The Game Of Inventing A Country

The world Middle-earth created by Tolkien is the model of the sub-creation which was also put forward by Tolkien in his On FAIRY-Stories.No matter how bizarre the imaginary world is,it must have a space,character,culture or world view,and all these must be based on the material basis—geography.Tolkien's Middle-earth is one perfect example of constructing an entire new world: the geographical design offers the basis for the background and stage of his story;the characteristic of each race also set up upon the place they choose to live;Civilization is also constricted much by the place and the people living in that land.Tolkien once called this constructing work as “the game of inventing a country—an endless one” in his letter wrote to Naomi Mitchson(Carpenter 154)from which the title of this thesis comes.This thesis mainly talks about what role geography plays in constructing a fantasy world.Besides the introduction and the conclusion part,this thesis consists of three chapters.The introduction part is mainly about the introduction of some notions as fantasy as a literature genre,sub-creation,world-building as well as literature review.The first chapter mainly cape with the geography which is the stage of a novel.In the Primary World,the geography was composed with cosmos,terrain,climate and flora,so is the case in Middle-earth,therefore this chapter focuses on Middle-earth from these four perspectives.In the cosmos part,the birth of Arda(earth in our world)is introduced and the change of the whole shape of land and ocean which divided the Ages is also one important point.The second part is about terrain in Middle-earth,as it is in the Primary World,terrain in Middle-earth is inclusive,covers nearly all kinds of landforms and the distribution of them is reasonable.The third part is about climate in Middle-earth which is greatly affected by latitudes,seasons,and topography.Landform and climate altogether will influence the flora which is the main topic in the fourth part of chapter one.From tundra to tropical forest,the distribution of plants in Middle-earth always obey the scientific logic with the perfect weather and water supply.The second chapter deals with races,the main players of a stage.Main races inMiddle-earth except for Gods includes: elves,men(including hobbits),dwarves,Orcs,Ents and other creatures.Hobbits are mild creatures and live in a leisure life that might because of the excellent living condition.That might explain why the hobbits can resist the seduce that others can't.Elves are the lovers of nature.They have the deeper connection with nature than other creatures.All their tools,buildings,food come directly from nature,their decline seems to foresee that Middle-earth has a new order to be set.Men will be the major force in Middle-earth in the next few Ages,just like men in the Primary World,conflict,disputation never ceased.people live in different parts of the world had different fates.Dwarves are just as stubborn as their favorite thing,stones.They can endure harsh environment and have determined will.They are masters of architecture and craftsmanship and they cut many trees.Different from the races above,the evil creatures mostly dwell in the deep of forest or caves where sun seldom shines in because they fear the light most and they became the destroyer of nature.The third chapter mainly talks about different civilizations arose in different lands.The harsh environment of extreme cold and heat will generally be the camp of evil creatures.Such as Morgoth's Angband in the far north and Sauron's territory in the volcanic mountain Mt.Doom.The second part is political systems in Middle-earth.It seems that democracy can be hardly find a trace in Arda,dictatorship is everywhere.Only the mild hobbit and people in Lake-town have some kind of democracy.The last few Kings in Númenor even build up their colony in Middle-earth.In the Third Age,main countries in Middle-earth were in feudal system,Kings ruled these countries and the throne was passed from father to son which is impossible to break.The third part is about conflict and war.Wars in Middle-earth is also affected by geography.Battle of Hornburg will be given as an example to illustrate how geography is functioned in a battle and what roles geography may play in it.Overall,these three chapters are in layers of progressive,the geography decides races to some degree and the two together affect much of the civilization.When constructing an entire new world,it is important to cover all these three aspects of geography,race,civilization and conflict,of which geography is the most essential part and the base of all.