What is the name of the first age of the Sun in J.R.R. Tolkien’s chronology?
Answer
The First Age
The First Age is the first age of the Sun in J.R.R. Tolkien’s chronology.
Tolkien’s First Age follows the Years of the Trees and includes the major struggles of the Noldor and their allies against Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Much of its history is told in The Silmarillion, especially in the Quenta Silmarillion.
The age contains the stories of the Silmarils, Fëanor, Beren and Lúthien, Túrin Turambar, and the fall of Gondolin. It ends with the War of Wrath, in which the forces of the Valar and their allies defeat Morgoth. The conflict devastates large parts of Beleriand.
The phrase “Elder Days” can cause confusion because Tolkien sometimes used it broadly for the earliest periods of Arda, including times before the First Age of the Sun. The First Age is the specific chronological answer when the question concerns the first age counted by the Sun.