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Huinesoron · 01-07-2021, 08:17 AM

A little extra speculation:

The Seventh Age

Do Catholics believe in the literal End of the World, as seen in the Book of Revelations? Given the connection of the number seven to endings in both Christianity (seven days of creation) and Middle-earth (Durin the Seventh and Last), it seems feasible that Tolkien would view the Seventh Age as the last Age - the time of Armageddon and the Second Coming. He may have viewed the World Wars as harbingers of the End, hence his "or in the Seventh".

The Ages in History

That Egyptian calendar date lets us neatly pin down the canonical Ages of Middle-earth, and specifically to see what the world looked like back then:

6th Age: 1AD to present. We know this one.

5th Age: 2160 BC to 1BC. The Middle Bronze Age right through to the founding of the Roman Empire. An interesting historical coincidence is that the final end of the Egyptian kingdom occured in 30 BC, just before our epoch marker.

4th Age: 4241BC to 2160BC. Begins in the late Neolithic, with the Bronze Age and the origins of writing coming in the first 500-700 years of the Age. A lot of the world's oldest civilisations trace their beginnings to 4000-3000 BC. The Age started with a global drying event - aftereffects from the fall of Mordor? King Elessar Telcontar of Gondor lived until 4121 BC, with his heir Eldarion dying shortly before the 4000 BC mark. They predate recorded history by over 500 years.

3rd Age: 7262 BC to 4241 BC. The Neolithic Revolution reaches Europe at the beginning of the Age, spreading from the Near East. In Middle-earth terms, that's not really a spread: the Near East Neolithic was the Entwives at work, while the 'spread' was the Numenoreans arriving. The Shadow falls on Mirkwood around 6200 BC, roughly when Britain was split off from Europe to become an island. Towards the end of the age, Proto Indo-European becomes the primary language of Europe - pretty clearly, it's Westron, and will last until the late Fourth Age.

2nd Age: 10704 BC to 7262 BC. This Age marks the beginning of the shift from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic in Middle-earth. The first agriculture appears, and the glaciers finally retreat from the North. Very little changes in most of Middle-earth during this period, though in the Near East technology begins to take off - probably Sauron at work. Jericho was founded at the beginning of the Age. Numenor, obviously, isn't in our geological record.

1st Age (of the Sun):11294 BC to 10704 BC. Morgoth's return sparks a brief glacial period, as one might expect (the Younger Dryas). The first evidence of warfare dates from this time, as does the second evidence of domestication of animals (sheep, goats, maybe pigs; dogs were MUCH earlier). At about this time, Hunter-Gatherers from the Caucasus region migrated into Europe - we know them as Caucasians, but the Legendarium calls them Edain.

Ages of the Stars and Trees: Unclear dating. For certain, the Years of the Trees include the warm period between the last Ice Age and the Younger Dryas (13000-11000 BC). Per the timeline, that's either the period after the Awakening of the Elves (using 'calculated Years of the Sun'), or the entire period of the Trees (if we take 'Valian Years' to equal Years of the Sun). Before that... well, before that you have tens of thousands of years of ice, punctuated by brief warm spells. For a planet that was at all times mostly controlled (openly or in secret) by Melkor, the Vala of the Cold Dark, that fits very well.

EDIT: Of course, this would mean there was no steel in Middle-earth prior to the end of the tales. If I were writing a story in this framework, I'd probably treat mithril as bronze, with bronzeworking being a well-kept secret of the dwarves and elves until the Fourth Age. Some named weapons would be of thunderbolt iron. Numenorean blades might be obsidian - their island is clearly volcanic, and obsidian can take a sharper edge than steel. Most other weapons would be stone - you can have hafted stone axes by the First Age no problem, and can even make a decent sword along the Aztec Maquahuitl model. And of course, stone arrowheads are known in English folklore as 'elfshot'...

hS

01-07-2021, 08:17 AM	#2
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,781	A little extra speculation: The Seventh Age Do Catholics believe in the literal End of the World, as seen in the Book of Revelations? Given the connection of the number seven to endings in both Christianity (seven days of creation) and Middle-earth (Durin the Seventh and Last), it seems feasible that Tolkien would view the Seventh Age as the last Age - the time of Armageddon and the Second Coming. He may have viewed the World Wars as harbingers of the End, hence his "or in the Seventh". The Ages in History That Egyptian calendar date lets us neatly pin down the canonical Ages of Middle-earth, and specifically to see what the world looked like back then: 6th Age: 1AD to present. We know this one. 5th Age: 2160 BC to 1BC. The Middle Bronze Age right through to the founding of the Roman Empire. An interesting historical coincidence is that the final end of the Egyptian kingdom occured in 30 BC, just before our epoch marker. 4th Age: 4241BC to 2160BC. Begins in the late Neolithic, with the Bronze Age and the origins of writing coming in the first 500-700 years of the Age. A lot of the world's oldest civilisations trace their beginnings to 4000-3000 BC. The Age started with a global drying event - aftereffects from the fall of Mordor? King Elessar Telcontar of Gondor lived until 4121 BC, with his heir Eldarion dying shortly before the 4000 BC mark. They predate recorded history by over 500 years. 3rd Age: 7262 BC to 4241 BC. The Neolithic Revolution reaches Europe at the beginning of the Age, spreading from the Near East. In Middle-earth terms, that's not really a spread: the Near East Neolithic was the Entwives at work, while the 'spread' was the Numenoreans arriving. The Shadow falls on Mirkwood around 6200 BC, roughly when Britain was split off from Europe to become an island. Towards the end of the age, Proto Indo-European becomes the primary language of Europe - pretty clearly, it's Westron, and will last until the late Fourth Age. 2nd Age: 10704 BC to 7262 BC. This Age marks the beginning of the shift from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic in Middle-earth. The first agriculture appears, and the glaciers finally retreat from the North. Very little changes in most of Middle-earth during this period, though in the Near East technology begins to take off - probably Sauron at work. Jericho was founded at the beginning of the Age. Numenor, obviously, isn't in our geological record. 1st Age (of the Sun):11294 BC to 10704 BC. Morgoth's return sparks a brief glacial period, as one might expect (the Younger Dryas). The first evidence of warfare dates from this time, as does the second evidence of domestication of animals (sheep, goats, maybe pigs; dogs were MUCH earlier). At about this time, Hunter-Gatherers from the Caucasus region migrated into Europe - we know them as Caucasians, but the Legendarium calls them Edain. Ages of the Stars and Trees: Unclear dating. For certain, the Years of the Trees include the warm period between the last Ice Age and the Younger Dryas (13000-11000 BC). Per the timeline, that's either the period after the Awakening of the Elves (using 'calculated Years of the Sun'), or the entire period of the Trees (if we take 'Valian Years' to equal Years of the Sun). Before that... well, before that you have tens of thousands of years of ice, punctuated by brief warm spells. For a planet that was at all times mostly controlled (openly or in secret) by Melkor, the Vala of the Cold Dark, that fits very well. EDIT: Of course, this would mean there was no steel in Middle-earth prior to the end of the tales. If I were writing a story in this framework, I'd probably treat mithril as bronze, with bronzeworking being a well-kept secret of the dwarves and elves until the Fourth Age. Some named weapons would be of thunderbolt iron. Numenorean blades might be obsidian - their island is clearly volcanic, and obsidian can take a sharper edge than steel. Most other weapons would be stone - you can have hafted stone axes by the First Age no problem, and can even make a decent sword along the Aztec Maquahuitl model. And of course, stone arrowheads are known in English folklore as 'elfshot'... hS Last edited by Huinesoron; 01-07-2021 at 10:37 AM.