Fourth Age: Difference between revisions

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There are few dates given in the [[Legendarium]] that require the reader to account for this difference, because most dates of the Fourth Age are already explicitly expressed in terms of the Shire Reckoning. For example, [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]]'s departure from Middle-earth is given as S.R. 1541,<ref name="Later"/> so it can be stated with confidence that their departure took place in Fo.A. 120. (There is ambiguity when determining the year of their departure under the New Reckoning because the day is unknown, but we have no need to make that determination.) The exceptions are both from the [[Note on the Shire Records]] and are as follows:
There are few dates given in the [[Legendarium]] that require the reader to account for this difference, because most dates of the Fourth Age are already explicitly expressed in terms of the Shire Reckoning. For example, [[Legolas]] and [[Gimli]]'s departure from Middle-earth is given as S.R. 1541,<ref name="Later"/> so it can be stated with confidence that their departure took place in Fo.A. 120. (There is ambiguity when determining the year of their departure under the New Reckoning because the day is unknown, but we have no need to make that determination.) The exceptions are both from the [[Note on the Shire Records]] and are as follows:
* Tolkien explains that the text of ''The Lord of the Rings'' descends from a copy of the Red Book made in Gondor that bore the note "Findegil, King’s Writer, finished this work in IV 172."<ref name=Records>{{FR|Records}}</ref> This is presented as a verbatim quote from a Gondorian scribe and the year is not converted to the Shire Reckoning elsewhere in the text. It is therefore assumed that this note was written in regards to the New Reckoning calendar before 7 Narvinyë and accordingly the year is converted to {{FoA|171}}.
* Tolkien explains that the text of ''The Lord of the Rings'' descends from a copy of the Red Book made in Gondor that bore the note "Findegil, King’s Writer, finished this work in IV 172."<ref name=Records>{{FR|Records}}</ref> The [[The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition)|50th Anniversary Edition]] states that this year is equivalent to {{SR|1592}}, so Findegil must have written his note with regard to the New Reckoning calendar before 7 Narvinyë; accordingly, the year is converted to {{FoA|171}}.
* In the same paragraph, Tolkien refers to [[Peregrin Took]]'s retirement to Gondor in "IV 64."<ref name=Records>{{FR|Records}}</ref> We are told elsewhere that Peregrin and his companion [[Meriadoc Brandybuck]] arrived in Gondor sometime between the autumn and the ending of {{SR|1484}}, which is {{FoA|63}} in the Shire Reckoning.<ref name="Later">{{App|Later}}</ref> As such, "IV 64" must refer to a year in the New Reckoning and is accordingly converted to Fo.A. 63.
* In the same paragraph, Tolkien refers to [[Peregrin Took]]'s retirement to Gondor in "IV 64."<ref name=Records>{{FR|Records}}</ref> We are told elsewhere that Peregrin and his companion [[Meriadoc Brandybuck]] arrived in Gondor sometime between the autumn and the ending of {{SR|1484}}, which is {{FoA|63}} in the Shire Reckoning.<ref name="Later">{{App|Later}}</ref> As such, "IV 64" must refer to a year in the New Reckoning and is accordingly converted to Fo.A. 63.



Revision as of 09:25, 4 December 2020

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)

The Fourth Age began after Sauron was finally defeated, when his Ruling Ring was destroyed, and the Keepers of the Three Rings left Middle-earth for the Uttermost West.

Start of the Fourth Age

The Third Age was held to have ended when Master Elrond left Middle-earth on 29 September of T.A. 3021.[1] However, not all calendars in use in Middle-earth at that time reset their count of years to Fo.A. 1 in the same year, on the same date, or indeed at all. As such, years given for certain events in the Fourth Age differ according to the calendar used.[note 1] Tolkien Gateway follows Shire usage for all Fourth Age dates.

Reckoning of years

The Shire Reckoning is the calendar system used for all dates in the Red Book; its epoch S.R. 1 corresponds to T.A. 1601.[2] The Shire Reckoning did not reset its count of years with the end of the Third Age, rather it continued uninterrupted from S.R. 1421 to S.R. 1422, and "in so far as the Hobbits took any account of the change of Age, they maintained that it began with 2 Yule 1422."[1] This means that S.R. 1422 is also T.A. 3022 and Fo.A. 1 as far as dates in the Red Book are concerned.

In Gondor and the rest of the Reunited Kingdom outside the Shire, the New Reckoning calendar entered use starting in T.A. 3019. Under this calendar, the year that began on 25 March as T.A. 3021 is also Fo.A. 1.[1] As such, T.A. 3022 corresponds to Fo.A. 2 in the New Reckoning, so oftentimes a given date in the Shire will be accounted part of the following year elsewhere in the Reunited Kingdom.

This partial overlap is due to the fact that the Shire Calendar and the New Reckoning begin their years on different days: 2 Yule for the Shire and 25 March for the rest of the Reunited Kingdom (as these days are named in the Shire Calendar; their New Reckoning equivalents are 7 Narvinyë and Yestarë respectively). Dates on or after 2 Yule and before 25 March count as taking place in the same year of the Fourth Age according to either calendar, but dates on and after 25 March belong to the next year outside the Shire. As such, the death of King Elessar recorded in the Red Book on 1 March S.R. 1541 is accounted as having taken place in Fo.A. 120 in both calendars (the New Reckoning names that day 8 Súlimë).

There are few dates given in the Legendarium that require the reader to account for this difference, because most dates of the Fourth Age are already explicitly expressed in terms of the Shire Reckoning. For example, Legolas and Gimli's departure from Middle-earth is given as S.R. 1541,[3] so it can be stated with confidence that their departure took place in Fo.A. 120. (There is ambiguity when determining the year of their departure under the New Reckoning because the day is unknown, but we have no need to make that determination.) The exceptions are both from the Note on the Shire Records and are as follows:

  • Tolkien explains that the text of The Lord of the Rings descends from a copy of the Red Book made in Gondor that bore the note "Findegil, King’s Writer, finished this work in IV 172."[4] The 50th Anniversary Edition states that this year is equivalent to S.R. 1592, so Findegil must have written his note with regard to the New Reckoning calendar before 7 Narvinyë; accordingly, the year is converted to Fo.A. 171.
  • In the same paragraph, Tolkien refers to Peregrin Took's retirement to Gondor in "IV 64."[4] We are told elsewhere that Peregrin and his companion Meriadoc Brandybuck arrived in Gondor sometime between the autumn and the ending of S.R. 1484, which is Fo.A. 63 in the Shire Reckoning.[3] As such, "IV 64" must refer to a year in the New Reckoning and is accordingly converted to Fo.A. 63.

History

There is no information on more than the first few centuries of this age, so it is not known when it ended, if it ever did, although it was probably shorter than 3 millennia.[5]

This age was (presumably) marked by the recovery of the Númenorean kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, and a flourishing of their subjects, including the Shire and the Hobbits, while the House of Durin retook Moria until the race of Dwarves failed.[6] Eventually that would lead to the final Dominion of Men over Arda, coming together with the total waning of the Elves and other dwindling races, such as the Ents and probably the Dwarves.

The Last Ship of the Elves, carrying Círdan, Celeborn, and all remaining Elves of the First Age left Middle-earth some time after Fo.A. 171.[4]

In a 1972 letter concerning The New Shadow, Tolkien mentioned that Eldarion's reign would have lasted for about 100 years after the death of Aragorn.[7]

Further future?

Tolkien said that he thought the distance between the end of the Third Age and the 20th century A.D. was about 6000 years, and that in 1958 it should have been around the end of the Fifth Age if the Fourth and Fifth Ages were about the same length as the Second and Third Ages. He said, however, in a letter written in 1958 that he believed the Ages had quickened and that it was about the end of the Sixth Age/beginning of the Seventh.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. The discrepancy is noted in the Encyclopedia of Arda

References