Two Trees of Valinor
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Two Trees of Valinor are Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold that brought light to the Land of the Valar in ancient times. They were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant, but their last flower and fruit were made by the Valar into the Moon and the Sun.
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[edit] Creation and destruction
The first sources of light for all of Arda were two enormous Lamps, Illuin, the silver one to the north and Ormal, the golden one to the south. These were cast down and destroyed by Melkor. Afterward, the Valar went to Valinor and Yavanna sang into existence the Two Trees, silver Telperion and golden Laurelin. Telperion was referred to as male and Laurelin female. The Trees sat on the hill Ezellohar located outside Valimar. They grew in the presence of all of the Valar, watered by the tears of Nienna.
Each tree was a source of light: Telperion's silver and Laurelin's gold. Telperion had dark leaves (silver on one side) and his silvery dew was collected as a source of water and of light. Laurelin had pale green leaves trimmed with gold, and her dew was likewise collected by Varda.
One "day" lasted twelve hours. Each Tree, in turn, would give off light for seven hours (waxing to full brightness and then slowly waning again), so that at one hour each of "dawn" and "dusk" soft gold and silver light would be given off together.
Jealous Melkor enlisted the help of the giant spider-creature Ungoliant (the first great spider and ancestor of Shelob) to destroy the Two Trees. Concealed in a cloud of darkness, Melkor struck each Tree and the insatiable Ungoliant devoured whatever life and light remained in them.
Again Yavanna sang and Nienna wept, but they succeeded only in reviving Telperion's last flower (to become the Moon) and Laurelin's last fruit (to become the Sun). These were assigned to lesser spirits, male Tilion and female Arien, after the 'genders' of the Trees themselves. This is why, in The Lord of the Rings, the Sun is usually referred to as "she" and the moon as "he".
However the true light of the Trees, before their poisoning by Ungoliant, was said to now reside only in the three Silmarils.
[edit] Telperion's successors
Because the Elves that first came to Valinor especially loved Telperion, Yavanna made a second tree like it to stand in the city of Tirion where the Vanyar and Noldor dwelt together at first. This tree, named Galathilion, was identical to Telperion except that it gave no light of its own. It had many seedlings, one of which was named Celeborn, and planted on the isle of Tol Eressëa.
In the Second Age, a seedling of Celeborn was brought as a gift to the Númenóreans — that was Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor. It lasted through the vast majority of the realm's duration, but when Sauron took control of the island he had king Ar-Pharazôn chop it down.
Fortunately Isildur managed to save a single fruit of that tree. Of this fruit later came the White Tree(s) of Gondor.
[edit] Laurelin's successors
There is never any mention of a tree made to the likeness of Laurelin, and J.R.R. Tolkien never left any clues to why this might be. The Noldorin exiles of the city of Gondolin did, however, have a nonliving image of Laurelin, named Glingal 'Hanging Flame', crafted by King Turgon.
[edit] Internal significance
The Two Trees of Valinor existed at a time when the only other source of light was the stars (which had been created for the Elves' benefit by Varda from the dews collected from the Two Trees). When three Elven ambassadors were brought to see Valinor for themselves, in order that they Elves might be convinced to come to Valinor, it seems that the Two Trees affected them most significantly.
In particular Thingol is said to have been motivated in the Great Journey by his desire to see the Light of Valinor again (until he finds contentment in the light he sees in Melian's face). Also in later times, the Elves would be divided between the Calaquendi who had seen the light of the Trees, and the Moriquendi who hadn't, with the former group explicitly superior in many ways.
The whole of the history of the First Age is strongly affected by the desire of many different characters to possess the Silmarils who contain the only remaining unsullied light of the Trees.
In the Second and Third Ages, the White Trees of Númenor and of Gondor, whose likeness descends from that of Telperion, have a mostly symbolic significance, standing both as symbols of the kingdoms in question, and also as reminders of the ancestral alliance between the Dúnedain and the Elves. This relationship may go even deeper, as the destruction of one of these trees inevitably proceeds trouble for the kingdom in question, implying an even stronger mystical bond.
[edit] External significance
- Further information: Axis mundi
The trees are a manifestation of the axis mundi, a common mythological element where heaven and earth connect bringing the order and brilliance of the divine to earth, in this case, Iluvatar to Middle Earth. The axis mundi is a compass that sets the rest of the world in order, balance, and direction. If it is hurt or destroyed, chaos will ensue.
While an axis mundi exists in nearly all mythological literature, the Two Trees are perhaps especially reminiscent of the tree of Yggdrasil in Norse mythology. In both stories the trees are cosmic constructs, as the essence of the two trees is what later becomes the Sun and the Moon. Another reminiscence is the two most important trees in the garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, in both stories providing guidance, life, and a connection with the divine.
Light as a concept is full of symbolism. Tolkien, as a Roman Catholic, would certainly have been exposed to the significance of light in Christian symbolism. Trees were of special importance to Tolkien — in his short story "Tree and Leaf", which in a sense was an elaborate allegory explaining his own creative process, the protagonist, Niggle, spends his life painting a single Tree.
The Trees are just another appearance of the recurrent 'gold and silver' concept of the legendarium. They are created after the lamps Ormal and Illuin, and from the trees themselves, Sun and Moon are created.
[edit] Alternate names
Both Telperion and Laurelin are said to have been given many names among which are the following: Telperion was also named Silpion and Ninquelótë while Laurelin was also given the names of Malinalda and Culúrien.
In early writings of Tolkien (see: The History of Middle-earth) Telperion's names were Silpion, Bansil and Belthil.
[edit] Quotations
- "Yet even as hope failed [...] Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single fruit of gold." — The Silmarillion
[edit] Brief Information
Dates: Created shortly after the arriving of the Valar to Valimar; destroyed shortly after the beginning of the First Age.
Localization: On the Hill Ezellohar, west from Valimar.
Origins: Created by Yavanna, and watered by Nienna's tears.
Other Names: Telperion could also be called Silpion or Ninquelótë, and Laurelin could also be called Malinalda and Culúrien.
