She was born long before the Noldor's exile from the blessed realm, before the Two Trees were slain by Morgoth but she certainly was not one to awake in the far east of Middle-earth by the Oracarni (Eastern) mountains (see the Maps of Arda page for more info about these mountains). So I suppose she was born sometime in the life of the Two trees of Valinor.
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Utúlie'n aurë! Aiya Eldalië ar Atanatári, utúlie'n aurë! Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva!
For a rough guide, adding the Second and Third ages together, and estimating the First Age to be of a similar length to the Second and Third, she's got to be at least 8 - 10,000 years old.
A post I found on another forum states this, but I can't verify it as I haven't read what he's referring to:
The Annals of Aman (in History of Middle-earth vol. X) places Galadriel's birth in the Valian Year 1362, each of which is approximately equal to ten years of the Sun. The first Sun rose in Valian Year 1500, or 15,000-13,620 = 1,380 solar years later. The First Age lasted another 600 years, and with the combined total of the Second and Third Ages of 6,460 years, Galadriel when we see her is 8,440 years old.
Can any of you?
I've heard a few estimates, and they tend to range from 10,000 - 50,000 years old, but I doubt she is that old.
Firstly Celethil - I have just recently re-read the Silmarillion and I saw no exact age for Gladriel. I doubt anyone could give you that as Time was only truly counted from the First Age onwards and the First Age did not start until The Noldor went back over to Middle-earth in exile from Valinor. No one knows how long it was from the time when the Valar first descended into Ea until the time the First Age begun. It could be 2000 years or 20 000.
So the best you are going to get is that she was born sometime after the Trees of Light were created, but definately before they were slain.
The secret Fire - The First Age (from the time the Noldor were exiled from Valinor after Morgoth had slain the Two trees) was very short - only around 600 years.
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Utúlie'n aurë! Aiya Eldalië ar Atanatári, utúlie'n aurë! Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva!
Glorfindel: Yes, you're right, I misspoke. By "First Age" I meant "The First Age and the period of time preceding it after the creation of The Two Trees. Although time wasn't counted it can probably still be estimated. But no, there is no exact answer.
Thanks guys. I think you've given me a starting point. I was looking for the information that TSF gave. I knew it was measured in Valian years but couldnt find where the reference was coming from.
Im not sure about the math in TSF's post because I know the Valian years were longer than the solar years so she has to be a lot older than 8,000+
Time to look in HoME.
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Therefore I say that we will go on, and this doom I add: the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda
Looks like TSF was right. If the Annals of Aman are the most accurate reckoning of the Valian Years then Galadriel was born in the year VY 4862 and the First Age begins right after VY 5000. That means she was 1380 years old when she left Valinor. If you add 590 + 3441 +3021 to that then you get 8432, which is 8 years off of what TSF came up with.
What's 8 years to the Eldar?
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Therefore I say that we will go on, and this doom I add: the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda
The Annals of Aman were from Morgoth's Ring of the HoME series. Even though these notes were unpublished as a finished work, I don't count Tolkien's chronology of time prior to the First Age as speculation.
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Therefore I say that we will go on, and this doom I add: the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda
I think I once estimated her age at 8326, from the fact she was born in 1362 of the Years of the Trees. According to the Annals of Aman, the Years of the Trees lasted 1495 Valian Years, giving her in that Age a total of 133 Valian Years. With each Valian year being 9.582 solar years, this brings her total to 1274.406 ... adding the First Age (assuming) of about 590 solar years, this gets 1864.406 ... adding the Second Age of 3441 we get 5305.406, and adding 3021 for the Third Age we get around 8,326.
I agree with that calculation, just one problem since you tried to be exact and not approximate, I would rather suggest using 583 as the number of years for the First Age, I believe it is closer to the truth then 590...which would make her about 8319... But who cares about a few years when you're that old?
The Tolkien Gateway says that she was born in the Years of the Trees 1362 and stated that she was 8,370 years old when she took the road to the Grey Havens to go to the Blessed Realm.
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Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, Jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!
