Middle Earth, also known as Midgard or Middangeard, was, in Anglo-Saxon and Norse mythology, the name for Earth inhabited by and known to humans from the start of the mythological Years of the Lamps (c. 59,005 BC) to the division of the continents, the breakup of Middle Earth, and humanity's supposed loss of memory about Middle Earth and its history. According to the mythologist J.R.R. Tolkien, who first came across the term "Middle Earth" in the poem Crist by the Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf, Earth - once known as Arda - was created when the supreme deity Eru Ilúvatar ("Allfather") created the spirits named the Ainur (angels) from his thoughts and made divine music with them. Melkor, the most powerful of the Ainur, broke the harmony of the music, causing Ilúvatar to create a second theme and then a third theme, symbolizing the history of the whole universe and the Children of Ilúvatar that were to dwell in it - Men and Elves. Ilúvatar went on to create Eä (meaning "to be"), the universe, as well as Arda ("Earth"), the globe within the void of space; according to Bilbo Baggins' Translations from the Elvish, this creation transpired in circa 59,005 BC, inaugurating the "Years of the Lamps". This era lasted for 33,573 years (59,005-25,432 BC), during which the first 15 Ainur to descend into Arda, the Valar, chose the initial shape of Arda, creating the central continent of Middle Earth. The Valar concentrated the Earth's light in two lamps, Illuin and Ormal, and the Vala "Lord of Matter" Aulë forged the mountains Helcar in the north and Ringil in the south; Iluin was placed atop Helcar and Ormal atop Ringil. In the middle, the Valar dwelt on the island of Almaren upon the Great Lake. During this time, the Valar ordered the world as they wished and rested upon Almaren, while Melkor lurked beyond the Walls of Night. The "Spring of Arda" came to an end when Melkor attacked Arda and destroyed the Lamps of the Valar, darkening the Earth once again; the fall of the lamps spoiled Earth's symmetry, creating the continents of Aman in the west, Middle Earth in the middle, and the Land of the Sun in the east.
During the Years of the Trees (25,468-11,095 BC), the Valar abandoned Middle Earth and moved to the continent of Aman, where they built their second kingdom, Valinor. Aulë's spouse Yavanna, "Queen of the Earth", made the "Two Trees" of Telperion ("the silver tree") and Laurelin ("the golden tree") in Valinor, illuminating the continent and leaving Middle Earth to be lit only by stars. The first ten years of the Years of the Trees were marked by prosperity and peace, and the Vala "Lord of Wind, Air, and Clouds" Manwë created the Eagles (significantly larger than present-day eagles), Yavanna created the Ents (tree creatures), and Aulë created the Dwarves, although they were all placed into slumber until after the awakening of the Elves. During the next ten ages, Queen Varda rekindled the starts above Middle Earth, illuminating Middle Earth once again. the first Elves awoke in Cuiviénen in the middle of Middle Earth, marking the start of the first age of the Years of the Trees. Melkor approached the Elves and sought to enslave them, but the Valar and the lesser angels, the Maiar, came into Middle Earth and fought Melkor in the "War of the Powers". The angels defeated Melkor and brought him captive to Valinor, beginning the Peace of Arda. Afterwards, the Vala huntsman Oromë summoned the Elves to Aman, bringing many of the Elves westwards on the "Great Journey". However, the Nandor and Sindar Elves tarried, while the Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri Elvish clans arrived at Aman and made their home at Eldamar. After Melkor appeared to repent and was released after three ages, he stirred up a rivalry between the Noldorin king Finwe's sons Feanor and Fingolfin; with the help of Ungoliant, he killed Finwe and stole the Silmarils, three of Feanor's gems, which contained the light of the Two Trees. He also destroyed the Trees of Valar, and the world once again became dark. Feanor decided to pursue Melkor and cursed him with the name "Morgoth", and Fingolfin followed Feanor to Alqualonde, the port city of the Teleri. There, Feanor slew Fingolfin in the first ever kinslaying, leading to a curse being placed on the Noldorin forever. Feanor's host proceeded to sail to Middle Earth on the Teleri ships, while Fingolfin's host crossed to Middle Earth on the Grinding Ice in the far north, losing many. The War of the Great Jewels followed, lasting until the end of the First Age. Meanwhile, the Valar took the last living fruit of Lorelin and the last living flower of Telperion and used them to create the Moon and the Sun, respectively; these remained a part of Arda, but were separate from Ambar (the rest of the world). The first rising of the sun over Ambar heralded the end of the Years of the Trees and started the Years of the Sun and the First Age, which began in 11,095 BC.
Later in the First Age, the Humans followed the Elves in awakening. Feanor was killed in battle with Morgoth's Balrogs, but his sons and those of Fingolfin founded their own realms, with Fingolfin's followers reaching Beleriand. The Noldor besieged Morgoth's stronghold of Angband until a centuries-long peace was implemented, allowing for the Men to arrive over the Blue Mountains. However, Morgoth broke the siege in the "Battle of Sudden Flame", and the Elves, Humans, and Dwarves were defeated at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, causing the kingdoms to fall one by one, including the hidden kingdoms of Doriath and Gondolin. At the end of the First Age in 10,505 BC, all that remained of free Elves and Men in Beleriand was a settlement at the mouth of the River Sirion and another on the Isle of Balar. The half-elf Eärendil the Mariner possessed the Silmaril which his wife Elwing's grandparents Beren and Luthien had taken from Morgoth, but Feanor's sons continued to maintain that all the Silmarils belonged to them, leading to two more kinslayings. Eärendil and Ewing crossed the Great Sea to beg the Valar for aid against Morgoth, resulting in the War of Wrath, during which Morgoth was utterly defeated and expelled into the Void in 10,505 BC. However, most of Beleriand was destroyed in the process.
The start of the Second Age in 10,505 BC saw the founding of the human kingdom of Numenor, an island in the Great Sea, and the White Tree of Numenor was planted in the capital of Armenelos. The Elves were pardoned for Feanor's sins and were allowed to return home to the Undying Lands. The Numenorians became great seafarers and lived far longer than other men, sailing to Middle Earth and teaching the humans there valuable skills. However, they became jealous of the Elves' immortality. Morgoth's chief servant Sauron disguised himself as Annatar and taught the Elves of Eregion the craft of creating Rings of Power, making seven rings for the Dwarves and nine for Men (the Ringwraiths), and he built the stronghold of Barad-dur and secretly forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom to control the other rings and their bearers. Feanor's grandson Celebrimbor forged three of his own mighty rings: Vilya, which was passed down from the Elven king Gil-galad to Elrond; Nenya, wielded by Galadriel; and Narya, passed down from Cirdan to Gandalf.
As soon as Sauron put on the One Ring, the Elves removed their three rings after realizing that they had been betrayed, and, while he was unable to suborn the Dwarves, he turned the nine Men ringbearers into his "Ringwraiths" (Nazgul). Sauron nearly destroyed the Elves utterly during the Dark Years, but the Numenoreans came to the Elves' aid and crushed Sauron's forces, forcing Sauron to swear vengeance and bide his time. The last King of Numenor, Ar-Pharazon, humbled Sauron and brought him to Numenor as a hostage, but Sauron gained Ar-Pharazon's trust and became his High Priest of the Cult of Melkor. The faithful Numenoreans, who still worshipped the one God, were persecuted by the King's Men, who sacrificed them in the name of Melkor. Sauron then convinced Ar-Pharazon to invade Aman in exchange for immortality, and the Faithful's chief Amandil sailed westward to warn the Valar as his son Elendil and Elendil's sons Isildur and Anarion fled eastwards with a seedling of the White Tree of Numenor before Sauron destroyed it. When Ar-Pharazon's men invaded Aman, the Valar laid down their guardianship of the world and called on Ilúvatar to intervene.
Ilúvatar changed the world into a sphere and removed the continent of Aman, although he enabled the Elves to access an exclusive sailing route from Middle Earth to Aman. Numenor was utterly destroyed by drowning, as was Sauron's body, but Sauron's spirit returned to Mordor, where he again took up the One Ring and gathered his strength once more. Elendil, his sons, and the rest of the Faithful founded the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, and the Elves allied with the Men to form the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. For seven years, the Alliance besieged Barad-dur, and, while Sauron slew Kings Elendil and Gil-galad, Isildur took up the hilt of Narsil and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand. Sauron was defeated, marking the end of the Second Age and the start of the Third Age in 7,064 BC, but Isildur ignored Elrond's counsel and decided to keep the One Ring as wergild (blood money) for his father's death; the Ring betrayed Isildur and slipped from his finger as he fled from an ambush by Orcs at the Gladden Fields, where he was killed by an Orcish arrow.
The 3,021-year-long Third Age saw the kingdom of Arnor divide into three kingdoms, each of which were conquered by Sauron's vassal kingdom of Angmar. Meanwhile, Gondor declined due to kin-strife, plague, Wainriders, and Corsairs, and the House of the Stewards came to rule in place of the Kings of Gondor. Meanwhile, the heirs of Isildur from Arnor wandered Middle Earth, aided only by Elrond of Rivendell. The Third Age was marked by the waning of the Elves, many of whom left for Valinor at the start of the conflict. However, the Elven kingdoms of Lindon, Lothlorien, and Mirkwood survived, and the Elves devoted themselves to artistic pleasures. The Wizards Gandalf and Saruman arrived in circa 6,064 BC to aid the Free Peoples against Sauron, and the hobbit Gollum found the One Ring and, tempted her, he went into hiding in the Misty Mountains. A great plague devastated Rhun, and, by late TA 1635 (5,429 BC), the plague spread to the Wilderland and killed more than half the population. A year later, the plague spread into Gondor and Eriador, killing King Telemnar, his children, and the White Tree; the capital of Osgiliath was decimated, and the seat of government moved to Minas Tirith. In Eriador, the nascent Hobbit realm of the Shire suffered great loss during the Dark Plague.
In TA 2063 (5001 BC), Gandalf went to Dol Guldur, forcing Sauron to flee to the far east. In 2460 TA (4604 BC), Sauron returned with new strength, facing a strengthened Gondor. Gondor was threatened by Minas Morgul on their flank, as well as by the Orcs of Mordor and the corsairs of Umbar. While Arnor vanished, the Hobbits of the Shire prospered, colonizing Buckland. Durin's Dwarves abandoned Erebor and left for the Grey Mountains, where most of their new kin gathered. Sauron proceeded to ally himself with the tribes of the Easterlings, and the conflict climaxed with the Battle of Five Armies on 23 November TA 2941 (4123 BC), breaking the power of the Northern Orcs. Sauron recovered, in TA 3018 (4046 BC), he embarked on a campaign to recover the One Ring, resulting in the War of the Ring. The war ended a year later in 3019 (4045 BC), resulting in Sauron's demise, Aragorn coming to rule over the restored Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor as the husband of Elrond's daughter Arwen (for the last time adding Elvish blood to the royal line), and Gandalf, the destroyer of the ring Frodo Baggins, and many of the remaining Elves of Middle Earth sailing from the Grey Havens to Aman.
The Fourth Age, which began in 4043 BC, saw most Elves leave for Valinor and Men come to rule over the world. Most of the Elves who remained in Middle Earth faded and diminished, and, while the Dwarven kingdom of Erebor allied itself with Gondor and Arnor and Khazad-dum was refounded, the Dwarves ultimately disappeared from human history as well. In FA 120 (3923 BC), Aragorn and Arwen's son Eldarion became King of Gondor and Arnor, and, after Aragorn's death, Legolas departed Middle Earth for Valinor, taking Gimli with him and ending the Fellowship of the Ring in Middle Earth. Eldarion reigned for 100 years after Aragorn's death, building a great and long-endoring realm, but the lifespan of the royal house was not restored and diminished until it was like that of ordinary Men. The legend of Middle Earth came to an end with Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse, including the world's breaking and remaking, the recovery of the Silmarilli, and a final battle called Dagor Dagorath. The retreat or disappearance of all other intelligent species were said to have left humans as the dominant race on Earth, and further geological events were said to have reshaped the Earth into its present continents. During the Fifth Age, Middle Earth was said to have fragmented into several continents, with the Shire aligning with England, Gondor aligning with Italy and Greece, Mordor aligning with Sicily, South Gondor and Near Harad aligning with North Africa, Rhovanion aligning with the forests of Germany and the steppes of western and southern Russia, the Ice Bay of Forochel aligning with the fjords of Norway, Far Harad aligning with southern Africa, and Rhun corresponding to Asia. The ancient mythology surrounding Middle Earth was said to have inspired the continuing tales of Dwarves and Elves in both Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology and in the literature of the Middle Ages, and Middle Earth mythology was most often seen as a reconstructed or "imagined prehistory" of the Earth, explaining how humans came to dominate the world, how the mythical creatures of medieval literature were first recorded, and how Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology derived their legends from what Middle Earth mythology would claim was a lost epoch of human history.
Eras[]
- Years of the Lamps (59,005 BC-25,468 BC) - Earth created; Melkor destroys the Two Lamps; Earth's symmetry broken; Aman and Middle Earth created; the Valar move to Aman
- Years of the Trees (25,468-11,095 BC) - Melkor steals the Silmarils; Ungoliant kills the Two Trees of Valinor
- First Age (11,095 BC-10,505 BC) - War of Wrath: Morgoth's defeat in Beleriand; Thangorodrim broken; most of Beleriand drowned
- Second Age (10,505-7064 BC) - Sauron's first downfall; the world made round; Numenor drowned; Valinor removed from Earth
- Third Age (7064 BC-4043 BC) - War of the Ring: final defeat of Sauron, destruction of the One Ring; Elves depart from Middle Earth
- Fourth Age (4043 BC-?)
- Fifth Age - Middle Earth breaks up, continents rearrange, Middle Earth passes into legend
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