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However, the earliest mention of the Great End as a Prophecy and the opening of [[Valinor]] is in one note, where is said:  
However, the earliest mention of the Great End as a Prophecy and the opening of [[Valinor]] is in one note, where is said:  
{{quote|If Men help them, the fairies (Elves) will take Men to Valinor, fight a '''great battle''' with Melko in Erumáni and open Valinor. Laurelin and Silpion will be lekindled, and the mountain wall being destroyed then soft radiance will spread over all the world, and the Sun and Moon will be recalled. If Men oppose them and aid Melko, the Wrack of the Gods and the ending of the fairies will result, and maybe the Great End.|"[[The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales]]"<ref>{{LT2|VI}}, pp. 285-286</ref>}}  
{{quote|If Men help them, the fairies (Elves) will take Men to Valinor, fight a '''great battle''' with Melko in Erumáni and open Valinor. Laurelin and Silpion will be rekindled, and the mountain wall being destroyed then soft radiance will spread over all the world, and the Sun and Moon will be recalled. If Men oppose them and aid Melko, the Wrack of the Gods and the ending of the fairies will result, and maybe the Great End.|"[[The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales]]"<ref>{{LT2|VI}}, pp. 285-286</ref>}}  
Many other versions are given in this chapter that are also more concerned about the "Rekindling of the Magic Sun" (an obscure matter about the recovery of the [[Light of Valinor]]) or the vanish of the Elves, than the End of the World, so the prophecy here is associated with other abandoned conceptions.<ref>{{SM|2a}}, p. 284</ref>
Many other versions are given in this chapter that are also more concerned about the "Rekindling of the Magic Sun" (an obscure matter about the recovery of the [[Light of Valinor]]) or the [[Domition of Men|vanish of the Elves]], so the prophecy here is associated with abandoned conceptions and it's not so related with the End of Arda.<ref>{{SM|2a}}, p. 284</ref>
 
===The Sketch of the Mythology==
[[The Earliest 'Silmarillion']] includes [[Eärendil]] for first time, descending to Valinor when he sees the "last battle" gathering upon its plains.<ref>{{SM|2}}, p. 40-41</ref>


===The Quenta Noldorinwa===
===The Quenta Noldorinwa===
In [[The Earliest 'Silmarillion']], the Battle in Valinor is mentioned in the end<ref>{{SM|2}}, p. 41</ref>
 


''[[The Quenta]]'' is the only finished version of the ''Silmarillion''
''[[The Quenta]]'' is the only finished version of the ''Silmarillion''

Revision as of 22:12, 21 August 2019

History of Arda
Before the Creation
Before the Ages
Days before days
Years of the Trees (up to Y.T. 1050)
Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar
First Age (begins in Y.T. 1050
and overlaps with the Years of the Trees
up to Y.T. 1500
)
- Years of the Sun begin in F.A. 1
Second Age
- Arda made round in S.A. 3319
Third Age
Fourth Age
Later Ages (up to present day)
End of Arda
Timeline of Arda
(See: Round World version of the Silmarillion
for a later conception of Tolkien's cosmology)
"Manwë will not descend from the Mountain until the Dagor Dagorath, and the coming of the End, when Melkor returns."
Unfinished Tales, "The Istari"[1]

The Last Battle, also known as the Second Prophecy of Mandos, but probably best known as the Dagor Dagorath (Sindarin, "Battle of all Battles"), is an apocalyptic event prophesied by Mandos. According to Christopher Tolkien, the Dagor Dagorath was abandoned by Tolkien.[2]

The Silmarillion

In the 1977 Silmarillion, the Dagor Dagorath is only mentioned as the Last Battle in two ocassions:

"...Many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda: [...] and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days."
Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
"But Ar-Pharazôn the King and the mortal warriors that had set foot upon the land of Aman were buried under falling hills: there it is said that they lie imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten, until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom."
Akallabêth

No other information about the End of the World is given in The Silmarillion except the few mentions of the Second Music of the Ainur.

Omission of the Second Prophecy

Although the Second Prophecy of Mandos is used as the closing words for the Quenta Silmarillion in many manuscripts, Christopher deliberately omitted it. This decision was due a passage of The Later Quenta Silmarillion, which states that

"if any change shall come and the Marring [of Arda] be amended, Manwë and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos."
― "The Valaquenta", Morgoth's Ring[2]

Those words were taken literally by Christopher, deducing that Tolkien would removed the Second Prophecy in the final version.[2] Instead, he used those words as the own closing of his published Quenta.[3] This decision is questioned among the fandom and the canonicity of the Second Prophecy is a popular debate. However, the publications after the 1977 Silmarillion gave a better understanding of Tolkien's final vision and its canonicity has prevailed, as Verlyn Flieger states: «Tolkien wrote that the Legendarium ends with a vision of the end of the world, its breaking and remaking, and the recovery of the Silmarilli and the "light before the sun". [...] It would be strange if he had not envisioned such an end, for the mythologies on which he draws most heavily, Judeo-Christian and Norse, both included remaking and renewal in surprisingly similar terms.»[4]

Other versions of the Legendarium

The Book of Lost Tales

Tolkien didn't finished the Book of Lost Tales, so it's unknown if he would conclude with a Prophecy of the End of the World, but there are many mentions of a Great End. The earliest mention doesn't mention any , although the year of composition is unclear:

"For 'tis said that ere the Great End come Melko shall in some wise contrive a quarrel between Moon and Sun, and Ilinsor shall seek to follow Urwendi through the Gates, and when they are gone the Gates of both East and West will be destroyed, and Urwendi and Ilinsor shall be lost. So shall it be that Fionwë Úrion, son of Manwë, of love for Urwendi shall in the end be Melko's bane, and shall destroy the world to destroy his foe, and so shall all things the be rolled away"
― "The Hiding of Valinor"[5]

This early idea will soon include Túrin, who will be a permanent character in all later versions (except in the breif 'Sketch of the Mythology'): "Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwë in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil".[6] This is the only version that mentions Morgoth's creatures participating in the Battle.

However, the earliest mention of the Great End as a Prophecy and the opening of Valinor is in one note, where is said:

"If Men help them, the fairies (Elves) will take Men to Valinor, fight a great battle with Melko in Erumáni and open Valinor. Laurelin and Silpion will be rekindled, and the mountain wall being destroyed then soft radiance will spread over all the world, and the Sun and Moon will be recalled. If Men oppose them and aid Melko, the Wrack of the Gods and the ending of the fairies will result, and maybe the Great End."
― "The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales"[7]

Many other versions are given in this chapter that are also more concerned about the "Rekindling of the Magic Sun" (an obscure matter about the recovery of the Light of Valinor) or the vanish of the Elves, so the prophecy here is associated with abandoned conceptions and it's not so related with the End of Arda.[8]

=The Sketch of the Mythology

The Earliest 'Silmarillion' includes Eärendil for first time, descending to Valinor when he sees the "last battle" gathering upon its plains.[9]

The Quenta Noldorinwa

The Quenta is the only finished version of the Silmarillion

Etymology

Dagor Dagorath is Sindarin, a combination of dagor ("battle"), with its own class-plural dagor-ath ("all battles"), therefore: "Battle of All Battles". This name is only attested in a manuscript about "The Istari".[1]

In a List of Names from the 1930s, the battle at the end of the World was called Dagor Delothrin in Noldorin ("Terrible Battle").[10]

External links

References













Varda rejecting Melkor. Illustration by Marya Filatova

Things I can't get