A guarded portal in the distant West of the World, through which Morgoth was cast after his defeat in the War of Wrath. Its origins are unclear: according to some accounts, it was made by the Valar as a passage for the Sun, which would return into the world through the Gates of Morning in the east. According to others, though, it was made expressly as a gateway through which to expel Morgoth. The Door of Night was guarded by Eärendil, bearing his Silmaril aloft in his shining ship Vingilot.
Notes
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The dating of the Door of Night depends on which of the variant accounts of its origins is correct. If it was made for the Sun, then it must have been created at the same time that the Valar set the Sun in the sky. Alternatively, if its purpose was to expel Morgoth from the world, then it would have been made nearly six centuries later, at the close of the First Age.
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- Updated 18 June 2011
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