Middle-earth is the fictional world where most of J.R.R. Tolkien’s major stories are set.
The name refers to the inhabited lands of Tolkien’s mythology, especially the regions described in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and much of The Silmarillion. Middle-earth is not the whole of Tolkien’s created universe. It is part of Arda, the world shaped by the creator deity Eru Ilúvatar and the Valar.
Important locations in Middle-earth include the Shire, Gondor, Mordor, Rohan, Rivendell, and Mirkwood. The setting changes across the ages: Beleriand dominates much of the First Age, while the War of the Ring occurs in the Third Age.
Readers sometimes use Middle-earth as a synonym for the entire legendarium. Tolkien’s broader mythology also includes lands such as Valinor and Númenor. The term itself reflects an old Germanic and English concept related to the human-inhabited world.