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Eärendil and Elwing

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion
"Elwing" redirects here. For the German ice hockey goaltender, seeSebastian Elwing.
"Eärendel" redirects here. For other uses, seeEarendel (disambiguation).

Fictional character
Eärendil
Tolkien character
In-universe information
AliasesEärendil the Mariner
originally "Eärendel"[1][2]
RaceHalf-elven
Book(s)
Fictional character
Elwing
Tolkien character
In-universe information
AliasesElwing the White
RaceHalf-elven
Book(s)The Silmarillion

Eärendil (Quenya pronunciation:[ɛ.aˈrɛn.dil]) the Mariner and his wifeElwing are characters inJ. R. R. Tolkien'sMiddle-earthlegendarium. They are depicted inThe Silmarillion asHalf-elven, the children of Men and Elves. He is a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried theMorning Star,[T 1] a jewel called aSilmaril, across the sky. The jewel had been saved by Elwing from the destruction of theHavens of Sirion. The Morning Star and the Silmarils are elements of the symbolism of light, for divine creativity,continually splintered as history progresses. Tolkien took Eärendil's name from theOld English nameEarendel, found in the poemCrist 1, which hailed him as "brightest of angels"; this was the beginning of Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology. Elwing is the granddaughter ofLúthien and Beren, and is descended fromMelian theMaia, while Earendil is the son ofTuor and Idril. Through their progeny, Eärendil and Elwing became the ancestors of theNúmenorean, and laterDúnedain, royal bloodline.

Eärendil is the subject, too, ofthe song inThe Lord of the Rings sung and supposedly composed byBilbo inRivendell, described byTom Shippey as exemplifying "an elvish streak ... signalled ... by barely-precedented intricacies" of poetry.[3]

Etymology

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Eärendil means 'Lover of the Sea' in Tolkien's invented language ofQuenya. However, Tolkien borrowed the name fromOld English literature, in particular from the line "Eala Earendel, engla beorhtast" (Hail, Earendel, brightest of angels) of the poemCrist 1.[4] Tolkien stated that the name came from theOld English nameĒarendel; he was struck by its "great beauty" c. 1913, which he perceived as "entirely coherent with the normal style ofA-S, buteuphonic to a peculiar degree in that pleasing but not 'delectable' language.".[T 1][5] Elwing means "Star-spray" in the Elvish languageSindarin.[T 2] "Eärendil" was originally spelled by Tolkien as "Eärendel", before being modified.[1]

Fictional history

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Background

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Further information:The Silmarillion

Middle-earth was peopled in theFirst Age by immortalElves, later followed byMen. The Elvesbecame divided on their migrations, some settling in the Northwestern region calledBeleriand.Fëanor, son ofFinwë, the King of theNoldor, one branch of the Elves, had unique skill in craftsmanship, and forged three brilliant and highly prized jewels, theSilmarils, that shone like bright stars. The Dark LordMorgoth desired the Silmarils for himself, and managed to seize them to put in his crown. There was enmity between Morgoth and the free peoples, Elves and Men.[T 3]

Eärendil

[edit]

Eärendil was the half-elven son of a Man,Tuor, and an Elf,Idril, daughter ofTurgon, the King of the hidden Elvish city ofGondolin. He was raised in Gondolin; when he was seven years old, he escaped thesacking of Gondolin with his parents. Eärendil was almost killed by his mother's treacherous cousin Maeglin, who had betrayed Gondolin toMorgoth; he was saved when his father killed Maeglin. Eärendil and his parents lived afterwards inArvernien by the mouth ofSirion.

Eärendil became the leader of the people who lived there, and married Elwing, the half-elven daughter of Dior and theSindar elf-maid Nimloth. Another alliance between Man and Elf, the heroBeren and his Elvish brideLúthien, were Elwing's paternal grandparents. Eärendil and Elwing had two sons,Elrond and Elros.[T 4]

With the aid ofCírdan the Shipwright, Eärendil built a ship,Vingilótë (Quenya for "foam-flower"). He often sailed the seas west of Middle-earth, leaving his wife behind in Arvernien.[T 4][6] At this time Elwing had in her possession the Silmaril that Beren had wrested fromMorgoth. When Fëanor's sons, who wanted the Silmarils back, heard about this, they attacked Arvernien and killed most of the people living there. Elwing, rather than be captured, threw herself with the Silmaril into the sea.[T 4] Next, according toThe Silmarillion:

ForUlmo bore up Elwing out of the waves, and he gave her the likeness of a great white bird, and upon her breast there shone as a star the Silmaril, as she flew over the water to seek Eärendil her beloved. On a time of night Eärendil at the helm of his ship saw her come towards him, as a white cloud exceeding swift beneath the moon, as a star over the sea moving in strange courses, a pale flame on wings of storm. And it is sung that she fell from the air upon the timbers of Vingilot, in a swoon, nigh unto death for the urgency of her speed, and Eärendil took her to his bosom; but in the morning with marvelling eyes he beheld his wife in her own form beside him with her hair upon his face, and she slept.[T 4]

Hearing of the tragedy that had befallen Arvernien, Eärendil then sought after the home of the godlike and immortalValar,Valinor, aboard theVingilot, and he and Elwing found their way there at last. Eärendil thus became the first of all mortals to set foot on Valinor. Eärendil then went before the Valar, and asked them for aid forMen andElves in Middle-earth, to fight againstMorgoth; the Valar accepted his plea.[T 4]

Because Eärendil had undertaken this errand on behalf of Men and Elves, and not for his own sake,Manwë, King of the Valar, refrained from dealing out the punishment of death that was due for entering Valinor. Also, because both Eärendil and Elwing descended from a union of Elves and Men, Manwë granted to them and their sons the gift to choose to which race they would be joined. Elwing chose to be one of the Elves. Eärendil would have rather been one of the Men; however, for the sake of his wife, he chose to be one of the Elves also. His ship, Vingilot (Quenya:Vingilótë), was placed in the heavens, and he sailed it "even into the starless voids", but he returned at sunrise or sunset, glimmering in the sky as theMorning Star.[T 4]

Eärendil's son Elrond too chose elvish immortality, becoming known asHalf-elven, and in theThird Age played an important role in The War ofthe Ring, as narrated inThe Lord of the Rings.[T 4] Elros chose mortality, the gift of Men, founding the line of the Kings ofNúmenor;[T 4] his descendant at the time of The War of the Ring wasAragorn, one of the Fellowship of the Ring, who married Elrond's daughter,Arwen.[T 5]

The Valar marched into the north of Middle-earth and attacked the Throne of Morgoth in theWar of Wrath. Morgoth set loose a fleet of winged dragons, which drove the Valar back. Eärendil in Vingilot attacked, with Thorondor and his great eagles, and killedAncalagon the Black, greatest of the dragons. Ancalagon fell on to Thangorodrim and broke its towers. The Valar won the battle, destroying the dragons and the pits of Angband, captured Morgoth, and took the two remaining Silmarils from his crown.[T 4]

Family tree

[edit]
Half-elven family tree[T 6][T 7]
Melian
theMaia		Thingol
of the Teleri		House
of Bëor		House
of Haleth		House
of Hador		Finwë
of the Noldor		Indis
of the Vanyar		Olwë
of the Teleri
BarahirBelegundHarethGaldorFingolfinFinarfinEärwen
LúthienBerenRíanHuorHúrinTurgonElenwë
DiorNimlothTuorIdril
ElurédElurínElwingEärendilCelebornGaladriel
ElrosElrondCelebrían
22 Kings
ofNúmenor and
Lords of Andúnië
Elendil
IsildurAnárion
22 Kings
ofArnor
and Arthedain		27 Kings
ofGondor
ArveduiFíriel
15Dúnedain
Chieftains
AragornArwenElladanElrohir
Eldariondaughters
Colour key:
ColourDescription
 Elves
 Men
 Maiar
 Half-elven
 Half-elven who chose the fate of Elves
 Half-elven who chose the fate of mortal Men

Concept and creation

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Further information:A mythology for England
Ēala ēarendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended ("Hail, Earendel, brightest of angels, Over Middle-earth to men sent", second half of top line, first half of second line) - part of the poemCrist I in theExeter Book, folio 9v, top, which inspired Tolkien[T 1]
Imagemap with clickable links.Crist I's influence on Tolkien's legendarium
It has been called "the catalyst for Tolkien's mythology".[7][8]

Humphrey Carpenter, in his biography of Tolkien, remarked that Eärendil "was in fact the beginning of Tolkien's own mythology".[9] In 1914, Tolkien wrote a poemThe Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star, inspired by theCrist I poem.[9][5] While studying at Oxford, Tolkien developed aconstructed language that later became known asQuenya.[5] Already around 1915 he had the idea that this language needed an internal history and was spoken by Elves whom his invented character Eärendil meets during his journeys.[10] The next step in the creation of the underlying mythology was theLay of Earendel, a work composed of several poems that describes the mariner Earendel and his voyages and how his ship is turned into a star. The mysterious land ofValinor and itsTwo Trees shining gold and silver across the land were first described in this cycle.[11] Thepoem was published inThe Book of Lost Tales 2.[T 8]

Tolkien was aware of the name'sGermaniccognates (Old NorseAurvandill,LombardicAuriwandalo); the question why the Old English rather than the Lombardic orProto-Germanic form should be taken up in the mythology is alluded to inThe Notion Club Papers. The Old Norse together with the Old English evidence point to an astronomical myth, the name referring to a star, or a group of stars; the Old English in particular points to themorning star as the herald of the rising Sun,Christianized to refer toJohn the Baptist.[4] Tolkien stated in a 1967 letter that the Old English uses ofēarendel "seem plainly to indicate that it was a star presaging the dawn... that is what we now callVenus: the morning star as it may be seen shining brilliantly in the dawn, before the actual rising of the sun. That is at any rate how I took it [when creating Eärendil as a mariner and "a herald star"]."[T 1][T 9]

Tolkien was particularly inspired by theCrist lines:[9][7]

éala éarendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended
Hail Earendel, brightest of angels, over Middle-earth to men sent

ThePhial of Galadriel thatFrodo carried containeda tiny fraction of the light of Eärendil's star. It helped the hobbits to defeatShelob.[12][13]

The first of theCrist lines is parallelled byFrodo Baggins's exclamation inThe Two Towers,Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!, which in Tolkien'sinvented language ofQuenya means, "Hail Eärendil, brightest of stars!" Frodo's exclamation was in reference to the "Star-glass" he carried, thePhial of Galadriel, which containeda little of the light of Eärendil's star, theSilmaril.[12][13]

These lines fromCrist can be taken as the inspiration not only for the role of Eärendil in Tolkien's work from as early as 1914, but for the termMiddle-earth (translatingOld EnglishMiddangeard) for the inhabitable lands (cf.Midgard). Accordingly, the medievalistsStuart D. Lee andElizabeth Solopova state thatCrist A was "the catalyst for Tolkien's mythology".[9][7][8]

Analysis

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Splintered light

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Further information:Christianity in Middle-earth § Light

The Tolkien scholarVerlyn Flieger writes in her 1983 bookSplintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World that a central theme of Tolkien's writing is the progressive fragmentation of the light from the moment of the creation; light symbolises both the divine creation and the author'ssubcreation.[14]

The light begins inThe Silmarillion as a unity, and in accordance with the splintering of creation is divided into more and more fragments as the myth progresses. Middle-earth is peopled by the angelicValar and lit by two great lamps; when these are destroyed by the fallen ValaMelkor, the world is fragmented, and the Valar retreat toValinor, which is lit byThe Two Trees. When these too are destroyed, their last fragment of light is made into theSilmarils, and a sapling too is rescued, leading to the White Tree ofNúmenor, the living symbol of the Kingdom ofGondor. Wars are fought over the Silmarils, and they are lost to the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky.[12]

The last of the Silmarils, carried by Eärendil the Mariner, becomes theMorning Star as he sails across the sky with the shining jewel in his ship Vingilot. By the time ofThe Lord of the Rings, in theThird Age, that is all that is left of the light. Some of the star's light is captured inGaladriel's Mirror, the magic fountain that allows her to see past, present, and future; and some of that light is, finally, trapped in the Phial of Galadriel, her parting gift to Frodo, the counterbalance to Sauron's evil and powerfulRing that Frodo is also carrying. At each stage, the fragmentation increases and the power decreases. Thus the theme of light as Divine power, fragmented and refracted through the works of created beings, is central to the whole mythology.[12]

AgeSplintering of the Created Light[12][13]
Years of the LampsTwo enormous lamps,Illuin andOrmal, atop tall pillars, give light toMiddle-earth, butMelkor destroys them.
Years of the TreesThe lamps are replaced by theTwo Trees of Valinor,Telperion andLaurelin, lighting the blessed realm ofValinor for theElves, leaving Middle-earth in darkness.
Fëanor crafts 3Silmarils with light of the two Trees.
Melkor and the giant spiderUngoliant kill the Two Trees; their light survives only in the Silmarils.
First AgeThere iswar over the Silmarils.
One is buried in the Earth, one is lost in the Sea, one sails in the Sky as Eärendil's Star, carried in his ship Vingilot.
Third AgeGaladriel collects light of Eärendil's Star reflected in her fountain mirror.
A little of that light is captured in thePhial of Galadriel.
TheHobbitsFrodo Baggins andSam Gamgee use the Phial to defeat the giant spiderShelob.

Wade

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Further information:Wade (folklore)

The Tolkien scholar Tibor Tarcsay writes that Eärendil is based not only on Old English but also Indo-European and universal myths.Wade has power over the sea and superhuman strength, while numerous other mythical Indo-European figures share Eärendil's conjunction of water, boat or horse, and herald or star, such asSurya, the sun-god of theVedas, or Apollo with his horse-drawn chariot which pulls the sun across the sky.[15] Vingilot is mentioned inGeoffrey Chaucer'sThe Merchant's Tale as the name of Wade's ship; Wade is in turn mentioned in the Old English poemWidsith, whileSir Gawain's horse has a name similar to Vingilot, Gryngolet.[15]Christopher Tolkien, too, noted the matching boat-names,Guingelot for Wade and Wingelot for Earendel, and stated that the link between Wade andTuor was "not casual", which Flieger takes to mean, certainly intentional. Flieger notes further that inParma Eldalamberon 15, Tolkien unambiguously wrote "Wade = Earendel".[16][17]

Echoes of other legends

[edit]

Tolkien's legend of Eärendil has elements resembling theMabinogion or the Christian legend ofSt. Brendan the Navigator.[18]

The long-suffering woman

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Elwing's staying at home waiting for her husband to return from his vain voyages across the ocean echoes the literary motif of the "long-suffering woman". The choice of fate offered by the Valar to Eärendil and Elwing, resulting in both of them becoming immortal Elves, has been interpreted as a move of Tolkien to solve "several untidy plot points in one fell swoop": being Half-elven, neither of the two would have been allowed to set foot in the land of the Valar, nor was their eventual fate determined since in Tolkien's legendarium Men are mortal, while Elves will live until the world is undone. The metamorphosis of the couple continues as Eärendil's ship is transformed into a flying vessel, so he can continue his journeys in the sky rather than at sea. Still now, Elwing will remain at home, but she is granted a white tower to dwell in.[6]

Song of Eärendil

[edit]
Main article:Song of Eärendil

The longest poem inThe Lord of the Rings is theSong of Eärendil which Bilbo sings, and supposedly composed, at Rivendell.[3] This poem has an extraordinarily complex history, deriving through many versions from his light-hearted poem "Errantry".[T 10] TheSong of Eärendil is described byTom Shippey as exemplifying "an elvish streak .. signalled .. by barely-precedented intricacies" of poetry, an approach derived from theMiddle English poemPearl.[3][19] The song was recorded byThe Tolkien Ensemble on their 2005 CDLeaving Rivendell.[20]

References

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Primary

[edit]
  1. ^abcdCarpenter 2023, #297, draft, to Mr Rang, August 1967
  2. ^Tolkien 1977, annotated Index entry for "Elwing"
  3. ^Tolkien 1977, "Quenta Silmarillion", chapters 1–5
  4. ^abcdefghiTolkien 1977, ch. 24 "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
  5. ^Tolkien 1955, Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers: I The Númenórean Kings: (v)The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
  6. ^Tolkien 1977, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age": Family Trees I and II: "The house of Finwë and the Noldorin descent of Elrond and Elros", and "The descendants of Olwë and Elwë"
  7. ^Tolkien 1955, Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers, I The Númenórean Kings
  8. ^Tolkien 1984b, pp. 267–269
  9. ^Tolkien 1984b, p. 266
  10. ^Tolkien 1989, pp. 84–105

Secondary

[edit]
  1. ^abRausch, Roman (25 September 2005),"5.1 Eärendil"(PDF),Similarities between natural languages and Tolkien's Eldarin, p. 14
  2. ^Flieger 2005, p. xi.
  3. ^abcShippey 2005, pp. 217–220, 277–281.
  4. ^abHostetter, Carl F. (1991)."Over Middle-earth Sent Unto Men: On the Philological Origins of Tolkien's Eärendel Myth".Mythlore.17 (3). Article 1.
  5. ^abcJones, Leslie (2003).J.R.R. Tolkien: a biography. Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press. pp. 32–36.ISBN 9780313323409.
  6. ^abLarsen, Kristine (2011). "Sea Birds and Morning Stars: Ceyx, Alcyone, and the Many Metamorphoses of Eärendil and Elwing". InFisher, Jason (ed.).Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays.McFarland & Company. pp. 69–83.ISBN 978-0-7864-6482-1.
  7. ^abcLee & Solopova 2005, p. 256.
  8. ^abGarth 2003, p. 44.
  9. ^abcdCarpenter 2000, p. 79.
  10. ^Solopova 2009, p. 75.
  11. ^Carpenter 2000, p. 84.
  12. ^abcdeFlieger 1983, pp. 6–61, 89–90, 144-145 and passim.
  13. ^abcBassham, Gregory; Bronson, Eric (2013).The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All.Open Court. p. 35.ISBN 978-0-8126-9806-0.
  14. ^Flieger 1983, pp. 44–49.
  15. ^abTarcsay, Tibor (2015)."'Chaoskampf', Salvation, and Dragons: Archetypes in Tolkien's Earendel".Mythlore.33 (2 (126)):139–150.JSTOR 26815994.
  16. ^Flieger, Verlyn (2022)."A Lost Tale, A Found Influence: Earendel and Tinúviel".Mythlore.40 (2). Article 7.
  17. ^Tolkien, J. R. R. (2004). "Sí Qente Feanor & Other Elvish Writings".Parma Eldalamberon (15): 97.
  18. ^Stephens, Charles (1994).Shakespeare's Island: Essays on Creativity.Polygon Books. p. 88.ISBN 978-0-74866-139-8.
  19. ^Anon."Pearl".Pearl. Translated by Stanton, Bill. Retrieved15 January 2020.
  20. ^The Tolkien Ensemble (2005).Leaving Rivendell. Classico (CD 765).

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