The Walk to Mordor¶
Two Clocks, One Walker
Exploratory Data Analysis
A personal walking project mapped three virtual Middle-earth journeys onto real-world steps. This notebook examines a central analytical question:
How does the same fictional mileage look when read through two different clocks — real-world walking time and Tolkien's Middle-earth chronology?
A second layer asks: when the fictional journeys are divided into meaningful narrative segments, how does the relationship between the two clocks change across those segments?
1. Setup & Data Sources¶
walking.csv: 806 total rows, 628 journey-assigned, 178 gap/unassigned me_time.csv: 427 rows chronology (journey events only): 125 events journeys.json: 11 segments
2. Data Quality Audit¶
=== walking.csv ===
Columns: ['date', 'journey_id', 'character', 'segment', 'distance_miles', 'cumulative_miles', 'all_time_cumulative_miles']
Date range (all rows): 2024-03-27 → 2026-06-10
Duplicate dates: 0
Null distance_miles: 1 (on: [datetime.date(2025, 12, 9)])
Mordor: 261 rows | 2024-03-27 → 2025-01-07 | total actual mi=1823.0 | cum negative diffs=0 | date gaps>1d: 1 (max 27d)
Return: 225 rows | 2025-01-14 → 2025-08-26 | total actual mi=1493.5 | cum negative diffs=0 | date gaps>1d: 0 (max 1d)
Hobbit: 142 rows | 2026-01-20 → 2026-06-10 | total actual mi=1148.1 | cum negative diffs=0 | date gaps>1d: 0 (max 1d)
=== me_time.csv ===
Columns: ['me_year', 'me_date', 'me_ordinal', 'journey_id', 'cumulative_miles']
Non-ISO dates (intercalary): 5
journey_id me_date me_ordinal cumulative_miles
Hobbit 1 Lithe 181 491.0
Hobbit Midyear's Day 182 491.0
Hobbit 2 Lithe 183 494.4
Mordor Yule 1 28488 579.8
Mordor Yule 2 28489 595.3
Duplicate me_ordinals: 60 rows across 30 ordinals
→ These are ordinals shared by Mordor and Return (simultaneous journeys, Mar 3019).
→ Shared ordinal range: 28545 – 28574
Mordor: 185 rows | ordinals 28390–28574 | max cum mi=1815.0 | cum negative diffs=0
Return: 30 rows | ordinals 28545–28574 | max cum mi=1482.0 | cum negative diffs=0
Hobbit: 212 rows | ordinals 115–326 | max cum mi=1100.0 | cum negative diffs=0
Audit notes:
- One null
distance_milesrow in the gap period (2025-12-09). Not assigned to any journey; excluded from journey analysis. - 178 gap rows carry real walking data but no fictional journey assignment. They are included in the all-time cumulative but excluded from per-journey analysis.
- Duplicate
me_ordinalvalues (30 ordinals × 2 journeys = 60 rows) are expected: Frodo and Aragorn travel simultaneously in TA 3019 February–March. This is not a data error. - Five intercalary Shire calendar dates appear in
me_time.csv. All have valid ordinals and are treated as ordinary days in duration arithmetic. - One one-day flat in Mordor me_time (ord 28557, 3019-03-08, mi=1567): likely a rest at Henneth Annûn. Not large enough to define as a separate segment.
- Cumulative mileage is monotonically non-decreasing in all three journeys in both datasets.
3. Analytical Framework¶
The problem with Gregorian dates¶
The real-world walking data uses ordinary Gregorian dates, so Python's datetime module handles its calendar arithmetic directly. Middle-earth requires a different approach.
The Shire Calendar does not map cleanly onto the Gregorian calendar: it has twelve 30-day months, intercalary days outside the months, and a leap-day rule of its own. Standard date arithmetic therefore cannot be applied directly to Tolkien's dates.
The Shire Calendar¶
The Shire Calendar contains twelve months of 30 days each, plus several intercalary days that fall outside the regular month structure:
| Day(s) | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Yule | Ordinal 1 | First day of the year |
| Months 1–6 | Ordinals 2–181 | 30 days each |
| 1 Lithe | Ordinal 182 | Midsummer period |
| Midyear's Day | Ordinal 183 | Mid-year celebration |
| Overlithe | Ordinal 184 | Leap years only (year divisible by 4) |
| 2 Lithe | 184 / 185 | Shifts by 1 in leap years |
| Months 7–12 | 185–364 / 186–365 | 30 days each; shifts in leap years |
| 1 Yule | Ordinal 365 / 366 | Last day of the year |
For this analysis, these named days are treated as ordinary positions in the calendar rather than as exceptions to duration arithmetic.
From Calendar Dates to Ordinals¶
The solution is to give every Middle-earth date an absolute integer ordinal: the number of days elapsed from a fixed starting point, T.A. 2941 2 Yule.
This converts Tolkien's calendar into a continuous numerical scale while preserving the original dates for display. Named days such as Midyear's Day and Yule are resolved to their corresponding ordinal during preprocessing.
The ordinal system is important for two reasons. First, it makes elapsed-time calculations straightforward: the difference between two ordinals gives the number of calendar days between them. Second, it provides a common temporal axis for the fictional journeys. Frodo and Aragorn can therefore occupy the same ordinal space during T.A. 3019, where their journeys overlap chronologically, without combining their mileage data.
The interactive visualization uses this same ordinal axis: the slider moves through Middle-earth chronology, while journey-specific data is retrieved separately at each position.
Two temporal systems¶
| Dimension | My Time | Middle-earth Time |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar | Real-world dates (2024–2026) | Tolkien Shire calendar ordinals |
| Unit | Actual miles walked (Google Fit) | Calibrated fictional journey miles |
| Source | walking.csv |
me_time.csv |
| Progress measure | cumulative_miles (actual) |
cumulative_miles (fictional) |
The two systems cover approximately the same total mileage per journey (actual ≈ fictional), because The Conqueror app calibrates fictional progress from actual walking. However, the time and shape of that progress differ.
Variable types¶
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Measured | actual miles, walking date, ME ordinal, fictional miles, challenge assignment |
| Derived | walking rate, fictional travel rate, elapsed days, segment duration, streaks |
| Narrative annotation | travel mode (walking / horseback / boat / rest / captivity), location, event |
Travel mode annotations are derived from chronology.json and Tolkien source narrative, not from statistical discovery. They are interpretations, not measurements. The user always walked — fictional travel mode describes the characters' situation, not the user's.
Segment methodology¶
Segments are defined by ordinal boundaries in me_time.csv, not by inclusive mileage ranges. The boundary convention used throughout is:
A segment spans ordinals
[start_ord, end_ord]inclusive. The segment's start mileage is the cumulative miles atstart_ord; end mileage is the cumulative miles atend_ord.
For movement segments the start mileage of segment N equals the end mileage of segment N−1. For rest/captivity segments the start and end mileage are equal (flat plateau).
4. Journey-Level Comparison¶
MY TIME — walking data
| Journey | Start | End | Calendar days | Walking days | Total mi | Mean mi/day | Median mi/day | Std dev | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Frodo — Mordor | 2024-03-27 | 2025-01-07 | 287 | 261 | 1823.0 | 6.98 | 7.12 | 3.37 |
| 1 | Aragorn — Return of the King | 2025-01-14 | 2025-08-26 | 225 | 225 | 1493.5 | 6.64 | 6.49 | 2.93 |
| 2 | Bilbo — The Hobbit | 2026-01-20 | 2026-06-10 | 142 | 142 | 1148.1 | 8.09 | 7.93 | 3.09 |
MIDDLE-EARTH TIME
| Journey | ME days | Fictional mi | Travel days | Rest/flat days | Avg fi-mi/ME-day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Frodo — Mordor | 185 | 1815 | 90 | 95 | 9.81 |
| 1 | Aragorn — Return of the King | 30 | 1482 | 25 | 5 | 49.40 |
| 2 | Bilbo — The Hobbit | 212 | 1100 | 121 | 91 | 5.19 |
TWO-CLOCK COMPARISON time_ratio = real-world elapsed calendar days / ME elapsed days
| Journey | Real days | ME days | Real/ME ratio | Actual mi | Fictional mi | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Frodo — Mordor | 287 | 185 | 1.55 | 1823.0 | 1815 |
| 1 | Aragorn — Return of the King | 225 | 30 | 7.50 | 1493.5 | 1482 |
| 2 | Bilbo — The Hobbit | 142 | 212 | 0.67 | 1148.1 | 1100 |
5. The Two Clocks¶
For each journey, the same fictional mileage is covered by two calendars. The figure below plots cumulative fictional miles against elapsed days for both timelines.
Reading the Two Clocks figure. Both lines for each journey start at (0, 0) and end at approximately the same total mileage. What differs is the shape:
Frodo (Mordor): The solid ME line has long horizontal stretches (Rivendell rest, Lothlórien rest) where no fictional miles accumulate for weeks. The dashed real-world line is smoother — I kept walking. Real calendar elapsed time (287 days) is about 1.55× the ME elapsed time (185 days).
Aragorn (Return): The ME line is nearly vertical — 1,482 fictional miles in just 30 ME days. My real-world line stretches across 225 calendar days (7.5× the ME duration), creating an enormous divergence between the two clocks. The fiction moves far faster than I could.
Bilbo (Hobbit): The ME line has multiple flat stretches (Rivendell rest, Wood-elves captivity, Lake-town rest), but the ME total (212 days) is longer than my real-world journey (142 calendar days). The ratio is 0.67× — my walking was actually faster than Tolkien's fictional timeline. Bilbo's story unfolds slowly; I finished it before it ended.
6. Narrative Segments¶
Segments are defined by me_ordinal boundaries drawn from me_time.csv plateau analysis and chronology.json anchors.
Boundary convention: A segment owns ordinals [start_ord, end_ord] inclusive. Adjacent segments share a mileage value at their junction but no ordinals overlap.
Segment definitions loaded. Verifying ordinal coverage... Mordor: 7 segments, 185 ordinals covered, 185 total ME rows ✓ Return: 5 segments, 30 ordinals covered, 30 total ME rows ✓ Hobbit: 9 segments, 212 ordinals covered, 212 total ME rows ✓
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Frodo — Mordor ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
| Segment | Mode | ME days | Fict mi | fi-mi/ME-day | Walk days | Actual mi | mi/walk-day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Bag End → Rivendell | walking | 28 | 487.0 | 17.39 | 78 | 482.7 | 6.19 |
| 1 | Rivendell Rest | rest | 65 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 2 | Rivendell → Lothlórien | walking | 24 | 465.0 | 19.38 | 55 | 468.5 | 8.52 |
| 3 | Lothlórien Rest | rest | 28 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 4 | Boats on the Anduin | boat | 11 | 415.0 | 37.73 | 73 | 412.3 | 5.65 |
| 5 | Parth Galen → Shelob's Lair | walking | 16 | 273.0 | 17.06 | 32 | 269.5 | 8.42 |
| 6 | Cirith Ungol → Cracks of Doom | walking | 13 | 175.0 | 13.46 | 21 | 169.2 | 8.06 |
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Aragorn — Return of the King ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
| Segment | Mode | ME days | Fict mi | fi-mi/ME-day | Walk days | Actual mi | mi/walk-day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Parth Galen → Edoras | horseback | 7 | 370.0 | 52.86 | 63 | 367.0 | 5.83 |
| 1 | Edoras → Dunharrow | horseback | 5 | 387.0 | 77.40 | 68 | 387.5 | 5.70 |
| 2 | Dunharrow → Minas Tirith | mixed | 8 | 593.0 | 74.12 | 79 | 595.3 | 7.54 |
| 3 | Minas Tirith Rest | rest | 3 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 4 | Minas Tirith → Black Gate | walking | 7 | 132.0 | 18.86 | 13 | 123.8 | 9.52 |
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Bilbo — The Hobbit ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
| Segment | Mode | ME days | Fict mi | fi-mi/ME-day | Walk days | Actual mi | mi/walk-day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Bag End → Rivendell | walking | 40 | 491.0 | 12.28 | 60 | 483.8 | 8.06 |
| 1 | Rivendell Rest | rest | 28 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 2 | Rivendell → Beorn's Hall | mixed | 22 | 128.0 | 5.82 | 15 | 127.9 | 8.53 |
| 3 | Beorn → Mirkwood Entrance | horseback | 4 | 167.0 | 41.75 | 17 | 168.0 | 9.88 |
| 4 | Through Mirkwood | walking | 29 | 148.0 | 5.10 | 19 | 154.1 | 8.11 |
| 5 | Wood-elves Captivity | captivity | 27 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 6 | Barrel Escape → Esgaroth | boat | 1 | 17.0 | 17.00 | 3 | 15.4 | 5.13 |
| 7 | Lake-town Rest | rest | 17 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.00 |
| 8 | Esgaroth → Lonely Mountain | mixed | 44 | 149.0 | 3.39 | 22 | 146.5 | 6.66 |
Segment totals vs journey totals: Mordor: ME days 185 vs 185 ✓ | fi-mi 1815 vs 1815 ✓ Return: ME days 30 vs 30 ✓ | fi-mi 1482 vs 1482 ✓ Hobbit: ME days 212 vs 212 ✓ | fi-mi 1100 vs 1100 ✓
Segment notes:
- Rivendell rest (Mordor): ordinals 28418–28482, 65 ME days. The largest single stationary phase in the dataset. The flat starts on ordinal 28418 (3018-10-21), four days before the chronology's canonical Rivendell arrival (3018-10-24), reflecting the mileage calibration placing arrival slightly earlier in
me_time. - Lothlórien rest (Mordor): ordinals 28507–28534, 28 ME days. Begins the day after the fellowship arrives at mi=952. The preceding segment ( ) covers the full travel from Rivendell departure to that arrival, including Moria.
- Boats on the Anduin: ordinals 28535–28545, 11 ME days. Begins the day movement resumes from Lothlórien (mi=962, not 952) — the first 10 mi represent the Silverlode paddle to the Hythe.
- Barrel escape (Bilbo): ordinal 265 only, 1 ME day, 17 fictional miles. The subsequent Lake-town rest (ordinals 266–282) is cleanly separated on its own ordinal range.
- Wood-elves captivity (Bilbo): 27 ME days flat at 934 mi. No real-world walking days are mapped here since my cumulative mileage crossed 934 during normal travel.
- Return journey: all 30 ME days, no segment totals lost. Minas Tirith rest (3 days) is explicitly separated from the final march.
7. Fictional Travel Rates¶
Fictional travel rate observations. The range across segments is large. Horseback segments in the Return journey reach the highest rates in the dataset (52–77 fi-mi/day), consistent with the narrative annotation of mounted movement. The boat segment on the Anduin (37.7 fi-mi/day) is substantially faster than any of Frodo's walking segments. Bilbo's pony leg (Beorn → Mirkwood, ~42 fi-mi/day) shows a similar boost relative to walking pace. Walking segments cluster between roughly 2.5 and 21 fi-mi/day, with the Bag End → Bree leg being the highest-rate walking segment.
8. My Walking Through the Fictional Journey¶
For each movement segment, actual walking days are those where cumulative_miles in walking.csv crossed from the segment's start mileage to its end mileage. Rest/captivity segments (fictional miles = 0) have no corresponding real-world rest — I kept walking through those mileage points continuously.
Rest/captivity segments (fictional days with no mileage progress): In My Time, these segments have no equivalent — I walked through those mileage points without pause.
| Journey | Segment | Type | ME days | Mileage mark | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Mordor | Rivendell Rest | rest | 65 | 487.0 |
| 1 | Mordor | Lothlórien Rest | rest | 28 | 952.0 |
| 2 | Return | Minas Tirith Rest | rest | 3 | 1350.0 |
| 3 | Hobbit | Rivendell Rest | rest | 28 | 491.0 |
| 4 | Hobbit | Wood-elves Captivity | captivity | 27 | 934.0 |
| 5 | Hobbit | Lake-town Rest | rest | 17 | 951.0 |
Movement segments — fictional vs actual walking:
| Journey | Segment | Mode | Fict mi | ME days | fi-mi/ME-day | Walk days | Actual mi | mi/walk-day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Mordor | Bag End → Rivendell | walking | 487.0 | 28 | 17.39 | 78 | 482.7 | 6.19 |
| 1 | Mordor | Rivendell → Lothlórien | walking | 465.0 | 24 | 19.38 | 55 | 468.5 | 8.52 |
| 2 | Mordor | Boats on the Anduin | boat | 415.0 | 11 | 37.73 | 73 | 412.3 | 5.65 |
| 3 | Mordor | Parth Galen → Shelob's Lair | walking | 273.0 | 16 | 17.06 | 32 | 269.5 | 8.42 |
| 4 | Mordor | Cirith Ungol → Cracks of Doom | walking | 175.0 | 13 | 13.46 | 21 | 169.2 | 8.06 |
| 5 | Return | Parth Galen → Edoras | horseback | 370.0 | 7 | 52.86 | 63 | 367.0 | 5.83 |
| 6 | Return | Edoras → Dunharrow | horseback | 387.0 | 5 | 77.40 | 68 | 387.5 | 5.70 |
| 7 | Return | Dunharrow → Minas Tirith | mixed | 593.0 | 8 | 74.12 | 79 | 595.3 | 7.54 |
| 8 | Return | Minas Tirith → Black Gate | walking | 132.0 | 7 | 18.86 | 13 | 123.8 | 9.52 |
| 9 | Hobbit | Bag End → Rivendell | walking | 491.0 | 40 | 12.28 | 60 | 483.8 | 8.06 |
| 10 | Hobbit | Rivendell → Beorn's Hall | mixed | 128.0 | 22 | 5.82 | 15 | 127.9 | 8.53 |
| 11 | Hobbit | Beorn → Mirkwood Entrance | horseback | 167.0 | 4 | 41.75 | 17 | 168.0 | 9.88 |
| 12 | Hobbit | Through Mirkwood | walking | 148.0 | 29 | 5.10 | 19 | 154.1 | 8.11 |
| 13 | Hobbit | Barrel Escape → Esgaroth | boat | 17.0 | 1 | 17.00 | 3 | 15.4 | 5.13 |
| 14 | Hobbit | Esgaroth → Lonely Mountain | mixed | 149.0 | 44 | 3.39 | 22 | 146.5 | 6.66 |
Walking through fictional segments. My actual walking rate (mi/walking-day) is broadly similar across segments within each journey, which reflects consistent daily activity rather than the fictional travel mode. The variation in walking days per segment largely mirrors the fictional mileage of the segment — longer segments took more walking days, with my rate being roughly the same throughout.
The contrast with fictional travel rates is the key story: a segment that takes 5 ME days on horseback (e.g., Edoras → Dunharrow, 382 fi-mi) required 67 of my actual walking days to cover the same fictional distance.
9. Daily Walking Behaviour¶
| n | median | mean | std | iqr | p10 | p90 | pct_ge2 | pct_ge5 | pct_ge10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| journey | ||||||||||
| Frodo | 261 | 7.12 | 6.98 | 3.37 | 4.63 | 2.17 | 11.16 | 90.8 | 72.4 | 17.6 |
| Aragorn | 225 | 6.49 | 6.64 | 2.93 | 3.71 | 3.06 | 10.04 | 96.4 | 70.2 | 10.7 |
| Bilbo | 142 | 7.93 | 8.09 | 3.09 | 5.00 | 4.01 | 11.87 | 99.3 | 81.7 | 31.7 |
Daily distance observations. The three distributions are similar in shape — roughly unimodal, centred between 6 and 9 miles, with a right tail. Bilbo's journey has the highest median (7.93 mi) and the highest share of days at ≥10 mi (31.7%), which may reflect a period of increased average activity rather than a deliberate change in approach. Frodo's journey has the most days under 2 miles (9.2%), consistent with the longer journey spanning more varied calendar conditions. These are purely observational statements; the data do not reveal causes.
10. Key Findings¶
The following findings are drawn directly from calculated values above.
Key numbers for findings: Return time ratio: 7.5× Frodo time ratio: 1.55× Bilbo time ratio: 0.67× Boat rate (Anduin): 37.73 fi-mi/ME-day Avg Mordor walking rate: 16.82 fi-mi/ME-day Rivendell rest ME days: 65 Lothlórien rest ME days: 28 Frodo stationary ME days: 95 (51% of journey) Bilbo total rest ME days: 72 (34% of journey) Aragorn horseback rates: [52.86, 77.4] Pony leg (Beorn→Mirkwood): 41.75 fi-mi/ME-day, 4 ME days
Findings¶
Each finding cites the numerical evidence computed in the cell above.
1. The three journeys diverge dramatically in how much ME time they consume relative to real-world time.
Aragorn's Return has a real/ME time ratio of 7.5×: 225 actual calendar days mapped onto just 30 ME days. Frodo's ratio is 1.55×. Bilbo's is 0.67× — his 212 ME days span only 142 actual calendar days, making him the only journey where my real walking outpaced the fictional timeline. The range (0.67× to 7.5×) shows that the same fictional mileage bracket is a very different temporal experience depending on which clock is read.
2. Frodo's fictional mileage is stationary for more than half its duration.
Of Frodo's 185 ME days, 95 are stationary (51%): 65 at Rivendell (mi=487) and 28 at Lothlórien (mi=952). These are the two largest flat plateaus in the dataset. In my actual walking, I crossed both mileage marks during uninterrupted forward progress — there is no corresponding real-world pause.
3. The Anduin boat segment is the fastest fictional travel mode in Frodo's route, at 2.2× the mean walking rate.
The Boats on the Anduin covers 415 fictional miles in 11 ME days (37.7 fi-mi/day). The mean fictional travel rate across Frodo's four walking segments is 16.8 fi-mi/day. The boat leg is approximately 2.2× faster. The Anduin segment produces a visibly steeper slope in the cumulative ME-time chart — a shape that has no equivalent in my walking data, which progresses at a much slower and more variable daily rate.
4. Aragorn's horseback segments are the highest fictional travel rates in the dataset.
Parth Galen → Edoras runs at 52.9 fi-mi/ME-day; Edoras → Dunharrow at 77.4 fi-mi/ME-day; Dunharrow → Minas Tirith (Paths of the Dead + ships, annotated "mixed") at 74.1 fi-mi/ME-day. My actual walking rate during the corresponding mileage intervals was 5.7–7.5 mi/walking-day. The fictional characters covered in one ME day what I walked over roughly 9–14 real days.
5. Bilbo's pony leg (Beorn → Mirkwood) is the fastest non-Return segment, at 41.8 fi-mi/day.
Four ME days, 167 fictional miles. The preceding Mirkwood walking segment runs at 5.1 fi-mi/day — the pony leg is 8× faster in fictional terms. My actual walking rate across those same fictional miles was 9.9 mi/walking-day, within the range of my daily walking rates elsewhere in the journey.
6. Bilbo spends 34% of his fictional timeline stationary across three separate interruptions.
Rivendell rest (28 ME days), Wood-elves captivity (27 ME days), and Lake-town rest (17 ME days) total 72 stationary ME days out of 212 (34%). Unlike Frodo's two rests, Bilbo's stationary periods are distributed across the middle of the journey, creating a more fragmented fictional mileage curve.
7. My actual daily walking distribution is broadly similar across all three journeys.
Medians: Frodo 7.1 mi, Aragorn 6.5 mi, Bilbo 7.9 mi. Standard deviations: 3.4, 2.9, 3.1. All three distributions are roughly unimodal with right tails. The journeys span two and a half calendar years, different seasons, and vastly different fictional contexts — yet the underlying walking behaviour shows no dramatic shift between them.
11. Limitations & Interpretation¶
Fictional mileage calibration. Distances in me_time.csv are calibrated narrative figures, not map measurements. Different scholars or editions give different distances for the same Tolkien journeys. The segment rates computed here are entirely dependent on this calibration.
Narrative travel mode. Travel mode annotations (walking, horseback, boat, etc.) are interpretations drawn from chronology.json and source text. They are editorial classifications, not measured data. The user always walked; the fictional characters did not.
Segment boundaries. The me_time plateau analysis reveals unambiguous flat periods for rest/captivity. However, within movement segments, the travel mode and narrative context are inferred rather than directly measured. A segment marked "walking" may include short boat crossings or brief rests not large enough to appear as plateaus in the ordinal data.
Actual walking to fictional segment mapping. Walking days are assigned to fictional segments via cumulative mileage crossings. This is a clean mapping for the majority of data, but days that straddle a segment boundary (cumulative mileage crosses the threshold mid-day) are assigned entirely to the upper segment. No fractional day splitting is performed.
One-person dataset. All walking statistics describe a single individual over a defined period. No population claims, causal inference, or generalisability is warranted.
Google Fit measurement. Step data was aggregated from Google Fit, with a conversion factor of approximately 1 step ≈ 0.0005 miles (2,000 steps/mile). Known rounding introduces a small error (±3 steps/day). Two outlier low-step days were verified as plausible in prior analysis and are not removed.
ME calendar. The Shire calendar has 12 months of 30 days plus intercalary days, and ordinal arithmetic treats all days as equivalent. This is a reasonable approximation for duration analysis but does not reflect any real astronomical or cultural meaning of the Tolkien dates.