Years of the Sun
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
| The History of Arda |
|---|
| Ainulindalë |
| Years of the Lamps |
| Years of the Trees |
| Years of the Sun
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| Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar |
| Timeline of Arda |
The Years of the Sun is the last of the three great time-periods of Arda, together with the Years of the Lamps and the Years of the Trees. It begins with the first sunrise in conjunction with the Return of the Ñoldor to Middle-earth, and lasts until the present day. The Years of the Sun began sometime after the destruction of the Two Trees. Afterwards, the count of time was measured according to the sun's travels through the heavens and its change of direction and rotation. This continued throughout the rest of the Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar, including the First Age of the Children of Iluvatar, the Second, and the Third, and part of the Fourth in Tolkien's stories. Tolkien estimated that we are now living in the sixth or seventh age perhaps some fifteen thousand years after the sun first arose.
