It was decided some of the Eldar would be invited to Valinor to converse with the Valar. Born under the stars in the Great Lands the three who came to Valinor were overcome by the light of the Two Trees. And Manwë was surprised to hear that Ilúvatar had wiped away the memories of how the Elves came to be. It was decided the three were to go back to their kin and bring any and all to live in Valinor.
Ulmo helped with the transport: "...Ulmo had come upon his secret island and harnessed thereto a host of the greatest fish, and amidmost was Uin the mightiest and most ancient of whales; and he bid these put forth their strength, and they drew the island mightily to the very shores of the Great Lands... (p. 118, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I). The Teleri and Noldoli were taken to Valinor.
One last group of Eldar, the Solosimpi, were to be taken. Yet Ossë, not Valar but with strength to match Ulmo, held fast the island in wrath. He wished to help ferry the Elves across the seas. The island became known as the Lonely Isle. Ulmo visited the Solosimpi and taught them music and making of ships but they were long sundered from their kindred. This would be an important point for Tolkien. Being a philologist how language came to be greatly interested him; so in his mythical creation it was important to see when and how people groups were separated because this is precisely where language becomes divergent.
The Elves in Valinor settled on a great hill called Kôr. Manwë loved the Teleri and Aulë loved the Noldoli. Meanwhile Ossë's love of the Solosimpi was grown very great and he would not give them up. But the Valar restrained Ulmo from going to war. Eventually the Elves wished to see each other again and Yavanna sent birds to the Lonely Isle that Ossë trained and gave great strength to. Aulë created fowl shaped boats with hundred of the birds harnessed to them and the Solosimpi entered and were taken to Valinor. Ossë saw the birds he trained were taking away the Elves he loved but because of his love he did not hinder them.
But this last group of Elves did not reside in Kôr; rather on the shorelines by the sea they loved where Ulmo would visit them. The Teleri and Noldoli labored greatly in Kôr but the Noldoli the most as they were discipled by Aulë. They made many wonderful things; jewels chiefly. Among them Fëanor rose to great skill and he created the Silmarilli that shone in the radiance of their own light. Meril ended her tale telling Eriol she knew these things to be true. But the day was drawing to a close and she bade him to return to where he was staying.
Christopher Tolkien notes some key attributes of this story as to what survived in The Silmarillion:
- The Elves awoke here during Melko's captivity; in the published work it was their awakening that led to the capture of Melkor
- Manwë knew of the Elves awakening whereas in the published work Oromë is the first of the Valar to know
- Manwë's questioning and realization that the Eldar lost all memories before arriving is absent in the published work
- Lastly, here Ulmo is in favor of bringing the Eldar to Valinor--that is not so in the published work
- In terms of the three kindred of the Elves: Teleri = Vanyar, Noldoli = Noldor, and Solosimpi = Teleri (which can make things very confusing when trying to remember who is who)
- Ossë's wrath disappears in the published work as he actually anchors the island at Ulmo's bidding
- Kôr became Túna in the published work
And many, many other small (or large) discrepancies. It's very cool to see the beginnings of the mythology and from Tolkien's letters he greatly desired to see these early writings come into print. However, it's also clear how much work these writings needed particularly after such success of The Lord of the Rings.
Christopher Tolkien also elucidates on a couple of poems his father wrote that bear on these earliest tales. The first was titled Kôr and was written just after some of Tolkien's first poems You and Me (linked to the Cottage of Lost Play) and Goblin Feet in 1915. Another poem written later in the same year was called A Song of Aryador. Tolkien's son notes: "...Men in Hisilómë feared the Lost Elves, calling them the Shadow Folk, and that their name for that land Aryador" (p. 138, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I). I will quote the last stanza to end this post:
"Then were the voices on the fells
And a sound of ghostly bells
And a march of shadow-people o'er the height.
In the mountains by the shore
In forgotten Aryador
There was dancing and was ringing;
There were shadow-people singing
Ancient songs of olden gods in Aryador" (p. 139, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I).
No comments:
Post a Comment