Swans: Difference between revisions
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==Inspiration== | ==Inspiration== | ||
In a poem about [[Tom Bombadil]], it is said that "''he wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather''".<ref>{{AB|Tom}}</ref> [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] explained in a letter to [[Pauline Baynes]] that the swan, (traditionally the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan#Role_in_culture property of the King]), indicated a "''special friendship with Tom''", the swans being among the creatures "''who looked for the return of their rightful Lord, the true King''".<ref>{{L|240}}</ref> Perhaps this nobility of the swans | In a poem about [[Tom Bombadil]], it is said that "''he wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather''".<ref>{{AB|Tom}}</ref> [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] explained in a letter to [[Pauline Baynes]] that the swan, (traditionally the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan#Role_in_culture property of the King]), indicated a "''special friendship with Tom''", the swans being among the creatures "''who looked for the return of their rightful Lord, the true King''".<ref>{{L|240}}</ref> Perhaps this perceived nobility of the swans explains why Tolkien used the bird as a symbol for the princely line of Dol Amroth, and why the swans were described as allies of the [[Ainur]] and [[Elves]]. | ||
A glimpse of Tolkien's childhood experience of swans has also been described: | A glimpse of Tolkien's childhood experience of swans has also been described: | ||
Revision as of 23:56, 24 October 2010
"...the proudest of all these birds were the swans"[1]
Swans were waterfowl of either black or white color,[2] though usually the latter. It said that swans were especially abundant in the Nîn-in-Eilph (Swanfleet), a wetland region in Eriador.[3][4]
Swans and the Free Peoples
The swan was an important bird in the tales of the Elder Days. The Maia Ossë sent "many strong-winged swans" to draw the ships of the Teleri over Belegaer to Aman without help of the winds. The Teleri (later being called by the epithet the Swanherds)[5] thus especially came to revere swans, and named their city Alqualondë (the Swanhaven) and built their ships in swan-form.[6][7][8]
Ossë's master Ulmo, the Vala, sent seven great swans to guide Tuor, to Vinyamar, where he found a shield which had "an emblem of a white swan's wing". Tuor already loved these birds, having been fostered at Mithrim, where swans seem to have been plentiful (and Tuor's foster-father, Annael and his folk, had the swan as a symbol). Departing from Vinyamar, Ulmo's seven swans approached Tuor and offered him one feather each, which Tuor set in the crest of his helm.[9][10]
The Teleri were not alone in using the swan-form in ship-building: the prow of Eärendil's ship Vingilótë "was fashioned like a swan", [11] and the Elves of Lothlórien made Swan-ships, so well crafted that they resembled real, giant swans.[12]
In the Third Age, the symbol of the Swan-knights of Dol Amroth was a banner, silver upon blue, bearing a "token of the Ship and the Silver Swan".[13][14][15]
Names
In Sindarin, the name for "swan" was alph (pl. eilph), as in Nîn-in-Eilph. The Quenya cognate was alqua, as in Alqualondë, and the Telerin was alpa.[16]
In Tolkien's early tongues Ilkorin and Danian, the name for "swan" was alch and ealc, respectively.[17]
Other Versions of the Legendarium
A late manuscript concerning Númenor tells about the legendary great Swans of Gorbelgod.[18]
In an early versions of the Legendarium, more details about the use of swans in symbolism and crafting are given:
- Reminding of the Elven Swan-ships, Aulë seems to have been the first to make "great vessels like to the bodies of swans".[1]
- It is also said Tuor used a "boat with a prow fashioned like to the neck of a swan" on Lake Mithrim, and that Ulmo apparently sent three swans to guide him out of Mithrim (much reminding of the later device of the "seven swans"). Later, the wing of a white swan become the symbol for Tuor and his company (House of the Wing) in Gondolin.[19]
- See also House of the Swan
Inspiration
In a poem about Tom Bombadil, it is said that "he wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather".[20] J.R.R. Tolkien explained in a letter to Pauline Baynes that the swan, (traditionally the property of the King), indicated a "special friendship with Tom", the swans being among the creatures "who looked for the return of their rightful Lord, the true King".[21] Perhaps this perceived nobility of the swans explains why Tolkien used the bird as a symbol for the princely line of Dol Amroth, and why the swans were described as allies of the Ainur and Elves.
A glimpse of Tolkien's childhood experience of swans has also been described:
- "...they [Ronald and Hilary] would scamper away from the yard, and run round to a place behind the mill [at Sarehole] where there was a silent pool with swans swimming on it."
- ― Humphrey Carpenter, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
Portrayal in Adaptations
1988, 1994: Middle-earth Role Playing:
- Black Swans are described and given role-playing statistics in the supplements Creatures of Middle-earth and Creatures of Middle-earth (2nd edition). They are conceived as quite ill-meaning creatures "known to mob and overturn boats", and being larger than normal swans.
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "V. The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr", p. 124
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Great River"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Many Partings"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer" (discussion of the name Glanduin)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Three. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: (I) The First Phase: 3. Of the Coming of the Elves" (§30)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Shaping of Middle-earth, "III. The Quenta: [Section] 3"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Three. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: (I) The First Phase: 5. Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalië"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings", "Song of Eärendil"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Farewell to Lórien"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Minas Tirith"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Siege of Gondor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Field of Cormallen"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Appendix D: The Port of Lond Daer" (Note to discussion of the name Glanduin)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies" (entry ÁLAK-)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XVII. Tal-Elmar"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "III. The Fall of Gondolin"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 240, (dated 1 August 1962)
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