The First Days of the World are barely drawing to a close when Fëanor, the most gifted of the elves, creates the three Silmarils. These jewels contain the precious Light of the Two Trees of Valinor. Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, who inhabits Middle-earth, then decides to steal the Silmarils to set them on his crown before taking refuge in the fortress of Angband. Following this theft, the elves confront the Dark Lord in order to recover the jewels. Long, long after, during the War of the Ring, Elrond and Galadriel would still speak of this original war. Composed of stories ranging from the Ancient Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, including the Second Age and the rise of Sauron, The Silmarillion is at the heart of the universe imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien. The stories are accompanied by several shorter works. The Ainulindalë is a creation myth while the Valaquenta describes the nature and powers of the gods. The Akallabêth recounts the destruction of the island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age and The Rings of Power recounts the major events at the end of the Third Age found in The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien was unable to publish The Silmarillion during his lifetime, because it evolved with him. He therefore left it to his son Christopher to publish this work from numerous manuscripts and to make his great vision publishable, thus completing the literary work of a lifetime.