View source for Spring of Arda

{{events
| image = Elena Kukanova - The Spring of Arda.jpg
| event=Spring of Arda
| othernames=
| date={{VY|1900}} - {{VY|3450|n}}
| location=[[Arda]]
| result=
| partof=[[Days before days]]
| participants=[[Valar]], [[Maiar]]
| description=Time period in which Arda first became inhabited by natural life
| references=
}}
The '''Spring of Arda''' was a significant period of peace and flourishing in [[Arda]] during the [[Days before days]]. It started with the construction of the [[Two Lamps]] after the [[First War]] between the [[Valar]] ended, and the subsequent first flourishment of [[Yavanna]]'s seeds.<ref name=Annals>{{MR|P2a}}, pp. 51-6</ref>

==History==
When the [[Melkor|Enemy]] fled into the [[Void|Outer Darkness]] and Arda was repaired, ordered, and completed, the Valar raised the Two Lamps, [[Illuin]] and [[Ormal]], in {{VY|1900}}. Arda became filled with trees and herbs, beast and birds, and all the lands were green. In the midmost of Arda was located the Isle of [[Almaren]] upon the [[Great Lake]] where all things were richest in growth and fairest in hue due to the blending of the light of the Two Lamps, and there the Valar made their first abode and rested after their many labours. Yet Melkor still lurked beyond the [[Walls of the Night]].

[[Manwë]] ordained a great feast in {{VY|3400}} at which [[Tulkas]] wed [[Nessa]]. After Melkor learned that the Valar lacked their vigilance from his spies at Almaren, he passed into the north of [[Middle-earth]], raising the [[Iron Mountains]] and starting to delve his vast fortress [[Utumno]] from which living things were perverted and blighted.
[[File:Lída Holubová - Breakable.jpg|225px|thumb|left|''Breakable'' by [[Lída Holubová]]]]
And when Tulkas fell asleep after the feast, Melkor came forth in war and threw down the Lamps of the Valar in {{VY|3450}}, breaking the lands, roiling the seas, and thus ending the Spring of Arda. In their efforts to calm the raging storms and preserve what they may of their creations, the Valar were unable to properly chase and defeat [[Melkor]] who retreated to Utumno.

The Spring of Arda was marred as living things became sick, or rotted, or corrupted into monstrous forms. The destruction of the Lamps brought the [[Great Darkness]] to [[Middle-earth]] for several ages, a period known as the [[Sleep of Yavanna]]. After witnessing the destruction that their powers might cause, the Valar were ever after cautious, fearing for the safety of the [[Children of Ilúvatar]], who had not yet come into the world.<ref name=Annals/><ref name=Quenta>{{S|1}}</ref>

There were formed three separate continents: Middle-earth at the centre, [[Land of the Sun]] in the far East, and [[Aman]] in the [[Uttermost West|far west]] where the Valar moved and built their second kingdom, [[Valinor]]. There [[Yavanna]] grew the [[Two Trees of Valinor|Two Trees]], [[Telperion]] and [[Laurelin]], at the hilltop of [[Ezellohar]], and they gave [[Light of Valinor|light]] to the West, and the [[Years of the Trees|count of time]] at last began. However, Valinor was defenced by an impenetrable wall of the [[Pelóri]] and thus the blessed light of the Trees never reached Middle-earth that became entirely dominated by Melkor.

Of all the Valar, only Yavanna, who healed the wounds made to the nature by Melkor, and [[Oromë]], who tirelessly hunted down the Enemy's monstrosities, visited Middle-earth at the occasion.<ref name=Quenta/>

==Other versions of the legendarium==
In [[J.R.R. Tolkien|J.R.R. Tolkien's]] latest writings in which Arda was a [[Round World version of the Silmarillion|round world]] from its beginning, the [[Sun]] and [[Moon]] (and the Two Trees for a time) had always given light to Arda, and the Two Lamps never truly existed.<ref>{{MR|Myths}}, p. 375 - 385</ref>

==See also==
* [[Second Spring of Arda]]

{{references}}<br/>
{{seq-start}}
{{seq
| prev=[[First War]]
| list=Major events of [[Middle-earth]]
| dates={{VY|1900}} - {{VY|3450|n}}
| next=[[Sleep of Yavanna]]
}}
{{seq-end}}

[[Category:Events]]
[[Category:Periods]]
[[de:Frühling von Arda]]
[[fi:Ardan Kevät]]