The Coming of Men
and the End of the First Age of the Sun
Although Ages of the Sun are the main focus for virtually all Tolkien's tales, the sun does not arise in the sky until after many ages in which the Light of the Trees lived, then were poisoned by Melkor and Ungoliant. Two Vala coaxed from their scorched ruins a single flower of silver called Isil the Sheen and a single fruit of gold called Anor the Fire-Golden. These were placed in great vessels forged by Aule the Smith, and in these vessels, were they carried into the heavens. These vessels were the Sun and the Moon, and they everafter lighted all the lands of Arda. As the Kindling of the Stars marked the awakening of the Elves, so did the Rising of the Sun signal the awakening of Men.
During the Noldor�s exile, the elves discovered Men as they ventured into their realms. Some tribes of men fought along side the elves, but other men were tricked by Morgoth and worshipped him as god, even though He hated and despised them, and yet other men fled. Those who fought along side the Elves were thereafter named the Edain.
Dwarves also had been brought forth. They did not meddle in the affairs of the elves but delved into the earth and built great halls of stone.
Out of the sad history of the elves, is the story of how Beren son of man, met Luthien daughter of the Elf King Thingol, and fell in love with her. He named her Tinuviel, meaning �nightingale� and in the grey-elven tongue, �daughter of twilight�. Together, they stole back one of the Silmarils from Morgoth�s crown in which Morgoth had set them. Thingol asked the dwarves to make a locket for the Silmaril. They betrayed and murdered him for the jewel. It was later found and given to Dior, Luthien�s and Beren�s child. Dior was the father of Elwing, who was the wife of Earendil the Mariner.
In the end, when all looked bleak and Morgoth was about to conquer the elves, Elwing and Earendil sailed to the Blessed Realm with the Silmaril in hand, to sue for peace and forgiveness representing the two kindreds, the elves and men. The Valar agreed and answered Earendil�s plea, and they gave Earendil and Elwing the choice of being judged as mortals or as elves. Elwing chose to be of the elves and so did Earendil in fear of being separated from her in the afterlife. The choice was also given to their family, their sons Elrond and Elros. Elrond chose to be of the elven kind and Elros chose to be of the mortals. Elros later became the first king of Numenor in the second age.
Because Earendil and Elwing had been to the Blessed Realm and as mortals, they were never allowed to go back to Mortal lands. The Valar built them a ship named Vingilot with the Silmaril that Beren and Luthien had recovered, and Earendil sailed into the sky to be a light to those on Middle-Earth forever.
Now when first Vingilot was set to sail in the seas of heaven, it rose unlooked for, glittering and bright and the people of Middle-Earth beheld it from afar and wondered, and they took it for a sign, and called it Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope. And when this new star was seen at evening, Maedhros (son of Feanor) spoke to Maglor, his brother and he said: "Surely that is a Silmaril that shines now in the West?" Then the elves looked up, and despaired no longer; but Morgoth was filled with doubt. [Silmarillion; p310]
The Valar answered Earendil�s prayers and the Valar went to war for the last time against Morgoth.
Then seeing that his hosts were overthrown and his power dispersed, Morgoth quailed, and he dared not come forth himself. But he loosed upon his foes the last desperate assault that he had prepared, and out of the pits of Angband (his stronghold) there issued the winged dragons, that had not before had been seen; and so sudden and ruinous was the onset of the dreadful fleet that the host of the Valar was driven back, for the coming of the dragons was with great thunder and lightning, and a tempest of fire.
But Earendil came, shining with flame, and about Vingilot were gathered all the great birds of heaven and Thorondor was their captain, and there was battle in the air all day and through a dark night of doubt. Before the rising of the sun, Earendil slew Alcalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thragorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin. Then the sun rose, and the host of the Valar prevailed, and well-nigh all the dragons were destroyed; and all the pits of Morgoth were broken and unroofed, and the might of the Valar descended into the deeps of the earth. There, Morgoth stood at bay, and yet unvaliant. He fled into the deepest of his mines, and sued for peace and pardon; but his feet were hewn from under him and he was hurled upon his face. Then he was bound with the chain he had worn aforetime, and his iron crown was beat into a 
collar for his neck, and his head was bowed to his knees. And the two Silmarils which remained to Morgoth were taken from his crown and they shone unsullied beneath the sky; and they were guarded. [Silmarillion pp311,312]
Of the other two Silmarils, the two remaining sons of Feanor (Maedhros and Maglor) claimed the jewels, but when they touched the Silmarils, they were burned. In agony, one threw himself with the Silmaril into the Deep Sea. The other, threw himself in a deep chasm in the earth with his Silmaril. And so it was fated that the Silmarils would become as the elements: sky, water, earth. Also, by this time, Feanor and his sons were now all dead. Only did Curufin have a child. His name was Celebrimbor.
The Valar sent Morgoth into the timeless void of space and he was never allowed back. But his lies and seeds of evil could not be destroyed. In this, the first age ended and the second age began with the prosperity of the Numenoreans, the Men who fought against Morgoth.
