we are reminded that Saruman leagued himself with the Dark as the more powerful of the sides in the War of the Ring as soon as he heard of the power it would bring him. Just as Myrdred followed whoever held the Ibis Crown or who bore the mantle of the Leveller, the ultimate symbols of power in Myth.
Many have remarked that the Dwarves of Myth and of Middle Earth may have originated from the same source. The main reason for this is the similarity of several of the names in both versions of these fantay classics. Names which appear in both are: Balin, Durin, Dori, Ori, Nori as well as two similar ones: Duri (Durin, again) and Dvalin (Dwalin).
Another thing is the presence of underground cities such as Stoneheim and Moria. Both of which were assaulted by the Dark having been laid under siege. It is unclear whether the Dwarves of Stoneheim survived the collapse of their barbican but both cities were occupied by the primitive and evil creatures of their respective worlds: the Ghols and the Orcs. More on these later.
Interestingly enough, the secret level "A Long Awaited Party" is a corruption of the first chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring: "A Long Expected Party" which itself was a reference to the first chapter of The Hobbit: "An Unexpected Party". The title is probably used because of the population of Dwarves under your control in the level. This is backed up by the tags.gor file and you can find the passage in the field guide entry for that level.
The fir'Bolg of the Ermine correspond to, if anything, the Wood Elves of Mirkwood and Lorien in their tendency towards forests and their apparent skill in archery as displayed by Legolas in The Lord of the Rings.
A classic example of Bungie "borrowing" from Tolkien are those ancient dwellers of Forest Heart, the Forest Giants. The corresponding creatures in Middle-Earth are the Ents. The meaning of of the word "ent" is actually "giant" in Anglo-Saxon which seems suitable. Once again, the tags.gor file come into play, in which the Forest Giants are called "ents" and the mini volcano in the level "Forest Heart" is labelled "ent god". Their names seem rather similar too, with elements of the tree such as: leaves, bark, roots, wood, branches and green combined with suitable adjectives. Their social skills match too as they seldom leave their forests except when in times of crisis when all races are held in ransom. Their emnity towards their stone counterparts match as well with the Trow "poisoning the soul of iron" and the Trolls of Middle-Earth actually being corrupted forms of Ents, created in mockery of them by Melkor. Also worthy of note is their tendency to turn into trees when they die or grow too old just as the Forest Giants are transformed into statues of their once motive selves.
The gigantic ass kicking Trow of the North take their name from various tales of lore and their is a close translation of Troll. The Trolls of Middle-Earth are only specifically related to them as they share their hostility with their wooden equivalents. They also, like most trolls from folklore and mythology, turn to stone.
Another similarity between two creatures in each world are the Orcs and the Ghols. Both are primitive, animal-like creatures who have joined the forces of darkness thanks to their bloodthirsty nature. They both share a hatred of the Dwarves and have invaded their homelands in Myrgard and Stoneheim in the world of Myth and the underground caverns of Moria in Middle-Earth.
Spiders play quite a large part in Tolkien's literature but in Myth, their origins are shrouded in mystery. The only information we are given on them is from their flavour texts and the Cast of Characters sections in the manuals. The main connection is that they are both giant and seem to prefer darkness with the Queens being the most dangerous and largest n size. They also, unlike our world's spiders, emit rank fumes as demonstrated by Ungoliant and the Spider Queens in the Tain. Actually, Tolkien was not the first fantasy author to use the idea of giant spiders in his work, as his are predated by Clark-Ashton Smith's.
The bre'Unor of the Ermine seem similar to the Druedain or the Woses who inhabited the forests in southern Rohan and Gondor at the time of the War of the Ring. They are extremely primitive and preferred the more wooded areas. However, they were fierce and savage warriors against tresspassers although they did aid the forces of good.
Though none of the artifacts in Myth match those of Middle-Earth exactly, there are a few, somewhat tenuous links.
For example the Ibis Crown was buried in the Mausoleum of Clovis for many years and denotes the ruler of the princinpal empire in Myth, the Cath Bruig, while the Crown of Gondor was hidden in the Halls of the Dead until Aragorn returned as King to claim it.
There are magic mirrors in each world too. The Mirror of Galadriel and Tramist's Mirror both allow the true form of something from distant places and times to be revealed. So Frodo's true worries are brought to light from the confusion in his mind, and his questions regarding the Shire are answered, while Soulblighter brings back Shiver's true form of times long past from the haze of the ether.
Balmung and Glamdring are discussed earlier in this article.
The one great symbol of power in The Lord of the Rings is of course the One Ring itself. The Ring's power is so great that it calls to those of evil heart from even the opposite side of the world. This reminds us of the following paragraph from the journal entry of "Forest Heart":
"But they say that the darkest artifacts have the ability to bend men to their will. Calling soundlessly to the wicked and discontent from thousands of miles away or hundreds of feet beneath the earth or sea, and that in this way they always come to light again, no matter how buried or forgotten."
And again in "Relic":
"The Deceiver has no such doubts. He says he can feel it calling to him."
Also of note is that the Tain was taken from where it was constructed and was believed to be lost. Just as Isildur takes the Ring away from Orodruin and loses it in the battle at the Gladden Fields.
Another angle is that the Ring represents Balor's head as they both have to be thrown in a huge hole to be rid of the evil forever. Or otherwhise the Ibis Crown. We know that copies were made of it just as there were many 'copies' of Sauron's Rings of Power and the wearer of both crowns had at his disposal, immense power. However, these may be stretching it a bit.
Though we are told of no device in Tolkien's work which allows its user to travel between two distant places as the World Knots do in Myth, the Palantiri allow those who look upon them to see the happenings around any of the six other Seeing-Stones. Six plus one = ?
The number se7en appears often in Tolkien's work and this is no doubt due to its spiritual connotations in the mythologies of the Celts and the Norse. Such examples of its use by Tolkien are: the seven Rings of the Dwarf Lords, the seven rivers of Ossiriand, the seven sons of Feanor and the seven gates of Gondolin, the seven tiers of Minas Tirith (which presumably had seven gates). Seven gates...hmm.
For a start, the maps of both Middle-Earth and Myth are very similar with sea to the west and a great mountain range running through the middle. They both also share a dip in the coastline of the North: The Deep in Myth and the Ice Bay of Forochel in Middle-Earth though this is to the west of the mountain range. The Misty Mountains also has three passes: The Gap of Rohan, The High Pass and The Redhorn Pass. The latter seems to be closest to Bagrada as it is the most difficult to cross due to the icy winds and sheer faces covered in snow. It is also in the same relative postition to the others.
The positions of the various sides are also close with the fortress of the dark in the East and most of the light ruling in the West with the exception of Minas Tirith. However, even Gondor and Rohan indirectly fell under the influence of the Dark Lord and were slowly being corrupted during the War of the Ring. If they had been left any longer, they would probably have come under Sauron's power or been destroyed utterly, sharing the fate of Muirthemne and the Cath Bruig Empire.
Other features that we see in both series are marshes (The Dire Marsh and The Dead Marshes) and forests (Fangorn, Lothlorien, Mirkwood and Forest Heart and The Ermine) and their features coincide quite well with each other. Also, how can we forget those ever useful healing plants the Mandrake Roots of the Heron Guard and Journeymen and their similarity with the Athelas used by Aragorn.