The Lord of the Rings: Setting

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy uses real-world locations in New Zealand, extremely elaborate set designs, and first-of-their-kind digital effects to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s world to life. The film’s setting features over 150 locations on New Zealand’s North and South islands—these include both real natural landscapes and constructed set-pieces built by the crew. Jackson chose New Zealand for many of the film’s most iconic locations because of its dramatic natural beauty and the fairy-tale quality of many of its landscapes. Like the Middle-Earth of Tolkien’s novels, New Zealand has craggy mountains, deep lakes, a vast variety of dramatic rock formations, and colossal, sweeping views.

The movie trilogy begins in the Shire, the lush and cozy homeland of the Hobbits. It’s a bucolic paradise where very little ever changes; Frodo’s neighbors and friends live and die in the same peaceful prosperity that their parents and grandparents enjoyed. In order to bring the unusual architecture of Hobbiton to life, the filmmakers constructed a permanent version of the village in Matamata, NZ. They transformed pre-existing dairy farmland into a village on a Hobbit scale, complete with “Hobbit-holes” featuring round doors built into hillside and overflowing kitchen gardens that Tolkien describes in his novels. The Shire is always shot in warm, gentle colors, which shows how untouched it has been by Mordor in comparison to the rest of Middle-Earth. Their journey to Mordor takes Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin far beyond this comforting world. The visual contrast between the Shire and Mordor emphasizes the incredible distance the hobbits must travel and the beauty and safety they leave behind.

When the Fellowship unite, they do so in another beautiful and supernaturally untouched location: Rivendell, the home of the elves. Elven architecture in the trilogy is also inspired by the natural world, but instead of being cozy and rounded, it’s all slender shapes and flowing lines that echo leaves and branches. There are two major locations of Elven life in the movie trilogy. The Half-Elf Elrond maintains the “last Homely House,” a stronghold called Rivendell, in a secluded valley, where he gathers the Fellowship in order to decide how the Ring can best be destroyed. The filmmakers designed this Elven sanctuary around a color palette of celadon green and cool gold, depicting Elrond’s home as a sanctuary of delicate wooden structures that stand mostly open to the elements. The body of Rivendell is built around a cluster of waterfalls. Like the Elven architecture of Rivendell, the buildings and pathways of the Golden Wood of Lothlorien seem to spring directly from the natural world around them. Lothlorien is the home of the King and Queen of the Elves, Galadriel and Celeborn, and its dwellings and common spaces are all built into the huge tree-trunks and onto crisscrossing branches. The elegant, refined architecture and ancient-feeling atmosphere of the Elf-dwellings reinforce the idea that Rivendell and Lothlórien belong to an older, fading age of Middle-earth."

The Age of the Elves is ending, but the Age of Men is beginning; vast areas of Middle-Earth are ruled by kings like Theoden and stewards like Denethor. The culture and architecture of the Kingdom of Rohan are based on the history of the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture that Tolkien specialized in. Indeed, the spoken language of Rohan itself (called Rohirric) is actually just Old English. The filmmakers constructed Rohan’s capital city of Edoras on a hill in the Mackenzie Country of New Zealand, using wooden materials to reflect the Anglo-Saxon tradition of building huge halls in which livestock, horses, and humans all co-existed. Theoden’s Golden Hall stands at the highest point of the highest hill, overlooking the vast plains that the horse-lords rule. The color palette of Rohan is a mixture of earthy browns, russets, and yellows, which reinforces the idea that Rohan is a practical, battle-hardened society that’s tied closely to the land.

Gondor’s capital, Minas Tirith, presents an entirely different visual identity. Unlike Rohan, which is a sweeping and exposed country of plains and prairies, Gondor is a glowing alabaster-white city built into the side of a mountain. The city’s white stone walls and tiered design make it look like a ship, towering over the landscape below it and reaching into the sky. Because building such a colossal structure would exceed any filmmaking budget, Jackson combined large-scale miniatures, special effects, and physically constructed sets to bring Minas Tirith to life.

The first major geographical obstacle the Fellowship encounter on their journey to Mordor are the Misty Mountains, which Jackson’s production team represent with the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The Misty Mountains are a blizzard-swept set of craggy peaks, infested with goblins and orcs and often blasted by sudden, devastating snowstorms. The production team used remote locations—which were often accessible only by helicopter—to capture the scale of the mountain range and the relative tininess of the Fellowship as they attempt to traverse the terrifying Carhadras Pass.

To portray the blackened and forbidding landscape of Mordor, the production team used volcanic regions near Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe. This ashen wasteland, spiked with dark rock and boulder formations (as well as gloomy and oppressive smoke-filled skies generated by special effects) make Mordor feel inhospitable and evil. The volcano Mount Doom looms over the entire country, constantly emitting fire and smoke. The lighting in the Mordor scenes is harsh, with strong shadows and red-orange tones of flame and searing heat. The whole place—especially Sauron’s fortress of Barad-dûr—feels devoid of life or hope.

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