Sun

The Sun was a heavenly creation of the Vala Aulë; he and his Maiar made a vessel to hold the radiance of the last fruit of Laurelin. The vessel of the Sun was guided across the skies by Arien, a Maia of Vána.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch. XI: "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor"
== History ==
In the Years of the Trees stood the Two Trees of Valinor in Aman, Telperion the Silver and Laurelin the Gold, which were the sources of light in Valinor. In YT 1495 of the First Age,The History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth's Ring, The Annals of Aman Melkor and Ungoliant arrived in Valinor and destroyed the Two Trees, plunging Arda in darkness. With the power of the Valier Yavanna, Nienna, and Vána,The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, VIII: "The Tale of the Sun and Moon" Telperion produced a single flower, and Laurelin a single fruit. Aulë and his people made a vessel for the fiery fruit which was called Anar the Fire-golden, and Arien was chosen to steer the vessel of the Sun.
The Years of the Sun of the First Age began with the first rising of the Sun in the west, not the east, as Valinor was located west of the world. Yet the Valar changed this and from then on, Arien would descend the vessel of light into western sky and then ascend it into eastern sky. The Sun was seen by the Elves as the symbol of the rising of Men, and they valued the Moon higher.
Morgoth's, Sauron's and Saruman's evil and corrupt creatures, never being able to stand light, feared it. The Orcs feared the Sun and were weakened by it and rarely travelled under it. The Uruk-hai were the exception to this and were not weakened by it and could travel while it was in the sky though they still hated it. The Trolls feared the Sun even more, with great reason: they turned to stone under its unimpeded light.The Hobbit, Ch. II: "Roast Mutton" Only the later trolls known as Olog-hai were able to move under the Sun.
== Etymology & other names ==
*Vása ("The Heart of Fire") was a name given by the Ñoldor elves
*Anar ("The Fire-golden") is the name given by the Vanyar elves of Valinor.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part One. The Grey Annals
*Anor is the Sindarin rendition of Anar, and more commonly used in Middle-earthParma Eldalamberon, Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
*Daystar, a poetic name
*Yellow Face, a name given by GollumThe Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers, Book Four, Ch. II: "The Passage of the Marshes"The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers, Book Four, Ch. III: "The Black Gate is Closed"
*Qorinómi, in earlier versions; it means "Drowned in the Sea"The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, IX: "The Hiding of Valinor"
== In other versions ==
In some texts, the Sun was described in great detail as an immense island of fire and it was steered thanks to the ropes made by Danuin and Ranuin. Tilion, who guided the Moon, was said to secretly be in love with Arien, and that because he steered the Moon too close to the Sun, the Moon was burned.
In another, Melkor was at one time infatuated with Arien, wanting to claim her as wife. He would later ravish her, so she abandoned her body and "died", leaving the Sun on its own course. This burned some parts of Arda, particularly the deserts of Far Harad. It is unclear if this would have been included in The Silmarillion had Tolkien lived to publish it himself.
In the round-world version of the legendarium, the Sun and Moon were not the fruit of the Two Trees, but instead preceded the creation of the Trees. The Trees, in turn, preserved the light of the Sun before it was tainted by Melkor when he ravished Arien.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth's Ring, "Myths Transformed"
== Behind the scenes ==
In Old English, the word "Sun" is masculine. However, in the legendarium, the Sun is often referred to as feminine. In The Lord of the Rings, Elves and Hobbits always refer to the Sun as she.The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. IX: "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" There is another instance where Legolas stated that he had "not brought the Sun. She is walking in the blue fields of the South".The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Ch. III: "The Ring goes South" This is because the ancestral condition for Germanic languages as a whole is a feminine word, and at least Germanic and Norse mythologies feature female solar deities.
== See also ==
* Arien
* Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
* Minas Ithil
* The Tale of the Sun and Moon
* Tilion / Moon
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Son
Albanian 	Diell
Amharic 	ፀሐይ
Arabic 	الشمس
Armenian 	Արև
Azerbaijani 	Günəş
Bengali 	সূর্য
Bosnian 	Sunce
Breton 	Heol
Bulgarian 	Слънце
Cambodian 	ព្រះអាទិត្យ
Catalan 	Sol
Chechen 	Малх
Cornish 	Howl
Croatian 	Sunce
Czech 	Slunce
Danish 	Solen
Dari 	خورشید
Davehi 	އިރު
Dutch 	Zon
Esperanto 	Suno
Estonian 	Päike
Finnish 	Aurinko
French 	Soleil
Galician 	Sol
German 	Sonne
Georgian 	მზე
Greek 	Ήλιος
Gujarati 	સૂર્ય
Haiti Creole 	Solèy
Hebrew 	שֶׁמֶש (Sun)
ואסה (Vása)
Hindi 	सूरज
Icelandic 	Sólin
Indonesian 	Matahari
Irish Gaelic 	Ghrian
Italian 	Sole
Japanese 	太陽
Javanese 	Srengéngé
Kannada 	ಸೂರ್ಯ
Kazakh 	Күн (Cyrillic) Kün (Latin)
Konkani 	सूर्य
Korean 	태양
Kurdish 	خۆر
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Күн
Laotian 	ຕາເວັນ
Latvian 	Saule
Lithuanian 	Saulė
Luxembourgish 	Sonn
Macedonian Cyrillic	Сонцето
Malayalam 	സൂര്യൻ
Malaysian 	Matahari
Marathi 	सन
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Нар
Nepalese 	सूर्य
Norwegian 	Solen
Old English 	Sunne
Pashto 	لمر
Persian 	آفتاب
Polish 	Słońce
Portuguese 	Sol
Punjabi 	ਸੂਰਜ
Romani 	Kham
Romansh 	Sulegl
Romanian 	Soare
Russian 	Солнце
Sanskrit 	सूर्यः
Scottish Gaelic 	Grian
Shona 	Zuva
Sicilian 	Suli
Sinhalese 	හිරු
Slovak 	Slnko
Slovenian 	Sonce
Somali 	Cadceed
Spanish 	Sol
Sundanese 	Panonpoe
Swahili 	Jua
Swedish 	Solen
Tajik Cyrillic 	Офтоб
Tamil 	சன்
Tatar 	Кояш
Telugu 	సూర్యుడు
Thai 	ดวงอาทิตย์
Turkish 	Güneş
Turkmen 	Gün
Ukrainian Cycillic 	Сонце
Urdu 	سورج
Uyghur 	قۇياش
Uzbek 	Қуёш (Cycillic) Quyosh (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Mặt Trời
Walloon 	Solea
Welsh 	Haul
Western Flemish 	Zunne
Yiddish 	זון
Yoruba 	Òrùn
Zulu 	Ilanga
==References==
Category:Cosmology
de:Sonne
fr:Soleil
it:Sole
pl:Anar
ru:Солнце