Timelines of Arda
Donated by Gildor Inglorion
Yet-another-Tolkien-timeline page from the coming of the Valar till the reign of King Eldarion. Here you can also find analytical calendars of the important to the history of the Ring years of the 3rd Age (2941, 3018 and later).
The main source of all timelines is of course the Tale of Years from the Appendix B to the Lord of the Rings. However the Tale can be expanded further since there are other sources, like Unfinished Tales, that give more information. The on-line Timelines make use of summing up all this information but still none of them is totally complete. The Timelines I used for reference are:
I had to concentrate and combine all of the information given in the books I had access to and the aforementioned sites. I realised that none of them contained all of the information found in the rest. Except that I had to choose the best solution where the informations were contradictory, add more details of my calculations and correct the points where they contradicted Tolkien's work itself! I hope this timeline will be as complete as possible.
I apologise for various errors, typos and charset problems. They will be constantly updated and corrected.
Index of Ages
The coming of the Valar to Arda, the Age of the Lamps and the Spring of Arda and finally the blossoming of the Two Trees when time began to be. The Elves awoke and established their kingdoms in Valinor and Middle-earth. Later Fëanor created the Silmarils, and afterwards rebelled and came to Middle-earth. When Fingolfin came after him, the Moon and Sun rose and it was the end of the Age of Starlight and the Valian reckoning.
The return of Noldor to Middle-earth to get back the Silmarilli, the coming of the Edain and the battles consisting the Quenta Silmarillion after the Moon and Sun rose.
The Age of Númenor and the Great Rings, and the foundation of the Kingdoms in Exile. It will be noted that although it's longer than the 3rd, its timeline is quite shorter, since not many events outside Númenor are known.
The most well known Age of all, the Age of Gondor and Arnor and their Kings, the appearance of Hobbits and the Wizards, and the rest of the events that concluded to the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings near its end. The great War of the Ring resulted to the restoration of Arnor and its union with Gondor by Aragorn-Elessar. The Age ended on the day when Master Elrond with Galadriel, Gandalf and Frodo passed over the Sea.
Chronologies of the Quest of Erebor, the War of the Ring and the later years till the end of that Age. Tolkien's chronology, the Atlas of Middle Earth and other speculations are the main inspirations for this.
The Age of the New Kingdom, the descedants of the persons involved in the previous tales and the demise of the Elves. The most obscure and incomplete of all Ages since no records chronologised its ending or anything after the death of Elessar and that his son Eldarion succeeded him. The latest record is The New Shadow fragment, which was the beginning of an abandoned sequel, taking place during Eldarion's reign and was never completed by Tolkien. Nothing is known about Eldarion and the duration of the Kingdom.
The "recent" years according to the calculations made by Boris Shapiro, concerning events of Tolkienian interest. Events like this is the life of St Brendan who according to a folk tradition he reached the Undying Lands, and Tolkien's character Aelfwine of England who after studying St Brendan's legend, reached Tol Eressëa as well and met the Elf Pengolodh.