Prelude The first sources of light for all of Tolkien's imaginary world,
Arda, are
two enormous Lamps on the central continent,
Middle-earth: Illuin, the silver one to the north, and Ormal, the golden one to the south. They are created by the
Valar, powerful spirit beings, but are thrown down and destroyed by the Dark Lord
Melkor.
Creation The Valar retreat to
Valinor to make their home on the western continent, and there one of them,
Yavanna the Vala of living things, sings into existence the Two Trees to provide a new pair of light-sources. Of the two, Telperion is male and silver, while the other, Laurelin, is female and golden. The Trees stand on the hill Ezellohar, outside Valimar, the city of the Valar. They grow in the presence of all the Valar, watered by the tears of the Vala of pity and mourning,
Nienna. and his silvery dew is collected as a source of water and of light. Varda used the dew to form stars in the sky, in preparation for the arrival of the Elves. Laurelin has leaves of a young green, like newly opened beech leaves trimmed with gold, and her dew is collected by the Vala of light
Varda.
Aftermath Yavanna and Nienna attempt a healing, but they succeed only in reviving Telperion's last flower to become the Moon and Laurelin's last fruit to become the Sun. These are turned into flying ships crossing the sky, and each is steered by spirits of the same 'genders' as the Trees themselves: male Tilion and female Arien. This is why, in
The Lord of the Rings, the Sun is called "she" and the Moon "he". The true light of the Trees now resides only in the three
Silmarils, jewels crafted by the Elf
Fëanor with the light of the Two Trees before their destruction. of
Gondor bearing the white tree, Nimloth the fair Because the Elves that first came to
Valinor especially loved Telperion,
Yavanna takes a
cutting from the tree and makes a second tree like it to stand in their city of Tirion. This tree, named
Galathilion, is identical to Telperion except that it does not emit light. It has many seedlings, one of which is named
Celeborn, and grows on the isle of
Tol Eressëa. In the
Second Age, a seedling of Celeborn is brought as a gift to the Men who live on the island of
Númenor. It is Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor. When the Dark Lord
Sauron takes control of the island, he makes King
Ar-Pharazôn cut it down. The hero
Isildur saves a single fruit of Nimloth, and plants seedlings in Middle-earth. During the rule of the Stewards of Gondor, the
White Tree of Gondor, a descendant of Nimloth, stands dead in the citadel of
Minas Tirith. On Aragorn's return as King at the end of the
Third Age, he finds a seedling in the snow on the mountain behind the city, and brings it back to the citadel, where it flourishes. In the First Age, however, the Elvish King Turgon of the city of
Gondolin creates a non-living image of Laurelin, named
Glingal, 'Hanging Flame', which stands in his court. == Origins ==