Chapter 3
Chapter Two
Of the Creation and the Elder Years of Ea
In the beginning, Eä, the world that is, was foreshadowed in the Void as a dream of the first lords, the Ainur, who sang at the command of Eru, the One, who is called by his children, Ilúvatar. By His Will, a vision of Eä was formed from their music, for the potency of the Imperishable Flame dwelt within them and lit their works in praise of His Name. Then of the Ainur, some clove to the vision of Eä 'til its ending and committed themselves to creating it, and through their long labors Arda, the world, was realized amidst the Void.
Into the world many great spirits of the Ainur came, and these are the gods, for in them burned the Imperishable Flame of Ilúvatar. They divided among them their powers in Arda, to govern each according to the composition of their music in the Song. Seven Valar, High Lords there were, and seven Valier, High Queens as well. The greatest of these were Manwë, Aulë, and Ulmo, but the greatest of all was the first enemy, Melkor who is named not amongst them. Also into the world came many kinds of spirits, of lesser power but no less hallowed, and amongst these were the Maiar.
Long ere the first of days of the Sun they contested for the mastery of Arda, and Melkor's defeat was incomplete so that his designs survived to take form again and again, and this too was in the Song. So Arda was conceived in conflict, and battle comes to the world from the powers above, for it was in the first making of Eä, ere it was given form. And war shalt follow in Arda down the halls of time, even unto the ending of days.
From the beginning of time in Arda, many Ages of the world passed in battle with Melkor and his servants. The Valar built great lamps to light the world and Melkor threw them down. The Valar grew Laurelin and Telperion, great trees with radiant blossoms that lit the Blessed Realm of Aman, and Melkor destroyed them. The First Age of the Sun ended with The War of Wrath and the o'erthrow of Melkor, who had been named Morgoth. Yet the victory was incomplete, for Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron had fled. The Second Age ended with the War of the Last Alliance, when Sauron was thrown down and his One Ring of Power was taken. But again the victory was incomplete, for neither the Ring, nor Sauron, were destroyed. The Third Age culminated in the War of the Ring, when Ring of Power was destroyed and Sauron's evil dispersed, but it is held to have only truly ended with the passing of the Ringbearers from the shores of Middle Earth.
In the deeds of these Three Ages of the Sun one can discern the diminishing of nobility and spirit that the days have wrought upon the mortal world. From the majesty of the Ainur, whom Men and Elves call the Valar, to the fading of the Eldar and the rise of Men, the thread of the Imperishable Flame has faded in the hearts of those who dwell in Arda. Once there lived immortals bright, Elves and Gods, wizards, Dwarves, monsters, and the Maiar, spirits of great power. In these latter days 'tis only mortal Men who walk the earth, and even these art lessened from the nobility of their ancestors through the mingling of their blood and the ceaseless, tiresome grinding of time.
Yet at the beginning of the Fourth Age there still walked among Men, those strains that had come down from Valinor in the earliest days of the world, for amongst them lived the line of kings, scions of Númenor. In them persisted the blood of the Eldar and of the Maiar, for the first king was Elros Tar-Minyatur, son of Eärendil and Elwing. Eärendil was the son of Tuor, a mortal warrior, descendant of the Houses of Bëor and Hador, born of Idril Celebrindal, a Princess of the Noldor and daughter of the Elven King, Turgon of Gondolin. Elwing was the daughter of Dior, but the root of his lineage was founded in the love of Elwë Singollo, King Thingol of the Silvan Elves of Doriath, and Melian the Maia, a kinswoman of Yavanna, Goddess of the Earth, Bringer of Fruits, and Patron of Growing Things. Through Thingol and Melian's daughter, Lúthien, and her beloved mortal warrior Beren, the lineages of both Eldar and Maiar passed into Elwing and thence to the race of kings.
And once long ago, as the Fourth Age opened in celebration of the defeat of the great enemy Sauron, that strain of mythic blood had been reinforced one final time. The first queen had been Arwen, daughter of Elrond, who was himself a son of Eärendil and Elwing, and the brother of the first Númenórean king, Elros Tar-Minyatur. The first king of the Fourth Age was Elessar, Aragorn, last heir of Númenor in the Third Age, and a direct descendant through Eärendil to the legacy of Tuor, Idril, Turgon, Beren, Lúthien, Thingol, and Melian. In the union of Aragorn and Arwen, the lineages descending from the Maiar of Valinor, the High Elves, and the Edain, the Fathers of Men, were reunited and preserved into the diminished world of the Age of Men, the Fourth Age of the Sun.
In the days of their union came the restoration of the North and South Kingdoms; Arnor and Gondor, the reunited realm of the Exiled Númenóreans. In the reign of King Elessar, much of the grandeur that had once flourished was reborn for a time. Minas Tirith, the steadfast Tower of Guard was rededicated, reclaiming its ancient name, Minas Anor, Tower of the Sun. Osgiliath, the great city that sat astride the river Anduin was rebuilt in the south, whilst in the north, Annúminas, Fornost, and the tower of Amon Sûl rose again from their ruins. Elostirion, the Tower of Emyn Beraid, and the fortress of Orthanc were occupied again. And the Tower of Sorcery, Minas Morgul, once King Isildur's fair Tower of the Moon, was razed to the ground.
King Elessar was crowned on May the 1st of 3,019 of the Third Age, but the Fourth Age did not begin for almost another two and a half years. On September 29th of 3,021 the Ringbearers sailed to Aman in the West, and just ere the winter solstice, word of their passing reached the king's ears in Minas Anor. With the two Hobbits had gone Galadriel and Elrond and Mithrandir. They had borne away on the Straight Road 'cross the waves, Nenya, the Ring of Water, wrought of mithril and set with a diamond, golden Vilya, the Ring of Air with its great blue sapphire, and Narya, the Ring of Fire that bore a flaming ruby. The end had come of the Elven Rings of Power, leaving mankind to order the ways of Middle Earth.
Then Aragorn, the King Elessar, had ordered carvers from the Lonely Mountain to alter the emblem on the wall behind his throne in the Hall of Kings. There above the White Tree of Gondor the stone-wrights of Erebor carved the Seven Stars and High Crown that had completed the livery of Elendil¹, first High King of the united realm of the Exiled Númenóreans in Middle Earth. Upon the traceries and Tengwar script, mithril² was overlain so that they flared in the least rays of the sun, and with the blazing gems of adamant set as flowers upon the boughs of the White Tree, henceforth backed the king's throne with a radiance of blessed light. With the passing of the Three Rings, Aragorn took up the symbols and the rule of the coming Age of Men. And for Elves, the fading quickened. ¹("…upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count." LotR,Book 5, Ch. 6, pg 829 ISBN 0-7394-0825-9) ²(Mithril, True Silver, or Moria Silver. Sindarin See LotR; Book 2, Ch. 4, pgs. 309-10)
Of the War of the Ring and the great deeds done in that time, much has been written. Yet many stories saw not the attention of scribes, nor were remembered in the songs of bards. Many had fallen in the war, for many had fought the Shadow. In many lands good and evil had contested, not only in Gondor, or in Rohan, or in the Black Land of Mordor. Battle flared 'cross Wilderland; in Mirkwood, in the woodland realm of the Elven King Thranduil, in the Dwarvish realm of King Dain, at Esgaroth and Dale, and in Eriador to the west of the Misty Mountains.
All these lands had their heroes, their enemies, their fallen, and their survivors. All had their stories to tell, adding their sorrow and their wisdom to that tapestry that life calls history. But history is a glass that stretches and misshapes the images it transmits. Memory fades, records are lost, and civilizations fall. 'Cross the sea of years, the deeds of the present drift to the provinces of forgetfulness, or of legend, or of myth. And to those who would seek the truth of past ages, only the distant echoes of tales and the fragments of stone can speak with muffled and quavering voices. Their whispers tickle the ears, and the mind is led to dreams of what went before…perhaps the hopes, the fears, and the loves long lost.
To Be Continued