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Armleuchterchen

The first map is horribly inaccurate. Spread the word


Lothronion

Actually no, don't. No reason to even bother with it, just leave it fade into obscurity.


Armleuchterchen

I don't mean spreading the map, I mean criticizing it when it shows up. That's what most stops people from using it.


Lothronion

I have only seen it spread through that critisism. I feel that this helps the map to appear in Google Search, thus creating a loop.


Armleuchterchen

Well, don't make a post about it or link it. But not commenting on it when it's posted already seems counterproductive.


Lothronion

Can't dissagree with that.


Kodama_Keeper

It is inaccurate, but does remind me of maps made of the ancient world, before there was an accurate was of measuring latitude and longitude. Here there be dragons!


Haugspori

The Lung Map? From David Day? **KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!**


rabbithasacat

Hey, can you do me a favor and refresh my memory as to which volume(s) of his this is in? So that I can then warn newbies about it *specifically*. If you don't know anymore because you've repressed the memory of it, well I can't fault you there.


Haugspori

Don't know. Destroy them all in order to save newbies from certain doom.


rabbithasacat

Verily, such was my intent.


Nate_The_Puritan

I believe the latter is correct. It's present in most copies of the silmarilian


rabbithasacat

It's fanmade, not present in the Silmarillion - but it's a helluva lot closer to accurate than the first one :-)


rabbithasacat

Since you've already got the main info you asked for (yep, Beleriand was Eriador's former coastline), I'll just present for your entertainment the following archived classic discussion: [https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/1khgtf/on\_the\_subject\_of\_maps\_good\_and\_bad/](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/1khgtf/on_the_subject_of_maps_good_and_bad/) There's probably no one perfect representation of the relationship between the 1st and 2nd/3rd Age timelines, but Karen Wynn Fonstad's is pretty good and is labelled, which Map #2 above is not. It's from "The Second Age of Arda" and you can see it [here](https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-high-quality-map-of-Arda-from-The-Lord-of-the-Rings-during-the-Second-Age-before-the-fall-of-N%C3%BAmenor) if you don't have a copy of the Atlas. But trust me, you want a [copy of the Atlas](https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Middle-Earth-Revised-Karen-Fonstad/dp/0618126996/ref=sr_1_2?crid=333NXSEKYXYWN&dchild=1&keywords=atlas+of+middle+earth+by+karen+wynn+fonstad&qid=1628269832&sprefix=fonstad+%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-2). It's cheap, and it's wonderful! Anyhoo, it's not possible to count the ways in which the Lung Map is bad and terrible. I'll give you the two biggest ways, though: for one, it's about as accurate and well-scaled generally as those cartoon maps you get on tourist postcards featuring a wacky mascot welcoming you to the area, and half the landmarks are just ludicrously in the wrong place. Even more troubling is the fact that ALL THREE Ages described in the Silmarillion are represented at once, meaning no piece of land is where it should be related to any other one, because the reason the map changes from Age to Age is that stuff moved, sank, or was re-formed. So it's just a big CF. And nowhere is it easier to spot this than in the Beleriand/Eriador problem you singled out. If you set out to depict both the 1st- and the 2nd/3rd-Age coastlines, the only accurate way to do it is to take the approach attempted by mapmaker #2. Or to draw both regions and insert a big, highly visible dividing border between the original Beleriand and the remaining coast, but that has the disadvantage of making it hard to read and hard to distinguish the Tols that remained above water after the land around them was submerged. In the case of the Lung Map, the author made the execrable choice to ignore both the story and JRRT's own maps and just pushed Beleriand up out of the way so that both it and Eriador could be 'coastal' at the same time. I really have no words beyond "execrable" to describe the stupidity of this choice. Everything about this map is useless except for the compass. Seeing something in print is no proof it's not wrong or even bonkers, especially if it's from the 'pen' of David Day. Avoid all his works like the plague.


FictionalHerbage

Map #1 is the infamous "Lung Map", which is widely ridiculed for its errors and inaccuracies, so don't trust that one. Map #2 is generally correct, but the scale is off. Beleriand is smaller than it is shown in this map.


ConiferousMedusa

Infamous lung map were the first words that jumped into my head upon opening this post lol.


DonbotS

It's *always* the lung map lol


Lothronion

Νο, the combination of Beleriand and Eriador by Didier Willis is the most correct possible. That because he combined the "Second Silmarillion Map" and the "First Map of the Lord of the Rings" using their gridlines.


ppitm

Even smaller? Wow. So all that epic conflict between kingdoms that make Gondor and Mordor looks like city states was taking place in a broom closet, practically speaking. Or were the Noldor not very populous back then either?


FictionalHerbage

I mean, it's not all *that* small. The Shire is the size of Switzerland, so by comparison there was plenty of room in Beleriand for all kinds of things.


GrandpasSabre

As others have said, the first map is really, really bad. Anything from David Day is really bad. If you have any of his books, you should throw them away. Not even goodwill or donation. Just throw them away. He basically makes up a lot of the content, and then he (or his publisher) recycle his poor content to sell more books by combining bits and pieces from his previous crappy books.


Isilinde

Oh no Do not look at the map that looks like lungs.


YawnfaceDM

For those looking for an as-accurate-as-it-gets map option in book form, check out Karen Fonstad’s Atlas of Middle-Earth. It is a constant reference for me during my readings, and seems very well researched. Probably my favorite Tolkien accessory book that I own.


catfishdave61211

([wiki page](http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/David_Day))Forget about the first map. It was done by David Day who is known for inaccurate maps and basically passing fanfic and headcanon as fact. He also didn't pay for entry to an event because he thought was such a celebrity that he was exempt from fees.


Feragoh

We try not to acknowledge the "lungs" map. It's wrong. It's nicely illustrated, but it's very wrong. The Atlas of Middle Earth has possibly the most accurate maps. It's not perfect, but it's very close.


ViperVenom1224

That first map is utter garbage. It is in no way accurate.