Swans
Swans were waterfowl of either black or white color,[1] though usually the latter. It said that swans were especially abundant in the Nîn-in-Eilph (Swanfleet), a wetland region in Eriador.[2][3]
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. The Teleri thus especially revered swans, naming their city Alqualondë (the Swanhaven), and built their ships in swan-form.[4]
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.[5][6]
The Teleri were not alone in using the swan-form in ship-building: the prow of Eärendil's ship Vingilot "was fashioned like a swan", [7] and the Elves of Lothlórien made Swan-ships, so well crafted that they resembled real, giant swans.[8]
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".[9][10][11]
Names
In Sindarin, the swans were named eilph (sing. alph), as in Nîn-in-Eilph. The Quenya equivalent was alqua, as in Alqualondë, and in Telerin alpa.[12]
Other Versions of the Legendarium
In an early version of the Legendarium, the wing of a white swan become the symbol for Tuor and his company (House of the Wing) in Gondolin.[13]
- 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".[14] In a letter to Pauline Baynes, J.R.R. Tolkien explained 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".[15] Perhaps this nobility of the swans is what made Tolkien use the bird as a symbol for the princely line of Dol Amroth.
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
- ↑ 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.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Eldamar 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 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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