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The history of Arda, J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, is divided into three time periods, known as the Years of the Lamps, Years of the Trees and Years of the Sun. A separate, overlapping chronology divides the history into 'Ages of the Children of Iluvatar'. The first such Age began with the Awakening of the Elves during the Years of the Trees and continued for the first six centuries of the Years of the Sun. All the subsequent Ages took place during the Years of the Sun. Most Middle-earth stories take place in the first three Ages of the Children of Iluvatar.

Music of the Ainur Main article: Ainulindalë

The supreme deity of Tolkien's universe is called Eru Ilúvatar. In the beginning, Ilúvatar created spirits named the Ainur. Ilúvatar made divine music with them. Melkor, Tolkien's equivalent of Satan, who was then one of the Ainur, broke the harmony of the music, until Ilúvatar began a third theme which the Ainur could not comprehend since they were not the source of it. The essence of their song symbolized the history of the whole universe and the Children of Ilúvatar that were to dwell in it — the Men and the Elves.

Then Ilúvatar created Eä, the universe itself, and the Ainur formed within it Arda, the Earth, "globed within the void": the world together with the airs is set apart from Kuma, the "void" without. The first 15 of the Ainur that descended to Arda, and the most powerful ones, were called Valar, and the Ainur of lesser might that followed were called Maiar.