Tolkien Info etc

[Kiky]

its really difficult for me to add some fact cos my english is too bad for that sorry! if i know something i'll tell ya
oh i have something bout Gandalf he was teached by Saruman but thats not really new sry

[Cuthien, Wolf-maiden]

Wasn't Gandalf 7,000 years old?  (I could be, in fact, wrong.)   

[Lessa]

He was much older than that. He is as old as the Valar and descended to Arda at the same time as Manwë and Varda, although then he was known as Olórin.

He only entered Middle-earth about 2000yrs ago as Mithrandir. (c.III 1000)

Lessa

[Cuthien, Wolf-maiden]

Oh, okay.  I knew he was very very old (as far as spiritually) but I wasn't sure how old his body was.

[Vraelthewise]

I read somewhere that Strider was originally called Trotter, until very late in the book. He was also a hobbit earlier.

Also, when Tolkien was only 3 years old, in South Africa, e was bitten by a tarantula. (At least I think he was bitten, there was definitely an accident with one), and that is what probably gave rise to his use of spiders as big, but not the main enemies, like Shelob and (more importantly) Ungoliant.

(Wasn't shelob an offspring of Ungoliant? )

Can anyone tell me roughly how old Arda is?

[Lessa]

From Encylcopedia of Arda

Tolkien provides precisely dated annals for the Years of the Trees, provided in the Annals of Aman (in Morgoth's Ring, volume 10 of The History of Middle-earth). According to this source, the Trees shone for a total of 1,495 'Valian Years'. Valian years are rather longer than solar years - one Valian Year is equivalent to about 9.582 Years of the Sun, so the Years of the Trees lasted in the region of 14,325 years, in our terms. All estimates of duration in this entry are based on figures from the Annals of Aman.

First Age = 583 years

Second Age = 3441

Third Age = 3021

So if we add these up we can assume Arda has been in existence for at least 21,370 years

[Vraelthewise]

Woah, how did all the Ainur survive all that time? 21000 years is too big for me to even imagine.

Anyway, thanks Lessa.

[Lessa]

You're welcome

The Ainur were created by Illuvatar before the world was made, in fact they helped to make it. Those Ainur who entered Arda at its beginning remain bound to it until its end. There to return to Illuvatar I presume. Even Melkor wasn't killed just banished to the void.

[Taurendil]

Speaking of Time in Arda I seem to remember that it didn't go at a constant speed or something like that, I mean for Ainur a year maybe like a week, also doesn't 1 elvish count as 144 mortal years?The question's not how many time but how they feel it, does that make sense

[Lessa]

yes it makes sense. All you have to do is ask people living in the same house about a year one might say gosh it's flown by another might say it's dragged by. We all know when waiting for news a minute takes forever

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