Two Trees of Valinor (2024)

The Two Trees of Valinor, also known as the Trees of the Valar or simply the Two Trees, were Laurelin (the Gold Tree) and Telperion (the Silver Tree), which brought light into the land of the Valar in ancient times. They were destroyed by Melkor and the primal spider Ungoliant, but their last flower and fruit were made by the Valar into the Sun and the Moon.

History[]

Creation & destruction[]

The first sources of light for all of Arda were two enormous Lamps: Illuin, the silver one to the north, and Ormal, the golden one to the south. These were cast down and destroyed by Melkor. Afterward, the Valar went to Valinor and Yavanna sang into existence the Two Trees, silver Telperion and golden Laurelin. Telperion was considered male and Laurelin female. The Trees sat on the hill Ezellohar located outside Valmar. They grew in the presence of all of the Valar, watered by the tears of Nienna.^[1]

Each tree was a source of light: Telperion's silver and Laurelin's gold. Telperion had dark leaves (silver on one side) and his silvery dew was collected as a source of water and of light. Laurelin had gold-trimmed leaves and her dew was likewise collected by Varda. One "day" lasted twelve hours. Each Tree, in turn, would give off light for seven hours (waxing to full brightness and then slowly waning again), so that at one hour each of "dawn" and "dusk" soft gold and silver light would be given off together.^[1]

Jealous, Melkor enlisted the help of the giant spider-creature Ungoliant (the mother of Shelob) to destroy the Two Trees. Concealed in Unlight, Melkor struck each Tree with a spear and the insatiable Ungoliant devoured whatever life and light remained in them.^[2]

Again Yavanna sang and Nienna wept, but they succeeded only in reviving Telperion's last flower (to become the Moon) and Laurelin's last fruit (to become the Sun). These were assigned to lesser spirits, male Tilion and female Arien,^[3] after the 'genders' of the Trees themselves. This is why, in The Lord of the Rings, the Sun is usually referred to as "she" and the moon as "he".

However, the true light of the Trees, before their poisoning by Ungoliant, was said to afterwards reside only in the Silmarils.

Telperion's descendants[]

Because the Elves that first came to Valinor especially loved Telperion, Yavanna made a second tree like it to stand in the city of Tirion where the Vanyar and Ñoldor dwelt together at first. This tree, namedGalathilion, was identical to Telperion except that it gave no light of its own. It had many seedlings, one of which was planted in the isle of Tol Eressëa (named Celeborn).

In the Second Age, a seedling of Celeborn was brought as a gift to the Númenóreans - this was Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor. It lasted through the majority of the realm's duration, but when Sauron corrupted the island he persuaded King Ar-Pharazôn to chop it down.

Fortunately Isildur managed to save a single fruit of that tree. Of this fruit later came the White Trees of Gondor.

Internal significance[]

The Two Trees of Valinor existed at a time when the only other source of light was the stars (which had been created for the Elves' benefit by Varda from the dews of the Two Trees). When three Elven ambassadors were brought to see Valinor for themselves in order that the Elves might be convinced to come to Valinor, it seems that the Two Trees affected them most significantly.

In particular, Thingol is said to have been motivated in the Great Journey by his desire to see the Light of Valinor again (until he finds contentment in the light he sees in Melian's face). Also in later times, the Elves would be divided between the Calaquendi who had seen the light of the Trees, and the Moriquendi who had not; with the former group having found enlightenment and near rapture in the light they beheld.

The Silmarillion repeatedly states that those Elves who saw the Two Trees were mighty, with the light of Aman in their faces. As vassals of the Valar, the Trees somehow bestowed otherworldly power and understanding on those exposed to them. Galadriel in particular had an affinity to Laurelin, as her hair was said to have captured the golden light of that tree. In turn this inspired Fëanor to make the jewels that could hold that same light; the Silmarils.

The last six centuries of the First Age is entirely affected by the desire of many different characters to possess the Silmarils, which contained the only remaining unsullied light of the Trees. Yet upon his flight from Valinor after destroying the light of the Two Trees, Melkor stole the Silmarils and sparked the Oath of Fëanor (who renamed Melkor Morgoth) and after many years the Valar embarked on the War of Wrath, which ended the First Age.

In the Second and Third Ages, the White Trees of Númenor and of Gondor, whose likeness descends from that of Telperion, have a mostly symbolic significance. They stand both as symbols of the kingdoms in question, and also as reminders of the ancestral alliance between the Dúnedain and the Elves. Even in this late age the two trees are remembered by some. Gandalf obviously remembers them with reverence, as he speaks of them to Pippin.

Etymology[]

Both Telperion and Laurelin are said to have been given many names among which are the following: Laurelin was also given the names of Malinalda and Culúrien, while Telperion was also named Silpion and Ninquelótë. Telperion's name in Valarin, the language of the Valar, is said to have been Ibrîniðilpathânezel; Laurelin's name is recorded as Tulukhedelgorûs.

In early writings of Tolkien, Telperion's names were Silpion^[4], Bansil, and Belthil.

Quotations[]

"Yet even as hope failed [...] Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single fruit of gold." - The Silmarillion

"... and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Fëanor at their work, while both the White Tree and Golden were in flower!" Gandalf to Pippin, The Two Towers

External significance[]

Tolkien, as a Roman Catholic, would have been exposed to the significance of light in Catholic symbolism. Trees were of special importance to him - in his short story Leaf by Niggle, which in a sense was an elaborate allegory explaining his own creative process, the protagonist spends his life painting a single Tree.

The Two Trees represent the recurrent 'gold and silver' concept of the legendarium. They are created after the lamps Ormal and Illuin - and from the trees themselves, the Sun and Moon are later created.

Tolkien may have also gotten inspiration for the trees directly from the Sun, which rises in the day (as Laurelin, the golden tree), and the moon which rises in the night (Telperion, the silver tree).

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