A/N: Some of the information is taken from "The Shaping of Middle-earth", the forth volume of the HoME series. They're mighty confusing for me, but I've tried to sort them out as best as I can; sorry if there are any mistakes. And in the Prophecy of Mandos given below, Fionwë son of Manwë was in later times changed to Eonwë Herald of Manwë, I think, so I'm using the latter, although the Prophecy is still the original one.

This is not in the Silmarillion, but I thought that it'd make a good fic. Please R/R. Thanks.

Arda Unmarred

"…Thus spake the Prophecy of Mandos, which he declared in Valmar at the judgment of the Gods, and the rumour of it was whispered among all the Elves of the West: when the world is old and the powers grow weary, then Morgoth shall come back through the Door out of the Timeless Night; and he shall destroy the Sun and the Moon, but Eärendel shall come upon him as a white flame and drive him from the airs. Then shall the last battle be gathered on the fields of Valinor. In that day Tulkas shall strive with Melko, and on his right shall stand Fionwë and on his left Túrin Turambar, son of Húrin, Conqueror of Fate; and it shall be the black sword of Túrin that deals unto Melko his death and final end; and so shall the children of Húrin and all Men be avenged.

Thereafter shall the Silmarils be recovered out of sea and earth and air; for Eärendel shall descend and yield up the flame that he hath in keeping. Then Fëanor shall bear the Three and yield them onto Yavanna Palúrien; and she will break them and with their fire rekindle the Two Trees, and a great light shall come forth; and the Mountains of Valinor shall be leveled, so that the light goes out over all the world. In that light the Gods will again grow young, and the Elves awake and all their dead arise, and the purpose of Ilúvatar be fulfilled concerning them. But of Men in that day the prophecy speaks not, save of Túrin only, and him it names among the Gods…" ~Mandos; The Quenta S19 (Q II), The Shaping of Middle-earth

In the Third Age, when Morgoth had long since been imprisoned in the Timeless Night, Sauron the Maia returned from his defeat by Isildur of the Númenoreans and reclaimed his kingship in Barad-dûr, in Mordor, but no bodily form could he take, for much of his power he had placed into the making of the One Ruling Ring in enslavement of the three races of Elves, Men and Dwarves.

He sought in desperation the lost Ring that would restore his bodily form and raise him high above the Free Races of Arda, and mayhap even high enough to challenge the Valar, the order by which he was once among the ranks and kindred of.

By turn of Fate (or mayhap by the Powers), the Ring was found and taken by a Halfling to Imladris, in which the fate of it was decided. Aragorn Elessar Sauron challenged, for the Man had strove with the fallen Maia through the Palantíri, and Sauron was of the thought that the Man held the Ring in his keeping.

Aragorn and Gandalf (Olórin in the ranks of the Maiar) had turned Sauron's wrath upon themselves so that the Halfling and his companion could go unmarked to Orodruin and destroy the Ring.

It was cast into the fiery chasm of the earth and unmade; Sauron fell and his spirit was scattered widely so that he should not gather himself, and with the unmaking of the Ring, the Third Age came to an end.

About all the World are the Ilurambar, or Walls of the World. They are as ice and glass and steel, being above all imagination of the Children of Earth cold, transparent and hard. They cannot be seen nor can they be passed, save by the Door of Night.

And the World was fashioned thus at first with the Middle-earth highest in the middle, and fell away on either side into vast valleys, but rose again in the East and West and again fell away to the chasm at the edges.

After the second battle with Morgoth in which the Herald of Manwë led the commandment, the earth was smote and the lands broken of their original symmetry. So it came to pass that the lands stretched from North to South, and at either ends come the closest to the Walls of the World.

To the East and West were regions of larger Ilmen (1) closest above and below to the Earth; above the Ilmen lay the Vaiya (2), the Encircling Sea, broadest at the East and West, and narrowest in the North and South. And beyond the confines of the Walls of the World lay the Timeless Void, where Morgoth was imprisoned.

Long he abode there, and gave no trouble more to Elves or Men, for Eärendel of Men, who was the father of Elrond the Half-elven and Elros of the line of the great Númenoreans, guard the Door of Night unceasingly from his winged ship Wingelot. Yet at times even after Sauron's fall, Orodruin would burst into flames and pour out black fumes, and it was said that Morgoth's spirit would enter into the World, though how he came was not known, for the Door was guarded.

For many ages since the War of the Rings and Sauron's spirit was dispersed, the Long Peace came; the Races of Middle-earth were freed from the evil of Morgoth and Sauron, and the Gods welcomed the last of the Elves into Valinor and withdrew it completely from the world.

Yet cast into the Void as he was, Morgoth halted not his unceasing labors to seek for ways in which to escape; the evil that he had sown in the hearts of Men could not fully be destroyed by the Valar, and at times conflict would arise between Men.

No direction was there in the Void; no North, South, East or West. And as he wandered from the Door of Night, he knew not where he stood. To the South of the World he came to, and sensed the thinness of the Ilmen and the Vaiya, and there attempted to cross into the World. But there the World was fashioned thus so that the lands dropped into chasms and water turned to ice, and no bridge was there to aid in his crossing.

To the North (though he could not know it) Morgoth went as well, and as before in the South, he could not pass into the World, and in great exhaustion, having spent much in his attempts to break through Vaiya, he returned to the Door of Night and there gathered his strength.

In Middle-earth, Men flourished and grew, and spread ever to other lands; the Dwarves retreated back into their mines and delved ever deeper, for the deep places of the earth had been cleared of the foul creatures of Morgoth and Sauron; Halflings took ever to Bree and the Shire, but their people dwindled and their race diminished.

In Valinor the Elves were given rest and they did not fade away, but were of strength and fairness; their memory in Middle-earth was reduced to songs and legends, for none was beheld by any since ages past.

The race of Men was sundered into two, for of many, the seeds of evil planted in them by Morgoth or Sauron were never wholly destroyed, and oft they would mar the earth in evil deeds; the other half was the Faithful, named after those loyal to the Valar in Númenor long ago, descended mainly from the line of Gondor and of Rohan, in which the memories of the valor of these Men in the War of the Rings were ever preserved and passed down in truth.

As Morgoth gathered his strength, he strove ever against the Door of Night, and tested its strength; his own was not at its peak, yet aught made by any would harbor weaknesses, though oft unseen by those but the most perceptive.

He sensed the weakness of the Door, and ever and anon a part of his spirit would enter Middle-earth. His hate for the Faithful was great, and for the Elves in Valinor even greater, and it fostered and grew.

He delved once again into the deep places of the earth, where even the Dwarves had not gone to, and there he awoke the servants he had hidden ere his defeat but did not reveal them. More foul and terrible were they than the Balrogs, Vampire, Werewolves and Orcs of old. And there he commanded them to wait.

He drew back into the Void, and his strength returned slowly, and he waited as he had done. And when he deemed that his strength was recovered, he prepared for war.

From the Door of Night Morgoth issued from, for though the Door was made by the Valar, Morgoth was the brethren of Manwë and mightier in might than he, and he broke the Door down when the Sun waned and the Moon waxed, and when the two lights were mingled.

In the West was the Door placed, so that as he came forth, he leapt upon the Sun and threw her down though She scorched him, and night descended upon Valinor quicker than should have been, and the roar of the voice of Morgoth was heard throughout the World.

His voice echoed even in the deep places, his servants issued forth from the mines, and the Dwarves perished in surprise. Middle-earth was riddled in fire and waste, and Orcs ancient and new came; many Men fled, but Gondor and Rohan stood against the foul creatures.

In Valinor, the Valar heard Morgoth's voice and knew that Doom hath come, and gathered all the Powers together. The Elves forgot not the Prophecy of Mandos, and were of the mind to hasten to Middle-earth to lend aid to the Secondborn.

Manwë gave his consent, and ships of the Teleri at Alqualondë were manned, and the Lord of the Valar sent a great wind to speed the ships eastward, and the swans of Ossë pulled them along, and many of the Valar and Maiar followed.

From the West the Elves and Powers came forth, and their coming was fair and terrible, for the power and radiance of Valinor was in their faces. The faithless fled before them and joined the ranks of Morgoth's armies.

Thus was formed the Second and greatest Alliance of Elves and Men, mightier than the First, and this was led by Elrond Half-elven, who had fought alongside Erenion Gil-galad in the Second Age, for the feä of those in Mandos Hall had not been clad back into their hroä, and many of the greatest Elven princes still resided in the Halls of Waiting.

Morgoth assailed the Moon and wrestled with him, and overthrew the Moon, and day and night were dark but for the pale light of Varda's stars, and it seemed that he would prevail.

But Eärendel steered Wingelot towards Morgoth, and upon the Man's brow was set a Silmaril that shone as a star of white flames in the darkness; the wings of the swans that drew Wingelot were of great span, and their winds forced Morgoth back, though it was spoken in aftertimes that Eärendel cast Morgoth from the sky only with the aid of the Silmaril, for it was a jewel hallowed and of great power.

Tulkas stood upon Valinor in wait for Morgoth, and Eonwë Herald of Manwë stood at his right; his left was yet empty when they strove against Morgoth, and the strength and wrath of the fallen Vala was still great and terrible, so that the fair lands of Valinor were marred and still they could not throw him.

Of the other Valar, they went in haste from Valinor to strengthen the armies of their own, and made war upon the creatures of Morgoth as they had fought for the Elves in their awakening; Ulmo rose in all his might from the waters, and many of their enemies were drowned.

Long the battles in Valinor and Middle-earth were fought, and while of the latter the creatures of Morgoth were destroyed and the surviving Men of darkness were taken as prisoners and held for Doom by Manwë, Tulkas and Eonwë strove yet unavailing against Morgoth, and they despaired ever of his fall.

Yet when the hour in Valinor seemeth the darkest and the victory of Morgoth seemeth certain, so did a light come from the left of Tulkas's feet. The eyes of the Valar (even of Morgoth) were keen and pierced the light of white there, and they perceived a Man standing.

And a voice terrible and resounding came forth: "Too many evil hath thou done, Melkor of the Fallen Ainur, and deemed thee to be infallible. Doom hath long since been laid upon thee, but would thou sue for pardon again?"

But Morgoth, turning to his thoughts of victory near and certain but for Tulkas and Eonwë, cast the pardon aside. "Melkor the Fallen, thou sayest, but Melkor the Mighty still. Should I sue for pardon before one so small?" And so saying, he raised his foot to crush the figure.

Out of the light an arrow of darkness flew, as dark as the night that had fallen, and it pierced Morgoth in his heart, so that he gasped and fell, and Valinor and the World trembled at his fall.

Tulkas and Eonwë gazed in wonderment at the figure before them, and their eyes now saw clearly the face of Túrin Turambar, the Conqueror of Fate, so that they knew that half of the Prophecy of Mandos had come to pass, that Morgoth was dealt the death strike by Mormegil of Túrin, the Black Sword that was in his own tongue named Gurtholfin.

In Valinor was then gathered all the Elves and Men who remained, and Eärendel was summoned from the air and the feä of Feänor clad in hroä by Mandos, and Eärendel took from his brow the Silmaril and gave up its keeping.

The Valar drew forth their powers and broke Middle-earth asunder, and two eagles upon great winds bore the Silmarils of water and fire to Valinor, for the Powers protected the Blessed Land still, and Feänor as he held the Three repented of his deeds and yielded them unto Yavanna.

Yavanna, blessing the Silmarils, broke them and spilled their fire onto the Two Trees long dead, and life awoke in Telperion and Laurelin, and the mingling of the two great lights was greater than the Sun, and Manwë threw down the mountains of Valinor so that the light shone far, and the Valar and Maiar laughed as their strength returned and the foulest deed of Morgoth was amended.

The feä of all the Elves in Mandos Hall were summoned and clad again in bodily form, and there, Ilúvatar himself came forth. "Long hath the Ainur and the Firstborn struggled against Melkor, and unceasing life was given to them. Rest they found in Mandos Hall, yet deeper weariness hath they. Now I call ye back to me, to return to the Void and Eternal Rest."

"Nay, Lord, for Men are of our kin, and we should enter the Eternal Rest together," some Elves said.

And the form of Ilúvatar smiled at his Children, and he said: "Túrin Turambar the Prophecy nameth amongst the Gods, but of Secondborn is he." He was silent for a time. "Arda Marred shall be Unmarred, the Fate of Firstborn changed, and the Fate of Men that is known to none be fulfilled."

The One returned the Valar and Firstborn to him and destroyed their hroä; of the feä of Mortals he summoned forth - the forefathers and descendents alike - and placed all his Children into the Deep Sleep.

And he turned his thoughts to Arda and broke it asunder, withdrawing the Imperishable Flame and the light of the Silmarils. From the pieces of Arda Destroyed he formed a new Arda, and he placed the light of the Silmarils and the Imperishable Flame at the heart of Arda Remade.

The feä of Ainur, Firstborn and Secondborn alike he merged in their sleep, and placed them into new hroä and set them into the new world. And He rested.

They awoke when the lights of the Sun and the Moon were mingled, and gazed in wonderment around them, for the air was fresh, the trees green and the world young.

And a word came to them ere any speech did, and they named unto themselves: Man, and used that name in aftertimes.

So it came to pass that the Prophecy of Mandos concerning all was changed and fulfilled, and the older Doom that the Valar, Firstborn and Secondborn shall again occupy Arda Unmarred was made true and more beautiful.

~finis~

(1) Ilmen - Place of light. The region above the air, than which it is thinner and more clear. Here only the stars and Moon and Sun can fly.

(2)Vaiya - Fold, envelope. In nature likened to water, but less buoyant than air and surrounding the Ilmen; also named the Encircling Ocean/Sea.