

Of course, there is the coming-of-age archetype and the Quest, and hence (part of) Frodo's development. The character development also has depth.

The turning away from power that could be taken Īnd of course, the role of the small and weak in confounding the powerful, as well as courage, loyalty, friendship, and love.


The role of "fore-knowledge" in causing despair, and the reactions of characters of different mettle and type to despair (Boromir, Denethor, Saruman-and Erestor, for that matter) The rejection of simplistic dualism, while keeping good vs. To that, I'd add other comments about the thematic content of the work:įoremost, there is the central role of mercy (a point discussed explicitly by Tolkien) The result: the Fourth Age of Middle-earth explained.Galoisien has raised a set of interesting points in post #8. Gathering all of the details we could find, we've done our best to decipher just what Tolkien's largely undocumented Fourth Age looks like. We've dug into the original source material in order to do just that. However, if you take all of the hints and minor references tucked into the nooks and crannies, it's possible to cobble together an idea of what happens after all of the major story arcs wrap up. But what about the Fourth Age? While Tolkien does provide some scattered information here and there, this last piece of the Middle-earth timeline is a bit of an enigma. The First Age and Second Ages are covered in books like The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings stories take place in the Third Age. Eventually, Elves, Dwarves, Men, Orcs, and the other peoples of Middle-earth wander onto the scene, and things begin to settle down into a more predictable pattern of events - most of which are divided up and recorded in four "ages."Įach of these ages receives specific attention from Tolkien at various times. It starts before time itself and then transitions into huge chunks of vague pre-history in which the Valar, the angelic guardians of creation, shape the world and then fight to preserve it from the powerful traitor Morgoth and his minions. Middle-earth has a long and complicated history.
