The Astronomy of Middle-earth

Dr. Kristine Larsen, Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Central Connecticut State University

Talk presented at the RingCon Tolkien convention, Bonn, Germany, November 23, 2002. Adapted and expanded from the original PowerPoint format.

link to a list of all my Tolkien-related astronomy papers

One question we might ask ourselves when embarking on a critical study of Tolkien’s work is "are we just reading too much into a story?" Christopher Tolkien argued for the authenticity of such analysis: "Such inquiries are in no way illegitimate in principle; they arise from an acceptance of the imagined world as an object of contemplation or study valid as many other objects of contemplation or study in the all too unimaginary world."

What we are doing is no less than the good professor did to himself. Tolkien wrote in a 1957 letter, "Naturally the stories come first. But it is, I suppose, some test of the consistency of a mythology as such if it is capable of some sort of rational or rationalized explanation." Tolkien was ever mindful of the inner consistency of his universe, and that it was not utterly exempt from the rules of the mundane world in which we live. In fact, Tolkien stated emphatically that Middle-earth is envisioned as our world, in a time far before all recorded history: In a letter to Rhona Beare in 1958 he wrote, "I have, I suppose, constructed an imaginary time, but kept my feet on my own mother-earth for place." In an earlier letter to his publishing company, he explained, "Middle-earth, by the way, is not a name of a never-never land without relation to the world we live in…. It is just a use of Middle-English middle-erde (or erthe), altered from Old English Middangeard: the name for the inhabited lands of Men ‘between the seas’. And though I have not attempted to relate the shape of the mountains and land-masses to what geologists may say or surmise about the nearer past, imaginatively this ‘history’ is supposed to take place in a period of the actual Old World of this planet."

In shaping his vision of Middle-earth, Tolkien sometimes ran into "difficulties" of a scientific nature. One he frankly and openly admitted was in the area of biology: "Elves and Men are evidently in biological terms one race, or they could not breed and produce fertile offspring – even as a rare event: there are two cases only in my legends of such unions, and they are merged in the descendents of Eärendil." Given his mindfulness of natural laws, one may ask did Tolkien incorporate astronomical lore and fact into his universe? The answer is, in far more ways than can possibly be explored in a talk of this length. Astronomy helped, and haunted, Tolkien as he set out to develop his universe – or Eä, as the Elves would say.

One gets an immediate appreciation of just how deeply astronomical ideas are ingrained in the texture and fabric of Middle-earth from a study of the chronology of events in "The Lord of the Rings." Christopher Tolkien’s edited volumes of the "first drafts" of this classic tale (published as volumes in The History of Middle-earth) are bursting with references to the moon and its phases. It appears that much, if not all, of the internal chronology of Frodo’s journey across Middle-earth was timed by and to the phases of the moon. For example, consider the following section from Tolkien’s own notes from the first draft of the Lothlórien section of FOTR:

Nov. 24 Leave Rivendell

Dec. 6 Hollin (Full Moon)

9 Snows on Caradras

11 reach Moria

13 Escape to Lothlórien (Moon’s last quarter)

14 Go to Caras Galadon

15 Night at Caras Galadon

16 Mirror of Galadrien

17-21 Stay at Caras Galadon (Dec. 21 New Moon)

Dec. 22-31 Remain at Caras Galadon, leave with the New Year (Dec. 28 Moon’s first quarter).

These chronologies were changed many times, eventually settling on the lunar phases of 1941-2 (although unfortunately many references to the phases of the moon were edited out of the final published version).

Tolkien was so "wedded" to his lunar chronology that he sometimes reached impasses in his work. In an April 26, 1944 letter to his son, Tolkien said he had "struggled with a recalcitrant passage in ‘The Ring’," and then went on to say that "at this point I require to know how much later the moon gets up each night when nearing full, and how to stew a rabbit." (TTT). A letter to his son six months later spoke of a "most awkward error in the synchronization… of the movement of Frodo and the others" which temporarily halted progress on LOTR. According to Chris Tolkien’s research, it appears to be a problem with Pippin and Frodo both seeing the same full moon from different locations in Middle-earth, and on what date this occurred. Tolkien’s own notes say "Whole of Frodo’s and Sam’s adventures must be set back one day, so that Frodo sees moon-set on morning (early hours) of Feb. 6, and Faramir reaches Minas Tirith on the night of the 7^th…. (This can be done by making Frodo and Sam only wander four days in Emyn Muil). The next night Frodo would see from far away the full moon set beyond Gondor and wonder where he was in the mists of the west…."

Even with such care and dedication to detail, Tolkien sometimes made errors. In "Return of the Shadow" (the draft of part of FOTR), during the scene where the Hobbits come across Gildor Inglorion and the traveling elves on the outskirts of the Shire, Tolkien makes the uncharacteristic mistake of having a New Moon rising late at night in the East, when it should rise with or after the sun. In the final published version, there is no mention of the moon, just the stars, as we shall later see.

Having recognized the importance of astronomical accuracy and detail in Tolkien’s work, what other allusions to heavenly objects can we find? A complete listing is impossible in so short a period of time, neither is it possible to explore all the various versions of each tale, myth, and poem. Instead, I will try to give you a flavor of the rich tapestry that is the astronomy of Middle-earth.

In the beginning…..

"There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made…." Thus begins the Ainulindalë, the great creation myth of Middle-earth. They sang a Great Song, but one (there's always one black sheep) sang off key – Melko, later Melkor, who eventually became known as Morgoth, and whose infamous lieutenant and successor in all things evil was Sauron. As in other parallel myths, the rebellious angels are overcome -- temporarily -- and Ilúvatar created the universe, Eä [Q: ‘to be’] after the model of the Great Song. The greatest Ainur entered Eä and became known as the Valar, with Manwë as their chief and his wife, Varda, as their greatest queen. Melkor followed the trail of his perceived rivals and wreaked havoc of several nasty varieties over the ensuing ages. At this point Arda (by definition primarily the earth but also including the entire solar system) was temporarily lit with the light of two Great Lamps, one set in the north of Middle-earth, and the other in the south. These were eventually destroyed by Melkor, leaving most of Arda in a permanent twilight, illuminated only by the faint stars Varda had earlier created.

After many battles, the Valar gave up and fled to the western part of Arda, and established Aman, the so-called Blessed Lands, with their capitol in Valinor. In order to illuminate their land, the Valar created the Two Trees (produced by the song of power of Yavanna and the tears of Nienna):

"The one [Telperion] had leaves of dark green that beneath were as shining silver, and from each of his countless flowers a dew of silver light was ever falling, and the earth beneath was dappled with the shadows of his fluttering leaves. The other [Laurelin] bore leaves of a young green like the new-opened beech; their edges were gold. Flowers swung upon her branches in clusters of yellow flame, formed each to a glowing horn that spilled a golden rain upon the ground; and from the blossom of that tree there came forth warmth and a great light." (Sil 33)

Varda, the aforementioned Queen of the Valar, is the subject of poetry and song throughout Middle-earth, including the following lines from the famous elf song of FOTR:

"O stars that in the Sunless Year
With shining hand by her were sown,
In windy fields now bright and clear
We see your silver blossom blown!
O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
Thy starlight on the Western Seas." (FOTR 117)

Known also as Elbereth and Elentari (star queen), Gilthoniel and Tintallë (star kindler), the Snow White Queen of the heavens was most beloved by the Elves for her role in creating the stars they so adored. It was she who created the first dim generation of stars, the sole source of light in Middle-earth after the destruction of the Two Lamps by Melkor. The coming of the two kinds of Ilúvatar’s children – Elves, the Firstborn and Men, the Second – had long been prophesied, and it was in this age of darkness that the time drew close.

The Quenta Silmarillion explains that "at the bidding of Manwë Mandos spoke, and he said: 'In this age the Children shall come indeed, but they come not yet. Moreover it is doom that the First Children should come in the darkness, and shall look first upon the Stars. Great light shall be for their waning. To Varda ever shall they call at need.'… Then Varda took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the First-born. Wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Eä was Tintallë, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentári, Queen of the Stars. Karnil and Luinil, Nénar and Lumbar, Alkarinquë and Elemmíre she wrought in that time, and other of her works of old she gathered together and set as signs in Heaven that the gods may read: Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronúmë, and Anarríma; and Menelmakar with his shining belt that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be. And high in the north as a challenge unto Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valakirka, the Sickle of the Gods and sign of doom. Many names have these stars been given; but in the North in the Elder Days Men called the Burning Briar….

It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmakar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the First-born of Ilúvatar. Themselves they named the Quendi, whom we call the Elves…. But Oromë named them in their own tongue Eldar, people of the stars."

The appendix to The Silmarillion adds that "According to Elvish legend, ele [the root of Eldar] was a primitive exclamation 'behold!' made by the Elves when they first saw the stars." (S 449)

It is important to note that the Elves are both the Elder and the Eldar -- the First Children, and the Children of the Stars.

An earlier version of the story of the coming of the First Born and the creation of the greater stars appears in "The Book of Lost Tales" (113-4), and clearly contradicts the version found in The Silmarillion:

"Varda stood beside [Aulë] and said, 'The Eldar have come!' and Aulë flung down his hammer saying: 'Then Ilúvatar hath sent them at last,' and his hammer striking some ingots of silver upon the floor did its magic smite silver sparks to life, that flashed from his windows out into the heavens. Varda seeing this took of that radiance in the basin and mingled it with molten silver to make it more stable, and fared upon her wings of speed, and set stars about the firmament in very great profusion, so that the skies grew marvelously fair and their glory was doubled....

Some have said that the Seven Stars were set at that time by Varda to commemorate the coming of the Eldar, and that Morwinyon who blazes above the world's edge in the west was dropped by her as she fared in great haste back to Valinor. Now this is indeed the true beginning of Morwinyon and his beauty, yet the Seven Stars were not set by Varda, being indeed the sparks from Aulë's forge whose brightness in the ancient heavens urged Varda to make their rivals; yet this did she never achieve."

Are these great stars and groupings of stars figments of Tolkien’s fertile imagination, or can we clearly identify them with stars and constellations in the true night sky? Any attempt to draw correspondences between Tolkien’s star groups and those recognized by the International Astronomical Union must be limited to the brighter stars, including bright planets, since it is said that these are the "great stars" which Varda made (or collected together) in honor of the Elves’ arrival. The constellations Telumendil [Q: 'lover of the heavens'] and Anarríma [Q: ‘sun edge’], as well as the stars Elemmíre [Q: 'star-jewel'], Luinil [Q: 'blue -star'], Lumbar [Q: ‘shadow home’], Nénar [Q: ‘flame of adamant’?] have never been unambiguously identified.

There is evidence that the stars Alcarinquë [Q: 'glorious'] and Carnil [Q: 'red -star'] represent the planets Jupiter and Mars respectively (although Jupiter is called Silindo in the Quenya Lexicon), a sensible idea since these two planets are among the brightest objects in the sky.

A suggestion has been made that Luinil and Nénar represent Uranus and Neptune, respectively, an idea which Christopher Tolkien quite rightly rebuts, since these dim objects can hardly be confused with "great stars." An identification of Lumbar with Saturn is only slightly less suspect, given the fact that Saturn is less bright than a number of famous stars clearly missing from Tolkien’s list. Having now dispensed with these problematic members of the celestial sphere, what remains are those stars and constellations about whose identity there is much less doubt:

· Wilwarin [Q: 'butterfly'] An obvious identification can be made with a prominent northern constellation, Cassiopeia, as Christopher Tolkien has done.

· Soronúmë [Q: 'eagle--'] A conjectural identification can be made with our current Aquila the Eagle,

 

although I must point out that the nearby prominent constellation of Lyra has also been called an Eagle (Aquila Cadens – swooping eagle) in centuries past.

· Morwinyon [Q: glint at dusk] This star which Varda "dropped" is identified with the bright orange star Arcturus by Christopher Tolkien. One of the brightest stars in the sky, it does command attention when it lays low in the western sky, hanging off the handle of the Big Dipper.

 

The following famous snippet from the Hobbits’ encounter with Gildor Inglorion and the traveling Elves from FOTR identifies several of Middle-earth’s celestial signposts: "Away high in the East swung Remmirath, the Netted Stars, and slowly above the mists red Borgil rose, glowing like a jewel of fire. Then by some shifts of airs all the mist was drawn away like a veil, and there leaned up, as he climbed over the rim of the world, the Swordsman of the Sky, Menelvagor with his shining belt."

Can we make astronomical sense of this wonderfully descriptive passage?

· Menelvagor [S: heaven-swordsman] is clearly our modern Orion, called in other stories by his Quenyan name, Menelmacar.

 Remmirath, the Netted Stars, is identified by Christopher Tolkien as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, an identification which is astronomically sound.

What, then, do we make of the red star Borgil which hovers in between these two? Various authors have argued between Betelgeuse, the lower shoulder of Orion and Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull. To an astronomer, the answer should be obvious – it is Aldebaran. Only Aldebaran would rise BEFORE Menelvagor (Orion), and the name Aldebaran itself means "Follower [of the Pleiades]," consistent with Tolkien’s description. In my mind, the issue is closed, albeit not on the side to which most authors seem to subscribe.

· Helluin is flatly identified as Sirius by Christopher Tolkien, yet the description in the "Coming of the Elves," itself, is more than sufficient to make this identification self-evident. Sirius, a blue-white star, is the brightest star in the night sky, and rises at a fairly low angle as seen from northern latitudes. He also follows close behind Orion in the sky. Another reference to Helluin exists in Tolkien’s work – the first gems crafted by Fëanor are described as "white and colorless, but being set under starlight they would blaze with blue and white fires brighter than Helluin."

The celestial relationship between Orion and Sirius is used by Tolkien in some of his more obscure writings as a symbol of the close relationship between the warriors Telumehtar [Telimektar, Daimord], son of the Vala Tulkas, and Ingil [Gil, Gilweth, Githilma], son of the Elf King Inwë [Ingwë]. Time does not permit us to explore the details of Telumehtar’s mythology, except to say that he battles with Melkor, and is prophesized to fight once more in the Last Battle at the End of Days. Ingil joined his comrade in the sky in the "likeness of a great bee bearing honey of flame." As such, the original name of this star was Nielluin [Q: ‘blue bee’]. Other versions of the Second Prophesy of Mandos [i.e. the myth of Morgoth’s defeat at the End of Days] call Orion a symbol of Túrin Turambar, son of Húrin, who it is said will stand with Tulkas and Fionwë (son of Manwë) and exact revenge in the name of all Men.

No exploration of the stars of Middle-earth can be considered complete without a discussion of perhaps the most famous of Tolkien’s groupings, the Valacirca. The Great Bear, the Burning Briar, the Sickle of the Valar, the Seven Butterflies, the Seven Stars (sparks from Aulë’s forge), and the Wain are all alternate names which appear in Tolkien’s work for this unmistakable group of northern stars – the Big Dipper.

It circles the sky in the north, never setting, a permanent watchful symbol of Morgoth’s eventual defeat. Beren, as a prisoner of Sauron, sang in answer to Lúthien’s call, "a song of challenge that he had made in praise of the Seven Stars, the Sickle of the Valar that Varda hung above the North as a sign for the fall of Morgoth." It should be remembered that the abode of evil in Middle-earth was originally in the north, not the south (i.e. Mordor) where fans of "Lord of the Rings" are programmed to automatically assume.

This leaves us with one final stellar mystery to solve – Durin’s Crown. This group of seven stars, was pictured on the door of Moria. Seen here in the original design,

and the final version

(and as represented by Peter Jackson),

it was said to be visible even during the day reflected in the Mirrormere of Kheled-zâram in Moria. In the book version of FOTR, Gimli, Frodo, and Sam pause to look upon its image before leaving Moria after Gandalf’s death. Most authors identify Durin’s Crown with the Big Dipper, the most obvious northern group of seven stars. On the surface this would make sense, since it is a circumpolar group of stars and would, theoretically, be visible all the time if one could see stars during the day. However, the shape is most definitely not that represented on the door of Moria. Corona Borealis, the modern constellation of the Northern Crown, has been suggested as another possibility. This group does somewhat resemble the illustration of the door (when turned upside-down) and does have seven stars.

I posit here what may be an original hypothesis, that Durin’s Crown may in fact be modeled after the modern constellation Cepheus, the King. It is another famous circumpolar northern constellation, lying next to both Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper. The main difficulty with such an identification is that Cepheus only contains five prominent stars.

In the end, no definitive identification can be made, either by Tolkien scholars or by astronomical colleagues I have inflicted with this stellar Rorschach test.

Having identified as many stars as possible, we next turn to the two greatest lights in the heavens – the sun and the moon. The Two Trees of Valinor were eventually destroyed by Melkor during the rebellion of the Noldor. Each produced a single flower or fruit, which was carefully collected by the Valar and placed into a special vessel to preserve their radiance. Varda placed these new lights into the sky to illuminate Middle-earth for the exiled Elves as well as the soon-to-be-born race of Men:

"Isil the Sheen the Vanyar of old named the Moon, flower of Telperion in Valinor; and Anar the Firegolden, fruit of Laurelin, they named the Sun. But the Noldor named them also Rána the Wayward, and Vása, the Heart of Fire, that awakens and consumes; for the Sun was set as a sign for the awakening of Men and the waning of the Elves, but the Moon cherishes their memory." (Sil 113-4) Thus we see that the moon is ever sacred to the Elves, whereas the sun would be preferred by the race of Men.

The moon was piloted by Tilion (a male Maia, or lesser Ainur), while the sun was driven by Arien (a female Maia). As we shall see, Tolkien apparently had no issues with women drivers:

"Isil was first wrought and made ready, and first rose into the realm of the stars, and was the elder of the new lights, as was Telperion of the Trees. Then for a while the world had moonlight, and many things stirred and woke that had waited long in the sleep of Yavanna. The servants of Morgoth were filled with amazement, but the Elves of the Outer Lands looked up in delight; and even as the Moon rose above the darkness in the west, Fingolfin let blow his silver trumpets and began his march onto Middle-earth, and the shadows of his host went long and black before him.

Tilion had traversed the heavens seven times, and thus was in the furthest east, when the vessel of Arien was made ready. Then Anar arose in glory, and the first dawn of the Sun was like a great fire...."

 Note that initially the sun and moon both rose in the west and set in the east, the clear opposite of astronomical fact.

Tolkien then went on to say, "Now Varda purposed that the two vessels should journey in Ilmen and ever be aloft, but not together; each should pass from Valinor into the east and return, the one issuing from the west as the other turned from the east.... But Tilion was wayward and uncertain in speed, and held not to his appointed path; and he sought to come near to Arien, being drawn by her splendour, thought the flame of Anar scorched him, and the island of the Moon was darkened."

Note that in this initial scenario, there was no night time, as there was always at least one of the great lights in the sky at all times.

The tale continued, "Because of the waywardness of Tilion, therefore, and yet more because of the prayers of Lórien and Estë, who said sleep and rest had been banished from the Earth, and the stars were hidden, Varda changed her counsel, and allowed a time wherein the world should still have shadow and half-light....

Varda commanded the Moon to journey in like manner, and passing under Earth to arise in the east, but only after the Sun had descended from heaven. But Tilion went with uncertain pace, as yet he goes, and was still drawn towards Arien, as he shall ever be; so that often both may be seen above the Earth together, or at times it will chance that he comes so nigh that his shadow cuts off her brightness and there is a darkness amid the day." (S 115-6)

Thus, in a single myth, we have an explanation for:

1) the motion of the moon relative to the sun during its phases;

2) the "dark side" of the moon;

and

3) solar eclipses

Note that there are several other versions of the creation of the sun and moon, including one in which Morgoth hurts the sun and moon, thus causing eclipses (and shaking loose stars to create meteor showers).

An interesting illusion to the birth of the Sun and Moon was deleted between the draft and final version of LOTR. Tom Bombadil describes himself in the draft version as "an Aborigine…. When the Elves passed westward Tom was here already – before the seas were bent. He saw the Sun rise in the West and the Moon following, before the new order of days was made. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless…."

So in the canonical tale the sun and moon were created in response to Melkor’s destruction of the Two Trees. In the same cruel hour, he stole the three precious Silmarils, the jewels created by Fëanor which glowed with the intermingled light of the Trees. These unequaled gems were the source of much infighting, jealously, rebellion, and murder among and by the Noldor. In the end, only one survived, and passed to Elwing the Half-elven through her grandmother, Luthien. She married Eärendil, a famed mariner, also of mixed heritage, and their sons, Elrond and Elros, became known as the Peredhil [S: 'half-elven'].

When the sons of Fëanor tried to reclaim what they believed to be their heritage (i.e. the Silmaril), Elwing jumped into the ocean with it to prevent its capture, her sons were kidnapped, and with her husband she sailed to Aman the Blessed on his ship Vingilot to beg for mercy for Middle-earth, even though as a mortal, Eärendil was expressly forbidden to set foot in the Blessed Lands. Despite this, he was given a warm welcome by the Valar:

"'Hail Eärendil, of mariners most renowned, the looked for that cometh at unawares, the longed for that cometh beyond hope! Hail Eärendil, bearer of light before the Sun and Moon! Splendour of the Children of Earth, star in the darkness, jewel in the sunset, radiant in the morning!'"

Eärendil pleaded his case before the Valar, who agreed to send an army to Middle-earth to defeat Morgoth. However, Eärendil was forbidden to return to the mortal lands, and to him and his wife (and eventually their children) was given a choice to become Man or Elf in entirety and fate. Elwing chose first -- to become of the First Born -- and her husband dutifully followed suit, even though his true first choice was to remain mortal. Elrond chose later to become First Born and his brother, Elros, chose to become as Man, founding a great lineage leading eventually to Aragorn.

Because of Eärendil's decision, a task was appointed to him for all time:

"[The Valar] took Vingilot , and hallowed it, and bore it away through Valinor to the uttermost rim of the world; and there it passed through the Door of Night and was lifted up even into the oceans of heaven. Now fair and marvelous was that vessel made, and it was filled with a wavering flame, pure and bright; and Eärendil the Mariner sat at the helm, glistening with dust of elven-gems, and the Silmaril was bound upon his brow. Far he journeyed in that ship, even into the starless voids; but most often was he seen at morning or at evening, glimmering in sunrise or sunset, as he came back to Valinor from voyages beyond the confines of the world." (S 309)

In Bilbo’s famed Rivendell poem, we have:

"A ship then new they built for him
of mithril and of elven-glass
with shining prow; no shaven oar
nor sail she bore on silver mast;
the Silmaril as lantern light
and banner bright with living flame
to gleam thereon by Elbereth
herself was set, who thither came
and wings immortal made for him
and laid upon him undying doom,
to sail the shoreless skies and come
behind the Sun and light of Moon." (FOTR 310)

The Quenta Silmarillion (The Lost Road 361-2) says that when Eärendil first rose in the West the Elves of Middle-earth "beheld it from afar and wondered, and they took it for a sign of hope. And when this new star arose in the west, Maidros said unto Maglor: ‘Surely that is a Silmaril that shineth in the sky?’ And Maglor said: ‘If it be verily that Silmaril that we saw cast into the sea that riseth again by the power of the Gods, then let us be glad; for its glory I seen now by many, and is yet secure from all evil." The Elves named it Gil-Estel – the Star of Hope.

"The Tale of Eärendil" (BOLT 267) recounts that "if a beam from Eärendel fell on a child newborn he becomes ‘a child of Eärendel’ and a wanderer."

Interestingly, Tolkien admitted that the name of the character was not original to him, but was instead taken from an old Anglo-Saxon homily which is said to refer to John the Baptist as a brilliant herald or messenger. Tolkien wrote that he thought the Anglo-Saxon reference was to "a star presaging the dawn… that is what we now call Venus: the morning-star as it may be seen shining brilliantly in the dawn, before the actual rising of the sun." Note that in some writings Eärendil is said to be destined to take part in the Last Battle, as part of his duties are to watch for the return of Morgoth from "beyond the Gates of Night."

We hear of Eärendil in one last context – the story of Númenor, the island created by the Valar between Middle-earth and the Blessed Lands as a reward for the faithful of Men:

"That land the Valar called Andor, the Land of Gift; and the star of Eärendil shone bright in the West as a token that all was made ready, and as a guide over the sea; and Men marveled to see that silver flame in the paths of the Sun. Then the Edain set sail upon the deep waters following the star… But so bright was Rothinzil [Vingilot] that even at morning Men could see it glimmering in the West, and in the cloudless night is shone alone, for no other star could stand beside it." -- S 311

Herein lies another of Tolkien's astronomical gaffs -- having Venus in the west at sunrise. Since Venus, as an inferior planet in an orbit inside earth's, can never be more that approximately 45 degrees to the east or west of the sun's position in the sky, it can never appear nearly opposite the sun in the sky, as is described here. The error was undoubtedly made because of Tolkien's clear association of the West with perfection (just as he had the Sun and Mon originally rise in the West, out of Valinor.)

This final of Eärendil’s roles was predicted for him in the tale of his father, Tuor, to whom Ulmo gifted a dream of "an isle, and in the midst of it was a steep mountain, and behind it the sun went down and shadows sprang into the sky; but above it there shone a single dazzling star." (Unfinished Tales 32-4)

As the Elves' most beloved star, the light of Venus held special properties, explained to Frodo by Galadriel:

"'And you, Ring-bearer,' she said, turning to Frodo. "I come to you last who are not last in my thoughts. For you I have prepared this.' She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it, and rays of white light sprang from her hand. 'In this phial,' she said, 'is caught the light of Eärendil's star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.'" (FOTR 487-8)

The phial was used several times during the later LOTR, especially in ROTK (234), at the Tower of Cirith Ungol in Mordor:

"Sam withdrew the elven-glass of Galadriel again. As if to do honour to his hardiness, and to grace with splendour his faithful brown hobbit-hand that had done such deeds, the phial blazed forth suddenly, so that all the shadowy court was lit with a dazzling radiance like lightning; but it remained steady and did not pass.

'Gilthoniel, A Elbereth!' Sam cried. For, why he did not know, his thought sprang back suddenly to the Elves in the Shire, and the song than drove away the Black Rider in the trees."

Having identified the major astronomical objects present in Tolkien’s work, it now falls to us to search for random references to the heavens. An exhaustive list is not possible here, but I present rather a potpourri of some of the more interesting or well-known examples.

· In "Unfinished Tales," we learn of Tar-Meneldur [more precisely, Menel dur Elentirmo – Starwatcher], fifth king of Númenor, who "loved dearly the land of Númenor and all things in it, but he gave no heed to the sea that lay all around it; for his mind looked further than Middle-earth: he was enamoured of the stars and the heavens. All that he could gather of the lore of the Eldar and Edain concerning Eä and the deeps that lay about the Kingdom of Arda he studied, and his chief delight was in the watching of the stars. He built a tower in Forostar (the northernmost region of the island) where the airs were clearest, from which by night he could survey the heavens and observe all the movements of the light of the firmament." Upon succeeding his father as king, he gave up his observatory and moved into the palace, and although he proved to be a "good and wise king… he never ceased to yearn for days in which he might enrich his knowledge of the heavens." (Unfinished Tales, Aldarion and Erendis: 181)

· In the First Age, Eöl the Dark Elf forged two swords from meteoritic iron, Anglachel, which he gave to Elwë (Thingol) for permission to live in the forests of Nan Elmoth, and Anguirel, which he kept for himself. The latter was stolen by his son, Maeglin, the former reluctantly given to Túrin Turambar by Elwë with the warning that it contained the malice of its maker. This warning was prophetic, as Túrin unknowingly killed his friend Beleg with that black blade. In the prophecies of the End of Days, it is said that the blade will be turned on Morgoth, yielded by the vengeful hand of Túrin.

Astronomically related character names are common in Tolkien’s universe. For example, Isildur and his brother, Anarion, are named for the moon and sun, respectively.

There are two roots meaning star in Sindarin, el- and gil. Both are used as part of the names of numerous characters in Tolkien's works. Examples from characters mentioned in Lord of the Rings:

· Elrond - "Star dome", the appearance of the sky overhead. Elwing, his mother named him in honor of the Menelrond, the dome of stars Melian, her grandmother, created out of gems and silver for the throne room of Elwë in Doriath.

 

· Arwen, daughter of Elrond, is called Undómiel [Q: 'evening-maiden'] or the Evenstar because she was the most beautiful elf maiden in the later years of Middle-earth

· Gilraen, "Wandering star," was Aragorn's mother.

Special note should be made of Gil-galad ["Star radiance" or "radiant starlight]. Gil-galad was the mightiest of the Noldor Kings in Middle-earth, and his death during the Last Alliance of Men and Elves against Sauron is chronicled in verse sung by Sam in FOTR:

"Gil-galad was an Elven-king
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
The last whose realm was fair and free
Between the Mountains and the Sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen;
The countless stars of heaven's field
Were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away
And where he dwelleth none can say;
For into darkness fell his star
In Mordor where the shadows are." (FOTR 250)

Credit should be given to Peter Jackson for incorporating the star motif of the poem in the breastplate of Gil-galad worn in the Last Alliance of Men and Elves battle scene.

A careful study of Elrond's armor in the same scenes shows a smaller version of the star signet in silver on his chest.

· Ithildin [S:'star-moon] was created by the Noldor from mithril, a metal only found in the Mines of Moria. It was typically used for private gates and other objects which needed to be kept secret from the masses. The main example of its use in Tolkien's universe is in FOTR (397): the gates of the Mines of Moria were traced with this substance:

"The Moon now shone upon the grey face of the rock; but they could see nothing else for a while, Then slowly on the surface, where the wizard's hands had passed, faint lines appeared, like slender veins of silver running in the stone. At first they were no more than pale gossamer-threads, so fine that they only twinkled fitfully where the Moon caught them, but steadily they grew broader and clearer, until their design could be guessed.

At the top, as high as Gandalf could reach, was an arch of interlacing letters in an Elvish character. Below, though the threads were in places blurred or broken, the outline could be seen of an anvil and a hammer surmounted by a crown of seven stars. Beneath these again were two trees, each bearing crescent moons. More clearly that all else there shone forth in the middle of the door a single star with many rays.

'There are the emblems of Durin'! cried Gimli

'And there is the Tree of the High Elves!' said Legolas.

'And the Star of the House of Fëanor,' said Gandalf. 'They are wrought of ithildin that mirrors only starlight and moonlight, and sleeps until it is touched by one who speaks words now long forgotten in Middle-earth."

· Ithildin is not to be confused with moon-letters, as described in "The Hobbit":

"'Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them,' said Elrond, 'not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, and what is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written. The dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could tell you. These must have been written on a midsummer's eve in a crescent moon, a long while ago.'" (The Hobbit, 62)

Appendix D of The Return of the King is a detailed discussion of several calendar systems in use in Middle-earth during the Third and Fourth Ages. These calendars have obvious astronomical connections, a handful of which I will list here:

· According to the Elves, the solar day (reckoned in modern calendars as the 24 hour period between midnight to midnight) was called ré (Q: 'day') and was measured from sunset to sunset. As the Eldar are the "People of the stars," this way of defining the day makes perfect sense. The times when the stars first appear in the evening twilight and then disappear in the morning twilight were given special names, the former being undómë (Q: 'twilight) and the latter tindómë (Q: 'star-twilight). The Sindarin term for twilight in general was uial, divided into evening twilight (aduial) and morning twilight (minuial).

· The Eldar understood that the astronomical year was defined by the sun, and named this period the coronar (Q: 'sun-round'). However, since the Elves were close to nature, it was the waxing and waning of vegetation which seemed a more obvious cycle by which to measure the passing of time. This seasonal year was called the loa (Q: 'growth'), and was divided into seasons and special days, falling outside the seasons, totaling 365 days.

· The Dwarves set their calendar by the heavens as well. The first day of their year, the Dwarvish New Year, was called Durin’s Day, and was the first day of the last new crescent moon in autumn.

After spending years carefully handcrafting his universe, Tolkien was faced with what he considered glaring internal inconsistencies which bothered him for the rest of his life (although he never completely succumbed to the impulse to fix them). One of the issues which greatly bothered him was the biological impossibility of life in Middle-earth thriving without sunlight (i.e. in the years between the destruction of the Great Lamps and the creation of the sun). In a note he reflects, "Neither could there be woods and flowers and c.[ompany] on earth, if there had been no light since the overthrow of the Lamps!" In the classic mythology of Middle-earth, Tolkien tried to explain this with the Sleep of Yavanna, where the Vala set the living things of Middle-earth to slumber under the stars until return of the Light. However, life still thrived in Beleriand, where "under the power of Melian there was life and joy and bright stars shone like silver fires." (War of the Jewels, Grey Annals: 106)

This continued to bother Tolkien, along with the deeper issues of a flat earth (as it was before the destruction of Númenor) and the problems of creating the sun and moon in any realistic manner. Tolkien reflected that while he was revising his mythology he was "inclined to adhere to the flat earth and the astronomically absurd business of making the sun and moon. But you can make up stories of that kind when you live among people who have the same general background of imagination, when the sun ‘really’ rises in the East and goes down in the West, etc. When however (no matter how little most people know or think about astronomy) it is the general belief that we live upon a ‘spherical island in space’ you cannot do this anymore. One loses, of course, the dramatic impact of such things as the first ‘incarnants’ waking in a starlit world – or the coming of the High Elves to Middle-earth and unfurling their banners at the first rising of the moon." (Myths Transformed) Perhaps it is because of this very loss of the dramatic and romantic that Tolkien never completely abandoned his "absurd business"; however, he did construct alternate tales which better fit what he considered the astronomical knowledge the wise Eldar should possess.

He began to preface his discussions of cosmology with the fact that the tales of Middle-earth are filtered though human eyes, having come down to us from the Númenoreans. Therefore, the High Elves were not ignorant of true astronomical fact, as they could not be, having been taught by the Valar themselves. Tolkien emphatically stated that these myths "are Númenorean, blending Elven-lore with human myth and imagination." He carefully noted that the wise of Númenor would know that "the making of the stars was not so, nor of the sun and moon. For the sun and stars were older than Arda."

So how exactly did Tolkien propose to change his cosmology to take into account this later opinion, and, more importantly as he himself questioned, "how can, nonetheless, the Eldar be called the ‘Star-folk’"?

In "Morgoth’s Ring," Christopher Tolkien published a radical revision of the cosmological myth which he called Ainulindalë C* (what Tolkien himself refered to in a letter to Katherine Farrar from 1948 as "Round World Version"). In this version, the earth is not only round, but the Sun existed prior to the world’s creation. In this tale Melkor ripped out a portion of the earth and used it to fashion the moon, "a little earth of his own, and it wheeled round about in the sky, following the greater earth wherever it went, so that Melkor could observe thence all that happened below, and could send forth his malice and trouble the seas and shake the lands…. There is both blinding heat and cold intolerable, as might be looked for in any work of Melkor, but now at least it is clean, yet utterly barren; and nought liveth there, nor ever hath, nor shall." This is a remarkably modern view of the moon, couched in mythological language. One is struck by the similarity of the myth to the so-called fission model of lunar genesis, developed in 1880 by G. H. Darwin, son of the famed biologist. This theory was still discussed at the time of Tolkien’s revisions, although it has now been largely abandoned (at least as Darwin conceived it).

In response to the problem of the Elves, Tolkien wrote a possible solution in the "Cuivienyarna" (Appendix to Quendi and Eldar, The War of the Jewels: 423). Here Middle-earth was still largely in darkness, due to clouds and gloom of Morgoth dimming the sun and stars. At the exact time of the Eldar’s awakening, in the early twilight before dawn, the clouds were miraculously blown aside, allowing the Elves to gaze up at the stars in wonder. The tale explained that the Quendi "were ever moved most in heart by the Stars, and the hours of twilight in clear weather, at ‘morrow-dim’ and at ‘even-dim’, were the times of their greatest joy. For in those hours in the spring of the year they had first awakened to life in Arda."

In conclusion, astronomical lore and knowledge played a significant role in the shaping of Middle-earth, both figuratively and literally. As Tolkien himself said,

"You have at any rate paid me the compliment of taking me seriously; tho I cannot avoid wondering whether it is not ‘too seriously,’ or in the wrong directions. The tale is after all in the ultimate analysis a tale, a piece of literature, intended to have literary effect…. That the device adopted, that of giving its setting an historical air or feeling… is successful, seems shown by the fact that several correspondents have treated it in the same way…. i.e. as if it were a report of ‘real’ times and places." [Sep 1954 letter to Peter Hastings]