98-725: (Redirected from Lorien ) [REDACTED] Look up lórien in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Lórien or Lorien may refer to: J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium [ edit ] Lothlórien , a forest realm in Middle-earth described in The Lord of the Rings Gardens of Lórien , the realm of the Vala Irmo in Valinor Lórien (Vala) ,
196-992: A broad woodland between the Misty Mountains and the River Anduin, is the Elven centre of resistance against the Dark Lord Sauron in The Lord of the Rings . Galadriel had one of the Three Elf-Rings , and used it to keep Sauron from seeing into Lothlórien. The Company of the Ring spent some time in Lothlórien after passing through Moria . Galadriel prepared them for their quest with individual gifts. Scholars have noted that Lothlórien represents variously an Earthly Paradise ; an Elfland where time
294-568: A celebration of Warwickshire, Kortirion Among the Trees . Garth suggests that the central green hill of Cerin Amroth in Lothlórien recalls the grassy Motte of Warwick Castle , known as Ethelfleda's Mound and the happy time he spent there in his youth. Lothlórien's appearance in Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was based on the artwork of the conceptual designer Alan Lee . Some of
392-527: A devout Roman Catholic , associated light as the Bible does with "holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, grace, hope, and God's revelation", and that Galadriel was one of the bearers of that light. Lothlórien is a locus amoenus , an idyllic land that Tolkien describes as having "no stain". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that to get there, the Fellowship first wash off the stains of ordinary life by wading
490-433: A few days. She notes that Sam actually exclaims "Anyone would think that time did not count in there!", while Frodo sees Galadriel as "present and yet remote, a living vision of that which has already been left far behind by the flowing streams of Time" and Legolas, an Elf who ought to know how things work in Elven lands, says that time does not stop there, "but change and growth is not in all things and places alike. For Elves
588-599: A great host. In the War of Wrath, Melkor was utterly defeated. He was expelled into the Void and most of his works were destroyed, bringing the First Age to an end. This came at a terrible cost, however, as most of Beleriand itself was sunk. The Second Age is characterized by the establishment and flourishing of Númenor , the rise of Sauron in Middle-earth, the creation of the Rings of Power and
686-707: A high mountain, separated from mortals; Ulmo , Lord of the Waters, owes much to Poseidon , and Manwë , the Lord of the Air and King of the Valar, to Zeus . Tolkien compared Beren and Lúthien with Orpheus and Eurydice , but with the gender roles reversed. He mentioned Oedipus , too, in connection with Túrin in the Children of Húrin . Flieger has compared Fëanor with Prometheus : they are associated with fire, and are punished for rebelling against
784-406: A repetition of the history of Númenor . In a 1972 letter concerning this draft, Tolkien mentioned that Eldarion's reign would have lasted for about 100 years after the death of Aragorn. His realm was to be "great and long-enduring", but the lifespan of the royal house was not to be restored; it would continue to wane until it was like that of ordinary Men. Later Ages continue up to modern times,
882-449: A result, West explains, Tolkien can build what he likes in that distant past, elves and wizards and hobbits and all the rest, provided that he tears it all down again, so that the modern world can emerge from the wreckage, with nothing but " a word or two , a few vague legends and confused traditions..." to show for it. West praises and quotes Kocher on Tolkien's imagined prehistory and the implied process of fading to lead from fantasy to
980-692: A vision of the end of the world [after all the ages have elapsed], its breaking and remaking, and the recovery of the Silmarilli and the 'light before the Sun' – after a final battle [Dagor Dagorath] which owes, I suppose, more to the Norse vision of Ragnarök than to anything else, though it is not much like it." The concept of Dagor Dagorath appears in many of Tolkien's manuscripts that were published by his son Christopher in The History of Middle-earth series, but not in
1078-495: Is already well under way in the Third Age, and ... Tolkien bitterly deplores its climax today." The Tolkien scholar Stuart D. Lee and the medievalist Elizabeth Solopova make "an attempt at a summary", which runs as follows. The Silmarillion describes events "presented as factual" but taking place before Earth's actual recorded history. What happened is processed through the generations as folk-myths and legends, especially among
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#17328686723941176-452: Is an actual difference in time between Lothlórien and everywhere else, and Legolas's, that it is a matter of perception. She considers Aragorn's view to reconcile these two positions, agreeing that time has passed as Legolas said, but that the Fellowship felt time as the Elves did while they were in Lothlórien. That is not, writes Flieger, the end of the matter, as she feels that Aragorn reintroduces
1274-587: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lothl%C3%B3rien In J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium , Lothlórien or Lórien is the fairest realm of the Elves remaining in Middle-earth during the Third Age . It is ruled by Galadriel and Celeborn from their city of tree houses at Caras Galadhon. The wood-elves of the realm are called Galadhrim . The realm,
1372-552: Is different, reflecting the traditions of European folklore ; and a land of light striving biblically with the darkness of evil. Tolkien gave the forest many different names, reflecting its fictional history and the way it is perceived by the different peoples of Middle-earth. Early in the First Age , some of the Eldar left the Great March to Valinor and settled in the lands east of
1470-568: Is exemplified in the medieval Thomas the Rhymer , who was carried off by the Queen of Elfland , and the Danish ballad Elvehøj ( Elf Hill ) . The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger writes that the Fellowship debated how much time had passed while they were there, Sam Gamgee recalling that the moon was waning just before they arrived, and was new when they left, though they all felt they had only been there for
1568-554: The Ered Nimrais and never returned. Control of Lothlórien passed to Galadriel and Celeborn. Galadriel's Ring of Power preserved the land from death and decay, and warded off Sauron's gaze. As the War of the Ring loomed, the Company of the Ring , emerging from the dark tunnels of Moria and seeing their leader Gandalf perish, was brought through Lothlórien to Caras Galadhon, and there met
1666-645: The Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä , the fictional universe . Time from that point was measured using Valian Years , though the subsequent history of Arda was divided into three time periods using different years, known as the Years of the Lamps, the Years of the Trees, and the Years of the Sun. A separate, overlapping chronology divides the history into 'Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar'. The first such Age began with
1764-633: The Blue Mountains . Morgoth broke the siege in the Dagor Bragollach ("Battle of Sudden Flame"). The Elves, Men, and Dwarves were all disastrously defeated in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad ("Battle of Unnumbered Tears"), and one by one, the kingdoms fell, even the hidden ones of Doriath and Gondolin . At the end of the age, all that remained of free Elves and Men in Beleriand was a settlement at
1862-538: The Children of Ilúvatar that were to dwell in it – Men and Elves . Then Ilúvatar created Eä , which means "to be," the universe itself, and formed within it Arda, the Earth , "globed within the void": the world together with the three airs is set apart from Avakúma , the "void" without. The first 15 of the Ainur that descended to Arda, and the most powerful ones, were called Valar; the lesser Ainur were called Maiar. When
1960-550: The Fourth in Tolkien's stories. Tolkien estimated that modern times would correspond to the sixth or seventh age. The First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar ( Eruhíni ) began during the Years of the Trees when the Elves awoke in Cuiviénen in the middle-east of Middle-earth . This marked the start of the years when the Children of Ilúvatar were active in Middle-earth. The First Age of
2058-601: The Hobbits of the Shire prospered, getting their first Took Thain , and colonizing Buckland . The Dwarves of Durin's folk under Thorin I abandoned Erebor , and left for the Grey Mountains , where most of their kin now gathered. Meanwhile, Sauron created a strong alliance between the tribes of Easterlings , so that when he returned he had many Men in his service. The main events of The Hobbit occur in T.A. 2941. By
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#17328686723942156-597: The Land of the Sun ) in the East. At the site of the northern lamp was later the inland Sea of Helcar, of which Cuiviénen was a bay. At the site of the southern lamp was later the Sea of Ringil . After the destruction of the Two Lamps the Years of the Lamps ended and the Years of the Trees began. A Valian Year was considerably longer than a solar year. After the destruction of the Two Lamps and
2254-564: The Misty Mountains . These elves became known as the Nandor , and later as the Silvan Elves . Galadriel made contact with an existing Nandorin realm, Lindórinand, in what became Lothlórien, and planted there the golden mallorn trees which Gil-galad had received as a gift from Tar-Aldarion . The culture and knowledge of the Silvan elves was enriched by the arrival of Sindarin Elves from west of
2352-530: The One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom to control the other rings and their bearers. Celebrimbor , a grandson of Fëanor, forged three mighty rings on his own: Vilya, possessed first by the Elven king Gil-galad, then by Elrond; Nenya, wielded by Galadriel; and Narya, given by Celebrimbor to Círdan, who gave it to Gandalf. As soon as Sauron put on the One Ring, the Elves realized that they had been betrayed and removed
2450-721: The Ringwraiths , and the early wars of the Rings between Sauron and the Elves. It ended with Sauron's defeat by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. At the start of the Second Age, the Men who had remained faithful were given the island of Númenor, in the middle of the Great Sea, and there they established a powerful kingdom. The White Tree of Númenor was planted in the King's city of Armenelos ; and it
2548-678: The Stewards of Gondor . Aragorn marries the daughter of Elrond, Arwen , thus for the last time adding Elvish blood to the royal line. As the age ends, Gandalf, Frodo Baggins and many of the remaining Elves of Middle-earth sail from the Grey Havens to Aman . With the end of the Third Age began the Dominion of Men. Elves were no longer involved in Human affairs, and most Elves left for Valinor; those that remain behind "fade" and diminish. A similar fate meets
2646-520: The Valar entered Arda , it was still lifeless and had no distinct geographical features. The initial shape of Arda, chosen by the Valar, was much more symmetrical, including the central continent of Middle-earth . Middle-earth was also originally much larger , and was lit by the misty light that veiled the barren ground. The Valar concentrated this light in two large lamps, called Illuin and Ormal. The Vala Aulë forged two great pillar-like mountains, Helcar in
2744-706: The Vanyar , the Noldor , and the Teleri . They made their home in Eldamar . After Melkor appeared to repent and was released after his servitude of three Ages, he stirred up rivalry between the Noldorin King Finwë 's two sons Fëanor and Fingolfin . With the help of the giant spider Ungoliant , he killed Finwë and stole the Silmarils , three gems crafted by Fëanor that contained light of
2842-487: The biblical echoes of God, Satan , and the fall of man here, rooted in Tolkien's own Christian faith. Arda is, as critics have noted, "our own green and solid Earth at some quite remote epoch in the past." As such, it has not only an immediate story but a history, and the whole thing is an "imagined prehistory" of the Earth as it is now. The supreme deity of Tolkien's universe is Eru Ilúvatar . Ilúvatar created spirits named
2940-676: The "'mountains green' of 'ancient time'" in William Blake 's Jerusalem . As evidence, Shippey explains that when they come to the deepest part of Lothlórien, the Elf Haldir welcomes them, calling the area the Naith or " Gore ", both unfamiliar words for the land between two converging rivers, the Hoarwell or Mitheithel , and the Loudwater or Bruinen , and then giving a third word with a special resonance:
3038-947: The "Angle". Shippey states that the name "England" comes from the Angle between the Flensburg Fjord and the River Schlei , in the north of Germany next to Denmark, the origin of the Angles among the Anglo-Saxons who founded England. He suggests that Frodo's feeling that he has "stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days, and was now walking in a world that was no more" may be exactly correct. Shippey writes that in Lothlórien, Tolkien reconciles otherwise conflicting ideas regarding time-distortion in Elfland from European folklore , such as
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3136-464: The (Old) English. Before the Fall of Númenor , the world was flat. In the Fall, it became round; further geological events reshaped the continents into the Earth as it now is. All the same, the old tales survive here and there, resulting in mentions of Dwarves and Elves in real Medieval literature. Thus, Tolkien's imagined mythology "is an attempt to reconstruct our pre-history." Lee and Solopova comment that "Only by understanding this can we fully realize
3234-439: The Age as the rise of Sauron came to dominate Middle-earth . By the end of the Third Age, only fragments of the once-grand Elven civilization survived in Middle-earth. The Wizards arrived around a thousand years after the start of this period to aid the Free Peoples, most importantly Gandalf and Saruman . The One Ring was found by Sméagol but, under the power of the Ring and ignorant of its true nature, he retreated with
3332-410: The Ainur from his thoughts, and some were considered brothers or sisters. Ilúvatar made divine music with them. Melkor , then the most powerful of the Ainur, broke the harmony of the music, until Ilúvatar began first a second theme, and then a third theme, which the Ainur could not comprehend since they were not the source of it. The essence of their song symbolized the history of the whole universe and
3430-403: The Anduin lay the forest of Mirkwood and the fortress of Dol Guldur , which could be glimpsed from high points in Lothlórien. The river Silverlode or Celebrant flowed through Lothlórien and joined the Anduin; it had a tributary from the west, the river Nimrodel. The realm lay primarily to the north of the Silverlode, with a small strip of forested land to the south. The main part of the realm
3528-459: The Awakening of the Elves during the Years of the Trees and continued for the first six centuries of the Years of the Sun. All the subsequent Ages took place during the Years of the Sun. Most Middle-earth stories take place in the first three Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar. Major themes of the history are the divine creation of the world , followed by the splintering of the created light as different wills come into conflict. Scholars have noted
3626-415: The Children of Ilúvatar, also referred to as the Elder Days in The Lord of the Rings , began during the Years of the Trees when the Elves awoke at Cuiviénen, and hence the events mentioned above under Years of the Trees overlap with the beginning of the First Age. Having crossed into Middle-earth, Fëanor was soon lost in an attack on Morgoth's Balrogs – but his sons survived and founded realms, as did
3724-419: The Divine Word. Jane Chance remarks on the biblical theme of the conflict between the creator Eru Ilúvatar and the fallen Vala Melkor/Morgoth , mirroring that between God and Satan . Similarly, she notes, the struggles of Elves and Men corrupted by Morgoth and his spiritual descendant Sauron echo those of Adam and Eve tempted by Satan in the Garden of Eden , and the fall of man . Flieger has observed that
3822-530: The Dwarves: although Erebor becomes an ally of the Reunited Kingdom, there are indications that Khazad-dûm is refounded together with a colony established by Gimli in the White Mountains . Together, they disappear from human history. Eldarion, son of Aragorn II Elessar and Arwen Evenstar, became King of the Reunited Kingdom in F.A. 120. Aragorn gave him the tokens of his rule, and then surrendered his life willingly, as his ancestors had done thousands of years before. Arwen left him to rule alone, passing away to
3920-486: The Elf Haldir's explanation of this [from a flet or tree-platform high above Cerin Amroth], "In this high place you may see the two powers that are opposed to one another, and ever they strive now in thought; but whereas the light perceives the very heart of the darkness, its own secret has not yet been discovered" echoes a biblical description: "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." The scholar of humanities Susan Robbins notes that Tolkien,
4018-404: The Elvish realm. The Dutch composer Johan de Meij wrote music inspired by the Lothlórien woods, as the second movement, "Lothlórien (The Elvenwood)", of his Symphony No. 1 "The Lord of the Rings" . First Age In J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium , the history of Arda , also called the history of Middle-earth , began when the Ainur entered Arda , following the creation events in
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4116-406: The Faithful sailed to Middle-earth, where they founded the realms in exile of Gondor and Arnor. Sauron arose again and challenged them. The Elves allied with Men to form the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. For seven years, the Alliance laid siege to Barad-dûr , until at last Sauron himself entered the field. He slew Elendil , High King of Gondor and Arnor, and Gil-galad , the last High King of
4214-401: The Faithful, sailed westward to warn the Valar. His son Elendil and grandsons Isildur and Anárion prepared to flee eastwards, taking with them a seedling of the White Tree of Númenor before Sauron destroyed it, and the palantíri , gifts of the elves. When the King's forces set foot on Aman, the Valar laid down their guardianship of the world and called on Ilúvatar to intervene. The world
4312-401: The Great Darkness). The Years of the Trees were divided into two epochs. The first ten ages, the Days of Bliss, saw peace and prosperity in Valinor. The Eagles , the Ents , and the Dwarves were conceived by Manwë , Yavanna , and Aulë respectively, but placed into slumber until the awakening of the Elves . The next ten ages, called the Noontide of the Blessed Realm, saw Varda kindling
4410-401: The Great Jewels followed, and lasted until the end of the First Age. Meanwhile, the Valar took the last living fruit of Laurelin and the last living flower of Telperion and used them to create the Moon and Sun, which remained a part of Arda, but were separate from Ambar (the world). The first rising of the sun over Ambar heralded the end of the Years of the Trees, and the start of the Years of
4508-432: The Kings of Gondor ends, with the House of the Stewards ruling in their stead. Meanwhile, the heirs of Isildur from the fallen kingdom of Arnor wander Middle-earth, aided only by Elrond in Rivendell ; but the line of rightful heirs remains unbroken throughout the age. This age was characterized by the waning of the Elves . In the beginning of the Third Age, many Elves left for Valinor because they were disturbed by
4606-508: The Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim. The Fellowship spent roughly a month in Lothlórien, though it seemed to them only a few days . Before they left, Galadriel allowed Samwise and Frodo to look in the Mirror of Galadriel, giving them a glimpse of events in the future or at other times; she also tested the loyalty of Fellowship members, and gave each of them a gift for their quest. After the fall of Sauron, Galadriel and Celeborn rid Dol Guldur of Sauron's influence. Galadriel left for Valinor at
4704-414: The Lothlórien scenes were shot on locations in Paradise Valley near Glenorchy , New Zealand . In The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria , Lorien was a region introduced to the game in March 2009, which allows players to visit Caras Galadhon and other places, and complete quests from the elves. Enya 's song "Lothlórien" on her album Shepherd Moons is an instrumental composition named for
4802-443: The Misty Mountains, and the Silvan language was gradually replaced by Sindarin . Amongst these arrivals was Amdír, who became their first lord, as well as Galadriel and Celeborn , who fled the destruction of Eregion during the War of the Elves and Sauron. In the Third Age , Amroth, the former Lord of Lothlórien, went to the south of Middle-earth with his beloved Nimrodel, but drowned in the Bay of Belfalas after she went missing in
4900-418: The Noldor in Middle-earth. However, Isildur took up the hilt of Narsil , his father's shattered sword, and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand. Sauron was defeated, but not utterly destroyed. Afterward, Isildur ignored the counsel of Elrond , and rather than destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, he kept it as weregild for his dead father. But the Ring betrayed him and slipped from his finger as he
4998-429: The Plague caused many deaths, including King Telemnar, his children, and the White Tree ; the population of the capital city Osgiliath was decimated, and government of the kingdom was transferred to Minas Tirith . In Eriador, the nascent Hobbit -realm of the Shire suffered "great loss" in what they called the Dark Plague. The so-called Watchful Peace began in T.A. 2063, when Gandalf went to Dol Guldur and
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#17328686723945096-440: The Powers (also called the Battle of the Powers), defeated Melkor and brought him captive to Valinor. This began the period of the Peace of Arda. After the War of the Powers, Oromë of the Valar summoned the Elves to Aman. Many of the Elves went with Oromë on the Great Journey westwards towards Aman. Along the journey several groups of Elves tarried, notably the Nandor and the Sindar . The three clans that arrived at Aman were
5194-460: The Ring to a secret life under the Misty Mountains . Middle-earth's devastating Great Plague originated in its vast eastern region, Rhûn, where it caused considerable suffering. By the winter of late T.A. 1635 the Plague spread from Rhûn into Wilderland , on the east of Middle-earth's western lands; in Wilderland it killed more than half the population. In the following year the Great Plague spread into Gondor and then Eriador . In Gondor
5292-403: The Rings . Virtually the entire history of the Third Age takes place in Middle-earth . The Third Age saw the rise in power of the realms of Arnor and Gondor , and their fall. Arnor was divided into three petty Kingdoms, which fell one by one in the wars with Sauron's vassal kingdom of Angmar, whilst Gondor fell victim to Kin-strife, plague, Wainriders , and Corsairs . In this time, the line of
5390-460: The River Nimrodel. He compares this perfect place to the Earthly Paradise that the dreamer speaks of in the Middle English poem Pearl . But then, Shippey writes, the Fellowship have to cross a rope-bridge over a second river, the Silverlode, which they must not drink from, and which the evil Gollum cannot cross. What place can they have come to then, he wonders: could they be "as if dead"? Shippey notes however that it might be old England,
5488-399: The Sun, which last to the present day. The Years of the Sun were the last of the three great time-periods of Arda. They began with the first sunrise in conjunction with the return of the Noldor to Middle-earth , and last until the present day. The Years of the Sun began towards the end of the First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar and continued through the Second , Third , and part of
5586-444: The Third Age, deep in the forest, the city's dwellings were atop tall mallorn trees; the mallorn had been brought to that land by Galadriel. The city was "some ten miles" from the point where the rivers Silverlode (Sindarin: Celebrant ) and Anduin met, close to the eastern border of the realm. In the trees there were many tree-platforms , which could be elaborate dwellings or simple guard-posts. Stairways of ladders were built around
5684-440: The Three (Sauron eventually obtained the Seven and the Nine. While he was unable to suborn the Dwarf ringbearers, he had more success with the Men who bore the Nine; they became the Nazgûl , the Ringwraiths). Sauron then made war on the elves and nearly destroyed them utterly during the Dark Years, but when it seemed defeat was imminent, the Númenóreans joined the battle and completely crushed the forces of Sauron. Sauron never forgot
5782-446: The Two Trees, from his vault, and destroyed the Trees of the Valar. The world was again dark, save for the faint starlight. Bitter at the Valar's inactivity, Fëanor and his house left to pursue Melkor, cursing him with the name "Morgoth". While his brother Finarfin chose to stay in Valinor, a larger host led by Fingolfin followed Fëanor. They reached Alqualondë , the port-city of the Teleri, who forbade them from taking their ships for
5880-409: The beginning of the Fourth Age , and Celeborn later followed her. The city slowly became depopulated and Lothlórien faded. By the time of the death of Queen Arwen , Celeborn and Galadriel's granddaughter, Lothlórien itself was deserted. Lothlórien lay in the west of Wilderland . To its west stood the Misty Mountains, with the Dwarf-realm of Moria, and on its east ran the great river Anduin . Across
5978-486: The book series Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Lórien . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lórien&oldid=1052705212 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
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#17328686723946076-400: The contemporary mode of seeking remote globes in 'space'... Many reviewers seem to assume that Middle-earth is another planet! In the same letter, he places the beginning of the Fourth Age some 6,000 years in the past: I imagine the gap [since the War of the Ring and 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
6174-403: The core of human life; Schürer argues that this was unacceptable to Tolkien as a Christian. Among the many influences that scholars have proposed as possibly important on the history of Arda is Greek mythology . The disappearance of the island of Númenor recalls Atlantis . The Valar borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods . Like the Olympians, the Valar live in the world, but on
6272-585: The dilemma when he says that the moon carried on changing "in the world outside": this suggests once again that Lothlórien had its own laws of nature, as in a fairy tale . Flieger writes that while time is treated both naturally and supernaturally throughout The Lord of the Rings , his "most mystical and philosophical deployment of time" concerns Elves. It is therefore "no accident", she writes, that Frodo has multiple experiences of altered time in Lothlórien, from feeling he has crossed "a bridge of Time" on entering that land, to seeing Aragorn on Cerin Amroth as he
6370-413: The evil dwelling there (later known to be Sauron) fled to the far east. It lasted until T.A. 2460, when Sauron returned with new strength. During this period Gondor strengthened its borders, keeping a watchful eye on the east, as Minas Morgul was still a threat on their flank and Mordor was still occupied with Orcs . There were minor skirmishes with Umbar . In the north, Arnor was long gone, but
6468-533: The face of Númenor's might – and brought him to Númenor as a hostage, although this was Sauron's goal. At this time still beautiful in appearance, Sauron gained Ar-Pharazôn's trust and became high priest in the cult of Melkor. At this time, the Faithful (who still worshipped the one god, Eru Ilúvatar ), were persecuted openly by those called the King's Men, and were sacrificed in the name of Melkor. Eventually, Sauron convinced Ar-Pharazôn to invade Aman, promising him that he would thus obtain immortality. Amandil, chief of
6566-461: The followers of his half-brother Fingolfin , who reached Beleriand after Fëanor's death. In the Dagor Aglareb ("Glorious Battle"), the armies of the Noldor led by Fingolfin and Maedhros attacked from the east and west, destroying the invading Orcs and laid siege to Morgoth's stronghold Angband. The Noldor for a time maintained the Siege of Angband, resulting in the Long Peace. This Peace lasted hundreds of years, during which time Men arrived over
6664-401: The gods' decrees. Arda is summed up by the Tolkien scholar Paul H. Kocher as "our own green and solid Earth at some quite remote epoch in the past." Kocher notes Tolkien's statement in the Prologue, equating Middle-earth with the actual Earth, separated by a long period of time: Those days, the Third Age of Middle-earth, are now long past, and the shape of all lands has been changed; but
6762-420: The hill of Cerin Amroth in what was Lothlorien "until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after ... and with the passing of [Arwen] Evenstar no more is said in this book of the days of old." West observes that this points up a "highly unusual" aspect of Tolkien's legendarium among modern fantasy: it is set "in the real world but in an imagined prehistory." As
6860-426: The journey to Middle-earth. The first Kinslaying thus ensued, and the Noldor that partook were exiled indefinitely. Fëanor and his children in return swore an oath to retake the Silmarils, that the Valar turned to a curse over the house of Fëanor. Fëanor's host sailed on the boats, leaving Fingolfin's host behind – who crossed over to Middle-earth on the Helcaraxë (Grinding Ice) in the far north, losing many. The War of
6958-442: The kingdom of Almaren , the Valar abandoned Middle-earth , moving to the continent of Aman. There they built their Second Kingdom, Valinor . Yavanna made the Two Trees , named Telperion (the silver tree) and Laurelin (the golden tree) in the land of Valinor. The Trees illuminated Valinor, leaving Middle-earth in darkness. The Years of the Trees were contemporary with Middle-earth's Sleep of Yavanna (recalled by Treebeard as
7056-449: The main trees, and at night the city was lit by "many lamps" – "green and gold and silver". The city's entrance was on the southern side. The Tolkien scholar Paul H. Kocher writes that Galadriel perceives Sauron with Lothlórien's light, "but cannot be pierced by it in return". The good intelligence has the "imaginative sympathy" to penetrate the evil intelligence, but not vice versa . The Christian author Elizabeth Danna writes that
7154-533: The men living there valuable skills. After a time, they became jealous of the Elves for their immortality. Sauron , Morgoth's chief servant, was still active. As Annatar, in disguise he taught the Elves of Eregion the craft of creating Rings of Power . Seven Rings were made for the Dwarves, while Nine were made for Men who later became known as the Ringwraiths. He built a stronghold called Barad-dûr and secretly forged
7252-414: The modern world: At the end of his epic Tolkien inserts ... some forebodings of [Middle-earth's] future which will make Earth what it is today ... he shows the initial steps in a long process of retreat or disappearance by which all other intelligent species, which will leave man effectually alone on earth... Ents may still be there in our forests, but what forests have we left? The process of extermination
7350-671: The mouth of the River Sirion and another on the Isle of Balar. Eärendil possessed the Silmaril which his wife Elwing's grandparents, Beren and Lúthien , had taken from Morgoth. But Fëanor's sons still maintained that all the Silmarils belonged to them, and so there were two more Kinslayings. Eärendil and Elwing crossed the Great Sea to beg the Valar for aid against Morgoth. They responded, sending forth
7448-670: The north and Ringil in the south. Illuin was set upon Helcar and Ormal upon Ringil. In the middle, where the light of the lamps mingled, the Valar dwelt at the island of Almaren upon the Great Lake. This period, known as the Spring of Arda, was a time when the Valar had ordered the World as they wished and rested upon Almaren, and Melkor lurked beyond the Walls of Night. During this time animals first appeared, and forests started to grow. The Spring of Arda
7546-477: The now-empty land of Lórien where she died. Upon the death of Aragorn, Legolas departed Middle-earth for Valinor, taking Gimli with him and ending the Fellowship of the Ring in Middle-earth. Tolkien once considered writing a sequel to The Lord of the Rings , called The New Shadow , which would have taken place in Eldarion's reign, and in which Eldarion deals with his people turning to evil practices – in effect,
7644-473: The period is problematic, having only one finished tale, the Atlantis -style Akallabêth . He proposes that Tolkien wanted to link the First Age (most of the content of the 1977 The Silmarillion ) with the Third Age (of The Lord of the Rings ) by joining them together with a central period. In his view, this could not work for Tolkien, because the Second Age centred on "the failure, decline, and corruption" at
7742-572: The published Silmarillion , where the eventual fate of Arda is left open-ended in the closing lines of the Quenta Silmarillion . Scholars, noting that Tolkien was a devout Catholic , have stated that the Ainulindalë creation myth echoes the Christian account of creation . Brian Rosebury calls its prose "appropriately 'scriptural'". Verlyn Flieger cites Tolkien's poem Mythopoeia ("Creation of Myth"), where he speaks of "man, sub-creator,
7840-556: The recent war. However, Elven kingdoms still survived in Lindon, Lothlórien , and Mirkwood . Rivendell also became a prominent haven for the Elves and other races. Throughout the Age, they chose not to mingle much in the matters of other lands, and only came to the aid of other races in time of war. The Elves devoted themselves to artistic pleasures, and tended to the lands which they occupied. The gradual decline of Elven populations occurred throughout
7938-510: The refracted light / through whom is splintered from a single White / to many hues, and endlessly combined / in living shapes". She analyses in detail the successive splintering of the original created light, via the Two Lamps, the Two Trees, and the Silmarils, as the wills of different beings conflict. She states that for Tolkien, this creative light was equated with the Christian Logos ,
8036-740: The regions in which Hobbits then lived were doubtless the same as those in which they still linger: the North-West of the Old World , east of the Sea . Of their original home the Hobbits in Bilbo’s time preserved no knowledge. In a letter written in 1958, Tolkien states that while the time is invented, the place, planet Earth, is not (italics in original): I have, I suppose, constructed an imaginary time , but kept my feet on my own mother-earth for place . I prefer that to
8134-475: The remade Arda being equated with Earth. With the loss of all its peoples except Man, and the reshaping of the continents, all that is left of Middle-earth is a dim memory in folklore , legend , and old words . Tolkien estimated that the Fourth Age began approximately 6,000 years ago, and that we would now be in the 6th or 7th Age. In a letter, Tolkien wrote that "This legendarium [ The Silmarillion ] ends with
8232-517: The ruin brought on his armies by the Númenóreans, and made it his goal to destroy them. Towards the end of the age, the Númenóreans became increasingly haughty. Now they sought to dominate other men and to establish kingdoms. Centuries after Tar-Minastir's engagement, when Sauron had largely recovered, Ar-Pharazôn, the last and most powerful of the Kings of Númenor , humbled Sauron – his armies deserting in
8330-514: The same length as Second Age and Third Age. But they have, I think, quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age, or in the Seventh. The Tolkien scholar Richard C. West writes that one of the "very final passages" of the internal chronology of Lord of the Rings , The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen , ends not just with Arwen 's death, but the statement that her grave will remain on
8428-778: The separation of peoples, in particular the complicated and repeated sundering of the Elves . Scholars including Flieger have noted that if Tolkien intended to create a mythology for England , in the history of Arda as told in The Silmarillion he had made it very dark. John Garth has identified his experiences in the First World War as formative; he began his Middle-earth writings at that time. Flieger suggests that Middle-earth arose not only from Tolkien's own wartime experience, but out of that of his dead schoolfriends Geoffrey Bache Smith and Rob Gilson. Janet Brennan Croft writes that Tolkien's first prose work after returning from
8526-433: The splintering of the created light is a process of decline and fall from a once-perfect state. She identifies a theory of decline that influenced Tolkien, namely Owen Barfield 's theory of language in his 1928 book Poetic Diction . The central idea was that there was once a unified set of meanings in an ancient language, and that modern languages are derived from this by fragmentation of meaning. Tolkien took this to imply
8624-561: The stars above Middle-earth. This was the first time after the Spring of Arda that Middle-earth was illuminated. The first Elves awoke in Cuiviénen in the middle of Middle-earth, marking the start of the First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar , and were soon approached by the Enemy Melkor who hoped to enslave them. Learning of this, the Valar and the Maiar came into Middle-earth and, in the War of
8722-520: The time of The Lord of the Rings , Sauron had recovered, and was seeking the One Ring. The events of the ensuing War of the Ring leading to the end of the Third Age is the subject of The Lord of the Rings , and summarized in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age . After the defeat of Sauron, Aragorn takes his place as King of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor , restoring the line of Kings from
8820-525: The usual name for Irmo himself Other uses [ edit ] Lorien ( Babylon 5 ) , a character from the science-fiction TV series Babylon 5 Lórien (indie rock) , an American independent rock band Lorien Novalis School a Waldorf school in Australia Lorien (Hambach Forest) , a former tree-house colony by environmental activists in the Hambach Forest, Germany A fictional planet in
8918-462: The war was The Fall of Gondolin , and that it is "full of extended and terrifying scenes of battle"; she notes that the streetfighting is described over 16 pages. The Tolkien scholar Norbert Schürer notes the 2022 book The Fall of Númenor and the Amazon television series The Rings of Power , both about the Second Age, and asks what the period signifies for the legendarium as a whole. In his view,
9016-427: The world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by. Slow, because they do not count the running years". Shippey considers Legolas's explanation to resolve the apparent contradiction between the mortal and Elvish points of view about Elvish time. Flieger however writes that there is a definite contradiction between Frodo's position, that there
9114-673: Was as a young man, dressed in white. Flieger notes that in The Monsters and the Critics Tolkien writes "The human-stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape from Deathlessness". In her view, this explains the exploration of time in his mythology, death and deathlessness being the "concomitants" of time and timelessness. The author John Garth writes of a possible Warwickshire connection for Lothlórien. The young Tolkien and his fiancée Edith Bratt visited Warwick; in 1915 he wrote
9212-473: Was changed into a sphere and the continent of Aman was removed, although the Old Straight Road , a sailing route from Middle-earth to Aman, accessible to the Elves but not to mortals, persisted. Númenor was utterly destroyed, as was the fair body of Sauron; however, his spirit returned to Mordor , where he again took up the One Ring, and gathered his strength once more. Elendil, his sons and the remainder of
9310-518: Was escaping from an Orc ambush at the Gladden Fields . Isildur was killed by an orc arrow, and the Ring was lost in the Anduin River . The Third Age lasted for 3021 years, beginning with the defeat of Sauron at the hands of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men following the downfall of Númenor , and ending with the War of the Ring and final defeat of Sauron, the events narrated in The Lord of
9408-529: Was interrupted when Melkor returned to Arda, creating his fortress of Utumno (Udûn) beneath the Iron Mountains in the far north. The period ended when Melkor assaulted and destroyed the Lamps of the Valar. Arda was again darkened, and the fall of the great Lamps spoiled the symmetry of Arda's surface. New continents were created: Aman in the West, Middle-earth proper in the middle, the uninhabited lands (later called
9506-589: Was said that while that tree stood in the King's courtyard, the reign of Númenor would endure. The Elves were granted pardon for the sins of Fëanor, and were allowed to return home to the Undying Lands . The Númenóreans became great seafarers, and were learned, wise, and had a lifespan beyond other men. At first, they honored the Ban of the Valar, never sailing into the Undying Lands. They went east to Middle-earth and taught
9604-659: Was the triangular region between the converging rivers Silverlode and Anduin, called the Naith (Sindarin for "spearhead") by the Elves or the Gore or Angle in the Common Speech . The tip of the Naith was called the Egladil (Sindarin for "elven-point"). Caras Galadhon (from galadh (" tree ") was the city of Lothlórien and the main settlement of the Galadhrim in Middle-earth. Founded by Amroth in
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