tolkiens legendarium - Are any locations in the Lord of the Rings based on real places?

I recall reading somewhere that some of the places in the Shire in the Lord of the Rings were actually based on some real locations around where Tolkien grew up in the West Midlands here in the UK (I think the Hobbiton mill is based on a real mill close to Birmingham - apparently although this could be wrong). I was wondering if any of the other fictional locations in Middle-Earth were based on or inspired by real life locations and whether these things are mentioned in any of Tolkiens letters or his biography (or in any of his sons writings)

Answer

Most of the locations in Middle Earth were intended to be generic representations of the corresponding virtues/ills. As Tolkien mentions in Letter #181, the Shire was meant to be a rural location though not specifically England, but he also points out he draws on his own experience so there is undoubtedly an influence there:

There is no special reference to England in the 'Shire' – except of course that as an Englishman brought up in an 'almost rural' village of Warwickshire on the edge of the prosperous bourgeoisie of Birmingham (about the time of the Diamond Jubilee!) I take my models like anyone else – from such 'life' as I know.

Mordor was meant to capture over-industralization, so as NominSim's Cracked article mentions there was a specific area near Birmingham that fitted description. There may have been some inspiration, but Tolkien didn't attribute it directly, again preferring the idea of it as a combined concept of all of the examples of industrialization.

The Dead Marshes are another location that very commonly linked with Tolkien's experiences in WWI on the Western Front.

Comments

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