Middle-earth: The First Age Timeline

Middle-earth: The First Age 22

Y.S. -37000 Ainulindalë — the Music of Creation Before time begins, Ilúvatar (God) creates the Ainur — holy spirits — and teaches them a great theme of music. He invites them to make a Great Music together. Melkor, the greatest of the Ainur, introduces discords of his own devising, seeking to increase the glory and power of his part by making it dominant. Three times Ilúvatar introduces new themes; three times Melkor's discord attempts to overwhelm them. Ilúvatar finally stops the music and reveals that Eä — the universe — will be made in the image of the Music as it was sung, discords and all: 'And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me.'
Y.S. -37000 Valaquenta — the Valar descend into Arda Ilúvatar speaks the word 'Eä' — 'let these things be' — and the universe comes into being. Fourteen great Ainur, called the Valar, descend into the newly formed world to shape it according to the vision of the Music. Among them: Manwë (King of the Valar, lord of air and wind), Varda (Lady of the Stars, most beloved of Elves), Ulmo (lord of waters), Aulë (smith and craftsman), Yavanna (giver of fruits), Mandos (keeper of the dead) and Melkor, greatest and most powerful — who has already begun corrupting what the others build.
Y.S. -30000 The Spring of Arda — Melkor's first destruction The Valar labour to shape Arda into a dwelling place for the Children of Ilúvatar (Elves and Men). They raise the Two Lamps — Illuin in the north and Ormal in the south — to light the world. A Spring of Arda begins, with the first forests and creatures. But Melkor builds the fortress of Utumno in the north and, when the Valar's vigilance relaxes, overthrows the Two Lamps. Arda is thrown into darkness and ruin. The Spring of Arda ends. The Valar retreat to Aman (the Undying Lands) in the far west, raising the Pelóri mountains as a defence and creating Valinor.
Y.S. -25000 The Two Trees of Valinor Yavanna sings into being the Two Trees of Valinor — Telperion (the White Tree, silver) and Laurelin (the Golden Tree). Their intermingled light — silver and gold — illuminates Valinor and the western seas. Each tree sheds light for seven hours; the six hours of overlap produce the most beautiful light of all. The Two Trees of Valinor are the light sources of the world before Sun and Moon exist. Tolkien writes of them with extraordinary beauty: 'the dew of Telperion and the rain that fell from Laurelin Varda hoarded in great vats like shining lakes, that were to Valinor as wells of water and light.' Their destruction by Morgoth and Ungoliant sets the great tragedy in motion.
Y.S. -20000 Awakening of the Elves at Cuiviénen The Elves — the Firstborn Children of Ilúvatar — awake beside the waters of Cuiviénen (Water of Awakening) in the far east of Middle-earth, under starlight (no Sun or Moon yet exists). They are the first to open their eyes in the world and their first sight is of Varda's stars — which is why the Elves above all love Varda, Queen of the Stars. Melkor, lurking nearby, discovers the Elves before the Valar do and begins to corrupt some of them, creating the first Orcs from captured Elves tortured and twisted in his pits of Utumno. This claim is debated in Tolkien's own writings.
Y.S. -19000 The Great Journey — Elves march to Valinor Oromë, the hunter among the Valar, discovers the Elves at Cuiviénen and brings news to Valinor. The Valar go to war against Melkor, destroying Utumno and capturing him in chains. They then invite the Elves to dwell with them in Valinor. Not all Elves accept: those who make the Great Journey west become the Eldar; those who turn back or are lost become the Avari (the Unwilling). The Eldar who reach Valinor become the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri. The division of the Elves into these groups — with all their different fates — is fundamental to the First Age's complexity.
Y.S. -15000 Fëanor and the Silmarils Fëanor — greatest of the Noldor Elves, most gifted craftsman who ever lived — creates the three Silmarils: jewels of surpassing beauty that contain within them the blended light of the Two Trees of Valinor. 'As three great jewels they were in form. But their inner fire is from the very light of the Two Trees... and those who look upon them in the darkness of Middle-earth see the light of day when day has passed.' Fëanor pours his very spirit into their making and comes to love them above all else — above wisdom, above his kin, above peace. His love of the Silmarils is the fatal flaw that sets the tragedy in motion.
Y.S. -14000 Morgoth and Ungoliant destroy the Two Trees Melkor — now called Morgoth (Dark Enemy) by the Noldor — escapes his parole in Valinor and enlists Ungoliant, a darkness in spider-form who drinks all light. Together they attack the Two Trees at a festival when the Valar and most Elves are assembled on Taniquetil. Ungoliant drinks the sap from the Trees' roots; they wither and die. No craft can restore them: their last flowers and fruits are made into the Moon and Sun. Morgoth simultaneously steals the Silmarils, killing Fëanor's father Finwë in the process — the first murder among Elves. The light of Valinor is extinguished.
Y.S. -13900 The Oath of Fëanor — the doom begins Fëanor delivers a speech of such passionate fury that seven of his sons swear with him an oath — the most terrible oath ever sworn in Arda — to pursue Morgoth and reclaim the Silmarils from any who hold them, be they Vala, Elf, Man or any other creature. The Oath of Fëanor binds them inescapably: they cannot foreswear it without damnation, yet its fulfilment requires acts of increasing wickedness. The Oath is the engine of disaster that drives the First Age: it leads to the Kinslaying, the burning of the ships, the Doom of Mandos, and ultimately the destruction of Beleriand.
Y.S. -13800 The First Kinslaying — Alqualondë The Noldor march north through Valinor toward Middle-earth to pursue Morgoth. The Teleri, who build ships on the western shore, refuse to give them their swan-ships. Fëanor, in his madness of grief and fury, orders an attack. The Noldor slaughter their own kin — the Teleri — and seize the ships. This is the First Kinslaying: the first murder of Elf by Elf. The Valar pronounce the Doom of Mandos (the Prophecy of the North): the Noldor who go into exile shall find no home and no victory in Middle-earth; the Oath of Fëanor shall drive them to grief and betrayal; and those who participate in the Kinslaying shall be denied return to Valinor.
Y.S. -13700 Death of Fëanor — the Balrogs and Gothmog Fëanor, always reckless, charges ahead of his host when they reach Middle-earth and is ambushed by Balrogs. Mortally wounded by Gothmog, lord of Balrogs, he is carried back to his sons. Dying, he looks toward Thangorodrim and curses Morgoth three times — then his body burns to ash, consumed by the fire of the spirit within him. He is the only Elf whose body has been cremated. His sons are bound by their Oath, leaderless, and already committed to the ruinous course their father began. Leadership of the Noldor passes to his half-brother Fingolfin.
Y.S. -13600 Dagor-nuin-Giliath and the long siege of Angband The Sons of Fëanor win the Battle Under Stars (Dagor-nuin-Giliath) — the first battle of the Wars of Beleriand in Middle-earth — and drive back Morgoth's armies. Then Fingolfin and Finarfin's people arrive, having crossed the Helcaraxë (the grinding ice of the north) on foot, betrayed by Fëanor who burned the ships. A Siege of Angband begins — the Noldor surrounding Morgoth's fortress of Angband for nearly 400 years. The long peace of the Siege, punctuated by occasional battles, allows the Noldor kingdoms of Beleriand to flourish: Nargothrond, Gondolin, Dorthonion. But Angband can never truly be encircled.
Y.S. -13000 Awakening of Men — the Edain Men — the Younger Children of Ilúvatar — awake in the far east of Middle-earth. Unlike Elves, Men are mortal: at death their spirits leave the world entirely, their fate unknown even to the Valar (Ilúvatar alone knows it). Mortality — the Gift of Ilúvatar that Men sometimes call the Doom of Men — sets them apart from Elves and drives much of the First Age's tragedy. The Edain (Men who ally with the Noldor against Morgoth) begin crossing the Blue Mountains into Beleriand. Their alliance with the Elves, and the intermarriage between Elf and Man, produces the Half-elven kindred — and ultimately Aragorn and Arwen.
Y.S. -12500 Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth Driven to despair by Morgoth's devastating offensive (Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame), High King Fingolfin rides alone to the gates of Angband and challenges Morgoth to single combat. Morgoth cannot refuse without appearing cowardly before his servants. He emerges and fights Fingolfin. Fingolfin wounds him seven times before he is slain — Morgoth bears those wounds for the rest of his existence, limping on one foot. Fingolfin's body is rescued by Thorondor, King of Eagles. The duel is one of the most heroic and heartbreaking moments in Tolkien's mythology: the greatest of Elf-kings dies, but with incomparable dignity.
Y.S. -12400 Beren and Lúthien — the greatest tale Beren, a mortal Man, flees into Doriath and falls in love with Lúthien Tinúviel, daughter of King Thingol (an Elf) and Melian (a Maia). Thingol, contemptuous of Men, demands as bride-price a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. Beren and Lúthien undertake the impossible quest. In one of fantasy literature's most extraordinary sequences, Lúthien enchants Morgoth himself to sleep with her song, and Beren cuts a Silmaril from his iron crown. Beren is slain by the wolf Carcharoth who bites off his hand (and the Silmaril with it). Lúthien dies of grief and, uniquely, chooses mortality to be with Beren. They are given a second life as mortal humans — the first and only time such a gift is given.
Y.S. -12000 Túrin Turambar — the tragedy of the Black Sword Túrin son of Húrin is the tragic hero of the longest and darkest of the First Age's tales, told in full in The Children of Húrin. Cursed by Morgoth through his captured father Húrin, Túrin's life is a succession of heroic deeds shadowed by doom: he accidentally causes the death of his best friend, kills his own wife unknowingly, and in the final extremity learns that the woman he loves is his own sister Nienor (who has lost her memory to Morgoth's curse). He kills himself with his own black sword Gurthang, which speaks and agrees to slay him. The tale is Tolkien's most direct engagement with Norse tragedy — the fate of great heroes destroyed by doom they cannot escape.
Y.S. -11800 The Fall of Gondolin Gondolin — the Hidden City built by Turgon in a secret valley — is the last great stronghold of the Noldor. Its location is revealed by Maeglin, a traitor within its walls, who betrays it to Morgoth in exchange for power and the promise of Idril, Turgon's daughter. Morgoth sends Balrogs, dragons and armies of Orcs. Gondolin is destroyed in fire. Turgon is slain. Glorfindel — a great lord of the Noldor — fights a Balrog on a mountain pass and both fall to their deaths, allowing Tuor, Idril and the survivors to escape. Among the refugees is the infant Eärendil — whose destiny will determine the fate of the world. The Fall of Gondolin is the first tale Tolkien wrote of his mythology.
Y.S. -11600 Eärendil sails to Valinor — the plea for help Eärendil, son of Tuor (Man) and Idril (Elf), sails to Valinor bearing the Silmaril — the only light that can guide him through the Enchanted Seas — to plead for the Valar's aid against Morgoth on behalf of Elves and Men. He is the first mortal to set foot in Valinor since the world changed. The Valar hear his plea. He is given a choice for himself and Elwing: to be counted among Elves or among Men. They choose Elven-kind. Eärendil is set to sail the heavens with the Silmaril on his brow as a new star — the star of hope, Eärendil's light, which Galadriel later captures in the phial she gives to Frodo.
Y.S. -11600 The Second and Third Kinslayings The Oath of Fëanor forces its final terrible acts. The Sons of Fëanor, knowing that Elwing possesses a Silmaril (recovered from Beren's quest), attack the Havens of Sirion where the survivors of Gondolin and Doriath have gathered. This Second Kinslaying is a massacre; many Elves of goodwill are slain by their own kin. Elwing, rather than surrender the Silmaril, casts herself into the sea with it — and is transformed into a bird by Ulmo, flying to her husband Eärendil on the ocean. A Third Kinslaying follows when the Sons of Fëanor attack the camp of Maedhros — the last two surviving sons of Fëanor seize the remaining Silmarils but find them painful to hold.
Y.S. -11400 War of Wrath — the end of the First Age The Valar send an overwhelming force — the Host of the Valar — into Middle-earth. The War of Wrath lasts forty-two years. Morgoth unleashes his final weapon: the winged dragons, led by Ancalagon the Black. The Eagles of Manwë, led by Thorondor, and Eärendil himself flying in his ship with the Silmaril, fight the dragons in the sky. Ancalagon is slain and falls on Thangorodrim, destroying it. Morgoth is captured and bound; the remaining two Silmarils are taken. He is cast through the Door of Night into the Void beyond the world, never to return in this age. The First Age ends.
Y.S. -11400 The Fate of the Silmarils — the Oath fulfilled in ruin After the War of Wrath, a herald of the Valar holds the two remaining Silmarils. The last two Sons of Fëanor — Maedhros and Maglor — compelled by their Oath, steal them. But the Silmarils, hallowed by Yavanna, burn their hands: they are no longer fit to hold them. Maedhros, in agony, casts himself with his Silmaril into a fiery chasm in the earth. Maglor casts his Silmaril into the sea and wanders the shores of the world thereafter, singing in grief — never heard from again. One Silmaril is in the sky (Eärendil's star); one in the earth; one in the sea: the three Great Lights dispersed to the three realms of the world.
Y.S. -11400 The reshaping of the world — Beleriand sinks The War of Wrath is so catastrophic that Beleriand — the entire northwestern continent where the First Age's wars were fought — sinks beneath the sea. The land where Gondolin stood, where Doriath was, where Beren and Lúthien walked and Túrin died — all of it is gone. Only a few survivors escape east to what will become Eriador. This cataclysm explains why no ruins of the First Age exist in Third Age Middle-earth: they lie beneath the ocean. The world is changed; the Second Age begins with a diminished Elven presence in Middle-earth and a new human civilisation being established.