Welcome to The Encyclopedia of Arda

The Encyclopedia of Arda is a personal project - a tribute to and a celebration of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The site is evolving into an illustrated hypertext encyclopedia of Tolkien's realms and peoples. It already contains about four thousand entries, and we're constantly adding new entries and expanding existing ones.

Inside the encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of Arda contains thousands of articles covering topics from J.R.R. Tolkien's world, some brief, some lengthy and some containing detailed essays and discussions.

You'll also find a selection of interactive tools, including a chronicle to help you explore Tolkien's fictional history, and calendar to translate dates and events, a lexicon of names, a glossary of old and rare words, and much more.

Context and approach

The content of the Encyclopedia is written in the same context as Tolkien himself used; he presented himself simply as a translator, rather than originator of the tales. Hence, we try to describe his world from a 'historical' rather than a literary perspective, though sometimes it's useful to explore ideas in their wider context. Where relevant, therefore, you'll also find a few references to Tolkien's life or opinions, or to real historical or mythological parallels to events in his universe.

About the name Arda

Arda was the name given by the Elves to their world and all it contained, and so 'Encyclopedia of Arda' seemed a peculiarly apt title for this project.

Special thanks

Thanks to all those who've e-mailed us over the years with their suggestions, corrections, ideas and just general support.

But the real Special Thanks, though, belong to the memory of J.R.R. Tolkien for his extraordinary and unparalleled creation.

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

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Latest entries and updates

The Watcher
A title for the unseen Shelob
Zamîn
Ancalimë’s childhood companion
Mountains of Gondor
The White Mountains
Haunted Pass
The northern entrance into the land of Mordor
Pillar of the Heavens
The hallowed central peak of Númenor

Featured Entry

Chamber of Records

The Chamber of Mazarbul in Khazad-dûm

A chamber within old Khazad-dûm that lay on the Seventh Level of that mountain city, close to the Twenty-first Hall. From that vast Hall, an archway led northward into a corridor, and the Chamber of Records lay through a stone door on the right-hand (or eastern) side of this corridor. The chamber itself was large and square, and brightly lit (at least during the daytime) by sunlight slanting down a shaft carved in its eastern wall. Beneath the shaft was another doorway, leading out eastward to a long flight of stairs that ran down into the lower levels of Moria.

The Dwarves had cut many recesses into the stone walls of the room, and these recesses held chests strongly bound with iron. These chests were presumably used to store the records that gave the chamber its name (their contents are not in fact specifically described, although the Book of Mazarbul, the record of Balin's colony within Moria, had evidently been kept in one of these chests).

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