"...for this ye shall know: as ye came hither freely, freely shall ye depart."
Manwë's messenger to
FëanorQuenta Silmarillion 9
Of the Flight of the Noldor
After the Darkening of Valinor, Fëanor rebelled against the Valar, and set out from Aman with most of his fellow Noldor. His aim was to make war on Melkor for the recovery of the stolen Silmarils, and his hatred and pride were so great that he swore an Oath that bound himself and his sons to destroy any who held them from their goal.
From this Oath stemmed the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, and aboard the stolen ships of the Teleri Fëanor and his sons set out to gain their vengeance in Middle-earth. The Valar allowed them to depart, but closed their land against any return, making them Exiles from Aman. After long ages, the Exile was relaxed, and the Noldor were allowed to return to the Blessed Realm. Among the last of these was Galadriel, who had been part of the ancient rebellion, but was forgiven at last because of her actions in the War of the Ring.
Notes
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The Annals of Aman (in volume X of The History of Middle-earth) give us slightly more precise dating for these events in terms of long Valian Years. The Doom of Mandos that exiled the Noldor was spoken in VY 1496 (counting from the making of the Two Trees), and the Noldor abandoned Aman and reached the north of Middle-earth in VY 1497. Each Valian Year is equivalent to a little less that ten solar years, so VY 1496 equates to about 29 years before the first rising of the Sun, and VY 1497 to about 22 years on the same scale.
With Valian Years being so long, this still makes any kind of precise calculation difficult, but if we assume that the Doom of Mandos was spoken in the later part of VY 1496, then the Exile was pronounced (very roughly) twenty-five years before the first sunrise, and the Noldor made their way across the northern seas a few years later.
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- Updated 17 October 2023
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