What time is it?
 

I know Tolkien's masterpiece of the Lord of the Rings was a "made up" time in History. I remember reading something about C.S. Lewis writing on space-travel, and Tolkien writing on time-travel.

But if LOTR was in a real time, and it was a real story, what time period would it be in? I have been wondering about this for a while. When would the story actually have taken place?

[ September 14, 2002: Message edited by: Eruwen ]

I read a an Article i cant remember where but it Bassicaly said Tolkien's main desire was to make this sound like a story that has actualy happened, but long before our recorded history "Before Oliphants Evolved to Elephants for example" he also was very interested in Anglo Saxon Mythology and History, SO i speculated if these stories where true Tolkien intended them to take place in England, Spain, Scotland, and Ireland area before there colonization and urbanization probably a couple hundred years Prior of Homers tales of The Iliad and the Oddessy, the Trojan wars, and Beowolf.\

But thats just my two Lembas worth.

Oh, so around the middle ages? That's simple enough. Whoa that was a long time ago.

[ September 14, 2002: Message edited by: Eruwen ]

Another Interesting Fact about the Period i was talking about is "IF the big bang Theory is correct, you know the whole thing with the Commet killing the Dinosours" the effects of this would have lasted thousands of years for example the Nuclear Fall out from this would be well over by the Middle Ages BUT the mutations of that would have lasted Much longer resulting in "Ogres" "Orcs" "Oliphants" and so one, But keep in mind this is JUST a theory though a quite popular one which History Scholars tend to dable in, i actualy learned this from my professor.

No, no. That would be long before the Middle Ages. Homer wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey centuries before Christ (if not longer) and Beowulf can be traced back thousands of years before that. The Middle Ages are a very recent part of our history, recent enough to have books actually printed then still in existence (I myself have seen one in person). There's no way LotR happened so recently.
I've always assumed that it was in prehistory, say ten or twelve thousand years ago.

Well wasn't Beowulf part of the Middle Ages? And I'm not even trying to get into the whole creation/evolution thing here. I was just wondering around which time period in history LOTR would have taken place. But thanks for all of your help so far.

If LOTR had really happened, I'd say it happened a LONG LONG LONG time before our recorded history.

My questions are: How long did the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Ages last all together? Also if LOTR really did happen, in what Age are we now living? [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

Probably not bringing up anything new here, but I've heard somewhere that we're in the 7th age now. If each age is about 3,000 years, multipled 4, er ... 12,000 years ago. As someone said already... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Wow!

12,000 years ago!

Yep, that would predate any recorded history I have EVER heard or read about before!

Maybe I should clear something up. When I say "Middle Ages", I mean the period between 1200 and 1500 AD. Very recent. Beowulf can be traced back to about 5000 BC.

[ September 15, 2002: Message edited by: Childlike Empress ]

Okay, just a clarificationn on a few things.

First, Beowulf was writen in the 900's AD, though it could have been centuries earlier.

Tolkien himself said that the War of the Ring happened some 6000 years ago. If we look at the Timeline of the Bible, this could be around the time of the Flood or little before.

Tolkien also stated that we could be somewhere in the 6th to 7th Age, as Ages have seemed to speed up.

Well: each age isn't necessarily 3,000 years: each change of age is marked by a great event.

For example, the birth of Christ was one.

And yes: we are all in the 7th age. No, I cannot name exact beginnings and ends of ages past the 3rd age...sorry...wish I could.

Written, written. It was written down then, yes, you're absolutely correct, but it existed as an oral tale for a very long time before English scholars decided it should be saved in a more permanent form and wrote it down.

[ September 15, 2002: Message edited by: Childlike Empress ]

Once again i agree with the Empress it may have been written in 900AD but "Homer" who infact was Blind and illiterate (cant read or write) recited this Tale hundreds of years before 900AD and can be traced back a thousand years before Homer's time