What was the name of Tolkien’s fictional planet-like realm before its later destruction and reshaping?

The story behind the answer

Arda is Tolkien’s fictional world, whose shape and geography change through the mythology’s great catastrophes.

Arda begins as a world shaped by the Valar under the authority of Eru Ilúvatar. It includes Middle-earth, Aman, and other lands. The destruction of Númenor is one of its major transformations: afterward, the world is changed from a flat world in the mythology’s earlier geography to a round world.

Eä is broader than Arda, referring to the created universe, while Valinor is a region in Aman. Númenor is an island kingdom rather than the whole world. These nested names make the terminology difficult, but Arda is the specific answer for Tolkien’s world.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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