In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction, Man and Men denote humans, whether male or female, in contrast to Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and other humanoid races.
Men are described as the second or younger people, created after the Elves, and differing from them in being mortal. Along with Ents and Dwarves, these are the "free peoples" of Middle-earth, differing from the enslaved peoples such as Orcs.
Tolkien modelled the Rohirrim, the Riders of Rohan, on the Anglo-Saxons (here in an 11th-century illustration).
The Variags of Khand are named for the Varangians, medieval Germanic mercenaries. Painting by Viktor Vasnetsov
A sword fit for a hero: Andúril, "Flame of the West" is forged anew, "for Aragorn son of Arathorn was going to war upon the marches of Mordor".
Middle-earth is the setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the Miðgarðr of Norse mythology and Middangeard in Old English works, including Beowulf. Middle-earth is the human-inhabited world, that is, the central continent of the Earth, in Tolkien's imagined mythological past. Tolkien's most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are set entirely in Middle-earth. "Middle-earth" has also become a short-hand term for Tolkien's legendarium, his large body of fantasy writings, and for the entirety of his fictional world.
A detail of Middle-earth in one of Peter Jackson's film sets
Medieval Christian cosmology: heaven above, earth in the middle, hell below. Vank Cathedral, Isfahan.