Great Tales

Three Great Tales were to be of most considerable importance to J.R.R. Tolkien in his creation of Middle-earth:

• Beren & Lúthien
• The Fall of Gondolin
• The Children of Húrin

Túrin was born in the year 464 from the first rising of the Sun after Morgoth destroyed the two trees of Valinor, and died in the year 499.

This would have been 5000 years after the awakening of the Elves in Middle-earth, and 978 years after Fëanor completed the forging of the Silmarils. The recorded coming of Men occurred at the first Sunrise, and Beren and Lúthien, who encountered each other the year of Túrin's birth, achieved their quest for the Silmaril when Túrin was a young boy.

Túrin died approximately 100 years before the Drowning of Beleriand which marked the beginning of the Second Age lasting for three and a half millennia. Sauron forged the One Ring around the year 1600 of the Second Age. Bilbo met Gollum in the year 2941 of the Third Age, and the Fellowship met up and formed in Rivendell in the year 3018. The One Ring was destroyed in 3019. Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf and Elrond (who by that time was 6500 years old, and was born 33 years after Túrin's death) departed from Middle-earth in 3021, marking the end of the Third Age.