The Time Frame In The Book Is Extremely Long

by Camelot_2000

"It would be interesting to know if Middle-Earth had the same 12 months per year as we do."

In the days of "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" there was a 12 month calendar.

"Everyone, even the humans, lived longer than a 100 years. Example:

Gollum...
Bilbo..."

The great age of Gollum and to a lesser extent Bilbo is completely due to the power of the Ring.

"Sauron..."

He is like an evil angel.

"The Ents..."

They are related to trees which can live thousands of years in our world.

All of that is possible in a fantasy story.

BB ;-)

it is just in my opinion - imo - 🌈

You really need to read The Sil, in order to get a proper sense of the timeframes. And, it is a great read!

Look- its trying to think!

I've tried to read the Sil, can't seem to get into it.

Renee
Lestatic #15
My very randomness astounds people!

by Rowan222;

"I've tried to read the Sil, can't seem to get into it."

I've got two suggestions about that.

1. Try starting to read "The Silmarillion" with Chapter 6 "Of Feanor And The Unchaining Of Melkor".
This is where the meat of the story begins which affects all of Tolkien's Middle-earth fiction which occurs at later times.

(Starting with Chapter 6 also bypasses the more Biblical introductory sections of the Sil which can be more daunting to read.)

2. If beginning to read Chapter 6 of the Sil does not work, then I suggest trying another of Tolkien's books; "The Children of Hurin".
Tolkien's son Christopher was able to put together the most in-depth and complete story from the Silmarillion into its own separate book.
"The Children of Hurin" is more in the style of a Tolkien novel which is familiar to readers of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings".

Imo at least, BB ;-)

it is just in my opinion - imo - 🌈

I'll give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome. 

it is just in my opinion - imo - 🌈

The Return of the King has Appendix D, "The Calendars", about the calendars which were used in Middle-earth and the translator's efforts to get the dates right.

It also has Appendix B, "The Tale of Years", which gives a chronology of the 3,441 years of the Second Age, the 3,021 years of the Third Age, and a few later dates with the fates of various characters up to Fourth Age 120.

The First Age of The Sun, the last part of the Elder Days,lasted for about 600 Years of The Sun.

The History of Middle-earth series printed various versions of chronologies that Tolkien wrote about the Elder Days with titles like Annals of Beleriad and Annals of Aman. They cover the history between the first light of the Two Trees of Valinor to the first rising of the Sun and the end of the First Age.

Thus from those chronologies you can see, for example, that Morgoth was imprisoned in Valinor for three ages of 1,000 years each, and you can see how old some of the elves mentioned in the Silmarillion and even in Lord of the Rings were from their birth years.

However, the Valinorean years used in those chronologies are Years of the Trees, which tolkien sometimes stated were ten modern years long. And sometimes Tolkien thought they were the length of an Elven Yen, or 144 years long.

Thee are no recorded dates for the events in the thousands, or millions, or billions of years before the Years of the Trees.

to magolding; you've done a nice summary of the timeline of the Tolkien mythology.

Over 10 years ago the Lord of the Rings Board community had many detailed discussions about the Middle-earth fiction.
Underpining the Lord of the Rings Appendix was "The Simlarillion" edited by Christopher Tolkien.

But at the suggestion of Athene, I was pointed to a book that had some of the unedited texts and commentaries which formed part of the Silmarllion.
The book is "Morgoth's Ring".

From that information I had an IMDb discussion with CTS about the Tolkien myth timeline during the Age of the Trees.
You might be interested in that and so here is my post from a long time ago.
Hi CTS;

"In Morgoth's Ring, it states that one year of the trees equalled 9.5 normal years. So, does time still move differently for that which has been removes from human lands?"

Good question.
This concept of time in the ancient Tolkien world or Arda has puzzled me for quite a while. What Tolkien has done is to use our measurement of time and apply it to earlier ages in the myth.

1. How would time move or be measured in the beginning before the two Trees?

"It hath been computed by the Masters of Lore that the Valar came to the kingdom of Arda, which is the Earth, five and forty thousand year of our time ere the first rising of the Moon. And of these thirty thousand passed ere the measurement of Time began with the flowering of the Trees. (M.R. Pp. 57-58)

Ok, so for 30,000 of our years time was measured without the Sun or Moon or Trees under the starlight of Arda. Arda was at that time like a huge asteroid and not yet a sphere. There is no writing that I can recall that it rotated. How the hours were measured during this "Days before Days" I have no idea. And how time would feel in such a circumstance I can barely imagine. There have been Star Trek episodes about rogue planets that are not connected to a solar system in which heat comes from volcanic activity. But in the Tolkien world the "Days before Days" has only the Valar and Maiar living in Arda. As they are immortal, and without obvious markers of time, the experience of those ages would be IMHO timeless.

2. "And fifteen thousand years followed after during which the Light of the Trees yet lived" (M.R. Pp. 58)

As you've mentioned the Trees have a different cycle of light and twilight than the Sun and Moon. It's complicated as to how an hour and year work but at least the Elves in Valinor would have a concept of the passage of time better than the Valar since the Elves are born and actually mature at least for a while. Yet, again without the Sun and Moon, wouldn't the Elves think that one hour of the Trees would be one hour? Same with a year of the Trees? Wouldn't it only be in retrospect that the time with the Sun would be applied to the Trees? So, I'd say yes, somewhat like Einstein's theory of relativity, the Elves experienced time differently in the age of the Trees from those in the Age of the Sun.

Again, enjoyed your post. Have a good one, BB ;-)
One of the great things about the Tolkien myth imo is that it has the details of an actual history.
For the Tolkien scholar, delving into those details can be repeatedly rewarding.

BB ;-)

it is just in my opinion - imo - 🌈