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Middle-Earth: Lore, Legends, Symbols & Maps
References
The World of JRR Tolkien -
Tolkien's Middle Earth -
The Complete Timeline of Middle-earth
Jan 13, 2020
The timeline of Middle-earth is vast and expansive, for it was the work of J.R.R. Tolkien’s life. In this video, we explore the major parts of the entirety of the timeline of Arda and Middle-earth, from its beginnings to what we know of its end. As always, a great thanks to the online artists whose visual works made this video possible! If you are one of the artists, please let me know and I will post your name and a link to your work in this description!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin...
- Valian Years and the Aging of Elves - Building a World:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8ca8...
- The Creation of Arda - Timeline of Arda:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yimFv...
- The Valar of Middle-earth:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VDrq...
- The Silmarils - Artifacts of Arda:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZAD4...
- Melkor (Morgoth) - Epic Character History (Part I):
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAxSo...
- The Rise and Downfall of Númenor - Region Spotlight:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0A1m...
- The War of the Ring - Wars of the Legendarium:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFoOy...
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| Author, Poet, Storyteller J.R.R. Tolkien |
Middle Earth's Symbols & Maps
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| The Fellowships of the Ring |
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A composite symbol of Gondor with the Ring's Elvish language around it. This is almost certainly a fan image as MPF points out in the comments below. The Gondorians had no reason to display the Ring Verse on a banner, and almost certainly were unaware of its existence in the end of the Third Age, with only Gandalf having read it while hunting for evidence of the One Ring. |
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| The Fellowship before the Enchanted Door of Moria |
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| The Two Trees of Valinor |
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| Overview of the Simlmarillion - link to enlarge |
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| The Undying Lands - link to enlarge |
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| Map of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands - link to enlarge |
The Age of the Valar
Valinor (EQ, pron. [ˈvalinor]) or Valinórë (Q, pron. N [valiˈnoːre], V [βaliˈnoːre]) was the realm of the Valar in central Aman.
Valinor was the place to which the Valar moved after Almaren was destroyed by Melkor. Valinor properly refers to the inhabited lands of the continent of Aman, home to the Valar and the three kindreds of Elves: the Vanyar, some of the Noldor, and some of the Teleri. Valmar is its central city. The island of Tol Eressëa was located just off the eastern shore.
Description
Valinor was encircled by the Pelóri mountains to the east, which were raised by the Valar as a defense against Melkor.
Everything in the realm, from the stones and the waters were hallowed and stainless and there was no sickness, corruption or withering. In Valinor the Valar brought what beauty and light they salvaged from the Spring of Arda before the marring, and they created new things, making Valinor even fairer than Almaren.
Its major city was Valmar of many bells, built in the midst of the plain,[1] where the Vanyar and the Valar reside. To the west of Valmar was a green mound called Ezellohar and from this mound grew the Two Trees that lit the land.
Two other cities are Alqualondë and Tirion, the respective homes of the Teleri and the Noldor. It also had an island, Tol Eressëa, just off its east coast. The sea to the west of the island was called Ekkaia, the encircling sea which surrounded both Valinor and Middle-earth.
Each of the Valar had their own region of the land where they resided and altered things to their desire:
- Yavanna, the Vala of nature, growth, and harvest, resided in the Pastures of Yavanna in the south of the island.
- Oromë, the Vala of the hunt, lived in the Woods of Oromë to the north-east of the pastures. The forest was home to many creatures which Oromë could track and hunt.
- Nienna, the lonely Vala of sorrow and endurance, lived cut off in the far west of the island in the Halls of Nienna where she spent her days crying, looking out to sea. Just south of the Halls of Nienna and to the north of the pastures there were the Halls of Mandos.
- Mandos, the brother of Nienna, was the Vala of the afterlife. All inhabitants of Arda went to the Halls of Mandos should they happen to die, mortals and immortals alike although it was said that in death as in life, they were separated. Also living in the Halls of Mandos was his spouse Vairë the weaver, who wove the threads of time.
To the south were situated the Gardens of Lórien, where dwelt Irmo, the Vala of dreams. And on an isle situated in the middle of the lake of Lórellin in Lórien, dwelt Irmo's wife Estë.
To the north of this were the Mansions of Aulë the smith Vala who was spouse to Yavanna.
In the north-east lay the Mansions of Manwë and Varda, the two most powerful Valar.
To the west of them stood the Ring of Doom, and nearby the mound Ezellohar with the Two Trees of Valinor, Telperion and Laurelin.
After the destruction of Númenor, the Undying Lands were removed from Arda so that Men could not reach them and only the Elves could go there by the Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the Spheres of the earth.
History
In Year of the Lamps 3450 the Spring of Arda ended when Melkor cast down the Two Lamps and destroyed the original dwelling of the Valar upon the isle of Almaren. The Valar departed from Middle-earth and settled in Aman. There they established the realm of Valinor.
After the destruction of the Lamps came the Years of the Trees and in Y.T. 1050 the Elves awoke. At first the Elves were unwilling to heed the summons of the Valar to come to Valinor. The Vala Oromë selected three ambassadors, Ingwë, Finwë, and Elwë in 1102 who were swiftly brought to Aman and beheld the light of the Trees. These three Elven-kings persuaded many of the elves to journey to Aman. In 1132 the Vanyar and Noldor departed from Middle-earth upon an island that was drawn across the Sea to Aman. The third group of the Elves, the Teleri remained in Middle-earth until 1149 when many of them were brought to Aman.
The Elves who arrived to Aman in the Years of the Trees were called Amanyar or Calaquendi because they saw the light of the Two Trees. The Valar opened a cleft between the Pelóri, the Calacirya, so that the Light reached the Elves in their lands and cities, Eldamar, Tirion, Alqualondë and Tol Eressëa.
After the Exile of Feanor, the Noldor were not allowed to return to Valinor, and it was hidden from Mortal lands. The Valar heightened the Pelóri even more, fortified Calacirya and raised the Enchanted Isles in the Shadowy Seas. There were many attempts to reach the Undying Lands from Beleriand by ship, of which only Voronwë Aranwion survived; it is told that maybe Tuor was, alone of the mortals, allowed to find Aman before his son Eärendil.
Eärendil was the first known navigator to succeed in passing the Isles of Enchantment, guided by the light of the Silmaril, who came to Valinor to seek the aid of the Valar against Melkor, now called Morgoth. His quest was successful and the Valar went to war again.
After the War of Wrath and the destruction of Beleriand, Aman was no more connected to Middle-earth by the Helcaraxë but could be reached by the ships of the Elves.
Soon after this, the great island of Númenor was raised out of Belegaer, far from the shores of Aman, and the Three Houses of the Edain were brought to live there. Henceforth, they were called the Dúnedain, and were blessed with many gifts by the Valar and the Elves of Tol Eressëa. The Valar feared—rightly—that the Númenóreans would seek to enter Aman to gain immortality (even though a mortal in Aman remains mortal), so they forbade them from sailing west from Númenor.
In time, and not without some corrupting help from Sauron, the Númenóreans violated the Ban of the Valar, and sailed to Aman with a great army under the command of Ar-Pharazôn the Golden. A part of the Pelóri collapsed upon this army, trapping it but not killing it. It is said that the army still lives underneath the pile of rock in the Caves of the Forgotten.
In light of this development, the land of Aman was decisively and forever isolated from the other lands. The flat Arda was cloven in two, and the rest was made round, so that a mariner sailing west along Eärendil's route would simply emerge in the far east. For the Elves, however, a Straight Road remains that peels away from the curvature of the earth and passes to Aman. A very few non-Elves are known to have passed along this road, including Frodo Baggins, Bilbo Baggins, and possibly Samwise Gamgee and Gimli.
Etymology
Valinor (archaic Valinórë) is Quenya meaning "Land of Valar". There is also the name Valandor of roughly the same meaning.
The terms Ever-eve or Evereven also referred to Valinor. In Hobbit lore, the mythical West was known as Faery.
The Lamps of the Valar
The Lamps of the Valar were two lamps created by the Valar to illuminate the world. They were higher than mountains and illuminated Arda , the Earth.
Creation
Before their creation, there was no life and no light. Yavanna , a Vala queen of nature asked Aulë , blacksmith, to create lights that would illuminate Arda and thus make growth and life possible. This was done and they were placed on mighty pillars higher than any mountain. Illuin , the first light, stood in the north and Ormal stood in the south and they were the two great lights that illuminated the land of Arda .
Everything Yavanna had sown thus began to sprout and blossom, animals emerged, the light had brought life to the world.
After taking up residence on the isle of Almaren , the Valar threw a big party where everyone was invited.
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| Transformation of Middle-earth due to Falling Lamps |
Destruction
But Melkor , jealous and mad with rage, hating all that had been created, left his abode of Utumno and his calamity swept over the spring of Arda . The plants had become sick and rotten, and the waters stank. The animals had become dangerous and bloodthirsty creatures. The Valar then realized all the disaster Melkor had wrought.
In 3450 AL , the latter attacked the Valar and overran them. He then rushed towards the Illuin and Ormal lights and knocked down the pillars destroying the lights without the Valars being able to do anything. Their fall caused an important modification of the morphology of Arda, creating seas and continents, breaking the lands and lifting the oceans. Arda's boundaries between sea and land were greatly altered and darkness spread over Arda. The Fall of the Lamps is considered the Second War of the Valar.
Melkor then fled to the Walls of Night and the Valar tried to salvage what could be saved but what they had imagined and created could never be fully restored. They then left Almaren and took up residence in Valinor .
The lights were later replaced by the Trees of Valinor in Aman, then by the Sun and Moon on Arda.
Anecdotes
In early versions of the legend, Melkor makes peace with the Valar and it is he who crafts the Pillars of the Two Lamps. He calls them Helkar in the north and Ringil in the south. Their unknown matter is like a bluish crystal sounding like metal. But his intentions are evil, and the pillars are made of nothing but ice, which melts in the heat of the lamps and throws the world into chaos. The water from the melting pillars creates two great inland seas, the Sea of Ringil and the Sea of Helcar [1] [2]
The false surrender of Melkor and the pillars of ice will disappear from the legendary, but Tolkienwill retain the idea of inland seas, especially the Sea of Helcar which appears in The Silmarillion published.
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| First Age of Middle Earth - link to enlarge & to Beleriand Map |
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| Early Map of Beleriand |
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| RIP Beleriand - Middle Earth Before |
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| RIP Beleriand - Middle Earth After |
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| link to enlarge |
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| Map of Middle Earth - link to enlarge |
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| link to enlarge |
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| Gondorian Shield of the Second Age |
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