Fourth Age

E268773

era of Middle-earth fictional historical era

The Fourth Age is the era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth that follows the defeat of Sauron and the War of the Ring, marking the beginning of the dominion of Men and the fading of Elves and other ancient races.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Fourth Age canonical	12
Fourth Age of Middle-earth	6
Fourth Age (early years)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2369289 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Fourth Age
Context triple: [Middle-earth, hasAge, Fourth Age]

A. Third Age
The Third Age is a pivotal historical era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, marked by the rise and fall of Sauron and culminating in the events of The Lord of the Rings.
B. Second Age
The Second Age is a pivotal era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, marked by the rise and fall of Númenor, the forging of the Rings of Power, and Sauron’s first great bid for dominion.
C. First Age
The First Age is the earliest great era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, marked by the wars against Morgoth and the heroic tales recounted in The Silmarillion.
D. The Golden Age
The Golden Age is a nostalgic collection of semi-autobiographical childhood essays by British author Kenneth Grahame, celebrating the imaginative inner world of children in a Victorian setting.
E. The Golden Age
The Golden Age is the original title of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ religious magazine that was later renamed Awake!.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Fourth Age
Target entity description: The Fourth Age is the era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth that follows the defeat of Sauron and the War of the Ring, marking the beginning of the dominion of Men and the fading of Elves and other ancient races.

A. Third Age
The Third Age is a pivotal historical era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, marked by the rise and fall of Sauron and culminating in the events of The Lord of the Rings.
B. Second Age
The Second Age is a pivotal era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, marked by the rise and fall of Númenor, the forging of the Rings of Power, and Sauron’s first great bid for dominion.
C. First Age
The First Age is the earliest great era in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, marked by the wars against Morgoth and the heroic tales recounted in The Silmarillion.
D. The Golden Age
The Golden Age is a nostalgic collection of semi-autobiographical childhood essays by British author Kenneth Grahame, celebrating the imaginative inner world of children in a Victorian setting.
E. The Golden Age
The Golden Age is the original title of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ religious magazine that was later renamed Awake!.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	era of Middle-earth ⓘ fictional historical era ⓘ
associatedWithCharacter	Aragorn ⓘ Frodo Baggins ⓘ Gandalf ⓘ Gimli ⓘ Elessar ⓘ surface form: King Elessar Legolas ⓘ Samwise Gamgee ⓘ
associatedWithEvent	Legolas and Gimli’s voyage West ⓘ the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor ⓘ surface form: Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor Samwise Gamgee’s later voyage to the West ⓘ crowning of Aragorn as King Elessar ⓘ departure of the Ring-bearers from Middle-earth ⓘ diminution of the Shire’s special protection ⓘ
beginsAfterEvent	War of the Ring ⓘ defeat of Sauron ⓘ destruction of the One Ring ⓘ
characterizedBy	diminishing of magic in Middle-earth ⓘ dominion of Men ⓘ fading of the Elves ⓘ waning of other ancient races ⓘ
cosmicChange	Sauron is permanently overthrown ⓘ no new Dark Lord arises in Tolkien’s published canon ⓘ
follows	Third Age ⓘ
governedBy	the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor ⓘ surface form: Reunited Kingdom under King Elessar successors of King Elessar ⓘ
hasTheme	end of the Elder Days ⓘ rise of Men ⓘ transition from mythic to historical time ⓘ
introducedInWork	The Lord of the Rings ⓘ
inUniverseLocation	Middle-earth ⓘ
inUniverseWorld	Arda ⓘ
languageShift	Westron and Mannish tongues dominate ⓘ
mentionedIn	The Lord of the Rings appendices ⓘ surface form: Appendices to The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King ⓘ The Silmarillion ⓘ Unfinished Tales ⓘ
notableRaceStatus	Dwarves decline in prominence ⓘ Elves largely depart Middle-earth ⓘ Hobbits remain but become hidden from Big People ⓘ
partOf	legendarium of Middle-earth ⓘ surface form: legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien
powerStructureChange	Rings of Power lose their power ⓘ Elven Ring of Power ⓘ surface form: Three Elven Rings become ineffective
precedes	no later named Age in Tolkien’s canon ⓘ
settingOf	post-War of the Ring period ⓘ
temporalRelationToRealWorld	intended to lead toward our own historical era ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (19)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Middle-earth → hasAge → Fourth Age ⓘ

House of Isildur → timePeriod → Fourth Age ⓘ

House of Telcontar → era → Fourth Age ⓘ

Elfstone → timePeriodInFiction → Fourth Age ⓘ