Editing Two Trees of Valinor (section)

== Analysis ==

=== The Elder Days ===

[[Matthew Dickerson]] writes in the ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'' that the Two Trees are "the most important mythic symbols in all of the legendarium".<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/> He quotes Tolkien's words in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' that "about their fate all the tales of the Elder days are woven".<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/><!--also https://www.jstor.org/stable/24351037--> They have that central place because they are the source of the light for the world of Arda while they live, and they are the ancestors of the various trees that symbolise the Kingdoms of Númenor and later of Gondor. Further, they contain the "thought of things that grow in the earth", placed in them by the Vala Yavanna when she sang them into being.<ref name="Dickerson 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Dickerson |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Dickerson |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Trees |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA678 |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-0-415-96942-0 |pages=678–679}}</ref> Angelica Varandas likewise comments that the Two Trees are "the most significant symbols of peace, prosperity and order" in the legendarium, and calls them ''[[axis mundi]]'' trees, like those in the [[Garden of Eden]] or the Norse world-tree, [[Yggdrasil]].<ref name="Varandas 2015">{{cite book |last=Varandas |first=Angelica |chapter=The Tree and the Myth of Creation in J.R.R. Tolkien |editor-last=Fernandes |editor-first=Ana |title=The Power of Form |publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]] |date=2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaDzBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |isbn=978-1-4438-7594-3 |pages=197–212}}</ref>

=== Light ===

{{further|Christianity in Middle-earth#Light}}<!--both #Resurrection and #Light-->

Tolkien, as a [[Catholicism|Roman Catholic]], knew the significance of light in [[Light of the World|Christian symbolism]]; he equated it with the [[Logos (Christianity)|Christian ''Logos'']], the Divine Word.{{sfn|Flieger|1983|pp=44–49}} The scholar Lisa Coutras states that transcendental light is an essential element of his subcreated world. In it, the Two Trees embody the light of creation, which in turn reflects God's light.<ref name="Coutras2016">{{cite book |last=Coutras |first=Lisa |title=Tolkien's Theology of Beauty |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-137-55344-7 |pages=47–64 |chapter=The Light of Being |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-55345-4_4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrLIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA47}}</ref> 

[[Verlyn Flieger]] describes the progressive splintering of the first created light, down through successive catastrophes. After the destruction of the twin lamps of Arda, Yavanna recreates what she can of the light in the Two Trees; Varda catches some of the light, and Fëanor creates the Silmarils, filled with the light. They are the unrivalled jewels that give ''The Silmarillion'' its name, and serve as the centrepiece of its narrative.{{sfn|Flieger|1983|pp=60-63}}<ref name="Curry2013"/> The whole of the history of Tolkien's [[First Age]] is strongly affected by the desire of many characters, including the dark lord Morgoth (as Melkor is now known) to possess the Silmarils that contain the only remaining unsullied light of the Trees. Morgoth desires them for himself, and manages to steal them, provoking the world-changing War of the Jewels.<ref name="Curry2013"/><ref name="Fisher 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Fisher |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Fisher |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Silmarils |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA678 |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-96942-0 |pages=612–613}}</ref> One of the Silmarils survives, and Varda puts it in the sky to symbolise hope: it is [[Venus]], the Morning and Evening Star.<ref name="Curry2013" />

[[Tom Shippey]], like Tolkien a [[philologist]], analyses Tolkien's treatment of the light and dark elves mentioned <!--by [[Snorri Sturluson]]-->in the 13th century ''[[Prose Edda]]'': in [[Old Norse]], [[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar|''Ljósálfar'' and ''Dökkálfar'']]. Tolkien makes the distinguishing feature between these two groups whether the Elves had seen the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, or not. To make this work, Tolkien creates a story in which the Elves awaken in Middle-earth, and are called to undertake the long journey to Valinor. The Elves of the Light, Tolkien's Calaquendi, are those who successfully complete the journey, while the Elves of the Darkness, the Moriquendi, are those [[Sundering of the Elves|Elves who, for whatever reason, do not arrive in Valinor]].<ref name="Shippey 2001">{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |date=2001 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261-10401-3 |pages=228–231 |chapter=''The Silmarillion'': The Work of His Heart |author-link=Tom Shippey |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F23AAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT265}}</ref><ref name="Quendi and Eldar" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1994|loc="Quendi and Eldar"}}</ref><ref name="Dickerson 2013b">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2013 |title=Elves: Kindreds and Migrations |encyclopedia=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA152 |last=Dickerson |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Dickerson |orig-year=2007 |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |pages=152–154 |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1}}</ref>

[[File:Sundering of the Elves diagram.svg|thumb|center|upright=3|Diagram of the [[Sundering of the Elves]], showing Tolkien's overlapping classifications. The main division is into Calaquendi and Moriquendi, Light-Elves and Dark-Elves, meaning those who had or had not seen the light of the Two Trees. These names correspond to those in [[Old Norse]], [[Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar|''Ljósálfar'' and ''Dökkálfar'']].<ref name="Shippey 2001"/> ]]

=== Elves and Men ===

[[Matthew T. Dickerson|Matthew Dickerson]] writes that in the [[Second Age|Second]] and [[Third Age]]s, the White Trees of [[Númenor]] and of [[Gondor]], whose likeness descends from that of Telperion, have a mostly symbolic significance, standing both for the kingdoms in question, and also as reminders of the ancestral alliance between the [[Dúnedain|Men who had lived on Númenor]] and the Elves. The destruction of one of these trees precedes trouble for each kingdom in question.<ref name="Dickerson 2013"/><!--"Trees" article-->

[[Martin Simonson]] describes the destruction of the Two Trees as setting a "mythical precedent" for the transfer of the stewardship of Arda (Earth) from the Valar to Elves and Men. In his view, this stewardship is central to the moral battle, as the Two Trees, like Men and Elves, are composed of both matter and spirit.<ref name="Simonson2018">{{cite journal |last=Simonson |first=Martin |title=The Arboreal Foundations of Stewardship in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion |journal=English Studies in Africa |volume=60 |issue=2 |year=2018 |pages=12–22 |doi=10.1080/00138398.2017.1406735 |s2cid=165620730 }}</ref>
Dickerson and [[Jonathan Evans (scholar)|Jonathan Evans]] note that Tolkien calls the Elves "stewards and guardians of [Middle-earth's] beauty"; they are constantly preoccupied with maintaining the beauty of nature, something they inherited from Yavanna's making of the Two Trees.<ref name="Dickerson Evans 2006">{{cite book |last1=Dickerson |first1=Matthew T. |author-link=Matthew T. Dickerson |last2=Evans |first2=Jonathan Duane |author2-link=Jonathan Evans (scholar) |title=Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8131-2418-6 |page=99ff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwidpxMe-AIC&pg=PA99}}</ref>