Editing Two Trees of Valinor (section)

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{{short description|Symbols in Tolkien's legendarium}}
{{redirect|The Two Trees|W. B. Yeats's 1893 poem|The Rose (Yeats)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2022}}
In [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]], the '''Two Trees of Valinor''' are '''Telperion''' and '''Laurelin''', the Silver Tree and the Gold Tree, which bring light to [[Valinor]], a [[Paradise|paradisiacal]] realm where the Valar and Maiar, angel-like divine beings, and many of the Elves live. The Two Trees are of enormous stature, and exude dew that is a pure and magical light in liquid form. The Elf craftsman [[Fëanor]] makes the unrivalled jewels, the [[Silmarils]], with their light. The Two Trees are destroyed by the evil beings [[Ungoliant]] and [[Morgoth|Melkor]], but their last flower and fruit are made into the [[Moon]] and the [[Sun]]. Melkor, now known as Morgoth (as a result of his slaying Fëanor’s father, Finwë), steals the Silmarils, provoking the disastrous War of the Jewels. Descendants of Telperion survive, growing in [[Númenor]] and, after its destruction, in [[Gondor]]; in both cases the trees are symbolic of those kingdoms. For many years while Gondor has no King, the [[White Tree of Gondor]] stands dead in the citadel of Minas Tirith. When [[Aragorn]] restores the line of Kings to Gondor, he finds a sapling descended from Telperion and plants it in his citadel. 

Commentators have seen mythic and [[Christianity in Middle-earth|Christian symbolism]] in the Two Trees; they have been called the most important symbols in the entire legendarium. Their origins have been traced to the [[medieval]] Trees of the Sun and the Moon. Parallels have also been identified [[Tolkien and the Celtic|with Celtic mythology]], where several pairs of trees appear. The White Tree of Gondor, too, has been traced to the medieval [[Dry Tree]], a symbol of [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]]. [[Verlyn Flieger]] has described the [[Christianity in Middle-earth#Light|progressive splintering of the light]] of the Two Trees through Middle-earth's troubled history, noting that light represents the [[Logos (Christianity)|Christian ''Logos'']]. [[Tom Shippey]] links the [[sundering of the Elves]] into different groups to the Two Trees and to the ''[[Prose Edda]]'' which speaks of [[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar|light and dark Elves]]; Tolkien treats the difference between these as whether they have made the journey to Valinor and seen the light of the Two Trees.