Sun and Moon (Middle-earth) - Other Versions

Other Versions

In the early versions of The Silmarillion as described in The Book of Lost Tales 1, a part of The History of Middle-earth series, the Sun was described in great detail as an immense island of fire. The Moon was described as an immense island of crystal. It was also said there that the youth Tilion, who guided the Moon, was said to secretly be in love with Arien, the maiden who guided the Sun, and that because he steered the Moon too close to the Sun the Moon was burned, causing the darker spots on the Moon (the Lunar maria). Aulë devised vírin, a crystalline material from which he made a cup wherein the flower was set. The markings on the moon are caused as Lórien tried to pluck the "Rose of Silpion". The withered bough breaks, and the flower falls to the ground, and "a petal was crushed and tarnished" (HoME 1, p. 214). In a later version, the fruit of Laurelin also fell to the ground, when Aulë stumbled and its weight was too great for Tulkas to bear alone (HoME 1, pp. 207, 215, 226; HoME 4, p. 57)

In writings not included in the Silmarillion tradition, Morgoth at one point was infatuated with Arien, and wanted to claim her as his wife: he is at one point even described as ravishing her, so she abandoned her body and 'died': the Sun after this for a while left its course, burning a large part of Arda the world (apparently creating the deserts of Far Harad).

In writings which are older than the material from which the published Silmarillion was drawn, the Moon was described at one point as being created by Morgoth as a mockery of Arda the world, but this notion was abandoned.

In the Round World version of the legendarium, the Sun and the Moon were not the fruit of the Two Trees, but actually preceded the creation of the Trees. Instead, the Trees preserved the light of the Sun before it was tainted by Melkor when he ravished Arien.