Eldest Days

The most ancient period of the history of Arda. Also called the First Age, the Eldest Days stretched back to the making of the world, and encompassed the founding of Valinor, the first defeat and imprisonment of Melkor, the coming of the Elves and the later Awakening of Men. After the Darkening of Valinor, Melkor escaped into the North of Middle-earth, and the last centuries of the Eldest Days saw a long war between the Dark Lord - now renamed Morgoth - and the Elves and Men who opposed him, fought out under the newly risen Moon and Sun. This Age ended in the War of Wrath, which saw the drowning of Beleriand and the final expulsion of Morgoth from the world.

The term 'Eldest Days' is clearly related to the far more common form 'Elder Days', and the two phrases are often synonymous. The 'Eldest Days', however, always refer to the First Age that ended with the downfall of Morgoth. 'Elder Days' can carry the same meaning, but in principle its meaning can also extend across the years of the Second and Third Ages that followed.