Middle Earth located? By: Kendrick
==========================Colorado==========================
Introduction
Did you know Colorado has the second biggest mountain out of all contiguous lower 48 states in the U.S. Even a non-fictional area has is own reach to compare with a fictional piece! Yeah, that's said! Mount Elbert is quite an amusing mountain in Colorado named after Samuel Hitt Elbert. Personally this is the most relevant place common or connected with Middle Earth. With all its amazing lakes and rivers, beautiful mountains and grazing lands, sparkling water and cryptic ranges, Middle Earth has been targeted and found to me to be Middle Earth.
Argument #1 (Physical Landscape)
Yeah, many other think France is similar, Canada is, Germany is, but Colorado is to me the closest as it is almost described as well as Middle Earth. Just like in most of the beginning chapters, we hear about the middle earth, and how it is described. We hear about the trees at middle earth, the beautiful water and about the various mountains. Just like the picture on page 54 from the book, the mountains from Colorado are easy climbable and quite tall. In different Areas near the mountain there are A LOT of trees surrounding. They're rivers around the area most settle and peaceful yet moves quick.The Mountain can get very dark and spooky, mainly towards night, they get quite a bit of rainfall but a lot of the parts from the mountain have snow on them, but I'm am not quite finished proving Colorado is most similar.
Argument #2
Well, after quite a while of research, mythology is not covering most of middle earth, but some parts. We talk about the trolls, the elves, people like Gollum, and many others. Well let me tell you, in Colorado, has quite a lot of animals throughout, as it gets a lot of attraction when it comes to creatures, these creature include coyotes, mountain lions, lizards, but there is also a rare animal called the 'desert bighorn sheep', I honestly didn't even know that was a thing! It's crazy! There was even something called the River Monster found under the Brooklyn Bridge! There are a lot more crazy and odd creatures living around in Colorado also but wow!
Argument #3
Connecting to Middle Earth, whether its religion or history, they piece together. One of the highest mountains in Colorado, the Rocky Mountains, is very dangerous. There wasn't much history with it because the fear of death was such a problem to the people. It was a bad Area, and not somewhere you wanted to be. That was way back although, now people started climbing the mountains way back. They say "Rocky was an inhospitable land." Yet when it was possible, Europeans started claiming the lands. It wasn't able to be livable in the winters. Also, just like in the Hobbit, there quest for their gold. The Rocky Mountains itself consist of far more better than Gold. Eventually the National Park act was signed removing both French and Spanish out of the area. Also during WWII the place was blocked off and no one was allowed. Ties into the Middle Earth, as it consist of the gold that was being searched for, they also had what was called clans and thats basically how the Europeans travelled out through the mountains too.
Counterclaim
I know there will be few that don't actually think that Colorado is the right place to be defined as Middle Earth but trust me it is. If your thinking close to a place like Canada think again. Despite Canada's landscape, and mythology, it's not the right place, and heres why. Canada may have few areas where it's like middle earth but it's missing out on a lot. I did research to find that really, Canada has the landscape part correct, but it's history and mythology are more incorrect. The mythology isn't even official or confirmed, all the sites I've checked on Canada has proven that. Also, the history there were traditions and Indians that were there 1000s of years ago but it doesn't nearly match what The Hobbit has to say.
Conclusion
So now you see, Colorado is probably the most accurate place to represent Middle Earth, with all the landscape, history, culture, and mythology. It all connects! The author of the Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien, tells us New Zealand is most relevant to Middle Earth, and I agree by far, so I did some compare and contrast with Colorado and New Zealand, and there wasn't many differences making Colorado to me most equivalent. Everything described in the book of Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit, perfectly describes the mountains, and regions of New Zealand. Although, as to say, Colorado is still a really relevant area, who's not to say? With all the geography all connecting and the mythology, I'd have to say, Don't you agree with me?
Sources Cited
- The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien - The Hobbit
- http://www.summitpost.org/mount-elbert/150325 - Summit Post
- http://climbing.about.com/od/coloradosfourteeners/a/mtelbertfacts.htm - Climbing About
- www.worldatlas.com - World Atlas
- https://www.nps.gov/romo/learn/historyculture/brief.htm - National Park Service
- http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/geology-middle-earth - Earth Magazine