"First Age of the Sun" misconception

[Ar-Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Nor, if I recall, did Tolkien ever clearly define what was encompassed by the "First Age."

In the expanded edition of The Letters, there are these words in the Letter 131: "The History of the Eldar (Englished as ‘Elves’, but the pre-Shakespearian sense is intended), or Silmarillion proper. Nexus of legends, and stories in chronological order, into which some major tales are woven. Contains the ‘history’ of the First Age, from the coming of the Eldar to its end with overthrow of Morgoth-melkor, the first Dark Lord. Called The Silmarillion, because most of the history and tales are grouped about or refer to the Three Great Jewels of Fëanor (the Silmarils), their making, theft, the war for their recovery, and their final loss." I think Tolkien meant the Awakening of the Elves in VY 1050 by the phrase 'coming of the Eldar'.