For a long time I have considered the end/start of the ages after the fourth in the same way you all have done in this discussion. But is that realy the right way to do it? What did devine the ages in the history Tolkien did document for us? Speaking about the history he documeted we are speaking of what the Dunedain had written down. So the ages were of numenorean origin. The first age was an exeption. The Atani did not eye withness what they wrot done. They had learned much of the events prior to thier arival in Belerinad from the Elves and they belived it to be true and recorded it. Also in that age the Elves were people who bilded the gourverment. So I think the end of the first age was defined by the elves when the mayority of the Elves left Middle-Earth with the forces of Valinor.
In the case of the second age, it might seem that the destruction of Numenore would be the better choice. But the Dunedain did learn very soon that evil had followed them to Middle-Earth. And at the begining of the third age the historieans of Dunedain clearly believed that Sauron was gone for good. And that end to vil was archived by the war of the last aliance.
For the third age their was know question what ended the evil of that age. But the Dunedain had learned that the Ende of an age would best be synchronised with the calender, at least for the slipyears. So the new age started in a year following a slipyear.
So the question what devined the end of the fourth, fivth and sixed age must be asked in view of the further history of the Dunedain. What did we know about that? Not much of course. But it is told in "The peoples of Middle-Earth" that the hieres of Elessar regined the relam for 100 generations. 100 generations of man will last for about 3000 years (or a bit more if we think of the longevity of the first few geneartions after Elessar). If we have to cover 3 ages and the beginning of the seventh in 6000 yaers than 3000 years could cover two of them. But Tolkien said the ages fastend. So it might be that fourth Age was about 3000 years and ended with the ultimat end of the kingdom of the Telecontars.
Their after we can assume the dunedain would be depressed. nothing further is know only that "many later kings were decended from Eldarion". To know more about the endeing of the ages we most aske: who is going to write the further history down in to books? Tolkien didn't record that, so we do not know.
And here your gueses are as good as any.
Respectfully
Findegil
|