Author's Note: Almost all the characters, places, and mention of certain events are from the fertile mind of J.R.R. Tolkien. We do not own them nor do we have the right to claim to own them. This work is a tribute of sorts to his genius.
Short Background: Professor Tolkien himself believed that to write a fantasy or fairy-story means to make it as real as possible to the reader. In that sense, the world of the story needs to be close to mirroring human reality, not as an allegory but as a true image of what we perceive. The Middle-earth of the Lord of the Rings depicts a Medieval world fraught with age-old creatures of myth and legend—Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Dragons, and various other monsters found in fairy tales. The Medieval or Middle Ages occurred more than 700 years ago. The world we live in now has to be a product of that time. It is with this realization that the story you are about to read comes as a conclusion to the events that began and seemingly ended our knowledge of Middle-earth. So many years and so many ages. The time has come for Middle-earth to surface again.
For a more satisfying read, I personally suggest having the LotR soundtracks playing in the background.
"What really happens is that the storymaker proves a successful 'subcreator'…he makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world." J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories essay
Dagor Dagorath (The Final Battle)
The Breaking of Angainor
From splendour he fell through arrogance to contempt for all things save himself, a spirit wasteful and pitiless. Understanding he turned to subtlety in perverting to his own will all that he would use, until he became a liar without shame. He began with the desire of Light, but when he could not possess it for himself alone, he descended through fire and wrath into a great burning, down into Darkness. And darkness he used most in his evil works upon Arda, and filled it with fear for all living things.
---Valaquenta, The Silmarillion
The wisdom of the world has grown ancient, recoiling in its past as its future comes at hand. Old legends are forgotten, great kings and people sought out in books of fiction. Men have now mastery over nature, their hands clasped about its neck and draining its life away. Conundrums, contraptions, mechanizations. Men's Beloved.
Unbeknownst to Men, in a far away land yet not quite removed from the world, there still dwelt they who have renounced these earthly things. It is a place where the past is as the future is as the present. Time is woven there in intricate threads. It is where beauty never fades and life does not end. The halls are bathed in pure light and the air is eternally soft and fresh. Springs burst forth alive like fountains dancing along to the sound of the birds that flutter too close to the blades of grass.
Paradise. The Blessed Realm. Aman, the place of Valinor. The Land of the Valar and the Eldar.
In the midst of its beauty, there lay a small clearing, hidden by the trees. There stood the tall figure of a woman, her long golden hair touching the grass. Her eyes are turned to the East. She breathed in deeply. At that moment, the skies darkened, if for a while, as if a passing cloud had decided to tarry a while longer. To an ordinary being in an ordinary land, the lingering of a cloud of darkness is not something to worry about.
She opened her eyes, revealing deep pools of blue light.
Long have I known such darkness in ages past. It cannot be.
The world has clearly changed. Two beings, one of spirit, as old as the foundations of the earth, and one elf, walked side by side by the shores of Aman, looking out far out into the Sea. The cry of the seagulls wailed in their ears as small waves washed onto their bare feet. They stopped walking and looked far out to sea, their eyes intent upon the glittering point of Mindon Eldalieva, the Tower of Ingwe, the guide of ships and seafarers.
"The world has clearly changed," said the elf. He had a proud bearing for he was of the kin of the Eldar. There was an aged look in his eyes when one sought to look in them and find only great knowledge of many things. A single jewel was set upon his brow and one knew, just by looking, that he was among the greatest of his kind.
"I have begun to feel it weighing heavier for many centuries," answered his companion. In truth, he was not like the other. He shone with a radiance that was not of the world. His eyes twinkled when he spoke and his voice was like music to the ear. Often did he go to the house of Nienna, the Valieri of whom he learned much from. Patience, kindness, fortitude, and wisdom.
"It is ending," said the dark one.
His companion nodded sadly. He looked out over the sea, far beyond Mindon in Tol Eressea, and grief overcame him. He had loved that land and its people. He had loved his friends, all of whom were gone now save for a few. But those who mattered so much more would no longer be with him, lest Mandos and Eru Iluvatar permit it to not be so.
"The world is old, much older than us. Still I do not wish for it to end before my spirit does."
He closed his eyes and decided to let go of his grief, to listen to the waves and the cry of the seagulls. All he heard was the sound of thunder and fire. He opened his eyes immediately as he felt what he heard touch his skin. It had felt real as a huge dark cloud passed over them from the far west traveling towards the east and obliterating the view of Tol Eressea.
The dark one with him froze. "What is this, Olorin?" Yet even his companion was at a loss. The darkness was soon upon them and the world felt cold and a foreboding doom disturbed the air.
"I dare know not," Olorin replied. "But for this, I must go with haste, Lord Elrond. I did not hope to see this day come to pass but the destiny of the world was never in our hands."
"Then may the speed of the wind bear you to Valinor, old friend," Elrond said as Olorin faded into the mists of the sea. He looked up at the gray sky and frowned. "Something must be done soon."
Far beyond the clearing where the solitary woman stood was a clear spring. It spurt forth out of the ground and flowed forward, growing as it reached the east shore, ending upon the edges of the Sea and becoming one with the great body of water. Wherever the spring passed, the flowers grew best. Whoever drank of its water was replenished and made glad. For it was first blessed by Yavanna, the Mother of all Trees and Queen of the Earth, and watched over by her sister, Vana, the Ever-Young.
At the mouth of the spring sat a single being, alone in his thoughts. Like the woman, he had always looked to the east, as if expecting someone to come but he had grown tired of waiting for what was not to come again. It made him sad and desolate, such that the beauty of Valinor no longer gave him peace and serenity. He had been outside Valinor once. He was born there and it was the life he knew before greater things came into light for him. He had been part of that greatest of adventures and knew good friends. But one of them he loved the most and now, after ages past, was lost forever.
Suddenly, a cold feeling of biting cold seeped through his being as a mighty cloud passed over the land. He stood up in surprise. What could be a dark cloud doing in the Land of the Lords of the West?
The spring seemed to have stopped flowing. The birds stopped singing and Time stood very still over the land. Some of the Eldar began talking in hushed tones. Then he saw the Golden Lady walking towards Valinor, her face set in a rigid pose. Several of the Eldar followed after her. No one ever goes into the Realm of the Gods, he thought. Something is happening.
A hand lay upon his shoulder as his blue eyes followed the cloud disappearing into the east. A cold, unspeakable dread washed over him.
"What is happening, Olorin?" he asked.
His last remaining friend said gravely, "Dark times are ahead of us, my friend and this is one disturbance no mortal being can handle like before." Legolas stood and followed after Olorin. Like the Golden Lady, Olorin was hurrying towards Taniquetil, the Tower of the Valar.
"The Lady Galadriel took this same route," Legolas remarked. "For what purpose are we to see the gods?"
Olorin stopped and turned to face the elf. "The First Evil to ever lay waste to the world has returned. By what sorcery we still do not know. All our questions shall be answered by the Valar and their wisdom will guide us. Now, let us make haste for the Mahanaxar, Legolas, for Angainor has been broken. Morgoth Bauglir has been set loose into the World."
Olorin turned around and continued on his way to Taniquetil. For a long while, Legolas Greenleaf stood alone in the midst of Lorien's gardens, unable to comprehend how Sauron's master was able to escape the eternal prison. He watched Olorin's back as it faded into the gathering mists and knew why the Maiar wanted him in the council of the gods.
"I have labored long for love of Middle-earth and faded," he said to the wind. The breeze touched his face, as if lamenting his sundering from the world. "Must I go again?"
The wind sang in his ear and a lone eagle streaked across the sky towards Taniquetil.
Legolas nodded to the sky. "Yes. I must." He followed after Olorin.
Definitions:
Aman - the hidden and secret land of the gods of Middle-earth, the Valar
Mindon Eldalieva (Tower of Ingwe)- the tower used by the High Elves much like the way we use lighthouses today
Olorin - Gandalf's name as a Maia in Valinor; for the elves in Middle-earth, he is known as Mithrandir.
Nienna - a Valieri or a female god/goddess; each Valar/Valieri stands for a virtue or special skill like the Greek/Roman/Scandinavian gods and goddesses of myth which influenced Tolkien; she is a goddess who frequents the same gardens (Lorien) where we find Legolas in this chapter; she is a sad goddess, more like a mother who eternally mourns the sufferings of the world/her children; Olorin/Gandlaf learned patience and endurance in hope from her
Mindon/Tol Eressea - the land of the ancient men from which Aragorn and half of Elrond's ancestry sprang from
Eldar - High Elves; the very first elves to come to life; these are the elves that never left Valinor for Middle-earth; historically, the race of elves were sundered (divided) when some of them left Valinor for Middle-earth and when some of those from Middle-earth stayed in Middle-earth and never set foot in Valinor.
Taniquetil - a high peak on the Pelori mountains in Valinor; this is the "lighthouse of all lighthouses"; the leader of all the gods stay up here to monitor the events in the world
Mahanaxar - a place where the Valar hold council; imagine the scene in the movie The Fellowship of the Ring when the Elves, Dwarves, etc. were debating what to do with the One Ring
Morgoth Bauglir - the god formerly known as Melkor; the Evil God; much like Satan/Lucifer in Christian religion; he envied the other gods even if the One (this is the God of all gods and of all creation and the universe, aka "Eru Iluvatar") gave him his own special gifts; he was Sauron's boss before Sauron came to power as an independent dark lord; see the opening quotation to this chapter
Angainor - the iron chain that was wrought by the gods to restrain Morgoth Bauglir long before the events of the LotR
Note: Sauron is not a god. He is a Maia (similar to the Christian concept of angels) and Olorin/Gandalf was his contemporary (before he turned nasty, that is.)