The Ages of Arda
the great division of time: the Years of the Lamps, the Years of the Trees, and the Years of the Sun
Definition
The Ages of Arda are the great divisions of time in the history of the world, by which the chronicles reckon the whole story from the making of Arda to the end of the Elvish years. They are two-fold: the Years of the Valar (counted in Valian years, and divided into the Years of the Lamps and the Years of the Trees), and the Years of the Sun — the First, Second, Third and subsequent ages that follow the kindling of the Sun.
The Years of the Valar
- The Years of the Lamps: When the world was made and the Valar entered it, Aulë forged the two great Lamps, Illuin and Ormal, set upon pillars in the north and south; their light fell upon the Middle-earth of that time (the isle of Almaren). This brief age ended when Melkor destroyed the Lamps and made the first war of the Powers, and the Valar withdrew to Aman.
- The Years of the Trees: In their new home the Valar made the Two Trees of Valinor, Telperion and Laurelin, and their count of time began. Meleor’s fall darkened the north; the Elves awoke at Cuiviénen beneath the stars, and the Great Journey began. It is the age of the Eldar’s youth and of the first labours and griefs of death (the murder of Finwë), ended by the flight of the Noldor and the slaying of the Trees by Melkor and Ungoliant.
The Years of the Sun
- The First Age: From the first rising of the Sun (and Moon) over Middle-earth — the departure of the Noldor, the hiding of Valinor, and the War of the Jewels in Beleriand — to the ruin and ending of that war. It is the Age of the Silmarils, counted in the annals until the overthrow of Morgoth.
- The Second Age: From the founding of Númenor and the raising of its glory, through the forging of the Rings of Power and the wars of Sauron, to the Downfall of Númenor and the War of the Last Alliance at its end. It is the age of the Men of the West and the Shadow’s rise again.
- The Third Age: From the first defeat of Sauron (the Last Alliance) to the passing of the Ring-bearers and the departure of the Elves’ ships from The Grey Havens — the age of the Wizards, the hobbits, and the War of the Ring, ending the ancient world in the overshadowed memories of the Fourth Age.
Significance
The Ages are the monumental clock of the legendarium: within the years “of the Valar” lies the pure, starlit youth of the Elves and the marring of the world, and within the years “of the Sun” unfolds the slow winning of the world by Men. The exact reckoning and the length of the Valian years changed between the early annals and the later (as Christopher Tolkien shows in the Annals of Aman), but the scheme — Lamps, Trees, and the Ages under the Sun — remained the fixed frame of all the histories.