Mithrellas.Dagoranna
Heiress of Ecthelion of the Fountain
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2017
- Messages
- 47
What are the animals of Arda?

What do you mean "it depends upon where you live"? In my country there aren't manyany lions too. But there are tigers. Haha..There are otters. That's one kind.
And squirrels. And dragons.
If there are cats there are probably lions, and there's mention of one in a poem, but it depends upon where you live of course. There aren't any lions where I live, for example.
And mice.
Okay. So there (at middle earth) might be a lion, perhaps in a different name and a different appearance. And not in shire I too believe. Thankss..And goats.
I just mean there are lions in Middle-earth somewhere (or something that Tolkien "translated" with "lion" in a poem), but I would say not in the Shire (a north-western area) for example.
Tolkien’s was once annoyed at a cover illustration appearing on one of his books, where an artist had placed a lion (and other stuff), at least seemingly, in a Shire setting:
"I therefore will not enter into a debate about taste (meaning though I do not say so: horrible colours and foul lettering) - but I must ask this about the vignette: what has it to do with the story? Where is this place. Why a lion and emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs? I do not understand how anybody who had read the tale (I hope you are one) could think such a picture would please the author."
Middle-earth is our world, in an imaginary past.
I'd think lions would roam the jungles of the Far Harad rainforests where the Numenoreans settled and had hardwood lumber camps clearing the forests for wood to build ships. Just speculation on my part.