The game's environment is J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It has been noted that the game's license does not cover rights to any other works in Tolkien's legendarium, such as The Silmarillion. The game world is broadly divided into larger sections of Eriador, Rhovanion, Gondor and Mordor. It is then divided into separate Regions, which are then further further sub-divided into Areas. In the original game regions the area division served mostly navigational purpose, but from Enedwaith onwards each area usually has a distinctive landscape aesthetic and its own separate storyline. The game's distinction of regions does not always match that of Tolkien's original definitions: for example, Northfarthing of the Shire is considered to be part of Evendim region, Rohan is considered to be part of Rhovanion and Kingdom of Gondor is split into several smaller regions.