For Reference: Chronology of The Silmarillion

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Chronology of the Silmarillion



This was put together largely for my own use but I thought other people might find it helpful. I wouldn’t regard anything here as set in stone, Tolkien did quite a bit of work on the legends after compiling these chronologies and might very well have changed many of the dates if he’d ever reached the point of publishing The Silmarillion. However as a guideline I find it handy to have around and maybe others would too. It’s based on the Annals of Aman, the Grey Annals and the Tale of Years.





From the Annals of Aman



These are all in years of Aman which according to Tolkien were each roughly equivalent to ten sun years. There are problems with this, but I won’t go into those here. Suffice it to say he intended five Aman years to be equivalent to fifty of our years. (Apologies to anyone I’m teaching to suck eggs here).



Incidentally I think the early sections of this chronology would certainly have been revised if Tolkien had returned to them, since text titled ‘Quendi and Eldar’ implies a much longer gap between the Awakening of the Elves and the Great Journey than appears here. The later section might also have been compressed – fifty odd Sun years seems an inordinately long time for the Noldor to be wandering around Northern Aman, and Tolkien seems to have been partly influenced by the need to give Morgoth time to build Angband, a problem he later solved by making Angband an already existing fortress Morgoth repaired.



1050 Elves awaken

1085 Oromë meets the Elves

1090 Valar attack Morgoth

1099 Breaking of Utumno

1100 Binding of Melkor

1102 Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë brought to Valinor

1105 Elves set out on the Great Journey

1130 Elwë meets Melian

1132 Vanyar and Noldor leave Middle-earth

1133 Vanyar and Noldor reach Valinor

1140 Tirion completed. Ingwë leaves Tirion

1150 Teleri leave Middle-earth

1151 Grounding of Tol Eressëa

1152 Elwë returns to the Sindar

1161 Teleri reach Valinor

1169 Birth of Fëanor

1170 Death of Miriel

1185 Marriage of Finwë and Indis

1190 Birth of Fingolfin

1200 Birth of Luthien

1230 Birth of Finarfin

1250 Dwarves enter Beleriand

1280 Marriage of Finarfin and Eärwen

1300 Birth of Turgon

1350 Nandor enter Beleriand

1362 Births of Galadriel and Aredhel

1400 Melkor released

1450 Fëanor makes the Silmarils

1490 Banishment of Fëanor

1495 Darkening of Valinor. Death of Finwë and flight of the Noldor. First Kinslaying.

1496 Doom of Mandos. Finarfin turns back

1497 Morgoth attacks Beleriand. Fëanor reaches Middle-earth and burns the ships Death of Fëanor. Capture of Maedhros

1500 Rising of the Moon and the Sun Fingolfin reaches Middle-earth.





From the Grey Annals


These are years of the Sun. The first is equivalent to the last year in the Annals of Aman (or presumably to the tail end of it, given what Tolkien said about years of Aman). After writing the Grey Annals Tolkien revised his chronology to put the first appearance of Men further back, and I’ve followed that revision here. One annal ended up rootless, initially dated 402 it recorded an Orc attack on the Pass of Aglon repelled by Maedhros, Maglor and the sons of Finarfin ‘and Bëor was with them’. Since this was two years after Finrod met Bëor the new chronology dating would be around 312, but Tolkien failed to relocate this annal.



1 Rising of the Moon and the Sun Fingolfin reaches Middle-earth.

2 Fingolfin arrives in Mithrim

5 Fingon rescues Maedhros and the Noldor are reunited.

7 Sons of Fëanor leave Mithrim

20 Fingolfin holds the Feast of Reuniting

52 Finrod begins to build Nargothrond

53 Turgon discovers the site of Gondolin

60 Dagor Aglareb. Morgoth invades Beleriand and is defeated.

64 Turgon begins the building of Gondolin

67 Thingol bans Quenya from Doriath

102 Nargothrond is completed

116 Gondolin is completed

150 Caranthir makes contact with the Dwarves

155 Morgoth attempts to attack Hithlum and is driven off

260 Glaurung invades Ard-galen and is repelled by Fingon

310 Finrod meets Bëor

312 Haladin enter Beleriand

313 People of Marach enter Beleriand

316 Aredhel encounters Eöl

320 Birth of Maeglin

355 Death of Bëor

375 Haleth becomes chief of the Haladin

376 Haladin settle in Estolad

390 Haladin leave Estolad

400 Aredhel and Maeglin ride to Gondolin. Deaths of Aredhel and Eöl

416 Fingolfin gives Dorlomin to Hador

420 Death of Haleth

432 Birth of Beren

441 Birth of Hurin

443 Birth of Morwen

444 Birth of Huor

455 Dagor Bragollach. Deaths of Angrod and Aegnor.

456 Death of Fingolfin

460 Death of Barahir

462 Morgoth attacks Hithlum and is driven off with help from Cirdan

463 Easterlings enter Beleriand

464 Beren enters Doriath. Birth of Turin

465 Beren comes to Nargothrond. Death of Finrod

466 Beren and Luthien take the Silmaril

467 First deaths of Beren and Luthien

468 Maedhros begins to construct the Union against Morgoth

469 Maedhros retakes Dorthonion. Beren and Luthien return briefly to Doriath

470 Birth of Dior Eluchil

472 Nirnaeth Arnediad. Death of Fingon. Capture of Hurin. Birth of Tuor. Morwen sends Turin to Doriath

473 Birth of Nienor. Morgoth attacks and devastates the Havens of Cirdan.

484 Turin leaves Doriath

489 Death of Beleg.

490 Turin comes to Nargothrond.

494 Morwen and Nienor come to Doriath

495 Fall of Nargothrond.

496 Tuor comes to Gondolin. Morwen and Nienor leave Doriath. Turin meets Nienor

498 Turin and Nienor marry

499 Deaths of Glaurung, Nienor and Turin.

500 Morgoth releases Hurin. Death of Morwen





From the Tale of Years


This section was particularly difficult. The Grey Annals end with the death of Morwen, and all that follows is a series of rough and often altered jottings. This is my best interpretation of Tolkien’s last intentions.



502 Marriage of Tuor and Idril. Hurin comes to Doriath

503 Death of Thingol. Birth of Eärendil. Birth of Elwing

506 Second Kinslaying

509 Maeglin captured by Morgoth

510 Fall of Gondolin and death of Turgon

532 Birth of Elros and Elrond

538 Third Kinslaying

542 Eärendil reaches Valinor

545 Host of Valinor lands

587 Destruction of Angband Maedhros and Maglor seize the Silmarils. Death of Maedhros

590 Morgoth thrust into the Void. End of the First Age

Comments

[mirien.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a fantastic resource! Thanks so much for sharing this.

[clotho123.livejournal.com]

Glad you find it useful!

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Fabulous! Thank you so much!

[clotho123.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[atanwende.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that great! And really helpful, so thanks for sharing. :) I made a try to do this once, too, but I got really confused in the end, because, just as you said, from 500 on the dates have been changed so often. May I ask how you decided on what dates to use from that time on?

[clotho123.livejournal.com]

Well, basically I went through and picked out what seemed to be Tolkien's latest intention for the date of every event, then looked to see if there were any major contradictions, which I don't think there were. It took a couple of hours of hard concentration, and I'm afraid I can't remember the details now. Glad you think it's helpful :)

[dawn_felagund]

Thanks so much for sharing this! I am crap with timelines, so any help is always appreciated. :)

(Actually, I was just in a discussion with a friend about when Alqualonde was built and whether Feanor might have been involved. This is helpful!)

[clotho123.livejournal.com]

Timelines seem quite important in Tolkien, so I found I needed a record, if only to know what I'm ignoring! Glad you think it's useful