Telperion and Laurelin
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Joined 09-26-09, id: 2096551, Profile Updated: 10-06-09

This is the combined account of Kyle the Nozy Co-Workerand Lilly McShepin.

Lilly speaks in italics. Kyle speaks in bold.

To my horror, I have found that this generation of people are seriously lacking in education.

Translation: People don’t know anything about Lord of the Rings besides what they learned in the movies.

Those… THINGS hardly deserve to share the same name as Tolkien’s books! Aragorn NEVER fell off the cliff! Legolas had just as many lines as anybody else! Arwen NEVER thought of leaving Middle Earth! Théoden was never TRULY possessed; he was merely… depressed…

This rant goes on for quite a bit, so let me edit: Lilly hates the movies. EXCEPT for whenever anybody quotes a line from the books, then she squeals and jumps around like an adolescent fourteen year old.

… I am going to ignore that comment.

Thank you.

Therefore, the story of Telperion and Laurelin will be posted on this profile, because I have found that even many of the Tolkien fans don’t know about them. So… here we go…


The first sources of light for all of Arda were once two enormous lamps, Illuin, the silver one to the north – and Ormal, the golden one to the south. But these were destroyed by the first dark lord, Melkor, and there was darkness in the world. The Valar went to Valinor and the Vala Yavanna sang into existence the Two Trees, silver Telperion and golden Laurelin. They shed light comparable to that of the moon and sun.

The Trees sat on the hill Ezellohar located outside of Valimar and they grew in the presence of all the Valar, watered by the tears of Nienna. Telperion was referred to as male and Laurelin as female.

Each tree was a source of light: Telperion’s silver and Laurelin’s gold. Telperion had dark leaves with silver on one side and his silvery dew was collected as a source of water and of light. Laurelin had pale green leaves trimmed with gold, and her dew was likewise collected by Varda.

One ‘day’ lasted for twelve hours and each tree, in turn, would give off light for seven hours so that one hour each of ‘dawn’ and ‘dusk’, soft gold and silver light would be given off together.

But Melkor (also known as Morgoth) was jealous and enlisted the help of the giant spider-creature Ungoliant to destroy the Two Trees. Concealed in a cloud of darkness, Melkor struck each Tree and the insatiable Ungoliant devoured whatever life and light remained in them, for their sap poured like blood.

Again, Yavanna sang and Nienna wept, but they only succeeded in reviving Telperion’s last flower and Laurelin’s last fruit. These were assigned to lesser spirits, male Tilion and female Arien and they became the moon and the sun.

However, the true light of the Trees, before their poisoning by Ungoliant, was said to now reside only in the Silmarils, which were created by Fëanor – the most gifted of the Elves.

Because the Elves that first came to Valinor especially loved Telperion, Yavanna made a second tree like it to stand in the city of Tirion where the Vanyar and Noldor first dwelt together. This tree, named Galathilion, was identical to Telperion except that it gave no light of its own being. It had many seedlings, one of which was named Celeborn and it was planted on the isle of Tol Eressea.

In the Second Age, a seedling of Celeborn was brought as a gift to the Numenoreans – that was Nimloth, the White Tree of Numenor. It lasted through the vast majority of the realm’s duration, but when Sauron took control of the island, he had king Ar-Pharazon chop it down.

Fortunately, Isildur managed to save a single fruit of the tree. This fruit later came to be the White Tree of Gondor.

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Titles by Lilly McShepin reviews
A father's thoughts upon his son. King, father, prince, and son... which ones truly matter?
Lord of the Rings - Rated: K - English - Family - Chapters: 1 - Words: 951 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 34 - Follows: 4 - Published: 8/28/2009 - Thranduil, Legolas - Complete
I Would Give You My Strength by PeppyPower reviews
Glorfindel eases the passing of a young elven warrior brought to the Last Homely House, only to find out that sometimes, true faith is not about believing but about letting go of belief. PreFotR, AU
Lord of the Rings - Rated: K+ - English - Drama - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,032 - Reviews: 24 - Favs: 46 - Follows: 5 - Published: 10/13/2008 - Glorfindel, Legolas - Complete