Timeline of Arda

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This article includes several chronologies relating to J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium.

Contents

In Tolkien's cosmology, Arda (the Earth) is at first created without the Sun and Moon to illumine it, and its earliest history is measured in Valian Years (V.Y.). After the creation of the Trees of the Valar, a new tally of Years of the Trees is begun in V.Y. 3501. At about V.Y. 4550, the First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar begins with the Awakening of the Elves.

The Years of the Sun begin with the Awakening of Men in about V.Y. 5000. From this time, the First Age lasts for another 590 years. The Second Age extends to 3441 years, beginning with the foundation of Mithlond (the Grey Havens) under Círdan, and Lindon as the Noldorin Kingdom under Gil-galad, and ending with the defeat of Sauron at the hands of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. The Third Age extends to 3021 years, ending with the final defeat of Sauron in the War of the Ring and the establishment of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor. The Fourth Age is mainly outside the scope of Tolkien's legendarium, beginning the suggested transition to the historical period, but Tolkien gives a summary of the first two centuries of the Fourth Age. [1]

Timeline entries are based on The Annals of Aman (published 1993) and The Grey Annals (published 1994) and Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings (published 1955) unless otherwise noted.

Summary

Tolkien revised his chronology numerous times. The Annals of Valinor were written in the early 1930s. In this early version, a Valian Year corresponds to 10 solar years, and the time from the creation of Arda until the creation of the Moon and Sun is 3,000 Valian Years. In a revision dated c. 1937, the earlier timeline is mostly left intact, with the addition of the explicit statement that "It is said that the Valar came into the world 30,000 Sun-years ere the first rising of the Moon".

The chronology underwent major revisions after the publication of The Lord of the Rings, in about 1958. In this revision, published as the Annals of Aman , Tolkien defined a Valian Year as equal to 9.582 solar years, [2] and the Valian Year of the creation of the Moon and Sun was now given as 5000, so that the time between the creation of Arda and the rising of the Sun and Moon was now the equivalent of 47,910 solar years instead of 30,000.

Late in his life, Tolkien planned to again revise chronology, now assuming one Valian Year as the equivalent of 144 solar years. This is consistent with his earlier decision (published in 1955 in Appendix D of The Lord of the Rings) that the Elves would reckon time in "long-years" or yéni equivalent to 144 solar years (thus equating the yéni and the Valian Year), but Tolkien never finished this final revision.

Elder Days (Valian Years)
Annals of Valinor (1937)
1 V.Y. = 10 solar years		Annals of Aman (1958)
1 V.Y. = 9.582 solar years
Creation of Arda, Years of the Lamps 11
Destruction of the Lamps5003450
Birth of the Two Trees 10003500
Awakening of the Elves 20004550
Destruction of the Two Trees29904995
Creation of the Moon and Sun and Awakening of Men 30005000
The Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar
First Age 450 Years of the Trees + 590 Years of the Sun
Second Age 3,441 Years of the Sun
Third Age 3,021 Years of the Sun
Fourth Age of unspecified length, suggested as overlapping with Earth's protohistory

Valian Years

Before the making of the Sun, dates are given in Valian Years, and not all events can be precisely dated. In such cases events are given in chronological order between known dates. Although all dates prior to the first sunrise have been given in Valian years, these can be converted to Years of the Lamps by subtracting 1900, Years of the Trees by subtracting 3500, or Years of the Trees in the First Age by subtracting 4550.

The conversion between Valian Years and Years of the Sun is not clear, depending on the choice of conversion factors (among many that Tolkien used at different times), the First Age may have lasted anywhere between 4,902 and 65,390 sun years. The greater number is supported by the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings and later writings, the lesser by earlier writings. In Morgoth's Ring , Christopher Tolkien cites a passage stating a Valian Year being "longer than are now nine years under the Sun." [3]

Years of the Trees

In some cases, after V.Y. 4580, exact chronological order cannot be determined and the placement of undated entries is estimated.

First Age

During the Years of the Trees the First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar begins, at the Awakening of the Elves.

Years of the Sun

Years of the Sun in the First Age

From this time on years are of normal length. Events from Valinor during the Years of the Sun cannot be accurately dated. All entries are derived from The Grey Annals (see references) unless otherwise noted. The dating begins anew at 1, although these years are still held to be part of the First Age.

From this point the entries are derived from The Tale of Years of the First Age (see references) unless otherwise noted.

Second Age

The Second Age was 3441 years long. Most dates relating to Númenor derive from part 2 of Unfinished Tales ; all other entries are derived from Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings unless otherwise noted.

Third Age

The Third Age was 3,021 years long; virtually all its recorded events take place in Middle-earth. All entries are derived from Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings , except for the following or otherwise noted:

Note on Shire Reckoning: Year 1601 of the Third Age, in which the Shire was founded, is year 1 of the Shire Reckoning. Thus, Third Age years can be converted into their Shire equivalents by deducting 1600.

"The Great Years"

All entries are derived from Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings unless otherwise noted.

3018
3019
3020–21

Fourth Age

Length uncertain. All entries are derived from the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings, unless otherwise noted.

In the reckoning of Gondor, the Fourth Age began on 'March' 25, T.A. 3021. Since most of the following events had been dated according to the Shire-reckoning, their years in the Fourth Age cannot be stated with certainty. Some events may have occurred in the following year of the Fourth Age.

Subsequent Ages

Battles

First Age

Years of the Trees

Years of the Sun

See also Battles of Beleriand.

Second Age

Third Age

War of the Ring

Main battles
Other conflicts during the War of the Ring

End of the world

Other timelines of interest

See also

Related Research Articles

In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the terms Man and Men refer to humankind – in contrast to Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and other humanoid races – and does not denote gender. Hobbits were a branch of the lineage of Men.

Valinor is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the realm of the Valar in Aman. It is located far to the west of Middle-earth.

In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Noldor are High Elves of the Second Clan who migrated to Valinor and lived in Eldamar. The Noldor are called Golodhrim or Gódhellim in Sindarin, and Goldui by Teleri of Tol Eressëa. The singular form of the Quenya noun is Noldo and the adjective is Noldorin. 'Noldor' meant 'the Wise', that is those who have great knowledge and understanding. The Noldor indeed early showed the greatest talents of all the Elves both for intellectual pursuits and technical skills. They were the Second Clan of the Elves in both order and size, the other clans being the Vanyar and the Teleri. Like the Teleri, they typically had grey eyes and dark hair. The Noldor Elves were the most intellectually gifted of all the Elves, as well as the strongest and the most proud. The Noldor were the bravest and most powerful people among the Sons of Ilúvatar, with a light in their eyes similar to that of the stars. They fought the greatest wars of which dwarves or men have heard.

Fëanor Character in The Silmarillion

Fëanor is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium who plays an important part in The Silmarillion. He was the eldest son of Finwë, the High King of the Noldor, and his first wife Míriel Serindë. Fëanor's mother, Míriel, died shortly after giving birth, having given all her strength and essence to him. "For Fëanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him."

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the First Age, or First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar is the heroic period in which most of Tolkien's early legends are set. Versions of these stories were later published in The Silmarillion, and tales from this period lend a deep sense of time and history to the later period in which the action of The Lord of the Rings takes place.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work The Silmarillion, which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic literature. Beleriand also appears in the works The Book of Lost Tales, The Children of Húrin, and in the epic poems of The Lays of Beleriand.

Thingol king of Doriath

Elu Thingol is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in The Silmarillion, The Lays of Beleriand and Children of Húrin as well as in numerous stories in the many volumes of The History of Middle-earth. He is notably a major character in many of the stories about the First Age of Tolkien's Middle-earth and he is an essential part of the ancestral backgrounding of the romance between Aragorn and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings.

Círdan the Shipwright is a fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien. He was a Telerin Elf, a great mariner and shipwright, and Lord of the Falas during much of the First Age and Lord of Lindon during the Third Age. He was the bearer of the Great Ring Narya, which he in turn gave to Gandalf.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the real-world history and notable fictional elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy universe.

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The following is an overview of the fictional peoples and races that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. Seven peoples or races are listed in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings as inhabiting Middle-earth: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls. In addition, Middle-earth is overseen or inhabited by various spirits, known as Valar and Maiar. Other beings inhabit Middle-earth whose nature is unclear, such as Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry.

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References

  1. ↑ in a letter written in 1958, published in Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #211, ISBN   0-395-31555-7 , Tolkien places the beginning of the Fourth Age some 6,000 years in the past, consistent with the scope of classical historiography reaching back to just after the beginning Dominion of Men: "I imagine the gap [since the end of the Third Age] to be about 6000 years; that is we are now at the end of the Fifth Age, if the Ages were of about the same length as S[econd] A[ge] and T[hird] A[ge]. But they have, I think, quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age, or in the Seventh."
  2. ↑ http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Valian_year
  3. ↑ Tolkien, Christopher; Tolkien, J.R.R. (1993). Morgoth's Ring (First ed.). Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. p.  Frontispiece illustration (calligraphy). ISBN   0-395-68092-1. Time indeed began with the beginning of Eä, and in that beginning the Valar came into the world. But the measurement which the Valar made of the ages of their labours is not known to any of the Children of Ilúvatar, until the first flowering of Telperion in Valinor. Thereafter the Valar counted time by the ages of Valinor, whereof each age contained one hundred of the Years of the Valar; but each such year was longer than are now nine years under the Sun.
  4. ↑ Tale of Adanel ( Tolkien, J. R. R. (1993), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN   0-395-68092-1 )
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tolkien, J. R. R. (1994), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, The Later Quenta Silmarillion, p. 225–9, ISBN   0-395-71041-3
  6. ↑ The dates of the entering of the Second and Third Houses are given as 312 and 313 respectively in the Later Quenta Silmarillion, but as (?312/313) and 314 in later notes. (The War of the Jewels, pp. 227, 234)
  7. ↑ The date of the entering to Brethil is only once given (in Grey Annals, The War of the Jewels p. 50), as 422; but according to later sources Haleth, who is stated to had led them there, died in 420. (ibid. p. 228, 237)
  8. ↑ The War of the Jewels: "The new genealogies of the Edain", p. 229–38.
  9. ↑ The taking of Tol Sirion is given under the year 455 in the Grey Annals (The War of the Jewels p. 54). The statement in The Silmarillion (Ch. 18) that it occurred "nearly two years" after the Dagor Bragollach derives from earlier texts without changes and represents rejected chronology: see The War of the Jewels, p. 125.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Narn i Hîn Húrin, ISBN   0-395-29917-9
  11. ↑ The statements in The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin that Túrin had dwelt in Doriath for nine years by this time derive from the early Quenta Silmarillion ( The Lost Road , p. 320–2), and are contradicted by both earlier and later texts (e.g. The Grey Annals, pp. 79–80).
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 The War of the Jewels: "The Wanderings of Húrin", p. 257, gives a plot-synopsis for the Narn i Chîn Húrin , written several years later than the concluding chapters of the story itself; the published Unfinished Tales and The Children of Húrin are based on the latter.
  13. ↑ The death of Thingol is placed under the year 503 in The Tale of Years, but according to the story introduced into The Silmarillion by Christopher Tolkien it should have rather occurred immediately after the reforging of Nauglamír, while the Sack of Doriath remained in the following year.
  14. ↑ J. R. R. Tolkien (1994). "The Tale of Years of the First Age". In Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The War of the Jewels . Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin. pp.  342–354. ISBN   0-395-71041-3. Elrond and Elros are born in the same year, 532 of the Years of the Sun in the First Age.
  15. ↑ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1985), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lays of Beleriand , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN   0-395-39429-5
  16. ↑ Silmariën was definitely the eldest child of Tar-Elendil, and her birthdate is given several times as S.A. 521. In the Tale of Years, the entry of Silmariën's birthdate is given as 548, a date that goes back to the first drafts of that text (see Silmariën's article for details).
  17. ↑ In the Tale of years, it says in S.A. 2251 "Tar-Atanamir takes the sceptre", however, Atanamir died in 2221. 2221 is itself an emendation of 2251, and the former (2221) appears in the later tables, while the latter (2251) in the earlier tables: therefore 2251 (properly 2221) should have read "Death of Tar-Atanamir. Tar-Ancalimon takes the sceptre."
  18. ↑ In one table (probably an earlier draft) of the Kings of Gondor, Castamir's birthdate is given at T.A. 1159, however this is clearly impossible: Eldacar was born in 1255, and they are in the same generation, so 1259 is more correct.
  19. ↑ The date of Sam's birth in "The Longfather-Tree of Master Samwise" (Appendix C) is S.R. 1380 (equivalent to T.A. 2980), however, "The Tale of Years" (Appendix B) gives it as T.A. 2983, which is changed to T.A. 2980 in 2005 edition. In S.R. 1476, Sam is said to have been ninety-six years old, so 2980 is more correct than 2983. Also, the birth year of his sister, Marigold, is given S.R. 1383 (T.A. 2893), and it is most unlikely that they were born in the same year. In The Fellowship of the Ring , Merry and Pippin is said to be younger than both Sam and Frodo, so Sam's birth year must be in T.A. 2980, since Merry was born in T.A. 2982.
  20. ↑ Lalia (b. S.R. 1283) only appears in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien . Pearl is the older sister of Pippin. See {{subst:^|}}Took clan{{subst:^|}}.
  21. ↑ J. R. R. Tolkien (1955), The Return of the King , 2nd edition (1966), George Allen & Unwin, appendix A part II p. 352; ISBN   0 04 823047 2
  22. ↑ Template:J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Field of Cormallen"
  23. 1 2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "Durin's Folk"
  24. 1 2 3 J. R. R. Tolkien (1996). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The Peoples of Middle-earth . Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin. pp.  220–224. ISBN   0-395-71041-3.
  25. ↑ Note on The Shire Records in the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings.
  26. ↑ The Family Trees in J. R. R. Tolkien (1996). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The Peoples of Middle-earth . Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin. pp.  85–118. ISBN   0-395-71041-3.
  27. ↑ In a 1972 letter, Tolkien mentioned that Eldarion's reign would have lasted for about 100 years after the death of Aragorn. Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien , Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #338. "I have written nothing beyond the first few years of the Fourth Age. (Except the beginning of a tale supposed to refer to the end of the reign of Eldarion about 100 years after the death of Aragorn. ...)", ISBN   0-395-31555-7
  28. ↑ J. R. R. Tolkien (1954), The Fellowship of the Ring , 2nd edition (1966), George Allen & Unwin, Prologue, Note on the Shire Records, p. 25; ISBN   0 04 823045 6
  29. ↑ J. R. R. Tolkien (1954), The Fellowship of the Ring , 2nd edition (1966), George Allen & Unwin, book 2 ch. II p. 280 (Gandalf foresees that "seas and lands may change."); ISBN   0 04 823045 6
  30. ↑ J. R. R. Tolkien (1954), The Fellowship of the Ring , 2nd edition (1966), George Allen & Unwin, Prologue § 1 p. 11; ISBN   0 04 823045 6

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