Tolkien: Fëanor, Galdriel and the Elves go back to Middle Earth.

So in the Lorien Post I explained the elves waking up and being called to Valinor to dwell with the Valar.  I mentioned that some made the Journey and some did not.

After the elves arrived in Valinor and were living under the Two Trees (Explained in Part I and Part II ) their elven lives continued ...meaning they had children.  One of those children was Galadriel and another was Fëanor.

So how then did Galadriel get back to Lorien if she had already been to Valinor?  Why would she go back?  She wasn't the only one is the simple answer.  The more difficult answer is Melkor.

Melkor aka Morgoth aka the Dark Lord (first one) aka Sauron's master.  And incidentally the creator of Balrogs  hence Balrog of Morgoth.  While he was a god he was already chained up for having destroyed the Lamps of the Valar and basically ruining everything.....that jerk.  When the elves awoke the other Valar judged him to be dangerous to the Eldar (elves) and so they stormed his fortress in middle earth and took him in chains back to Valinor.

The Elves made it to Valinor and then Galadriel and Fëanor among others were born.  Fëanor was said to burn with a fiery spirit.  His strength was so great that upon birth his mother's spirit passed into the halls of waiting (she died).  Fëanor would become the greatest crafter of the Eldar.  Learning his craft from another Elf named Mahtan who studied with Aule (the Valar often called the smith).

Fëanor was such a gifted crafter that he created gems and jewels.  He made lamps that glowed by themselves and the very well known palantíri.  What is that?  They were orbs that could see over vast distances. Perhaps you will remember in the movie Sauruman is using one in his tower and Gandalf warns him of the danger because no one knows where the other palantíri are.  Anyway I am getting sidetracked.

Fëanor I believe had a deep rooted desire to create something like the two trees.  Mostly because Fëanor had asked Galadriel for a lock of her hair once.   Galadriel's hair was said to glow like the two trees.  She refused and the two of them never really got along. I think Galadriel had a thing for him but that was never said.   Just my opinion.  Anyway so Fëanor set about to use his crafted Jewels to capture the light of the two trees.  And he did it.  They were called Silmarils.

As it turned out those Silmarils caused tons of trouble and not much else. Melkor desired them and in fact stole them after destroying the two trees.  Its interesting to me that the Valar freed Melkor believing him to be changed.   Anyway Melkor destroys the two trees and steals the Silmarils.  According to the Valar the only way to heal the trees is using the light inside the Silmarils.  Feeding into Fëanor's belief that everyone was after the Silmarils.  He is a bit paranoid about them.

Fëanor is so enraged that he creates an oath to which his sons swear with him that they will get the Silmarils back no matter who tries to keep them from them.  Even if that means fighting elves or even Valar.

Fëanor by making this oath utterly screws up elves for all time.  He goes to the Teleri and asks them for their ships to pursue Melkor/Morgoth across to middle earth.  They refuse and so Fëanor and his troops take up arms against the other elves to take the ships by force.  Its here the first slaying of elves by elves takes place.

After this some of the elves turn back and are forgiven by the Valar.  But Fëanor and his sons and loyal elves were now driven by the Oath.  They burned the boats leaving many elves stranded wanting to follow but not being able.  I believe Galadriel was in that group.  She and the others crossed the Helcaraxë lead by Fingolfin.  The Valar warned them all not to pursue Morgoth.....but they did it anyway. 

So the elves came to be in middle earth again having once been in Valinor.  Years of war against Morgoth and among themselves over the Silmaril that was recovered.  And then again when Morgoth was taken away by the Valar in the War of Wrath...the two remaining brothers stole the two Silmarils.  Both of those were lost as well. 

So all that played a part in the oath of Fëanor and the returning to Middle Earth against the Valar's wishes were Banned from returning to Valinor.  To us this singles out Galadriel.  Who although did not take part in anything besides crossing the Helcaraxë against the Valar's wishes was still prevented from returning.

That is until she turned down the One Ring when Frodo Offered it to her.  This act absolved her and she was allowed to cross into the west to the land of her birth.    Its important to note here that aside from Círdan the Shipwright in the Grey Havens Galadriel is the oldest Elf we know of still in middle earth at the end of the Third age.

LOTRO Lore Edition: Golden Trees and Silver-White Trees Part II

White Trees

Oh the White Trees. Telperion was the Silver glowing tree with the flowers I told you about in the last post.  And it is said that the White Trees of Tol Eressa, Numenor and Minas Tirith all descended from Teleperion

Now the descendant trees did not glow as Telperion did. The Valar Yavanna made the tree named Galathilion for the Elves of the city of Tirion.

Tirion was the city the elves built in Aman in Valinor on a hill.  To simplify history here two types of Elves lived in Tirion until one decided to move to be closer to the halls of a particular Valar. That place was Tol Eressëa and there a seedling of Galathilion was planted. This tree was called Celeborn.   Yes....same name.

When the Numenorians (The great kingdom of men) still had a good relationship with the Elves of Tol Eressëa one of the gifts given to them was a seedling from Celeborn(the tree).  It was planted on Numenor and it grew into a tree known as Nimloth.  Its blossoms appeared as Sun set (as you would assume coming from Telperion).  When Sauron weaseled his way into the good graces of the Numenorian Kings he had the tree destroyed and burned on an altar fire in his temple.  But....as Sauron had a hard time killing off the Kings of Men so did he have trouble killing off the trees they cherished.

For Isildur son of Elendil who would cut his ring off years later stole a fruit from that tree and that fruit turned into a seedling that they took back to middle earth before the Downfall of Numenor.  That seedling was planted in Minas Ithil the tower of the Moon.

Minas Ithil was captured by the Nazgul, Renamed Minas Morgul, Tower of Black Sorcery, and that tree was destroyed.  And things get confusing but then one is Planted at Minas Anor.  That one is destroyed during the time of the Dark Plague.  Another seedling is planted, this time at Minas Tirith, and this one lasts some time until one of the Stewards of Gondor dies.  That tree left no seedlings and so it could not be replaced and so they left the dead white tree in place.

After the war of the ring Gandalf guides Aragorn to a slope on Mindolluin behing Minas Tirith.  The Mindolluin was a place only Kings were allowed to go.  And there on the slope a seedling was found (unlike the movie which i believe just shows the old tree re-budding)  The old tree is moved to the Midolluin where the kings and stewards are buried and the seedling is planted in its place on Minas Tirith.

The white trees are clearly hated by the darkness and a link to the old ways and wax and wane as those connections are pushed and pulled in history.

Gold Trees

Unlike the White trees the Golden trees are not clearly attributed to the Golden Tree from the Years of the Trees, Laurelin by name.

However in the description they sing out a relation to that tree and a lineage that is quite similar to the white trees.

The Mallorn grew on Tol Eressëa as well but not just one or two trees.  It is said that groves of them existed.

"Its bark was silver and smooth, and its boughs somewhat upswept after the manner of the beech; but it never grew save with a single trunk. Its leaves, like those of the beech but greater, were pale green above and beneath were silver, glistering in the sun; in the autumn they did not fall, but turned to pale gold. In the spring it bore golden blossom in clusters like a cherry, which bloomed on during the summer; and as soon as the flowers opened the leaves fell, so that through spring and summer a grove of malinorni was carpeted and roofed with gold, but its pillars were of grey silver. Its fruit was a nut with a silver shale."

They were said to be very tall and in the second age seeds were brought to Numenor and the trees would only grow in the westernmost part, closest to Tol Eressëa it seems.  Apparently there the trees reached a similar amazing height as they did on Tol Eressëa itself.

Some seeds from these trees were presented to Gil-Galad but the seeds would not take root.  So Gil-Galad gave them to Galadriel.  It seems that by the hand of Galadriel the seeds would take root only in Lorien from that point on and once Numenor was drown in the sea by the Valar the only Mallorn that grew outside of Valinor were the ones in Lorien cared for by Galadriel.

Well....save one other tree....

When the Hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin) return to the shire they find Saruman there. He has destroyed the shire and taken over and the returning hobbits after a few days of fighting kick him out.  However Saruman has had the Party Tree chopped down.

At long last Sam opened the box that Galadriel had given him and inside was some grey dust that was soft and fine and in the middle was a small seed like a nut with a silver shale.  He planted that seed where the Party Tree had been with a small amount of the Grey Dust.   He used the rest of the grey dust to plant other seedlings around the shire and just a grain of the grey dust with each seedling and seed.  Replacing all the trees that had been burned or hacked down.   The following spring the seedlings had all sprung up with 20 years of growth.

And his nut....had become a seedling and it was a Mallorn, Silver bark and long leaves and in April it had golden flowers.  It was said to be one of the finest in the world.

So to imagine chopping down a golden tree in Lorien to me is an assault on the Valar themselves and the gifts that remained in Middle Earth as all of the Eldar and their gifts faded the trees remained.  Leave the damn trees alone!

LOTRO Lore Edition: Golden Trees and Silver-White Trees Part I

Some friend-folk of mine playing LOTRO joked once when Lorien was released about cutting down a golden tree and I gasped with horror. 

It took a few minutes for me to recount why that would be such a terrible thing to even say...let alone do.

In order to properly tell this story I must tell it from the beginning.

The story does in fact start at the very beginning. And given that most of it is buried in history so I will try to make it more interesting.

Ilúvatar or Eru the One essentially the one greatest god created The Ainur.  The Ainur were all of the spirits ...some greater some lesser and together with Ilúvatar as the elves call them made the Music of the Ainur.

The music of the Ainur was a great song which brought about....well everything.  All of Arda, middle earth...everything.  When it was created there was nothing evil and nothing to fear.

The place that the greater Ainur, Valar, dwelled was Almaren and given there was only starry sky.  The Valar Aule, the maker, made two great Lamps Illuin and Ormal to give light to the World. 

The first evil act by Melkor (Morgoth, Sauron's Teacher) was to destroy Almaren and destroy the lamps.  Almaren was in Middle Earth somewhere.  The Valar left Middle Earth and founded Valinor.

Yavanna, a Valar whose province was all growing things.  She was married to Aule and she created the Two Trees. The two trees One Silver one Gold gave light to Valinor and Middle Earth was lit by starlight alone. And the only Valar who stayed in middle earth for a length of time was Melkor. I am sure doing unspeakable things un Utumno.

The first of the trees was Telperion.  The leaves were dark green on top but glowed silver white light underneath. And it was filled with Silver flowers. And the dew that fell from the tree also shown in silver white light.

The second tree was Laurelin. It was called the golden tree. It was made seven hours after Telperion. This is important because the two trees waxed and waned at different times.  So there was gold light for a time and white light for a time.  Laurelin's leaves glowed golden light at their edges and underneath the branches clusters of golden flowers hung and the golden tree was said to bear fruit.

The Years of Trees were said to be long.  So we can assume that the lack of events does not mean that time was short.

However during this time when the elves were still asleep where Ilúvatar put them.  Aule created the Dwarves and they were also set to sleep. (another story for sure)

The elves awoke at Cuivienen, Orome, the huntsman of the Valar, discovered it and the Valar feared for the elves and made war on Melkor to protect the elves who they called the Eldar Children of Ilúvatar.  The destroyed Utumno and brought Melkor in chains to Valinor.   Then they sent summons to the Elves to come to Valinor and so began the Great Journey for the Elves.

Remember some elves came directly to Valinor some did not.  But for about 2,900 years Valar and Eldar (elves) lived in the land of Valinor under the light of the Two Trees. 

What elves do we know where in Valinor? 

Galadriel For sure lived under the Two Trees and for many years it would seem. It is under debate if Glorfindel was there although i would believe he was.  The only other Elf who could have seen the two trees for sure is Círdan the Shipwright.  Although according to most he never crossed the sea just built the ships that did so.

Even Elrond was born later in Beleriand.

Anyway.  It true Middle Earth fashion the Valar released Melkor and after he pretended to get along with everyone he formed an alliance with a spider named Ungoliant who is said to be the mother of spiders I believe.

So...yet again Melkor had destroyed the two sources of light.  And everything was plunged into Starry Skies. 

So with the help of Yavanna the dying trees produced one last flower and one last fruit (silver and gold respectively) The golden fruit was set in a vessel made by Aule and a Maiar (same Race as Gandalf) named Arien who was a fire spirit was sent to guide it across the sky.  It became the sun.

Telperion's last flower of silver and Aule made it a vessel and Tilion one of the hunters of Orome was told to steer the Moon through the sky.

The next post will detail how the two trees relate to the golden trees in Lorien and the white trees.

LOTRO Item Edition: Andúril Flame of the West

#lotro #lotr #tolkien

Narsil was the name before it was reforged and it was originally forged by Telchar of Nogrod at some point in the First Age. Telchar was a Dwarf of the Blue Mountains possibly of the Firebeard Clan. Telchar's skill is beyond question.  The Dwarf crafted Angrist, Iron Cutter. The knife was carried in the First Age by Curufin.  This is the knife that cut a Simaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth. Telchar also forged the Dragon Helm of Dor-lomin.

The dragon helm. Which was worn by members of the House of Hador.  The helm was very heavy and in truth only 3 members of that House of the Edain (men) could bear it on their head. Only a dwarf would make a helm this heavy.  On its side was the image of Glaurung the Golden father of the Dragons. The helm was worn in battle against this dragon and finally worn by Turin who killed the dragon presumably he was wearing it during the battle. So Telchar crafted many a legendary item and was well known for his work by men and elves.Because there is little detail on the forging of Narsil we can use these other events to date when Telchar created these other items.  If you go through all the date you narrow his work to Nogrod in the Blue Moutains around the year 400 or 500 in the first age.  Making the sword Elendil took into battle against Sauron approx 3500 years old. 

In that battle Elendil falls to Sauron and the sword breaks beneath him.  And it is said that its light was extinguished. The sword Narsil was said to shine with the light of the sun and the moon.  Golden and Silver then. The handle of Narsil still had about a foot of blade attached to it before it was broken.  It was this short blade that Isildur took up and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand. 

The Shards of Narsil were taken back with Isildur to Gondor and then were meant to be taken to Annuminas with Isildur but the Disaster at Gladden fields occurred and only Ohtar and two others survived that encounter.  Ohtar brought the shards to Velandil the heir of Isildur who was only a child living in Rivendell. The Shards were kept in Rivendell since then being passed from heir to heir over the long years.

They were given to Aragorn when Elrond revealed to him at 20 years old who he was and what his real name was. He had been called Estel before that time.

Aragorn is carrying the Shards when he finds Frodo and the Hobbits in Bree going by the name Strider. 

When Aragorn arrives in Rivendell and after the council is held the sword is reforged at that time. The movies mucked this up a bit.

Elvish smiths reforged it and on the blade was
"traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes"

"It was very bright when it was made whole again the light of the sun shown redly in it and the light of the moon shone cold and its edge was hard and keen. "

Aragorn gave it the name Andúril, Flame of the west. Now the sword would be another couple thousand years old.

Galadriel gave Aragorn a sheath made to fit the blade. It had flowers and leaves that were in silver in gold which seemed to fit given the light within the blade I think. The sheath also had elven runes writing in gems the name Andúril.

According to Galadriel the blade drawn from the sheath could not be stained or broken even in defeat.

What powers did it seem to possess?

Well in one fight in Moria Andúril was swung by Aragorn at an orc's head and its written

"there was a flash like flame and the helm burst asunder. The orc fell with cloven head"

As far as I can tell given game mechanics the description the sword had both Fire and light damage.  But given that it was made by a dwarf in the first age, and it definitely struck fear in orcs one can assume its power was quite strong.

I can tell you this: I would very much like a legendary item that would burst helmets.

LOTRO NPC Edition: Glorfindel

Oh where to begin with someone who may actually be one of the oldest elves in the story....

Might be?  Yes might be.  Tolkien wrote about 2 Glorfindel characters and in his notes (not considered cannon by some) he linked the two.  I will give you the best summary I can for several thousand years of history.

Glorfindel from LOTRO Lorebook

As far as his role in Lord of the Rings Glorfindel is the elf that is sent out of Rivendell to find the Aragorn and the Hobbits.  The elves of Rivendell know that the Black Riders are in search of them.  And Glorfindel takes to the road, arguably the most dangerous task.  He is the one who leaves a Beryl on the Last Bridge to signal to Aragorn that the elves are looking for them and scouting the area.

At this time Frodo has already been wounded by the Morgul blade and is slowly turning into a wraith himself.  If it wasn't for Glorfindel finding the group and slowing the wound's progress even more then Aragorn was able with the athelas. If it was not for Glorfindel's horse Asfaloth Frodo would never have outridden the Black Riders.  Frodo would never have gotten across the ford in time for Elrond to have caused the river to swell and swallow the nine.

Yes sorry to break the news movie goers but Liv Tyler did not speak any breathy elvish and take out the nine.  It was Elrond and its one of the crappier changed in the movies that I can think of because they completely cut out Glorfindel.

Glorfindel would be present at the Council of Elrond to decide the course of action about the One Ring. 

But why is Glorfindel so important?  Early in the 3rd age Glorfindel lead the elven forces from Rivendell to battle Angmar when first the Witch King marched on Fornost.  And it was Glorfindel that spoke the words

"Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall.”

And we know that this is fulfilled at the battle of Pelennor fields when the Witch King is destroyed by Eowyn and Merry. One being a woman and the other being a Hobbit armed with a blade of westernesse.

So....who was the other Glorfindel?  I have to refer back to my post on The War of Wrath back when Morgoth (sauron's master of ages past) overwhelmed the free peoples and hunted and destroyed the great elven cities.  Specifically Gondolin the hidden elven city.  

It was besieged by Balrogs leading orcs into battle.   (sound familiar?)  Few elves were able to escape the fall of Gondolin and those that did were attacked by a Balrog.  That Balrog was destroyed by an elf named Glorfindel who, along with the Balrog, fell from the mountain top and perished. 

It was Tolkien who addressed this double use of the name Glorfindel in his notes claiming that the Glorfindel that fell at Gondolin protecting the elven escape from Morgoth's army was the same Glorfindel that saves Frodo.

How can this be?  Much the same way that Gandalf comes back from death so does Glorfindel.  He is sent back.  His spirit upon death goes to the Halls of Awaiting on Valinor.  The Valar send him back.

Well it seems that Tolkien's notes are not considered cannon.  Well if i can drink the koolaid with Gandalf being reincarnated for a similar reason I surely can accept Glorfindel is as well.