Two Trees of Valinor

But then tragedy struck.

Morgoth and Ungoliant destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor.

Morgoth stole the Silmarils, and Fëanor swore vengeance.

He would not stop ever until he had those Silmarils back.

Uh, I would like to look, for, for my presentation, I would love, if you would allow me, to look at the vow made by Morgoth to Ungoliant.

Uh, because we're, uh, because this is a very short CliffNotes, I assume, uh, all of us know the story of the two trees, so I'm just...

We're gonna pless- press some fast-forward as we go through these.

Okay, so here we are in the published Silmarillion, chapter eight, The Darkening of Valinor.

And to understand that, let's go back into the mists of Middle-earth time, before the sun existed, which is where that digression I mentioned earlier comes in.

Light in Middle-earth early on was provided a bit by the stars, but also by the two trees of Valinor.

Their light was a wholly nourishing light.

Those who lived in its glow grew stronger and purer, almost, compared to those who didn't.

It was so important that it even formed the basis for one of the most fundamental divisions between different types of elves, the Calaquendi, light elves or high elves, who had seen the light of the two trees, and Moriquendi, dark elves, those who hadn't.

Yes, to Tolkien, being a dark elf wasn't about skin tone or moral alignment or culture.

It was simply a matter of whether you'd experienced that light.

The greatest feat by the greatest and most powerful elven smith ever, Feanor, was to somehow capture that light in three gems, the Silmarils, artefacts so holy that they burned the hand of anyone unclean holding them.

Varda, maker of the stars, is the spouse of Manwë and dwells with him on the summit of Taniquetil, the highest mountain of Arda.

The Two Trees are the great trees whose flowers gave light to Valinor, destroyed by Morgoth and the monstrous spider Ungoliant.

Lastly, this is a convenient place to say something of the Silmarils, fundamental to the legend of Beren and Lúthien.

They were the work of Fëanor, greatest of the Noldor, the mightiest in skill of word and of hand.

'In those far days, Fëanor began on a time a long and marvelous labor, and all his power and all his subtle magic he called upon, for he purposed to make a thing more fair than any of the Eldar yet had made, that should last beyond the end of all.

Three jewels he made and named them Silmarils.

A living fire burned within them that was blended of the light of the Two Trees.

Of their own radiance, they shone even in the dark.

Mm

... and that she lives way to the north of the Trees of Valinor, and here is the interesting thing.

"So to his hall she came not much, for she labored rather at the distilling of salt humors whereof are tears, and black clouds she wove and floated up that they were caught in the winds and went about the world, and their lightless webs settled ever and anon upon those that dwelt therein.

Now these tissues-

Yeah.

So he filled them with the radiance of the two trees, Telperion and Laurelin.

And those two trees were the main sources of light before the sun and the moon.

And they were.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, no.

So regardless, these jewels that captured the light, these two trees are the best light.

So one of the things that we see.

And the two trees of Alinor.

So we get a quick shot, which I was so excited to see that when I first watched this episode.

So like they go over the hill at one point with her brother, Finrod, and you can see like the big elven city that's there.

And then the two trees of Alinor, which they said that these was before the sun.

That was because all light came from those trees.

And then eventually at one point, and this is where I said they hinted this, but they can't exactly say it, I don't believe, is they had that shot of the trees getting killed during Galadriel's speech.

The Palantiri, for example, allow you to see things far off and also back in time.

Capturing a holy light in something else, as Galadriel did with the File of Galadriel, echoes the Silmarils capturing the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, and also Galadriel's own hair, which was also said to capture the light.

Many people have also noted how this is clearly some kind of water magic, and Galadriel wears Nenya, the Ring of Water.

Might she have used that power to make this magical device? Well, it seems more likely that the Ring of Power simply enhanced her own natural abilities, making powerful magic like this more possible.