March

With the usual apology for not being able to transfer the images Laura includes in her original notes. The captions to them indicate where and what was included.

SOUTHFARTHING READING GROUP

9 March 2024

Lynn, Eileen, Monique, Ian, Tim, Laura

Chapter 24 Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath

Monique continues to find the rhythm and syntax of Tolkien’s prose beautiful, particularly in this chapter. Eileen found the names and genealogies difficult to follow. This might help all of us: Eärendil is a descendant of the three main houses of Men who fought with the Elves against Morgoth and of the House of Fingon, the High King of Elves in Middle-earth as he is the son of Tuor and Idril, who escaped with him from the destruction of Gondolin. He is therefore half Elf and half Man. Elwing is the daughter of Dior, granddaughter of Luthien and Beren, Luthien being the daughter of Thingol and Melian the Maia. She is therefore one quarter Man, five eighths Elf and one eighth Maia. (I did not work this out, I checked on Google!)

Lynn explained that Tolkien took the name of Eärendel from the poem “Crist” by the eighth century poet, Cynewulf, in which he describes Christ in various guises, specifically in these lines as the Morning Star. Tolkien was very moved by this poem particularly because of his firm commitment to Catholicism.

In Modern English:

“Hail Earendel, brightest of Angels, above Middle-earth sent to men. …” (See more below.)

The first paragraph of Chapter 24 is full of information and action. We are reminded that Tuor and Idril have sailed to the West and that a grown-up Eärendel is now the leader of the Elves left on the shore. He has married Elwing, the daughter of Dior and Nimloth who were both killed by the remaining sons of Fëanor and their two sons abandoned in a forest. Therefore the two sons of Eärendel and Elwing, Elrond and Elros, are also half Elf and half Man. (Spoiler alert – Elrond appears in Lord of the Rings.)

Eärendel is desperate to sail to find his parents and to see the Valar to ask their forgiveness for Men and Elves. He builds the ship, Vingalot, and sails away on his quest, leaving Elwing behind. There is some similarity with the story of Aldarion and Erendis, a king and queen of Numenor, in Unfinished Tales. Tim said that is a typical situation with Navy wives! Also Eärendil’s father, Tuor, passed on his love of the sea to him. Lynn said that women left behind by sailors had to find work to keep themselves and their families. Before the twentieth century, women in Portsmouth made corsets, probably including whalebone. Monique has visited Seahouses where, traditionally, wives waiting for their husbands to return, kept watch sitting in the wide window seats of their cottages. Monique said that Brittany has a vast resource of tales around the subject of men at sea and women waiting.

Eärendel is not successful with his journey “defeated by shadows and enchantment”. Whose shadows and enchantments? Presumably that of the Valar as he is visited by frightening dreams to encourage him to return home. This turns out to be a wise action as Maedhros and Maglor have attacked and killed the Elves living on the coast as they knew that Elwing had the Silmaril, taken from Morgoth by Beren. The drama of Elf killing Elf cannot be understated: “…and that was the third of the great wrongs achieved by the accursed oath.” What were the other two? The Kinslaying and the attack on Doriath?)

M&M survive the battle and are the last of Fëanor’s sons, as their brothers, Amrod and Amras are killed. Despite Cirdan and Gil-galad coming to the rescue, Elwing escapes into the sea with the Silmaril and Elros and Elrond are captured. Eileen found the battle frightening and disappointing as some of the Elves are so wicked, particularly after the calm between Eärendel and Elwing.

M&M do not get the Silmaril. Ulmo, ever a supporter of Elves and Men, rescues Elwing by turning her into a white bird with the Silmaril on her bosom. She flies off to find Eärendel. She does find him and collapses onto the deck of Vingalot, still in her shape as a bird. (Laura was told by Maggie Percival of the Tolkien Society and creator of her Elwing costume that the bird was not a swan but a tern. Lynn said: Fairy tern!) Elwing returns to her proper form in the morning. This is like a Faerie story.

Maggie Percival of the TS, wearing the Elwing costume made by her.

Meanwhile, Maglor is having a change of heart because of the tragedies caused by his father’s oath. He fosters Elros and Elrond.

Eärendel and Elwing, and three others presumably Elves, leave in Vingalot to take up his quest to find the Valar. “The wise have said that it was by reason of that holy jewel that they came in time to waters that no vessels save those of the Teleri had known…” who are the wise? Shadows and enchantments are overcome this time. They arrive in Eldamar and Eärendel sets off by himself to see the Valar so that, if there is punishment, he will be the only one who suffers but Elwing insists on joining him. Eärendel is wearing the Silmaril. He brings hope and is a go-between for the violent Elves and Men, and the Valar. He pleads their case.

Oddly, although the Elves in Eldamar have seen them arrive in the ship, the streets are empty as there is a festival. This is not the first time that this has happened and security seems to be slack.

However, Eönwë, Manwë’s Herald, speaks to Eärendel and reminds us all that the light in the Silmaril was starlight before the Sun and Moon were in the sky. Eärendel is brought before the Valar and interestingly, Ulmo is summoned to be at this moot. Is it because he is a supporter of Men and Elves and argues for them to be forgiven in opposition to Mandos? Manwë’s judgement is that Eärendel and Elwing cannot return home but they and their two sons have to choose between being Elves or Men and accept the doom of that race. Elwing chooses to be with the Elves and, rather reluctantly, Eärendel chooses that also because he loves her. The three companions are returned in another boat because Vingalot is enhanced as a vessel that could travel in the sky. Spaceship!

Eärendel boards Vingalot with the Silmaril and travels across the sky and becomes the Morning and Evening Star. Lynn said, like the Anglo-Saxon poem, he is a mystic, messianic figure and his destiny is hinted at in The Fall of Gondolin; the light of stars was in his face. Tim said he has become a star and is now god-like. Lynn said that there was more detail in the book The Fall of Gondolin in which Christopher Tolkien has brought together all of his father’s writings on this part of his mythology. Tolkien was going to write a book about Eärendel. Eileen wondered why Eärendel had to leave Elwing and Lynn explained that it was his destiny.

There are dramatic and poetic phrases in this piece of writing including the Door of Night and the Ocean of Heaven. The Door of Night, which can either lead to heaven or the void, is similar to the gate in C S Lewis’ Narnian story, the Last Battle. The gate (in fact a stable door) is guarded by Aslan through which evil creatures go to darkness and good creatures go to Aslan’s Country.

There are now three bodies in the sky that we know of that are steered by beings, the Moon by the Maia Tilion (male), the Sun by the Maia Arien (female) and the Morning/Evening star by Eärendel. There is also the Sickle of the Valar (our Plough) to prevent Morgoth’s escape. What are the other stars? This was discussed at previous meetings and we were reminded of C S Lewis’ Narnian story, The Voyager of the Dawn Treader, in which a star and his daughter come to the Narnian world in human form. Eustace, one of the children, tells the Star that in world, stars are huge balls of flaming gas. The Star responds: “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but what it is made of….”  The stars shining on Arda were in existence when the Elves were created. What were they?

Laura’s attempt at the Sickle of the Valar.

Lynn was surprised that Tolkien did not include the Northern Lights in his writing as they are such a key phenomenon in the northern world. Tim wondered if the various evils in the north of Arda could be seen as the Northern Lights, particularly the poisonous green colours or the yellow gold of dragons. Tim said that this is a book about northern countries, sea faring, Iceland and the cold reality of the North Sea, the Arctic and the Irish Sea.

Eileen loved the language and the gentle rhythm of the words in the paragraph beginning “On those journeys…” She felt it sounded like the sea. Monique said this paragraph was a good example of the impossibility of an accurate translation, as poetic and subtle as the original. Lynn agreed because so much of the vocabulary is linked with the environment, culture and background of the language eg for those whose first language is English and have knowledge of Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the first image of an albatross is of a guilty deadweight hanging around the neck rather than a huge white bird. Lynn also said about Wycliffe’s literal and unwieldy translation of the Bible published in 1382.

Elwing does not go with Eärendel in Vingalot – again similar to Aldarion and Erendis – because she does not like the cold and the void but preferred earth. She becomes close to birds and learns their language and can fly to meet Eärendel when he comes back.

Lynn referred us to the Anglo-Saxon poem, the Seafarer which is about a solitary sailor, separated from his lord and the meadhall, with vivid descriptions of the freezing conditions typical of the North Sea and nearer to the Arctic. Different birds are listed as his companions: swan, curlew, gull, gannet, eagle and tern in whose cries he finds comfort. Tolkien would have been very familiar with this poem and its religious themes (possibly added to the pagan original) such as the Seafarer being a lost soul. Tolkien had a steady view of his Catholicism.

When Eärendel and Vingalot are first seen in the sky, M&M know that he is wearing the Silmaril. They and other Elves are glad that this has happened as the jewel is untouchable. Morgoth is worried by this sight but did not anticipate that the Valar, Men and Elves would attack him. This is the Great Battle and the War of Wrath. Balrogs die or hide – spoiler alert – is one of these the one who attacks Gandalf in Moria?

Whilst Men from the three Houses fight with the Valar and the Elves, some men fight alongside Morgoth’s army – “..and the Elves do not forget it.” The use of the present tense in the last phrase is chilling and explains why Elves do not trust Men.

In this battle, winged dragons appear for the first time. However, Eärendel arrives with huge flocks of birds led by eagles which nearly destroy all the dragons. Is Smaug a descendant of these? Or one of them? It was suggested that some of the dragons, including Smaug, were still in their eggs. Eärendel kills Ancalagon the Black. This is the dragon that Gandalf refers to as not even he could melt The Ring. The dragon falls back onto Morgoth’s mountains “and they were broken in his ruin.” This is similar language to the Balrog falling down the mountain after having been defeated by Gandalf.

Eagle attacking a drone. Go Thorondor!

Morgoth is caught and put in chains – specifically Angainor the chain in which he was bound previously. It was an alloy of six different metals. His iron crown is forged into a collar. Some people might see a slavery image here. He is pushed out into the void for ever.

The two remaining Silmarils are guarded by Eönwë. The world is physically wrecked and changed because of the battle.

Still not learning their lesson, M&M tell Eönwë that they want the Silmarils. This demand is refused and they are instructed to go to Valinar to be judged for the evil they have caused. M&M debate the right course to take, Maglor preferring to renege on the oath because of the power of the original witnesses, Manwë and Varda but Maedhros argues that they had called on Iluvatar. Eileen thought the conflict between the two brothers was more interesting than if they had been in agreement. Maedhros wins the argument and they kill the Elves guarding the Silmarils which they take. Eönwë does not allow there to be revenge killings and allows M&M to escape, presumably because Eönwë knows what will happen. Maedhros sees a perfect turn of events in that they have a Silmaril each.

Like Carcharoth the wolf and like Morgoth, the Silmaril burns Maedhros’ hand. He realises that the oath is void and dies in a volcano, taking the Silmaril with him. Some people believe that this is the Arkenstone, found by the Dwarves in the Lonely Mountain.

Maglor, too, is hurt by his Silmaril and throws it out to sea. Tolkien writes that the Silmarils were in their intended homes: one in the air; one in the sea and one in the fire. As discussed before, this pre-echoes the three Elven rings: Narya, Nenya and Vilnya: fire, water and air; ruby, adamant and sapphire. However, the Valar feel their victory is not as great as it could have been as they do not have the Silmarils.

Some high-ranking Elves remain in Middle-earth: Cirdan, Celeborn, Galadriel, Gil-galad and Elrond. From Elrond and Elros are descended Men who have Elvish blood.

Although Morgoth has been banished to the Void, chillingly Tolkien writes that his lies continue to continue to fester on earth. He uses a botanical image of seeds that die and cannot be destroyed and which sprout and produce dark fruit.

The final paragraph of the Silmarillion refers to the damage that has happened to earth and the Valar may know if that can be mended but it is not known. The Silmarillion ends with warnings.

In response to a query by Monique, Lynn talked through the publications of the three main works, bearing in mind that Tolkien was writing his mythology many years before the final publication. He rewrote so much of his work that Christopher was able to edit many publications of the reworkings. The Silmarillion itself was published posthumously after Christopher had edited what he thought made the most sense. The Hobbit was published in 1937. The Lord of the Rings was published between 1954 and 1955 in three lots of two books in one cover – it is not a trilogy! The publishers had asked for more on Hobbits although Tolkien wanted to have his Silmarillion published as his main work but had to give in to public demand! The Silmarillion was published in 1977.

There are connections between all three for example some of the Elves met in the Silmarillion appear in the Lord of the Rings. Tim said that in the Silmarillion we are introduced to a Maia called Olórin, one of the wisest and who learned pity and patience. He is sent into Middle-earth and features prominently in the Lord of the Rings.

Our reading for the 13^{th of} April will be the next section: Akallabêth (The Downfallen).