January 17

Day 17

Basic Reading:

    The Silmarillion: Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 11: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

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Supplementary Reading:

• Prior Versions:

  • The Book of Lost Tales 1: VIII. The Tale of the Sun and Moon

  • The Book of Lost Tales 1: IX. The Hiding of Valinor

  • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: Section II. The Earliest ‘Silmarillion’ Chapter 6 (including Commentary)

  • The Shaping of Middle-Earth: Section III. The Quenta, Chapter 6 (including Commentary)

  • The Lost Road: Part Two, Section VI. Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 6: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

  • Morgoth's Ring: Part Two: The Annals of Aman, Sixth and last section of the Annals of Aman

  • Morgoth's Ring: Part Three, (I) The First Phase, Chapter 8: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

  • Morgoth's Ring: Part Four: Myths Transformed, Texts V - VI

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Enrichment Activities:

• Maps: 

  • Valinor: Pelóri, Calacirya, Tirion, Valinor, Enchanted Isles, Shadowy Seas, Tol Eressëa

• Timeline: Year of the Trees 1500 (The final year of this age.)

• Other: Look up other legends of the origin of the Sun and the Moon. Consider the similarities and differences between various legends, as well as their cultural implications.

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Discussion Questions:

    1. Is this legend an adequate explanation for our experience of the Sun and the Moon?
    2. Why did Morgoth hate the new lights?
    3. Were the Valar right to hide Valinor? Did they forsake the people of Middle-Earth?