Fourth Age

The Fourth Age was the time period that followed the War of the Ring and was the age of peace and ' The Age of Men '.

The Fourth Age began after Sauron was finally defeated, the land of Mordor was nothing but a wasteland,and his Ruling Ring had been destroyed.

This age was marked by the recovery of the Númenorean kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, the final ascent of Men, and the total wane of the Elves.Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Bilbo and Frodo sailed for the Undying Lands after the One Ring was destroyed, the Battle of Bywater following the deaths of Saruman the White and Grima Wormtoungue the darkness was lifted and was gone forever so ending the Third Age.

In total contrast, the allies of Sauron suffered a devastating blow that would take them centuries to recover, if they did at all. Virtually the entire population of Harad was annihilated on the Pelennor Fields, and the Easterlings lost many men to the merciless swords of Gondorian legionaries and the thundering hoofs of the Rohirrim. However, King Elessar and presumably his descendants constantly warred with their enemies over land, particularly over the bitterly contested region of the Sea of Rhûn.

Tolkien said that he thought the distance between the end of the Third Age and the 20th century A.D. was about 6000 years, and that in 1958 it should have been around the end of the Fifth Age if the Fourth and Fifth Ages were about the same length as the Second and Third Ages. He said, however, in a letter written in 1958 that he believed the Ages had quickened and that it was about the end of the Sixth Age/beginning of the Seventh. (This letter is referred to in the "Fourth Age" article of The Encyclopedia of Arda as mentioned below.)

The following is mere speculation and unrelated to fantasy works: That implies that maybe the fall of Nazi Germany ended the Sixth Age in 1945, as the other ages also ended with the downfalls of tyrants. The estimation of 6000 years would place the end of the Third Age and the start of the Fourth in the 5th millennium BC. Since Tolkien was a devout Catholic, it is speculated that he would have held both the Judaic revelation and the birth of Jesus to be significant events, and thus would be the most likely time for the start of the Fifth and Sixth Ages, respectively.

Determining the epoch of a Fifth era is important for those who apply the Tolkien calendar to present dates; in keeping with the above speculation (that the Ages typically end with either a calamity or the downfall of a tyrant), it's possible that the events of 9/11 (and the subsequent capture of Sadam Hussein) marked the end of the Fourth Age.