Guardians of the World

After the world was formed in the Music of the Ainur, many of those Ainur who had participated in its creation chose to enter into it, to help protect it and guide its progress. These were the Valar and the Maiar, but these Guardians of the World were not the only such beings to enter Arda at its beginning. Melkor, among the most powerful of these beings, sought to the order the world to his own desires, and there followed aeons of warfare between the Guardians and the Dark Lord, in a distant past long before either Elves or Men had awoken.

At last a time came when the darkness seemed to have been defeated. The Valar then settled on the green isle of Almaren in Middle-earth. They raised two great Lamps to illuminate the world, and new life began to flourish. Melkor, however, had not so completely defeated as the Valar had imagined; he returned suddenly and threw down the Lamps of the Valar, wreaking terrible damage in Middle-earth. The Powers at this time withdrew across the Sea to Aman in the West, leaving Melkor for a time free to act in Middle-earth.

It was during this period that the first Elves awoke in the far eastern lands of Middle-earth. When the Valar discovered this, they once again took up the mantle of the Guardians, and went to war against Melkor to protect the Elves and bring them safely into the West. The end of that War of the Powers saw Melkor defeated and imprisoned. Now safe from the Dark Lord, many of the Elves followed the summons of the Valar to join them in the West, where they dwelt in bliss for three ages of the world.

That bliss came to an end when Manwë the Elder King chose to release Melkor from his long imprisonment. This led to disaster; Melkor destroyed the Two Trees that had shone on Valinor and stole the Silmarils. Many of the Elves pursued the Dark Lord into Middle-earth, against the will of the Valar. The Guardians at first took no action to aid to the Elves in the long Wars that followed, until an emissary from Middle-earth succeed in crossing the Great Sea and making the journey back to Aman. This was Eärendil, who begged for the aid from the Valar on behalf of Elves and Men. The Guardians heard his plea, and so began the War of Wrath that led to the final defeat of Melkor, and also laid waste the lands of Middle-earth.

After this War, many of the Eldar chose to return to the Undying Lands, but the mortal Men who had fought beside them could not do so. The Guardians rewarded them instead with a new land, creating the isle of Númenor, where a great civilisation of Men arose. The Númenóreans dwelt on their isle for millennia, but they gradually fell away from the Valar, and as the Second Age came toward its end their King even attempted to invade the land of the Powers. At this time the Guardians gave up their guardianship of the world for a time, and the island of Númenor was swallowed beneath the Sea.

Understanding that their actions had led to disaster in the past, the Guardians now chose to abandon direct intervention in the affairs of Middle-earth. When a new Dark Lord emerged there, they sent no army to confront the growing threat. Instead, a group of emissaries were sent across the Sea, with the purpose of encouraging the peoples of Middle-earth to make their own stand against Sauron. These were the Istari or Wizards, and one of their order, known as Gandalf, succeeded in drawing together the Free Peoples of Middle-earth and orchestrating the ultimate defeat of the Dark Lord Sauron.