Middle-earth Journeys

There is an announcement at TOR.n that some Tolkien group in Poland is reenacting the Fall of Gondolin! Ambitious, aren't they? (The most I've reenacted was the hobbits' meal at the Prancing Pony!)

Hmmm if done well that would be wild! Some of those old tales would be great on a big screen don't you think?

Wow! That would be an incredible undertaking -- the treachery of Maeglin, the battle of Ecthelion of the Fountain with the Balrogs, the flight of Tuor and Idril with the survivors, including the young Earendil, the battle of Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower with the Balrog, the reclamation of Glorfindel's body by Thorondor, the flight to the Havens of Sirion . . .

Just . . . Wow!

Yes, indeed, it is hard to imagine, isn't it? I hope they post a report about how it went.

This is not strictly the Silmarillion - more Lost Tales which are more detailed...but it runs into the stories of the Sil!

I'm reading all the accounts of the creation of Arda, the coming of the Valar, the Two Lamps, the Two Trees, the elves being led out of darkness to Valinor...

I'm very struck by all the efforts that go into giving the world light in Tolkien's mythology. In the Bible God says 'Let there be Light; and there was Light' but in the earliest ages of Tolkein's mythology it's not so simple. Light seems to be in short suppply. It's liquid and has to be gathered. Varda creates the stars from it and this is all the light the elves left behind in Middle-earth get before the creation of the sun and moon.

The Valar create two great lamps and in the Lost Tales Melko(r) created the pillars out of ice which melt in the heat of the lamps plunging them in to darkness and spilling the light into pools. Then long afterwards Yavanna and Nienna create the Two Trees (which again only light Valinor) watering them with the re-gathered liquid light. These are then destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant, plunging Valinor back into darkness. Finally the Sun and Moon are created from the flower and fruit of the Two Trees and the Sun finally rises over Middle-earth, drawing Men - who have never seen true light before - westwards.

The remaining light of the Two Trees, encapsulated in the Silmarills, and the desire of it brings about all the subsequent misery of Middle-earth...

Don't you think this complex mythology of the struggle for light is extraordinary? It's not a given for all from the beginning - it has to be gathered, shaped, tended, reborn in new forms, constantly fighting against the all-pervading darkness of the new world.

So symbolic though...the darkness in our world is considered to be frightning and unknowing.

But in Tolkien's stories, although there is a huge struggle to keep light remaining, the darkness is not all consuming and scary. Aside from the outer reaches of Valinor and Middle-earth the Vanya actually love the night sky and darkness is less an issue.

But the brightness, whether it's the light from lamps or trees is certainly cherished I think. The proverbial fire so to speak.

Iolanthe, I somehow missed your May post! Interesting ideas.

True, Philipa, but do the Elves love the darkness itself or the light they find in spite of it? I think they love the stars--which, of course, aren't visible except in the night.

I find Ungoliant devouring the light to be one of the most horrific images in all of Tolkien.

I wonder if all mythologies somehow have to deal with darkness and light: such a fundamental human experience that it has to be explained.

Merry wrote:
True, Philipa, but do the Elves love the darkness itself or the light they find in spite of it? I think they love the stars--which, of course, aren't visible except in the night.

I find Ungoliant devouring the light to be one of the most horrific images in all of Tolkien.

Merry, please ignore that stupid post. I don't know what I was thinking other than someone needed to address this interesting topic.

The elves indeed loved the star light. Let's face it they were obsessed with light itself. Their downfall of course is all due to that passion alone.

I've just finished reading Melkor and Ungoliant's horrible treatment of Aman. The whole chapter is disturbing. Although I've read it three times now I never get any other feeling than remorse.

Oh, no! I didn't think it was a stupid post at all! I think Tolkien's line after the big wedding is ample ground for your observation: he has Frodo say something like, now day and night are both blessed. I suppose that means something about restoring created things to their natural order.

I'm so glad this has been picked up - I thought the whole struggle for light that I was reading in the Lost Tales was remarkable. It's much more marked there than in the later and briefer Silmarillion which is just a summary (with significant changes) or the earliest days of M-e.

I think the Elves loved starlight the most because they were born under it and for a long time it was the only light they knew. The light that the elves that came to Valinor saw must have been overwhelming but they never lost their love of the stars which must have seemed like 'home'. They were born and lived in almost complete darkness. No wonder they adored those little bright jewels in the sky (and no wonder the elves adored and created jewels!).

But the Valar obviously thought that this wasn't enough. More things grow in the light. Bringing more light - gathering it and finding vessels for it - becomes a huge undertaking. In the Lost Tales it's thwarted twice and I agree with both of you, Ungoliant destoying the Two Trees is monstrous to read. Somehow the Sun and Moon seem so much lesser, a makeshift, making the best of a bad job so all is not lost.

But if the Two Trees hadn't been destroyed do you think the Valar would ever have got around to lighting Middle-earth properly . Seems to me they would have left men and the remaining elves in starlight....

I think Yavanna certainly would have wanted light on M-e. Her pride and all being at stake.

Which brings me to another thought regarding the Valar and light. I really meant it when I said it was a huge weakness of theirs. The obsession of light from stars or trees caused many problems. The Valar so regarded light it passed to the first children like a disease. Feanor with all his pride and power never had a chance.

Of course light was important but they really, really like it.

Any thoughts or am I just obsessed with the Valar?

They certainly spend a lot of their energy on it. I think it's a constant battle for them because it's not a given, like in biblical creation. Light is available - they don't actually make it - but it has to be put to use. Put up there where it can light things.

One thing that puzzles me it why many elves in Middle-earth live in caves (apart from Gondolin and Lothlorien) where they can't see the stars at all. I think it's a hang over from all the fairy stories in Britain where fairy folk were believed to live in the burial mounds that scatter the countryside. These mounds were always seen as entrances to the other world where men could be lost and not return.

But it still seems strange - all those efforts to light the gloom in there like the jewelled stars and trees in Doriath. Is it because they aren't happy in the sun?

Iolanthe, I think the Elves were pretty much driven to use caves to escape the wrath of Morgoth. Whereas light was greatly desired and beloved, a place of sanctuary and respite from Morgoth's evil, a place to raise their elflings in safety, became an absolute necessity. The sad tale of the rise and fall of the Elven kingdoms in Beleriand is the story of the establishment of these sanctuaries only to have them discovered, routed, and destroyed by Morgoth and his creatures.

Lindariel wrote:a place to raise their elflings in safety, became an absolute necessity.

I'm happy to say Lindariel I had a good laugh at the thought of 'elflings'. It's not what you said per say but the thought of little ones just crack me up. Sadly Tolkien rarely mention children of the elves. For a brief moment laughing I pictured elf women giving birth to full grown elves. OUCH!

Luckily, they didn't have to give birth too often! If Elves procreated as often as humans, think of all the children they'd have during their long reproductive years!

Lindariel, I hadn't thought about the connection between Elves hiding out from Morgoth in caves and the Elves that Bilbo stumbles into in The Hobbit. Do you think Legolas, in essence, grew up under the shadow of terrorism?