Time in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction
The
Tolkien was writing in a period when notions of time and space were being radically revised, from the
Tolkien mentions both the mortal desire to escape from death, and the Elvish desire to escape from immortality. The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger suggests that these illustrate a Christian message, that one must not attempt to cling to anything as worldly things will change and decay; instead, one must let go, trust in the unknown future, and in God. This theme is, she argues, demonstrated in the protagonist Frodo Baggins, who is saved by having the courage to face loss, to move, and to change.
Context
Turning away from present time
The Tolkien scholar
Time in different dimensions
In 1927, the soldier and pioneer aviator turned philosopher
Space or time
Tolkien recorded in his letters that Lewis proposed to him that since there was too little of what either man liked in literature, they would have to write stories themselves. He further wrote that they tossed a coin for the choice of subject: Lewis got space travel, and Tolkien got time travel.
The Inklings scholar
Development of ideas
Desire "to go back" in time
Christopher Tolkien, reviewing the motivations for his father's writings, commented that
He felt that he could say that his most permanent mood … had been since childhood the desire to go back. To walk in Time, perhaps, as men walk on long roads; or to survey it, as men may see the world from a mountain, or the earth as a living map beneath an airship. But in any case to see with eyes and to hear with ears: to see the lie of old and even forgotten lands, to behold ancient men walking, and hear their languages as they spoke them, in the days before the days.
— Christopher Tolkien, The Lost Road and Other Writings, 1987, page 45
Devin Brown, writing in
Successive attempts at a time-travel novel
The Lord of the Rings was preceded in Tolkien's writings by two unfinished time-travel novels,
Germanic | Old English | Meaning | Modern name | Quenya (in Númenor) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alboin | Ælfwine | Elf-friend | Alwin, Elwin, Aldwin | Elendil |
Audoin | Eadwine |
Bliss-friend | Edwin | Herendil |
— | Oswine | God-friend | Oswin, cf. Oswald | Valandil ("Valar-friend") |
The different time-travel novels indicate the development of Tolkien's ideas and his skill in expressing them.[14][15]
Work | Written | Publication | Time-travel mechanism |
---|---|---|---|
The Lost Road |
c. 1937 unfinished |
Edited by Christopher Tolkien in The Lost Road and Other Writings, 1987[T 2] | Time travel by "vision", from modern England to the |
The Notion Club Papers | c. 1945 unfinished |
Edited by Sauron Defeated, 1992[T 3] |
A frame story with future as well as past time travel leads to a retelling of The Lost Road, again using dream as the mechanism, going back to the Atlantis-like island of Númenor[14] |
The Lord of the Rings | In stages, haltingly, between 1937 and 1949 | 1954–1955 | The travellers feel taken back in time on entering the Elvish land of their Rings to hold back time and change.
|
Flieger comments that had either The Lost Road or The Notion Club Papers been finished,[15]
we would have had a dream of time-travel through actual history and recorded myth which would have functioned as both introduction and epilogue to Tolkien's own invented mythology. The result would have been time-travel not on the scale of ordinary science fiction but of epic, a dream of myth and history and fiction interlocking as Tolkien wanted them to, as they might well once have done.[15]
A better time in the distant past
Tolkien built a process of decline and fall in Middle-earth, implying that if one could go back in time, one would find a far more perfect world than the present one, into both
Time held back in The Lord of the Rings
As soon as he set foot upon the far bank of Silverlode a strange feeling had come upon him, and it deepened as he walked on into the Naith: it seemed to him that he had stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days, and was now walking in a world that was no more. In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lórien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world. Evil had been seen and heard there, sorrow had been known; the Elves feared and distrusted the world outside: wolves were howling on the wood's borders: but on the land of Lórien no shadow lay.
— The Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, ch. 6, "Lothlórien"
The
The eight companions of
Influences
Paired time-travellers with Old English names
Virginia Luling, writing in Mallorn, identifies
Time travel in science fiction and speculative physics
Flieger identifies a network of influences, starting from H. G. Wells and including Dunne; collectively, they provided what she calls "a template" for Tolkien's ideas of time travel.[1]
Author | Work | Date | Time-travel mechanism |
---|---|---|---|
H. G. Wells | The Time Machine | 1895 | Machine able to carry an observer forwards or backwards in time |
Henry James | The Sense of the Past | 1900 | An 18th century house gives the feeling of going back in time; a painting of an ancestor who shares the protagonist's name comes alive, and the men meet |
Charlotte Moberly Eleanor Jourdain |
An Adventure | 1911 | Lost in the gardens of Versailles, two ladies see [the ghost of] Marie Antoinette, presumably while she was under house arrest, c. 1790; they feel her sadness as she recalls happier times before the French Revolution
|
George du Maurier (friend of James's) |
Peter Ibbetson | 1891 novel 1917 play |
Boy and girl separated as children share dreamed experiences, their dreams becoming their primary existence; they travel back to their ancestors, the French Revolution, the Renaissance, to Charlemagne's time, to the Ice Age |
J. W. Dunne | An Experiment with Time | 1927 | Theory of multiple time dimensions for different observers |
John L. Balderston | Berkeley Square | 1926 | Updated version of James's The Sense of the Past; it cites Einstein's relativity and seems to allude to J. W. Dunne's dimensions of time[28] |
The physicist Kristine Larsen, writing in
The Tolkien scholar Rhona Beare notes in Mythlore that Tolkien liked Wells's journey to the far future, where there are two subspecies of humans. Tolkien admired the visit to these peoples who "live far away, in an abyss of time so deep as to work an enchantment upon them",[30] but found Wells's time machine "preposterous and incredible",[30] being a cross between a car and a bicycle; he chose to use different mechanisms in his stories. Beare notes that in The Lost Road, the character Alboin longs "to go back: to walk in Time, perhaps, as men walk on long roads; or to survey it, as men may see the world from a mountain".[30] Further, Alboin says "I wish there was a Time-machine. But Time is not to be conquered by machine. And I should go back, not forward; and I think backwards would be more possible."[30]
Analysis
A timeless England
The Tolkien scholar
But then the Fellowship have to cross a rope-bridge over a second river, the Silverlode, which they must not drink from, and which the evil
Rivers | Place | Peoples | Time |
---|---|---|---|
Flensburg Fjord, Schlei |
Germany | The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, forefathers of the English |
Long ago, before England was founded |
Hoarwell, Loudwater | Eriador |
The forefathers of the Hobbits | Long ago, before the Shire was founded |
Anduin |
Lothlórien | The Elves, as they used to be | Long ago, in "the Elder Days ... in a world that was no more" |
Elfland where time is different
Shippey states that in Lothlórien, Tolkien reconciles otherwise conflicting ideas regarding time-distortion in Elfland from European folklore, such as is exemplified in the medieval Thomas the Rhymer, who was carried off by the Queen of Elfland, and the Danish ballad Elvehøj (Elf Hill).[34]
The Tolkien scholar
Shippey considers Legolas's explanation to resolve the apparent contradiction between the mortal and Elvish points of view about Elvish time.[34] Flieger however writes that there is a definite contradiction between Frodo's position, that there is an actual difference in time between Lothlórien and everywhere else, and Legolas's, that it is a matter of perception. She considers Aragorn's view to reconcile these two positions, agreeing that time has passed as Legolas said, but that the Fellowship felt time as the Elves did while they were in Lothlórien. That is not, writes Flieger, the end of the matter, as she feels that Aragorn reintroduces the dilemma when he says that the moon carried on changing "in the world outside": this suggests once again that Lothlórien had its own laws of nature, as in a fairy tale.[35]
Source | Story | Time |
---|---|---|
Thomas the Rhymer | Mortal enters Elfland .Spends a few nights there. Returns to find all friends dead, dim memory of a man lost visiting Elfland. |
flows much more slowly in Elfland. |
Elvehøj (Elf Hill) | Elf-maiden sings: "the swift stream then stood still" | flows much faster in Elfland; everything outside stops. |
Frodo 's view
|
Lothlórien "in a time that has elsewhere long gone by". | different epoch, long ago. |
Legolas's view | Both fast and slow: Elves change little, "all else fleets by". |
different perception of time's speed. |
Aragorn's 1st view | Mortals feel time as Elves do while in Lothlórien. | different perception of time's speed. |
Aragorn's 2nd view | But Moon went on changing "in the world outside". |
different actual flow of time (as Thomas the Rhymer) |
Timelessness and altered time
Flieger writes that while time is treated both naturally and
The scholar Chris Brawley writes that Tolkien was attempting to give readers a glimpse of the
Visiting the past
The scholar of literature David M. Miller comments that in the narrative, "time spurts and lags
Miller sees Frodo's encounter with the
Miller analyses the pattern of movements and communication through time as follows:[41]
Action | Actor is in | Recipient is in |
---|---|---|
Frodo calls Tom Bombadil for help against the Barrow-wight | Early in the Third Age[T 13] |
First Age
|
Frodo calls Elbereth for help against Shelob |
Third Age |
Second Age
|
Action | Past event | Future event |
---|---|---|
Frodo calls Tom Bombadil for help | ——— | Frodo calls Elbereth for help |
Frodo cuts off the Barrow-wight's hand | Isildur cuts off Sauron's finger, bearing the Ring | Merry strikes the Nazgûl with his magical sword from the Barrow-wight's hoard |
Frodo and Barad-Dûr , and causing "the windy dissolution of Sauron" |
Bombadil scatters the treasure, destroys the barrow, banishes the Barrow-wight | Wormtongue kills Saruman, whose body disappears and whose spirit is blown away in the wind |
Escape from time
Flieger quotes Tolkien's comment that "The human-stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape from Deathlessness".[T 14][35] In her view, this explains the exploration of time in his mythology, death and deathlessness being the "concomitants" of time and timelessness.[35] Tolkien wrote in a 1956 letter that:
The real theme [of The Lord of the Rings] for me is .. Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race [Men] 'doomed' to leave and seemingly lose it; the anguish in the hearts of a race [Elves] 'doomed' not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete. But if you have now read Vol. III and the story of Aragorn [and Arwen], you will have perceived that.[T 15][T 16]
Frodo looked and saw, still at some distance, a hill of many mighty trees, or a city of green towers: which it was he could not tell. Out of it, it seemed to him that the power and light came that held all the land in sway. He longed suddenly to fly like a bird to rest in the green city. Then he looked eastward and saw all the land of Lórien running down to the pale gleam of Anduin, the Great River. He lifted his eyes across the river and all the light went out, and he was back again in the world he knew.
— The Fellowship of the Ring, book 2, ch. 6, "Lothlórien"
Flieger argues that timelessness cannot really be pictured, for if it was, the story would be frozen in midstep, the narrative stopped dead. The nearest Tolkien can get is to depict the Elves living in Lothlórien: they neither grow old nor die; their strength and beauty do not fade. In this state of preservation, she writes, they illustrate a Christian message: "the danger to faith in a fallen world of clinging to the present, which inevitably becomes living in the past".[42] She contrasts this, a mistaken attempted escape from change and death, with the actions of mortal Men and Hobbits who boldly face the loss of all they hold dear, "the absolute necessity of letting go, of trusting in the unknown future, of having faith in God".[42] Frodo is enchanted by his vision of Lothlórien as a place of perfect beauty which he must soon leave, just as he is horrified, she writes, by his matching vision of the Shire, shattered, despoiled, industrialised, polluted, to which he will return.[43] When he does return home after completing his quest, he meets the fallen wizard Saruman. Frodo has grown very much, the wizard says bitterly. Flieger explains that Frodo has outgrown his little world of the Shire; he is obliged to move, but also able to change. This causes him pain, but is his salvation.[42]
References
Primary
- ^ Carpenter 2023, Letters #257 to Christopher Bretherton, 16 July 1964, and #294 to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, 8 February 1967
- ^ Tolkien 1987, Part 1, ch. 3 "The Lost Road"
- ^ Tolkien 1992, Part 2, "The Notion Club Papers"
- ^ Carpenter 2023, Letter #131 to Milton Waldman, late 1951
- ^ Tolkien (1955), Appendix D, "The Calendars"
- ^ Tolkien (1980), part 2, "The Second Age" ch. 4 "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn"
- ^ Tolkien (1954a), book 2, ch. 1 "Many Meetings"
- ^ Tolkien 1980, Part 2, ch. 4 "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn"
- ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendix B, "The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands)"
- ^ Tolkien (1954a), book 2, ch. 6 "Lothlórien"; ch. 7 "The Mirror of Galadriel"; ch. 8 "Farewell to Lórien"
- On Fairy-stories", p. 129
- ^ Tolkien (1954a), book 2, ch. 7 "The Mirror of Galadriel"
- ^ a b Tolkien 1955, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for year c. 1300, contrary to Miller's "Second Age".
- On Fairy-stories", p. 153
- ^ Carpenter 2023, letter #186 to Joanna de Bortadano, April 1956
- ^ Tolkien 2008, p. 119
Secondary
- ^ a b Flieger 2001, p. 59.
- ^ a b c d e f Flieger 1983, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Kragh, Helge (1 December 2000). "Max Planck: the reluctant revolutionary". Physics World. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
- ^ Dunne 2001.
- S2CID 192883327.
- ^ Anon (27 August 1949). "Obituary: Mr. J. W. Dunne, Philosopher and Airman". The Times. p. 7.
- ISBN 9781441159397.
- ISBN 978-1315607146.
- ^ Inchbald, Guy (2019). "The Last Serialist: C.S. Lewis and J.W. Dunne". Mythlore. 37 (2): 75–88.
- ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 19–20, 61, 119.
- ^ Rateliff 2000, The Lost Road, The Dark Tower, and The Notion Club Papers: Tolkien and Lewis's Time Travel Triad.
- ^ Brown, Devin (1997). "The Ultimate Time Travel Machine". Mythlore. 22 (1). Article 7.
- ^ a b Flieger 1983, pp. 61–88.
- ^ a b c Flieger 1983, pp. 117–141.
- ^ a b c d Flieger, Verlyn (1996). "Tolkien's Experiment with Time: The Lost Road, The Notion Club Papers and J.W. Dunne". Mythlore. 21 (2). Article 9.
- ^ Artamonova 2010, pp. 71–88.
- ^ Flieger 2000, pp. 183–198.
- ^ Honegger 2013, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 336–337.
- ^ Flieger 2001, pp. 38–47, 97.
- ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 60–63, 89-147 and throughout.
- ^ a b c Flieger 1983, pp. 65–87.
- ^ Ford & Reid 2011, pp. 169–182.
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 175–181.
- ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 60-63 and throughout.
- ^ a b Shippey 2001, pp. 198–199.
- ^ Mallorn(53 (Spring 2012)): 30–31.
- ^ a b Flieger 1983, pp. 29–59.
- Mallorn(53 (Spring 2012)): 26–30.
- ^ a b c d Beare, Rhona (1996). "Time Travel". Mythlore. 21 (3). Article 6.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Shippey 2001, pp. 196–199.
- ^ Shippey 2005, p. 248.
- ^ Stanton 2006, pp. 394–395.
- ^ a b c Shippey 2001, pp. 89–90.
- ^ a b c d e f Flieger, Verlyn B. (15 March 1990). "A Question of Time". Mythlore. 16 (3).
- ^ a b c Flieger 2006, pp. 648–650.
- ^ a b c Flieger 2001, p. 2.
- ^ a b Brawley 2007, pp. 292–307.
- ^ Otto 1923, p. 58.
- ^ Otto 1923, p. 122.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Miller 1975, pp. 104–106.
- ^ a b c Flieger 2001, p. 114.
- ^ Flieger 2001, p. 109.
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