tolkien

  《精靈寶鑽》The Silmarillion (Quenya: [silmaˈrilliɔn]) is a collection of mythopoeic stories by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977 with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay.[T 1] The Silmarillion, along with many of J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive though incomplete narrative of Eä, a fictional universe that includes the Blessed Realm of Valinor, the once-great region of Beleriand, the sunken island of Númenor, and the continent of Middle-earth, where Tolkien's most popular works—The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—take place.The Silmarillion has five parts. The first, Ainulindalë, tells of the creation of Eä, the "world that is." The second part, Valaquenta, gives a description of the Valar and Maiar, supernatural powers of Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion, which forms the bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age, including the wars over the Silmarils that gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth, relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age. The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, is a brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings.

- The Silmarils (Quenya pl. Silmarilli, radiance of pure light[1]) are three fictional brilliant jewels composed of the unmarred light of the Two Trees in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The Silmarils were made out of the crystalline substance silima by Fëanor, a Noldorin Elf, in Valinor during the Years of the Trees.[2] The Silmarils play a central role in Tolkien's book The Silmarillion, which tells of the creation of Eä (the universe) and the beginning of Elves, Men, and Dwarves.

etymology
- middle earth - arda

- earth (enveloped in air (vista) and light (ilmen) and bounded by an enfolding ocean (vaiya), beyond which is a dark void (kuma)) - ambar

myth

- supreme deity eru Iluvatar created the ainur, the most powerful of which, known as the valar, brought light to earth by creating two vast ice lamps. Melkor (subsequently morgoth, the dark enemy), the most powerful valar, destroyed the lamps, plunging the world into darkness, flooding the land and creating the seas of helkar and ringil.  Melkor fortified the north and built there the northern towers, which are also called the iron mountains, and the fortress of utumna.  The valar retreated westwards to valinor, making a mountainous range between it and middle earth, a term used by tolkien for the first time in the ambarkanta and labelled on his accompanying map.