Two Trees of Valinor

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Two Trees of Valinor
Trees/source of light
Roger Garland - Two Trees of Valinor.jpg
"Two Trees of Valinor" by Roger Garland
LocationAtop Ezellohar near Valimar at the heart of Valinor
AppearanceTwo tall trees, one of gold, the other of silver
CreatorYavanna
Ezellohar, V.Y. 3500
DestroyerMelkor & Ungoliant
Ezellohar, Y.T. 1495
GalleryImages of the Two Trees
"A! the Trees of Light,  tall and shapely,
gold and silver,  more glorious than the sun
"
The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor, vv.1-2

The Two Trees of Valinor were Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold Tree that brought Light to the Land of the Valar in ancient times. They were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant, but their last flower and fruit were made by the Valar into the Moon and the Sun.

History[edit | edit source]

Creation and characteristics[edit | edit source]

The first sources of light for all of Arda were two enormous Lamps, Illuin, the silver one to the north and Ormal, the golden one to the south. These were cast down and destroyed by Melkor. Afterward, the Valar went to Valinor and Yavanna sang into existence the Two Trees, silver Telperion and golden Laurelin. Telperion was considered male and Laurelin female. The Trees sat on the hill Ezellohar located just outside the western gates of Valimar. They grew in the presence of all of the Valar, watered by the tears of Nienna.[1]

Each tree was a source of light: Telperion's silver and Laurelin's gold. Telperion had dark leaves (silver on one side) and his silvery dew was collected as a source of water and of light. Laurelin had gold-trimmed leaves and her dew was likewise collected by Varda.

The Count of Time and the Years of the Trees began with the first light of Telperion. One "day" lasted twelve hours. Each Tree, in turn, would give off light for seven hours (waxing to full brightness and then slowly waning again), so that at one hour each of "dawn" and "dusk" soft gold and silver light would be given off together.[1]

Destruction[edit | edit source]

"The Darkening of Valinor" by Luis F. Bejarano
Main article: Darkening of Valinor

A jealous Melkor enlisted the help of the giant spider-creature Ungoliant (an ancestress of Shelob) to destroy the Two Trees. Concealed in a cloud of darkness, the two of them struck during a high feast. The Unlight of Ungoliant devoured the roots, while Melkor came onto Ezellohar, striking both Trees with his black spear. The sap of the Two Trees poured like blood upon Ezellohar where insatiable Ungoliant sucked it up, devouring whatever life and light remained before draining the Wells of Varda.[2]

After Melkor and Ungoliant fled, Yavanna came onto Ezellohar, only to find that the Trees were dead, and their light lived on only within Fëanor's three Silmarils, which he refused to break to restore the Two Trees.[3]

Yavanna sang and Nienna wept, yet they eventually succeeded only in reviving Telperion's last flower (to become the Moon) and Laurelin's last fruit (to become the Sun). These were assigned to lesser spirits, Tilion and Arien, respectively.[4]

However, the true light of the Trees, before their poisoning by Ungoliant, was said to now reside only in the Silmarils.[5][6] It is said that according to the Second Prophecy of Mandos, after the breaking of the Earth, the light of the Silmarils will be used by Yavanna to rekindle the Two Trees, which will light all the world.[7]

Legacy[edit | edit source]

The imagery of the Two Trees is used by the Eldar in their arts, either in poetry (like Elemmírë's Aldudénië) or crafts. Especially renowned were the images wrought by Turgon, named Glingal and Belthil.[8]

The Two Trees of Valinor existed at a time when the only other sources of light were the stars (which had been created for the Elves' benefit by Varda from the dews collected from the Two Trees). When three Elven ambassadors were brought to see Valinor for themselves, in order that the Elves might be convinced to come to Valinor, it seems that the Two Trees affected them most significantly.[9]

In particular Thingol seems to have been motivated in the Great Journey by his desire to see the Light of Valinor again (until he found contentment in the light he saw in Melian's face). Also in later times, the Elves would be divided between the Calaquendi who had seen the light of the Trees, and the Moriquendi who had not, with the former group explicitly superior in many ways.

In the Second and Third Ages, the White Trees of Númenor and of Gondor, whose likeness descends from that of Telperion, had a mostly symbolic significance. They stood both as symbols of the kingdoms in question, and also as reminders of the ancestral alliance between the Dúnedain and the Elves.

In the Elvish enquië (week), the fourth day was named Aldúya in Quenya and Orgaladhad in Sindarin, dedicated to the Two Trees.[10]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

See:

The pair of the trees was perhaps referred to as Aldu in Quenya, the dual form of alda. The word as such appears in the names of the weekday name Aldúya ("Day of the Two Trees") and Aldudénië ("Lament for the Trees").[11]

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

The concept of the Two Trees is present since the earliest writings of the legendarium, as in The Book of Lost Tales. In that continuity, the Elves maintained a prophecy concerning their rekindling and return to Luthany in historical times. In the Cottage of Lost Play the Elves toasted "to the rekindling of the Magic Sun" which Christopher Tolkien interprets as an expectation of the future event.[12][13] Before Yavanna tried to heal the Trees (after Melko destroyed them, before the Sun and Moon were made), she warned that a very long time will pass before the glow of the Trees or the Magic Sun will be seen again, although this name was not known yet.[14]

In Tolkien's latest writings in which Arda was a round world from its beginning, the Two Trees held the light of the untainted Sun rather than the light of the Two Lamps, which in this history never existed. They still lit the darkened world during the Years of the Trees, though in this history the darkness came from Melkor's sorceries rather than the absence of a Sun or Moon.[15]

Inspiration[edit | edit source]

In an interview, Tolkien was asked if Laurelin and Telperion were a reflection of the Tree of the World in Norse mythology, but he denied it, saying that they were more like the trees of the sun and moon in the tales of Alexander the Great.[16] Michael Martinez explains:

there is a legend of two cypress trees, the Trees of the Sun and Moon, that are said to have been planted by Zoroaster himself. Alexander the Great, hearing of these trees, visited them when he conquered Persia. He asked the oracle of the trees what his future would be. The oracle told him that he would go on to conquer India but that he would then die soon afterward. In some versions of the legend the trees themselves speak to Alexander. According to Marco Polo, the Khalif Motawakkil had one of the trees cut down in the 9th Century CE (when the tree was said to be 1450 years old) and sent to Baghdad. The Khalif was subsequently murdered by his own guards (Cf. The Book of Ser by Marco Polo, the Venetian).

Although there is no direct connection between J.R.R. Tolkien and Marco Polo, Martinez was informed by Jane Chance that Tolkien knew well the Middle English poem "Kyng Alisaunder", which includes the tale of the trees.[17]

Clyde S. Kilby also notices that the Two Trees follow the Biblical pattern of the original Light, which existed prior to the Sun and Moon. Many authors, like Milton in his Paradise Lost, believed there was a long period of time between the two kind of lights.[18]

Portrayal in adaptations[edit | edit source]

The Two Trees of Valinor in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

2022: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:

September 1: A Shadow of the Past:
When the Two Trees were said by Galadriel to have been slain by Morgoth, Ungoliant's role is not mentioned. In addition, the method of how Morgoth killed them is not depicted. Rather than being killed by Morgoth with a black spear, the trees instead burn to death under a shadow of Morgoth.

See also[edit | edit source]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Beginning of Days"
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Darkening of Valinor"
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Flight of the Noldor"
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor"
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Flight of the Noldor"
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
  7. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Part Two: Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings, VI. Quenta Silmarillion", p. 333
  8. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Noldor in Beleriand"
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix D, "The Calendars"
  11. Helge Fauskanger, "Quettaparma Quenyallo", Ardalambion (accessed 19 March 2024)
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", p. 286
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "III. The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor"
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "VIII. The Tale of the Sun and Moon"
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Five. Myths Transformed", "[Text] II", pp. 375-385
  16. Denys Gueroult, "Author Archive Collection: J.R.R. Tolkien", BBC Radio (accessed 12 May 2021), minute 4:11
  17. Michael Martinez, "Is There a Source for the Tale of the Two Trees?" dated 29 November 2011, Middle-earth.Xenite.org (accessed 31 December 2011)
  18. Clyde S. Kilby, Tolkien and The Silmarillion, "Tolkien as a Christian author", pp. 59-60
Middle-earth Cosmology
 Constellations  Anarríma · Durin's Crown · Menelmacar · Remmirath · Soronúmë · Telumendil · Valacirca · Wilwarin
Stars  Alcarinquë · Borgil · Carnil · Elemmírë · Helluin · Luinil · Lumbar · Morwinyon · Nénar · Star of Eärendil · Til 
The Airs  Aiwenórë · Fanyamar · Ilmen · Menel · Vaiya · Veil of Arda · Vista
Narsilion  Arien · Moon (Isil, Ithil, Rána) · Sun (Anar, Anor, Vása) · Tilion
See also  Abyss · Arda · Circles of the World · · Timeless Halls · Two Lamps · Two Trees · Void