CHARTS
Tolkien’s imaginary world is of enormous complexity and richness and encompasses thousands of years of history, a detailed (and changing) geography, and a diversity of peoples, cultures, and languages. For all that, his major fictional works—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion—wear this “world-building” lightly, for newcomer and initiate alike; the details of Tolkien’s legendarium can sometimes bewilder, even as it fascinates and beguiles.
The following pages bring together a number of charts, tables, and chronologies that will help the reader negotiate the byzantine byways of Middle-earth with all the ease and wisdom of Elrond of Rivendell. There is a chronology of the major events from the Creation to the beginning of the Fourth Age, as well as others tracing the histories of the Rings of Power and Gollum. There are charts showing the “evolution” of various kindreds—among the Elves, Men, Hobbits, and Dwarves—and still others detailing the astonishing wealth of flora and fauna that Tolkien created for his world. Two tables detail the connections between Tolkien’s Valar and Maiar and the gods of the Norse and Greco-Roman pantheons.
While mastery of such detail is hardly necessary for an appreciation of Tolkien’s greatness as a writer of narrative and fantasy fiction, it does nonetheless contribute to our sense of the immensity of the feat of the imagination that is Middle-earth, and of the mythological, philological, historical, and literary sources that underlie it—buried, so to speak, within its geology.
A CHRONOLOGY OF
THE UNDYING LANDS
CREATION
Eru the One (“He that is Alone”)
Ainur conceived
Timeless Halls fashioned
Music of the Ainur
Vision of Eä
Creation of Arda
SHAPING OF ARDA
YEAR 1: 1ST VALARIAN AGE
Valar and Maiar enter Arda
Arda shaped by Valar
First War
Arda marred
Melkor expelled
AGES OF THE LAMPS
YEAR 5000: 5TH VALARIAN AGE
Lamps of the Valar forged
Spring of Arda begins
Valar found Almaren
Great Forests of Arda grow
Melkor founds Utumno
Rebel Maiar enter Arda
Lamps and Almaren destroyed
Spring of Arda ends
AGES OF THE TREES
YEAR 10,000: 10TH VALARIAN AGE
Years of Bliss
Valinor founded
City of Valimar founded
Trees of the Valar created
Eagles conceived by Manwë
Yavanna visits Middle-earth
Ents conceived by Yavanna
Oromë visits Middle-earth
Varda gathers light for Stars
Melian departs to Middle-earth
Oromë reports awakening of Elves
Valar depart for War of Powers
Chaining of Melkor
Peace of Arda begins
Summons of the Valar
Vanyar and Noldor settle in Eldamar
City of Tirion founded
Teleri arrive on Tol Eressea
Teleri build first ships
Haven of Alqualondë founded
Noldor forge Elven jewels
Silmarils forged
Melkor unchained
Peace of Arda ends
Trees of the Valar destroyed
First kinslaying of Elves
Flight of the Noldor
FIRST AGE OF SUN
YEAR 30,000: 30TH VALARIAN AGE
Moon and Sun fashioned by Valar
Melian the Maia returns to Valinor
Valar depart for War of Wrath
Melkor/Morgoth Expelled
SECOND AGE OF SUN
YEAR 30,600: 31ST VALARIAN AGE
Avallónë founded
Valar create Númenor
Ban of the Valar
Númenor–Elves alliance
Gift of Palantíri to Númenor
Númenórean Armada
Destruction of Númenor
Change of the World
THIRD AGE OF SUN
YEAR 34,000: 34TH VALARIAN AGE
Long peace of Valinor begins
Istari chosen from Maia Spirits
Istari depart for Middle-earth
Eldar ships from Lothlórien arrive
Eldar ships from Dol Amroth arrive
Valar reject Sauron’s spirit
Ringbearers’ ships arrive
FOURTH AGE OF SUN
YEAR 37,000: 37TH VALARIAN AGE
Last Eldar Ship of Arrives
A CHRONOLOGY OF THE MORTAL
LANDS OF MIDDLE-EARTH
CREATION
Eru the One (“He that is Alone”)
Ainur conceived
Timeless Halls fashioned
Music of the Ainur
Vision of Eä
Creation of Arda
SHAPING OF ARDA
(YEAR 1—1ST VALARIAN AGE)
Valar and Maiar enter Arda
Arda shaped by Valar
First War
Arda marred
Melkor expelled
AGES OF DARKNESS
YEAR 1: DARK AGE
(YEAR 5000 VALARIAN AGE)
Melkor in Utumno
Melkor’s Lord of Middle-earth
Sleep of Yavanna Begins
Melkor builds Angband
Balrogs and Great Spiders appear
Werewolves and Vampires appear
Dwarves conceived by Aulë
AGES OF STARS
YEAR 1: STAR AGE
(YEAR 10,000 VALARIAN AGE)
Varda rekindles Stars
Elves awakened
Ents awakened
Dwarves awakened
Orcs bred in Angband
Trolls bred
Dwarves found Khazad-dum
Great Journey of Elves begins
Melian the Maia in Beleriand
Great Journey of Elves ends
Dwarves found Nogrod
Dwarves found Belegost
Sindar found Doriath
Sindar delve Menegroth
Laiquendi enter Ossiriand
FIRST AGE OF SUN
YEAR 1: FIRST AGE
(YEAR 30,000 VALARIAN AGE)
Moon and Sun first appear
Men awaken in East
War of Jewels begins
Men appear in Beleriand
Dragons bred in Angband
Noldor kingdoms destroyed
Sindar kingdoms destroyed
War of Wrath and Great Battle
Morgoth cast into Void
SECOND AGE OF SUN
YEAR 1: SECOND AGE
(C. YEAR 30,600 VALARIAN AGE)
Gil-galad founds Lindon
Círdan founds Grey Havens
Edain arrive in Númenor
Sauron established in Mordor
Elven-smiths found Eregion
The One Ring is forged
War of Sauron and Elves
Eregion destroyed
Refuge of Rivendell secured
Nazgûl Ringwraiths appear
Downfall of Númenor
Last Alliance of Elves and Men
Defeat of Sauron and Mordor
THIRD AGE OF SUN
YEAR 1: THIRD AGE
(C. YEAR 34,000 VALARIAN AGE)
The One Ring lost
Easterling invasions begin
Rise of Ship Kings of Gondor
Sauron the Necromancer reappears
Hobbits first recorded in histories
Witch-king in Angmar
Great Plague
End of North Kingdom of Arnor
Balrog appears in Moria
The One Ring found
Uruk-hai and Olog-hai bred
Dragons reappear in north
War of Dwarves and Orcs
Death of Smaug the Golden
War of the Ring
Sauron’s Final defeat
Ringbearers’ Ships sail west
FOURTH AGE OF SUN
YEAR 1: FOURTH AGE
(C. YEAR 37,000 VALARIAN AGE)
Dominion of Men begins
Last Elven Ships sails west
