First Age

The First Age is the first of the great ages of the history of Middle-earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, an era chronicled chiefly in The Silmarillion. It was an age of legend dominated by the wars of the Elves and the first Men against the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, the master whom Sauron served. The age is defined above all by the tale of the Silmarils, the three holy jewels made by the Elf Fëanor, and the long and tragic struggle to recover them from Morgoth.

The First Age ended with the War of Wrath, in which Morgoth was at last overthrown and cast out beyond the world, though at a terrible cost to the lands and peoples of Middle-earth.

Overview

The age began with the awakening of the Elves and the long years of their early history, including the making of the Silmarils by Fëanor, which captured the light of the Two Trees of Valinor. When Morgoth destroyed the Two Trees and stole the Silmarils, Fëanor and his sons swore a terrible oath to recover them, and many of the Elves returned to Middle-earth in pursuit, beginning a doomed war against the Dark Lord.

The First Age saw the rise and fall of the great Elf-realms of Beleriand, the deeds of heroes such as Beren and Lúthien, who recovered a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown, and Túrin Turambar, and the founding of the hidden kingdoms of Gondolin and Doriath. It was also the age in which the race of Men first awoke and allied with the Elves.

End of the age

The unceasing wars eventually broke the power of the Elf-realms, and the land of Beleriand fell into ruin. At last the Valar, the guardian powers of the world, sent their host against Morgoth in the War of Wrath. Morgoth was defeated, bound, and thrust out of the world forever, but in the cataclysm much of the land of Beleriand was drowned and lost beneath the Sea. The age closed with the victory over the first Dark Lord, though his lieutenant Sauron escaped to trouble later ages.

Significance

The First Age provides the deep mythological foundation of Middle-earth, from which the events of the Second Age and Third Age descend. The light of the Silmarils, captured from the Two Trees of Valinor, endures into later ages through the star of Eärendil and the Phial of Galadriel, and the defeat of Morgoth sets the stage for the long shadow that Sauron would later cast over the world.