"For the time comes of the Dominion of
Men, and the
Elder Kindred shall fade or depart."
Words of
Gandalffrom
The Return of the King VI 5
The Steward and the King
The time following the end of the Third Age. With the destruction of the One Ring, the Three Rings of the Elves lost their power to hold back time, and the Elves that remained in Middle-earth began to fade. At this time the Elves had slowly been departing into the West for many centuries, but now most of them travelled away from Middle-earth to find the Blessed Realm. As the Fourth Age began, the lands that had been the realms of the Elves began to come under the power of Men.
Notes
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Reference in the The Lord of the Rings seem to place the beginning of the Dominion of Men squarely at the end of the Third Age and the beginning of the Fourth. For example, Gandalf's words quoted above (spoken after the War of the Ring) strongly suggest that the Dominion had just begun, or was about to do so.
Other references, however, suggest that the emergence of the Dominion of Men was a more incremental process, and that it came into being gradually during the Third Age until it reached its culmination at the beginning of the Fourth. For example, in The Nature of Middle-earth (Part One IV, Time-scales) a discussion of the growing weariness of the Elves in Middle-earth describes it as '...increasing rapidly during the Third Age when the Dominion of Men was finally achieved.'
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See also...
Days of Men, Elvenesse, Elvish World, Fading Years, Last Battle, Later Ages, Middle Days, The Seer, The Twilight, Three Keepers, Usurpers, Vása, Younger Days
Indexes:
About this entry:
- Updated 18 June 2024
- Updates planned: 1
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