Annals of Aman

"The Annals of Aman" is a text written by J. R. R. Tolkien that serves as a chronology of fictional events taking place in his invented world of Middle-earth. This text is reproduced in "Morgoth's Ring", the tenth volume of Christopher Tolkien's "The History of Middle-earth" series.

Textual History

"The Annals of Aman" dates to the period following the completion of "The Lord of the Rings". There are three extant versions of the text, including a carefully emended manuscript, a typescript and its carbon copy each featuring different corrections and notes, and a typescript of the earlier sections of the text that deviates from the previous typescript. Christopher Tolkien surmises that the first typescript was composed in 1958. A reworking of the earlier "Annals of Valinor" (which was the working title of the manuscript until Tolkien changed it) and connected closely with the narrative of the incomplete 1937 "Quenta Silmarillion", "The Annals of Aman" moves from a compressed narrative style to a fuller accounting of the events of the chronology.

Fictional Context

"The Annals of Aman" presents the history of the world from the entry of the Valar into Arda until the Hiding of Valinor after the revolt and exile of the Noldor in the form of year-by-year entries of varying lengths, much in the style of real-world annals. Tolkien attributes the work to the Noldorin lore-master and linguist Rúmil of Tirion. According to the second typescript, "The Annals of Aman" were remembered by the Noldorin Exiles in Middle-earth, who transmitted their knowledge to the Men of Númenor, whence it eventually reached Arnor and Gondor.