Eärendil and Elwing

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"Elwing" redirects here. For the German ice hockey goaltender, see Sebastian Elwing.
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Eärendil
Half-elven
Book(s)
Elwing
Tolkien character
In-universe information
AliasesElwing the White
RaceHalf-elven
Book(s)The Silmarillion

Eärendil (IPA:

Maia, while Earendil is the son of Tuor and Idril. Through their progeny, Eärendil and Elwing became the ancestors of the Númenorean, and later Dúnedain
, royal bloodline.

Eärendil is the subject, too, of the song in The Lord of the Rings sung and supposedly composed by Bilbo in Rivendell, described by Tom Shippey as exemplifying "an elvish streak ... signalled ... by barely-precedented intricacies" of poetry.[3]

Etymology

Eärendil means 'Lover of the Sea' in Tolkien's invented language of

A-S, but euphonic to a peculiar degree in that pleasing but not 'delectable' language.".[T 1][5] Elwing means "Star-spray" in the Elvish language Sindarin.[T 2] "Eärendil" was originally spelled by Tolkien as "Eärendel", before being modified.[1]

Fictional history

Background

Further information: The Silmarillion

Silmarils, that shone like bright stars. The Dark Lord Morgoth 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

Eärendil was the half-

Sirion
.

Eärendil became the leader of the people who lived there, and married Elwing, the half-elven daughter of Dior and the

Lúthien, were Elwing's paternal grandparents. Eärendil and Elwing had two sons, Elrond and Elros.[T 4]

With the aid of

Círdan 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 from Morgoth. 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 to The Silmarillion
:

For

Ulmo 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 immortal

Elves in Middle-earth, to fight against Morgoth; 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 the Morning Star.[T 4]

Eärendil's son Elrond too chose elvish immortality, becoming known as

Third Age played an important role in The War of the Ring, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.[T 4] Elros chose mortality, the gift of Men, founding the line of the Kings of Númenor;[T 4] his descendant at the time of The War of the Ring was Aragorn, 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 the

War 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 killed Ancalagon 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

Half-elven family tree[T 6][T 7]
Teleri
BarahirBelegundHarethGaldorFingolfinFinarfinEärwen
Beren
RíanHuorHúrinTurgonElenwë
DiorNimloth
Idril
ElurédElurínElwingEärendilCelebornGaladriel
ElrosElrondCelebrían
22 Kings
of Númenor and
Lords of Andúnië
Elendil
IsildurAnárion
22 Kings
of
Arnor
and Arthedain
27 Kings
of Gondor
ArveduiFíriel
15 Dúnedain
Chieftains
AragornArwenElladanElrohir
EldarionUnnamed daughters
Colour key:
Colour Description
 
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

The beginning of Tolkien's mythology

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 poem Crist I in the Exeter Book, folio 9v, top, which inspired Tolkien[T 1]
SilmarilMiddle-earthEärendilEärendilLightcommons:File:Crist I's influence on legendarium.svg
Imagemap with clickable links. Crist I's influence on Tolkien's legendarium
It has been called "the catalyst for Tolkien's mythology".[7][8]

The Book of Lost Tales 2.[T 8]

Tolkien was aware of the name's

Christianized to refer to John the Baptist.[4] Tolkien stated in a 1967 letter that the Old English uses of ēarendel "seem plainly to indicate that it was a star presaging the dawn... that is what we now call Venus: 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 the Crist lines:[9][12]

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

The Phial of Galadriel that Frodo carried contained a tiny fraction of the light of Eärendil's star. It helped the hobbits to defeat Shelob.[13][14]

The first of the Crist lines is parallelled by

Silmaril.[13][14]

These lines from Crist 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 term Middle-earth (translating Old English Middangeard) for the inhabitable lands (c.f. Midgard). Accordingly, the medievalists Stuart D. Lee and Elizabeth Solopova state that Crist A was "the catalyst for Tolkien's mythology".[9][12][15]

Splintered light

Further information: Christianity in Middle-earth § Light

The Tolkien scholar

subcreation.[16]

The light begins in The 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 angelic

Silmarils, and a sapling too is rescued, leading to the White Tree of Númenor, the living symbol of the Kingdom of Gondor. Wars are fought over the Silmarils, and they are lost to the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky.[13]

The last of the Silmarils, carried by Eärendil the Mariner, becomes the

Third Age, that is all that is left of the light. Some of the star's light is captured in Galadriel'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 powerful Ring 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.[13]

Age Splintering of the Created Light[13][14]
Years of the Lamps
 Two enormous lamps,
Melkor
destroys them.
Years of the Trees
 The lamps are replaced by the
Elves
, leaving Middle-earth in darkness.
Silmarils
with light of the two Trees.
Melkor and the giant spider Ungoliant kill the Two Trees; their light survives only in the Silmarils.
First Age
 There is war 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 Age
 Galadriel collects light of Eärendil's Star reflected in her fountain mirror.
A little of that light is captured in the Phial of Galadriel.
The
Sam Gamgee use the Phial to defeat the giant spider Shelob
.

Wade

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.

Sir Gawain's horse has a name similar to Vingilot, Gryngolet.[17]
Parma Eldalamberon 15, Tolkien unambiguously wrote "Wade = Earendel".[18][19]

Echoes of other legends

Tolkien's legend of Eärendil has elements resembling the Mabinogion or the Christian legend of St. Brendan the Navigator.[20]

The long-suffering woman

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

Main article: Song of Eärendil

The longest poem in The Lord of the Rings is the Song 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] The Song of Eärendil is described by Tom Shippey as exemplifying "an elvish streak .. signalled .. by barely-precedented intricacies" of poetry, an approach derived from the Middle English poem Pearl.[3][21] The song was recorded by The Tolkien Ensemble on their 2005 CD Leaving Rivendell.[22]

References

Primary

  1. ^ a b c d Carpenter 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tolkien 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

  1. ^ a b Rausch, Roman (25 September 2005), "5.1 Eärendil" (PDF), Similarities between natural languages and Tolkien's Eldarin, p. 14
  2. ISBN 978-0873388245
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0261102753
    .
  4. ^ a b Hostetter, Carl F. (1991). "Over Middle-earth Sent Unto Men: On the Philological Origins of Tolkien's Eärendel Myth". Mythlore. 17 (3). Article 1.
  5. ^
    ISBN 9780313323409
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-6482-1
    .
  7. ^ Lee & Solopova 2005, p. 256.
  8. ^ Garth 2003, p. 44.
  9. ^ a b c d Carpenter 2000, p. 79.
  10. ISBN 978-0-9816607-1-4
    .
  11. ^ Carpenter 2000, p. 84.
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-1403946713
    .
  13. ^ a b c d e Flieger 1983, pp. 6–61, 89–90, 144-145 and passim.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8126-9806-0
    .
  15. ISBN 978-0007119530
    .
  16. ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 44–49.
  17. ^
    JSTOR 26815994
    .
  18. ^ Flieger, Verlyn (2022). "A Lost Tale, A Found Influence: Earendel and Tinúviel". Mythlore. 40 (2). Article 7.
  19. Parma Eldalamberon
    (15): 97.
  20. ISBN 978-0-74866-139-8
    .
  21. ^ Anon. "Pearl". Pearl. Translated by Stanton, Bill. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  22. ^ The Tolkien Ensemble (2005). Leaving Rivendell. Classico (CD 765).

Sources

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