JR R Tolkien's maps, depicting his fictional Middle-earth and other places in his legendarium, helped him with plot development, guides the reader through his often complex stories, and contributes to the impression of depth in his writings.
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Tolkien stated that he began with maps and developed his plots from them, but that he wanted his maps to be picturesque.
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The Tolkien's maps are a large drawing of the north-west part of Middle-earth, showing mountains as if seen in three dimensions, and coasts with multiple waterlines; a more detailed drawing of "A Part of the Shire"; and a contour map by Christopher Tolkien of parts of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor, very different in style.
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Tolkien's maps made a detailed pencil, ink and coloured pencil design on graph paper, enlarged five times in length from the main map of Middle-earth.
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Campbell states that Tolkien's maps mapping style echoes William Morris's Arts and Crafts: "they are functional, but with an eye to grace and beauty", and in her view lie somewhere between illustration and cartography.
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Tolkien indeed wrote that "there should be picturesque Tolkien's maps, providing more than a mere index to what is said in the text".
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Tolkien's maps had already used Old Norse for the Dwarves of Dale in The Hobbit, and he was using modern English for the Hobbits of the Shire ; his choice of Old English for the riders of Rohan implied a linguistic map of Middle-earth, with different peoples, languages and regions.
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Campbell stated that the "lovingly detailed" Tolkien's maps helped to shape the stories and create a "believable whole".
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In Shippey's view, "the names and the Tolkien's maps give Middle-earth that air of solidity and extent both in space and time which its successors [in 20th century fantasy] so conspicuously lack".
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Critics agree that Tolkien's maps set a completely new standard for fantasy novels, so that their use has become expected in the genre, which he largely created; Peter Jackson chose to use Tolkien's Middle-earth map in his Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
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Martin has used Tolkien's maps in all his A Song of Ice and Fire books, starting with A Game of Thrones.
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