Forums:Collective arrangement of chronologies

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Revision as of 13:57, 28 October 2012 by Mith (talk | contribs) (I've sorted the tempalte)
Tolkien Gateway > Forums > Collective arrangement of chronologies


Michael Martinez recently offered a criticism of Tolkien Gateway:

The faux distinctions that some writers draw between “the First Age of the Children of Iluvatar” and the “First Age of the Sun” are based on faulty logic, that J.R.R. Tolkien somehow had produced a final document which asserted exactly and precisely what a “First Age of the Children of Iluvatar” might be — when in fact he abandoned that expression. Some Websites, such as Tolkien Gateway, perpetuate this error by citing inappropriate “authorities” that have published nothing credible.

Now, in order to deal with this, we need to sort out where and how we "perpetuate this error". A relevant article would be Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar. Even though this article gives no references, it does contain the section "Other versions of the legendarium", which deals somewhat with the issue raised by Martinez.

I have myself little knowledge about the chronology of the legendarium, so I hope we can help each other to sort out this apparent mess.--Morgan 22:01, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

It seems that the published Silmarillion doesn't give a solution either. Robert Foster in his Guide give two possibilities: that the FA begun with the creation of Arda; or with the Awakening of the Elves. He doesn't offer the possibility that the FA begun with the rising of the Sun, as the Silmarillion doesn't say so either. Sage 23:02, 11 July 2012 (UTC)
He is quite right. There really is no such thing as "Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar". The error is no doubt from that article, and Template:History of Arda, which seems to suggest that the "Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar" are subtly different from "Ages of the Sun". --Mith (Talk/Contribs/Edits) 13:25, 27 July 2012 (UTC)
I have amended the aforementioned template to more accurately portray the timeline of history in Arda. --Mith (Talk/Contribs/Edits) 13:57, 28 October 2012 (UTC)