Misty Mountains
Sauron’s former master Morgoth created the Misty Mountains with his powers as he wanted to hide from the Valar Orome who attempted to find Morgoth and scout Middle Earth.
The Misty Mountains was the largest mountain range in the Third Age of Middle Earth expanding from the Grey Mountains and the Mountains of Angmar to the Gap of Rohan.
Important locations such as Rivendell, Lothlorien, Fangorn Forest, Isengard, Dunland, and the Gap of Rohan were located adjacent alongside the Misty Mountains and Moria was embedded inside the Misty Mountains.
Crossing the Misty Mountains was always a very difficult task for all beings as there were orcs, goblins also dwelling in the Misty Mountains.
The Fellowship of the Ring couldn’t take the High Pass of the Misty Mountains that Thorin Oakenshield used to reach Erebor because of the threats of the orcs and goblins.
Also, the Fellowship of the Ring didn’t want to pass the Gap of Rohan as Saruman’s betrayal was confirmed and Saruman’s Isengard posed a great threat.
The Fellowship of the Ring also tried to avoid the underground tunnels of Moria because Gandalf knew of the balrog Durin’s Bane.
However, as Saruman denied passage of the Fellowship of the Ring at the Redhorn Pass by making an avalanche and making blizzards by Saruman’s magic, The Fellowship of the Ring inevitably chose the path of Moria to cross the Misty Mountains.
Mirkwoods – Legolas’s home.
Mirkwoods was once called Greenwood the Great, however as Sauron secretly dwelled in Dol Guldur at the south of Greenwood the Great, darkness consumed Greenwood the Great.
Beings would call Greenwood the Great Mirkwoods after the darkness would corrupt and cover the woods. Thranduil was the elf king of the Woodland Realm of the elves at Mirkwoods. Thranduil was the father of Legolas while Calathiel was the mother of Legolas.
The elves of Mirkwood was originally led by Oropher, the father of Thranduil, however Oropher was killed during the War of the Last Alliance of elves and Men along with great numbers of the Mirkwood elves (Greenwoods the Great at this point).
Thranduil would inherit the throne of Mirkwoods and he would participate in the Battle of the Five Armies.
Thranduil would also help Gandalf and Aragorn detain Gollum to interrogate information of the One Ring, the Precious that Gollum had.
However, Sauron launched an attack on Gondor and Mirkwoods as a distraction to secretly deploy the nazguls to the Shire for the One Ring.
During the chaos, Gollum escaped from Thranduil and the Mirkwood elves. Thranduil would send his son Legolas to Rivendell to warn Gandalf of Gollum’s escape.
Legolas first was sent to Rivendell to inform Gandalf of Gollum’s escape but he eventually became part of the Council of Elrond in discussion of the One Ring and became a member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
Dale and Laketown
Dale was a human city that flourished as a trades post as it was near Erebor. However, the dragon Smaug destroyed Dale as it took over Erebor and the descendants of Dale would occupy Laketown.
After Bard killed the dragon Smaug, the people of laketown would reconstruct Dale and Bard would become the lord of Dale while his descendants ruled as the lord of Dale.
Erebor and the Iron Hills – Gimli’s home
Iron Hills was an old colony of the perished dwarf realm of Khazad-dum while Erebor was the dwarf kingdom that the Durin’s Folks migrated to after Khazad-dum had perished by the balrog Durin’s Bane.
The Uruloki or the fire dragon Smaug once took over Erebor and destroyed Dale for the dragon’s desire of treasure and greed.
However, Thorin Oakenshield, the heir of Erebor took over Erebor while Bard, a human from lake town also a descendant of the lord of Dale took down the dragon Smaug with a black arrow.
After the Battle of the Five Armies where the elves, humans, dwarves, orcs and wargs clashed, Thorin Oakenshield passed away and his cousin Dain Ironfoot became the king of Erebor and the lord of the Iron Hills.
Gimli was the son of Gloin who was one of the dwarves that joined Thorin Oakenshield to reclaim Erebor from Smaug and inherited Gloin’s iron helmet. Gimli was sent to Rivendell to seek out news on Balin who went back to Moria to colonize it.
However, the Fellowship of the Ring discovers that the dwarves that retook Moria were overrun once more by the goblins and the orcs of Moria.
Why the dwarves of Erebor, Lothlorien elves and Mirkwood elves didn’t participate in the War of the Ring and relieve Minas Tirith.
In the movie, dwarves of Erebor, elves of Lothlorien and the Mirkwood elves didn’t take much part in the War of the Ring and didn’t send any forces to Gondor to relief Minas Tirith.
In fact, the dwarves of Erebor, elves of Lothlorien, men of Dale and Laketown and the elves of Mirkwood couldn’t send any reinforcements to Minas Tirith nor Gondor nor Rohan as they were already battling at their own grounds fighting the Easterlings, orcs and the dark forces of Dol Guldur.
In the original novel, Khamul, the nazgul second in command was leading Sauron’s army at Dol Guldur and launched attacks against Lothlorien, Mirkwoods while easterlings would invade Dale and Erebor.
White Mountains
The White Mountains was the mountain range located at the south of the Misty Mountains that would pass through Rohan and Gondor.
The men of Dunharrow were also known as the men of the White Mountains that were cursed by Isildur for breaking their oath to defend Gondor. Minas Tirith was built on the far east side of the White Mountains.
The Warning Beacons of Gondor including the Beacon of Amon Din were placed along the ranges of the White Mountains.
The beacon of Amon Din was the closest to Minas Tirith where Pippin and Gandalf would use the beacon of Amon Din to signal Rohan for help.
Grey Mountains
The Grey Mountains are located at the far north of Middle Earth and it was located north of Erebor and linked with the north end of the Misty Mountains.
The dwarves that were refugees of the old dwarf kingdom Khazad-dum once occupied the Grey Mountains and even the dwarves of Erebor would settle at the Grey Mountains as it was rich in ores.
However, the dragons or the worms awaken and attacked the dwarves that would cause the War of the Dwarves and Dragons. Few of the dwarves would remain in the Grey Mountains while most of the surviving dwarves would relocate to Erebor.
