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Moon

The Moon in a Decipher Card image

The Moon of the world of Arda was created by the Vala Aulë at the start of the First Age. He and his people made a vessel, to hold the radiance of the last flower of Telperion, the elder of the Two Trees of Valinor. The vessel of the moon was guided across the skies by Tilion, a Maia of Oromë.[1]

History[]

After Ungoliant destroyed Telperion, the silver tree of Valinor, Yavanna took its last flower and, to encase it, Aulë made a vessel called Isil the Sheen. Its counterpart, Anar the Fire-golden, was a fruit of Laurelin, and became the Sun. The Maia Tilion, a hunter of the company of the Vala Oromë, was chosen to guide the vessel of the Moon across the sky to illuminate Arda at night.[1] The moon's first rising was on the cusp of a new age: the Years of the Sun, FA 1.

"Isil was first wrought and made ready and first rose into the realm of the stars, and was the elder of the new lights, as was Telperion of the Trees."

The Moon was valued as higher than the Sun by the Elves, both because it came from the Elder Tree and had risen first; it had been made in memory of the Elves. The Sun, on the other hand, had been created for the sake of Men.

Etymology & other names[]

  • Rána ("The Wayward") was a name given by the Ñoldor elves.
  • Isil ("The Sheen") is the name given by the Vanyar elves of Valinor.[2]
  • Ithil is the Sindarin rendition of Anar, and more commonly used in Middle-earth.[3]
  • The Silver Flower' is poetic name for the Moon.
  • White Face is how Gollum referred to it.

In other versions[]

In the earlier tales of the First Age, given in The Book of Lost Tales Part One, the Moon was described in great detail as an immense island of crystal, designed after a rose from the ruined tree Silpion, and it was steered thanks to the ropes made by Ranuin and Fanuin.[4] On this island were the Mountains of the Moon, where the Man in the Moon built his minaret. It was also said that the youth Tilion was secretly in love with Urwendi (Arien), the maiden who guided the Sun, and that because he steered the Moon too close to the Sun, the Moon was burned, causing its darker spots.[5]

In the round-world version of the legendarium, the Sun and Moon were not the fruit of the Two Trees, but instead preceded the creation of the Trees. Instead, the Trees preserved the light of the Sun before Melkor tainted it when ravaging Arien.[citation needed]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XI: "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor"
  2. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part One. The Grey Annals
  3. Parma Eldalamberon, Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  4. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, chapter IX: "The Hiding of Valinor"
  5. The History of Middle-earth, The Book of Lost Tales Part One, chapter VIII: "The Tale of the Sun and Moon"

See also[]

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Maan
Albanian Hëna
Amharic ጨረቃ
Aramaic ܣܗܪܐ
Armenian Լուսին
Arabic القمر
Aromanian Lunâ
Azerbaijani Ay
Basque Ilargia
Belarusian Cyrillic Месяц
Bengali চাঁদ
Bosnian Mjesec
Breton Loar
Bulgarian Cyrillic Луна
Cambodian ព្រះចន្ទ
Catalan Lluna
Chechen Бутт
Cheyenne Taa'é-eše'he
Cornish Loor
Cree ᑎᐱᔅᑳᐅᐲᓯᒻ
Croatian Mjesec
Czech Měsíc
Danish Månen
Davehi ހަނދު
Dutch Maan
Estonian Kuu
Finnish Kuu
French Lune
Galician Lúa
Georgian მთვარე
German Mond
Greek Σελήνη
Gujarati ચંદ્ર
Hausa Wata
Hawaiian Mahina
Hebrew הירח
Hindi चन्द्रमा
Hungarian Hold
Icelandic Tunglið
Indonesian Bulan
Inuktitut ᑕᖅᑭᖅ
Irish Gaelic An Ghealach
Italian Luna
Japanese
Kabardian Мазэ
Kannada ಚಂದ್ರನ
Kazakh Ай (Cyrillic) Ay (Latin)
Korean
Kurdish مانگ
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Ай
Latvian Mēness
Laotian ດວງຈັນ
Lithuanian Mėnulis
Luxembourgish Äerdmound
Macedonian Cyrillic Месечина
Malagasy Volana
Maltese Qamar
Malaysian Bulan
Manx Yn Eayst
Marathi चंद्र
Mongolian Cyrillic Сар
Nāhuatl (Aztec) Metztli
Navajo Ooljééʼ
Nepalese चन्द्रमा
Old English Mōna
Pashto سپوږمۍ
Persian ماه
Polish Księżyc
Portuguese Lua
Punjabi ਚੰਦਰਮਾ
Querétaro Otomi Zänä
Romanian Lună
Romani Chhon
Romansh Glina
Russian Луна
Sanskrit चन्द्रः
Scottish Gaelic Gealach
Serbian Месец (Cyrillic) Mesec (Latin)
Serbo Croatian Mjesec
Sinhalese චන්ද්‍රයා
Slovak Mesiac
Slovenian Luna
Somali Bilaha
Spanish Luna
Sundanese Bulan
Swahili Mwezi
Swedish Månen
Tagalog Buwan
Tamil நிலா
Tatar Ай
Thai ดวงจันทร์
Tibetan ཟླ་བ།
Tajik Cyrillic Моҳтоб
Telugu చంద్రుడు
Turkish Ay
Turkmen
Urdu چاند
Ukrainian Cyrillic Місяць
Uzbek Ой (Cyrillic) Oy (Latin)
Vietnamese Mặt Trăng
Welsh Lleuad
Yiddish לבנה

References[]

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