"GL5" - читать интересную книгу автора (vol10)

Since the Eldar are supposed to be wiser and have truer
knowledge of the history and nature of the Earth than Men (or
than Wild Elves), their legends should have a closer relation to
the knowledge now possessed of at least the form of the Solar
System (= Kingdom of Arda);(2) though it need not, of course,
follow any 'scientific' theory of its making or development.
It therefore seems clear that the cosmogonic mythology
should represent Arda as it is, more or less: an island in the void
'amidst the innumerable stars'. The Sun should be coeval with
Earth, though its relative size need not be considered, while
the apparent revolution of the Sun about the Earth will be
accepted.*
The Stars, therefore, in general will be other and remoter
parts of the Great Tale of Ea, which do not concern the Valar of
Arda. Though, even if not explicitly, it will be an underlying
assumption that the Kingdom of Arda is of central importance,
selected amid all the immeasurable vast of Ea as the scene for
the main drama of the conflict of Melkor with Iluvatar, and the
Children of Eru. Melkor is the supreme spirit of Pride and
Revolt, not just the chief Vala of the Earth, who has turned to
evil.(3)

(* [marginal note] It is or would be in any case a 'fact of life' for any
intelligence that chose the Earth for a place of life and labour. [There is
no indication where this is to go, but nowhere else on the page seems
suitable.])

Varda, therefore, as one of the great Valar of Arda, cannot be
said to have 'kindled' the stars, as an original subcreative act -
not at least the stars in general.(4)
The Story, it seems, should follow such a line as this. The
entry of the Valar into Ea at the beginning of Time. The
choosing of the Kingdom of Arda as their chief abiding place
(? by the highest and noblest of the Ainur,(5) to whom Iluvatar
had intended to commit the care of the Eruhini). Manwe and his
companions elude Melkor and begin the ordering of Arda, but
Melkor seeks for them and at last finds Arda,(6) and contests the
kingship with Manwe.
This period will, roughly, correspond to supposed primeval
epochs before Earth became habitable. A time of fire and
cataclysm. Melkor disarrayed the Sun so that at periods it was
too hot, and at others too cold. Whether this was due to the
state of the Sun, or alterations in the orbit of Earth, need not be
made precise: both are possible.
But after a battle Melkor is driven out from Earth itself. (The
First Battle?) He finds he can only come there in great secrecy.
At this time he begins first to turn most to cold and darkness.
His first desire (and weapon) had been fire and heat. It was in
the wielding of flame that Tulkas (? originally Vala of the Sun)
defeated him in the First Battle. Melkor therefore comes mostly