Third Age

The Third Age is the third of the great ages of the history of Middle-earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, beginning with the first defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age and ending with his final overthrow and the destruction of the One Ring. It is the age in which the events of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place, and it culminates in the War of the Ring.

The Third Age was a long, slow decline for the free peoples of Middle-earth: the gradual fading of the Elves, the waning of the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, and the rise once more of the shadow in the East as Sauron regained strength.

Overview

After the One Ring was lost in the Great River following the death of Isildur, Sauron's spirit slowly recovered. For much of the age he dwelt hidden in the fortress of Dol Guldur in the forest of Mirkwood, known only as the Necromancer, while his power grew. The northern kingdom of Arnor fragmented and fell, and the line of its kings was preserved only in secret among the Rangers, of whom Aragorn was the heir. Gondor endured but slowly weakened, governed in the later centuries by Stewards in the absence of a king.

The wizards, including Gandalf and Saruman, came to Middle-earth during this age, sent to oppose the rising shadow. The finding of the One Ring by Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and its eventual passage to Frodo Baggins set in motion the events that would decide the age.

End of the age

The Third Age ended with the War of the Ring, in which the free peoples, led in part by Gandalf and Aragorn, resisted the full might of Sauron while the Ring-bearer Frodo carried the One Ring to Mount Doom. With the Ring's destruction, Sauron was unmade forever, Aragorn was crowned king of the reunited realm, and the age came to its close. The departure of the Elves and the Ring-bearers over the Sea marked the passing of the age and the beginning of the Fourth Age, the Age of Men.

Significance

The Third Age is the setting of Tolkien's two best-known tales and the stage on which the long history of the One Ring reaches its resolution. Its ending represents the close of the mythic and magical history of Middle-earth and the dawn of an age belonging to mortal Men, as the older powers and peoples pass into memory.