Why is it called Middle Earth?
Tolkien drew heavily from Norse mythology when he wrote his books. Middle earth is taken from the Norse world of “Midgard”, which means Middle-earth. Mirkwood is also a part of their mythology, as well as many of the races used in the books. Another theory is that people of Tolkien’s time called England “middelerthe”. The only reason I know this is because I did a report on Norse Mythology, and the sources all mentioned this. And I have nerdy friends.
After consulting with several friends and watching the special features of all the movies there seems to be not particular reason that it is called middle earth. However if I was to guess an underlying reason for the name I would say it is called middle earth because it is in the middle of good and evil at all times. That is just my personal take on it.
