of his master he arguably surpasses him in malice and evil deeds in the land of Mordor.

No longer do we have three hidden elven kingdoms of a similar making, we now have a variety. Eregion and Lothlorien are, at first, settlements of the displaced Noldor, which quickly become refuges against the evil now located in the east of Middle-earth. Rivendell, and the Woodland Realm to the north of Eregion and Lothlorien, round out the retreats of elves from battles with Sauron. Last, but not least, we have the newest and most intriguing hidden realm of them all: The Shire, a realm founded in the third age.

When the war of the ring breaks out at the end of the third age, one senses that its symbolism and “hiddeness” wereis the most interesting realm to interpret; we’ll get to that later though.

Mordor – Allen Brockbank

Throughout of the second and third ages of the world, there is a dark power brooding in the shadow lands with the sole purpose of its master to dominate all life on Middle-earth. Just like its father realm of Angband from before, Mordor is a dark and desolate place that Tolkien describes to us in this manner: “Mordor was unique because of the three enormous mountain ranges surrounding it, from the north, from the west and from the south. The mountains both protected the land from an unexpected invasion by any of the people living in those directions and kept those living in Mordor from escaping” – Clyde Kilby, Many Meetings with Tolkien.