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Doors of Night

The Door of Night

The Door of Night (also called Moritarnon or Tarn Fui) was a place set at the utmost West of Arda near the Void. The Door was created by the Valar at the time of the making of the Sun and Moon. It was vital in the cosmology of Middle-earth, forming the border between Arda and the Void, as well as being the final prison of the renegade Vala Morgoth Bauglir.

Creation[]

The Door was created by the Valar as a gateway for the Sun. The following text from the Ainulindale describes their task:

Thus came it that the Gods dared a very great deed, the most mighty of their works; for making a fleet of magic rafts and boats with Ulmo's aid - and otherwise had none of these endured to sail upon the waters of Vai - they drew to the Wall of Things, and there they made the Door of Night.

[1]

Purpose[]

The Sun was to pass through the Door of Night as it travelled above Arda. When the Sun passed through the Door, night would fall upon Middle-earth. The Moon would then rise from its resting place and continue on its path over the Earth. The Sun would traverse the border of the Wall of the World, re-entering the world in the East, at the Gates of Morning. At the same time, the Moon would be sinking in the West and a new day would begin. At the conclusion of the War of Wrath, when Eärendil the Mariner sailed to Aman to beseech the aid of the Valar, Morgoth was imprisoned outside the Door of Night. The following is told in The Silmarillion:

"But Morgoth himself the Valar thrust through the Door of Night beyond the Walls of the World, into the Timeless Void; and a guard is set forever on those walls, and Eärendil keeps watch upon the ramparts of the sky."

At the "End of Days" (which is referenced to even in The Lord of the Rings by Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, and others), Morgoth shall return as Melkor by breaking the Door of Night, precipitating the Last Battle (Dagor Dagorath).

Location[]

A description of the location of the Door of Night is found in The Book of Lost Tales Part One:

About the World are the Ilurambar, or Walls of the World. They are as ice and glass and steel, being above all the imagination of the Children of Earth cold, transparent, and hard. They cannot be seen, nor can they be passed, save by the Door of Night. Within these walls the Earth is globed: above, below and upon all sides is Vaiya, the Enfolding Ocean. But this is more like to sea below the Earth and more like to air above the Earth.

[2]

Appearance[]

The Door of Night was likened to a huge gate of stone at the very edge of the world: the Ilurambar, invisible Walls of the World.

There it still stands, utterly black and huge against the deep-blue walls. Its pillars are of the mightiest basalt and its lintel likewise, but great dragons of black stone are carved thereon, and shadowy smoke pours slowly from their jaws.

Fate[]

In The Book of Lost Tales Part One the fate of the Door of Night in the West, and its counterpart, the Gates of Morning in the East, are documented as follows:

For 'tis said ere the Great end come Melko shall in some wise contrive a quarrel between Moon and Sun, and Ilinsor shall seek to follow Urwendi through the Gates, and when they are gone the Gates of both East and West will be destroyed, and Urwendi and Ilinsor shall be lost.

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Deur van die nag
Albanian Dera e natës
Amharic የሌሊት በር
Arabic باب الليل
Armenian Գիշերային դուռ
Assamese ৰাতিৰ দুৱাৰ
Azerbaijani Gecənin Qapısı
Basque Gaueko atea
Belarusian Cyrillic Дзверы ночы
Bengali রাতের দরজা
Bosnian Vrata noći
Bulgarian Cyrillic Врата на нощта
Cambodian ទ្វារពេលយប់
Catalan Porta de nit
Cebuano Pultahan sa gabii
Chinese 夜之门
Corsican Porta di notte
Croatian Vrata noći
Czech Dveře noci
Danish Nattens Port
Dogri रात दा दरवाजा
Dutch Deur van Nacht
Esperanto Pordo de nokto
Estonian Öö uks
Faroese Nátthurð
Filipino Pinto ng gabi
Finnish Yön ovi
French Porte de la Nuit
Frisian Doar fan Nacht (Western)
Galician Porta da Noite
Georgian ღამის კარი
German Tore der Nacht
Greek Πόρτα της νύχτας
Gujarati રાત્રિનો દરવાજો
Hausa Kofar dare
Hebrew שער הלילה
Hindi रात का दरवाजा
Hungarian Éjszaka-ajtaja
Icelandic Næturhurð
Indonesian Pintu Malam
Italian Porta della Notte
Irish Gaelic An Doras Hoíche
Japanese 夜のドア
Kannada ರಾತ್ರಿಯ ಬಾಗಿಲು
Kazakh Түнгі есік (Cyrillic) Tüngi esik (Latin)
Konkani रातचें दार
Korean 밤의 문
Kurdish دەرگای شەو (Sorani) Deriyê şevê (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Түн эшик
Laotian ປະຕູກາງຄືນ
Latin Nocturna-ianua
Latvian Durvju nakts
Lithuanian Nakties dury
Luxembourgish Dier vun Nuecht
Macedonian Cyrillic Вратата на ноќта
Malayalam രാത്രിയുടെ വാതിൽ
Malaysian Pintu Malam
Maltese Bieb bil-lejl
Marathi रात्रीचा दरवाजा
Mongolian Cyrillic Шөнийн хаалга
Nepalese रातको ढोका
Norwegian Nattdør
Odia ରାତିର ଦ୍ୱାର
Pashto د شپې دروازه
Persian دروازه‌های شب
Polish Brama Nocy
Portuguese Porta da noite
Punjabi ਰਾਤ ਦਾ ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ
Romanian Ușa nopții
Russian Врата Ночи
Scottish Gaelic Doras h-oidhche
Serbian Ноћна врата (Cyrillic) Noćna vrata (Latin)
Sindhi رات جو دروازو
Sinhalese රාත්රියේ දොර
Slovak Dvere noci
Slovenian Vrata noči
Somali Albaabka Habeenkii
Spanish Puertas de la Noche
Sundanese Peuting panto
Swahili Mlango wa Usiku
Swedish Nattdörr
Tajik Cyrillic дари шаб
Tamil இரவின் கதவு
Telugu రాత్రి తలుపు
Thai ประตูแห่งราตรี
Turkish Gecenin Kapısı
Turkmen Gijäniň Gapysy
Ukrainian Cyrillic Нічні двері
Urdu رات کا دروازہ
Uyghur كېچىنىڭ ئىشىكى
Uzbek Тунги эшик (Cyrillic) Tungi eshik (Latin)
Vietnamese Cửa đêm
Welsh Drws Nos
Xhosa Umnyango wobusuku
Yiddish טיר פון נאַכט
Yoruba Ilẹkun ti alẹ

References[]

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