets do not have an effect on our day-to-day life, both. With a lot battle already baked into Center-earth historical past, there can be no time to discover different worlds.
Venus Performs a Bigger Position in Center-earth Historical past
Nonetheless, even together with Arda/Earth, these named planets solely account for seven of the eight counted in our personal photo voltaic system. Properly, 9 in the event you rely Pluto, which, as standard, is not noted of the lineup. (It is a bit unusual contemplating that Pluto was first deemed a planet in 1930, earlier than Tolkien even started writing The Lord of the Rings, however we’ll let it slide.) That simply leaves Venus, which is curious contemplating the planet is our next-door neighbor. Nonetheless, different sources have confirmed that Venus is a little more concerned within the historical past detailed in Tolkien’s legendarium than the others. In actual fact, it ties in deeply with the Elves of the First Age, a mythic portion of Center-earth historical past that may generally really feel a bit unclear in comparison with all we find out about later Ages.
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One doesn’t merely rewrite J. R. R. Tolkien.
In Letter 297 of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, the professor explains that the piece of the Silmaril that Eärendil the Mariner sailed into the heavens (an occasion solely referenced in The Fellowship of the Ring however expanded on elsewhere in Tolkien’s writings), referred to as the Star of Eärendil or Gil-Orestel, is definitely synonymous with the planet Venus. As soon as it was positioned up there within the stars, it burned vivid as a “morning star” for hundreds of years, finally coming to be generally known as Venus many ages down the road. Sure, you learn that proper. A Silmaril has the facility to create a complete planet, in response to Elven legend, and Venus wouldn’t exist in Eä with out the act of Eärendil. Who’s Eärendil? Why, he is the daddy of each Elros and Elrond, the founding father of Númenor, and the founding father of Rivendell, respectively.
J.R.R. Tolkien Imagined Arda as Earth of Ages Previous
After all, the explanation why Tolkien dedicated so intently to making sure that the principle planets (once more, sorry Pluto) have been included in his high-fantasy cosmos was as a result of his intention along with his legendarium was to inform an alternate historical past to our world. Sure, Tolkien believed that there was a powerful connection between the world of Center-earth and ours, and so he ensured to place sure truths in place to mirror that. In Letter 165, collected in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, the professor as soon as wrote that, “although I’ve not tried to narrate the form of the mountains and land-masses to what geologists could say or surmise concerning the nearer previous, imaginatively this ‘historical past’ is meant to happen in a interval of the particular Previous World of this planet.” Which means once we say Arda and Earth are synonymous, on the earth of The Lord of the Rings they’re really one and the identical.
In one other letter (Letter 221), penned in 1958, he expanded additional on this concept by noting our place inside the Center-earth story. “I think about the hole to be about 6000 years: that’s we are actually on the finish of the Fifth Age, if the Ages have been of about the identical size as [the Second and Third Ages],” Tolkien defined. “However they’ve, I believe, quickened; and I think about we are literally on the finish of the Sixth Age, or within the Seventh.” It is fascinating to consider how the fantasy author thought-about our historical past and his fictional account to intermix. Whereas Tolkien’s world was certainly fantastical, magical, and purely fictional, its connection to ours — not in contrast to how his pal C.S. Lewis linked The Chronicles of Narnia to human historical past by means of the technique of a multiverse, lengthy earlier than that idea was ever standard — makes it really feel all of the extra actual.
What’s Subsequent for The Lord of the Rings Franchise?
Though J.R.R. Tolkien will not be writing any extra tales on the earth of Center-earth anytime quickly (the creator died again in 1973), that does not imply that the larger Lord of the Rings model is over. Apart from the Peter Jackson trilogies, the world of Center-earth continues to press on into the twenty first century. Prime Video’s controversial prequel sequence, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Energy, is at present two seasons in with extra in improvement, whereas 2024 additionally noticed the discharge of the anime prequel film, The Lord of the Rings: The Struggle of the Rohirrim. Moreover, Andy Serkis is at present creating one other prequel movie, this time a live-action endeavor, at present titled The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (to not be confused with the stellar fan-film of the identical title). The movie, which is being produced by Jackson, is about to be directed by Serkis and launched in 2026.
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