Laketown - East or West Shore of Esgaroth?

[Alcuin]

I had what began as a bad summer when was a kid: I couldn’t go out and play, so I read The Hobbit and watched the Watergate hearings. In the end, that summer was great; and in the fall, I read the Lord of the Rings the first time. (Yeah, I thought the Balrog had wings.)

The map of Wilderland oriented the Long Lake north-south for me. When I realized that Thrór’s map had east at the top and north on the left, I simply turned the book 90° to the right to re-orient my perspective of the map.

As for Lake-town east or west bank, I guess I always assumed it was off the bank nearest Mirkwood: it seemed to me that it was closer to the Forest River, and later, as Thorin & Co moved north, the forest was on the near side. “East bank” and “west bank” never occurred to me until I read this thread (and it’s been decades since that lonely summer began). It was always “near [to the forest] side” / “far side” of the lake.

Originally Posted by Valandil

As for the map orientations: standardization of North as "up" on maps is a fairly modern convention. Previously - I think there was no real convention.

Medieval maps often had east at the top. I don’t immediately recall whether Roman itineraries (predecessors of modern maps) had east at top or not: I think they had north. But medieval mapmakers typically placed east at top, toward the rising sun: a bit of Christian mysticism. I suspect that is why Tolkien did, too: he was accustomed to it.

Originally Posted by Valandil

In Middle Earth, there are some interesting linguistic cues for cardinal directions. As I recall - in Adunaic - North is derived from "left" and South from "right" - as though one is facing East. It's the opposite in Sindarin - where North is derived from "right" ("For" as in Fornost) and South is derived from "left" ("Har" - as in Harad, Haradrim, etc) - as though one is facing West.

This is significant, because it was the nature of most Men (other than the Faithful - who used Sindarin for the naming examples above) to look East, to the unconquered lands. It was the nature of the Elves and the Faithful to look West, to the Valar and their land of Aman.

That’s interesting. I wonder if the maps in Elrond’s house that Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo consulted had west at top, then? Would the Eldar orient their maps “upside-down” from mannish mapmakers? Do you recall where you found that little gem?