alt.hn

1/16/2025 at 7:51:38 AM

Karen Wynn Fonstad, Who Mapped Tolkien's Middle-Earth

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/obituaries/karen-wynn-fonstad-overlooked.html

by indigoabstract

1/16/2025 at 11:56:54 PM

I'm only casually into LOTR, but I immediately recognized her name from my beloved copy of the Dragonlance Atlas. Quite fun to read how she basically invented the field of professional fantasy cartography.

by negativez

1/16/2025 at 8:34:37 AM

I'm a huge fan of Tolkien, and I had never heard of her. How bizarre. I wonder if she is mostly well known in America or whether I simply managed to miss her work. I am very tempted to get "The Atlas of Middle-earth" now though.

by lkramer

1/16/2025 at 9:08:09 AM

She was more well known longer ago when there was less material. Probably a lot of her stuff has been remixed and reused the original authorship has been forgotten.

More recently (>2000), I believe it's become apparent there are quite a few errors. Little things like rivers misnamed or roads or rivers mixed up. It's an accomplishment nonetheless and was a big deal when a Tolkien fanship was more niche.

by anacrolix