The Fifth Set of Stories
THE FOURTH AGE OF THE SUN
(length unknown but possibly
3,100 years or more; ended in our year 1914)
(Some
conjecture that this began on March 18, 3102 BCE in our reckoning)
There was a prophecy that
Aragorn's son would "rule a great realm and that it should endure for a
hundred generations of men after him [in modern times a generation is counted
as 30 years, so that would make this Aragorn's son's reign length plus 3,000
years], until a new age brought in again new things [I presume the modern age];
and from him should come the kings of many realms in days long after"
though unfortunately the records have been lost – Peoples of Middle Earth.
Chapter Nineteen: Some Elves Tell Stories to
Humans in Very Early Europe
THE STORIES:
The
Book of Lost Tales, Part II, Other Tales of Elfinesse (AKA The History of
Middle Earth Vol. 2): VI. Eriol or Aelfwine (this
is mostly a collection of differing versions and synopses; I especially found
interesting the problem of evil! p282; the future, pp287-289; the synopsis
pp308-310; one version pp312-322) from sometime between about 410-1066
CE/AD, probably the 900s
The History of Middle Earth Vol. 11:
The War of the Jewels: Part 3 Chapter II: Aelfwine and Dirhaval (Remember that the mariner of the Lost Tales
is Aelfwine by a different name) from sometime between about 410-1066
CE/AD, probably the 900s (note that there
were still elves about!)
OTHER FASCINATING FACTS:
Tolkien says that the runes used by
Thorin and his band in The Hobbit are
similar to those of Anglo-Saxon; "there is doubtless an historical
connection between the two." (The
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, pp31b-32t.)
INTERESTING MANUSCRIPT
NOTES:
The History of Middle Earth Vol. 5: The
Lost Road and Other Writings: Part 1 Chapter I: The Early History of the
Legend (includes c918 CE).
