Chapter 253: Middle-earth · First Age
The Kabbalah stone giant technique that George is now studying was made easier to cast thanks to the advancements in modern magic.
"Continue!"
If one wants to learn a new magical system, then of course a lot of practice is indispensable. He had plenty of experience in that regard.
And Shirley, as a legitimate code deciphering officer of the Puritan Church, had grown up learning magic within the Church. She had seen a great deal of magic. Though her specialty was earth-elemental techniques, that didn't mean she only knew earth magic.
Therefore, for George to fully absorb all the magic stored in Shirley's brain, it would naturally take him quite some time.
Just as George was focused on learning and practicing the new magic, his body suddenly stiffened, and he murmured,
"It's happening again!"
A new vision, a new memory—emerged.
"Humans, Elves, Morgoth... could this be... Middle-earth!"
George slowly sat up from the ground. After digesting the memories of his new body, he couldn't help but exclaim.
Of course, he had watched the six movies of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Back then, there were many parts he didn't understand, so he even looked up background information.
So when he combined that with the memories of this new human body, he quickly realized that he had arrived in the fantastical world of Middle-earth.
What he hadn't expected, however, was that this avatar wasn't in the timeline of the Third Age—the one with The Hobbit—nor in the Lord of the Rings timeline, which happens sixty years later.
Instead, he was in the timeline of the extremely dangerous First Age, thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago.
At this time, the true dark god Morgoth had not yet been exiled by the Valar into the Eternal Void, and Sauron, the great dark lord who forged the Rings, was still merely Morgoth's lieutenant.
A terrifying dragon like Smaug, capable of destroying an entire dwarven kingdom, was just a low-level creature among the dragons of Morgoth's army.
As for Balrogs, which nearly killed Gandalf—there weren't just one or two in this age, but an entire horde of them.
However, in George's eyes, while the age was indeed dangerous, it was also full of opportunities. The Elves of this period were extremely powerful.
Most of them were high Light Elves who had bathed in the radiance of the Two Trees and had lived with the Valar in Valinor, learning numerous powers and magical arts from them.
At this time, the Valar still resided in the far western Valinor and had not yet left with the land.
The world's surface had not yet become a sphere; it was still one great continent.
If the opportunity arose, he might even be able to travel to Valinor and learn magic directly from the Valar.
Unfortunately, his current avatar was a human, not an Elf. Without making sufficient contributions to this world, the Valar would never allow a mortal to enter Valinor.
Previously, he had always hoped not to end up with some random and chaotic avatars and preferably one that was an adult human male. Now that he did get such an avatar, he wished instead that he had become an Elf.
Because Elves, as long as they sincerely repented, could receive forgiveness from the Valar and return to live in Valinor.
Speaking of Elves and the Valar, it was quite a long story. In fact, he only knew the general outline.
Roughly speaking, in the Eternal Void, there existed a great deity named Eru Ilúvatar, the all-knowing and all-powerful creator—the creator of Middle-earth.
From his thoughts, he created countless spiritual beings and granted them will through the Flame Imperishable. Among them, fifteen were great ones, and countless others were lesser ones. The greater were called Valar, and the lesser, Maiar.
George understood this as the distinction between major and minor deities.
Ilúvatar led these spirits to perform the Music of the Ainur, thus creating the universe and a vast continent—namely, the land of Middle-earth.
The Valar and Maiar descended to this continent and used their divine powers to enrich it, shaping the desolate land into one with mountains, rivers, plants, flowers, trees, insects, and beasts.
They created two enormous lamps to illuminate the beautiful land, as they awaited the birth of Ilúvatar's Children.
Ilúvatar intended to create two races on this continent, who would become the main players in its future: Elves and Men.
Thus began the Age of the Two Lamps.
However, the strongest among the Valar, Melkor—later known as the Dark Lord Morgoth—refused to accept this. He wanted to dominate the continent himself.
So he destroyed the Two Lamps, corrupted some of the Maiar—like Sauron and the Balrogs—and waged war against the other Valar and Maiar.
Their powers were so immense that the beautiful world created by the Valar began to collapse.
Since Elves and Men had not yet been born, and the Valar did not want their war with Melkor to destroy the world, they retreated voluntarily to the far west of the world—to a land across the sea called Aman.
There, using divine power, they created a perfect paradise and planted the Two Trees of silver and gold, ushering in the Age of the Two Trees.
After a long time, the first Elves were finally born. Their beauty and immortal lifespans won the admiration of the Valar.
Melkor captured some Elves and, using evil means, twisted and bred them into ugly Orcs—an act meant to mock Ilúvatar.
This enraged the Valar completely. They united to defeat Melkor and imprisoned him in Valinor. Then they invited the Elves to migrate and live in the more beautiful land of Valinor.
A small group of Elves, unwilling to leave their homeland, remained in eastern Middle-earth. They became known as the Silvan Elves—also called Wood Elves or Dark Elves.
Most agreed to go, but some, due to accidents during the journey, remained in central Middle-earth and became known as the Sindar—also called Twilight Elves.
Their royal court had once been to Valinor and seen the Two Trees, receiving their blessings.
Among the Elves who reached Valinor, one group preferred the sea and lived on the coast and islands of Valinor. They were known as the Sea Elves.
Another group lived directly with the Valar under the light of the Two Trees, learning knowledge and growing stronger.
The first to arrive in Valinor lived beneath the Trees and were called the Vanyar. With their golden hair and fair skin, they were the most powerful and beautiful of all Elves, beloved by the King and Queen of the Valar.
The Elf-queen Galadriel from the films inherited her immense power from her Vanyar grandmother's bloodline.
The second group to arrive lived slightly further out. They loved craftsmanship and learned forging and creation from the god Aulë, who also created the Dwarves. They were called the Noldor.
The Vanyar and Noldor were both Light Elves and counted as High Elves.
Everything was going well until Melkor completed his prison term. Pretending to have reformed, he deceived the Valar, won their forgiveness, and then began sowing discord among the Elves in Valinor.
Eventually, he manipulated some of them into believing they had been imprisoned and thus led them to betray the Valar and return to Middle-earth.
(End of Chapter)