A Note on the Straight-line Distances between the Fortresses of the Palantíri

The straight-line distances in the table in the main article are based upon careful examination and measurement of the large, fold-out maps found glued onto the back covers of hardback editions The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. However, there are other excellent maps as well, those produced by the late cartographer of fantasy stories, Karen Wynn Fonstad, in her Atlas of Middle-earth.[1] Fonstad’s Atlas is an outstanding resource for students of Tolkien, including the day-by-day movements and distances of each of the main characters in the story and highly detailed maps that Fonstad prepared.

Those maps are somewhat at variance with the large fold-out maps prepared for the novel. Careful examination and measurement of the maps in Atlas produces a somewhat different estimate of the distances between the various fortresses of the palantíri.

Here are the estimates derived from the large fold-out maps, the same as those in the main article which pointed to this page:

miles between strongholds	Elostirion	Annúminas	Fornost Erain	Amon Sûl	Orthanc / Angrenost	Minas Anor	Osgiliath	Minas Ithil / Morgul	Barad-Dûr
Elostirion	―	147	239	326	601	1,036	1,064	1,089	1,165
Annúminas	147	―	100	222	587	1,004	1,029	1,051	1,111
Fornost Erain	239	100	―	142	548	945	969	989	1,041
Amon Sûl	326	222	142	―	422	806	829	849	899
Orthanc / Angrenost	601	587	548	422	―	439	469	495	590
Minas Anor	1,036	1,004	945	806	439	―	33	63	199
Osgiliath	1,064	1,029	969	829	469	33	―	29	168
Minas Ithil / Morgul	1,089	1,051	989	849	495	63	29	―	141
Barad-dûr	1,165	1,111	1,041	899	590	199	168	141	―

Here are the estimate derived from Fonstad’s Atlas:

Miles	Elostirion	Annúminas	Fornost Erain	Amon Sûl	Orthanc / Angrenost	Minas Anor	Osgiliath	Minas Ithil / Morgul	Barad-Dûr
Elostirion	―	165	251	339	619	1,080	1,085	1,096	1,157
Annúminas	165	―	100	227	608	1,047	1,050	1,057	1,107
Fornost Erain	251	100	―	140	558	978	980	985	1,030
Amon Sûl	339	227	140	―	436	841	842	846	889
Orthanc / Angrenost	619	608	558	436	―	466	473	487	561
Minas Anor	1,080	1,047	978	841	466	―	18	43	141
Osgiliath	1,085	1,050	980	842	473	18	―	25	123
Minas Ithil / Morgul	1,096	1,057	985	846	487	43	25	―	98
Barad-dûr	1,157	1,107	1,030	889	561	141	123	98	―

Here are the differences between the two estimates. The differences are always Fonstad’s map less the maps published with the novels.

difference	Elostirion	Annúminas	Fornost Erain	Amon Sûl	Orthanc / Angrenost	Minas Anor	Osgiliath	Minas Ithil / Morgul	Barad-Dûr
Elostirion		-18	-12	-13	-18	-44	-21	-7	7
Annúminas	-18		0	-5	-22	-44	-20	-6	5
Fornost Erain	-12	0		2	-11	-33	-10	4	11
Amon Sûl	-13	-5	2		-14	-35	-12	2	9
Orthanc / Angrenost	-18	-22	-11	-14		-27	-4	8	30
Minas Anor	-44	-44	-33	-35	-27		15	20	58
Osgiliath	-21	-20	-10	-12	-4	15		4	45
Minas Ithil / Morgul	-7	-6	4	2	8	20	4		43
Barad-dûr	7	5	11	9	30	58	45	43

The table of differences show that Fonstad’s map places Elostirion on the Emyn Beraid 18 miles closer to Annúminas on Lake Nenuial than the large maps published with the novels. Fonstad’s map has Minas Morgul 20 miles farther from Minas Tirith (Anor) than the large maps published with the novels. The sum of all these distances is a total reduction of 220 miles for 10 sites, or an average of about 22 fewer miles between each site.

Throughout the essay, whenever I have referenced distances between two sites, I have used the distances estimated from the large, fold-out maps published with the novels. This does not in any way diminish the excellent work that Fonstad produced in her Atlas, but rather a preference to stay as close as possible to original publication.

For those of you who are curious, the average of these two methods produces this result.

average of Tolkien and Fonstad	Elostirion	Annúminas	Fornost Erain	Amon Sûl	Orthanc / Angrenost	Minas Anor	Osgiliath	Minas Ithil / Morgul	Barad-Dûr
Elostirion	―	156	245	332	610	1058	1075	1092	1161
Annúminas	156	―	100	224	598	1025	1040	1054	1109
Fornost Erain	245	100	―	141	553	962	975	987	1035
Amon Sûl	332	224	141	―	429	823	835	847	894
Orthanc / Angrenost	610	598	553	429	―	452	471	491	575
Minas Anor	1058	1025	962	823	452	―	26	53	170
Osgiliath	1075	1040	975	835	471	26	―	27	145
Minas Ithil / Morgul	1092	1054	987	847	491	53	27	―	120
Barad-dûr	1161	1109	1035	894	575	170	145	120	―

The average distance between each site is 608 miles; for the large fold-out maps published with the novels, it would be 619 miles (608 + 22/2 = 608 + 11 = 619); and for Fonstad’s maps, it would be 597 miles.

Again, these are straight-line distances, not the distances that a traveler would have to walk, or ride between two points. For those figures, I commend Fonstad’s “Pathways” table in Atlas of Middle-earth,[2] which gives the date, hours of travel, distance traveled in mileage, rate of travel in miles per hour, and terminal position at the end of the day, along with a brief comment on each move.

Merely averaging the two method does not necessarily produce a better result, but can produce a muddled one: for any single essay or exercise, it is better to pick one or the other of the sets of maps and stick to that. For this essay, I have chosen the large fold-out maps published with the novels; but for work that requires day-to-day examinations of the movements of the characters, Fonstad’s maps would be the better choice.

If, however, it is your goal to get a good, general idea of how far apart various places may be in order to get a sense of distance in the story, the averaged distances might suit better than either alone.