[Bill Ferny]

Once again Middle Earth intrudes into the real world. One of my new projects involves connections between early Christian Gnosticism and pagan/pseudo-pagan alchemy. I was immediately reminded of Tolkien in many of the connections, and I formulated a theory throughout the course of the night and this morning, rather undeveloped and hodge-podge to say the least, that touches on the issues raised in this thread.

The elves are obviously based on the Tuatha Dé Danann (Children or People of Danu) of Celtic myth. Danu is a figure associated with craftsmanship, thus the Tuatha Dé Danann can be called the people of craftsmanship. The dwarves are forged by the smith of all smiths, Aulë. The Númenóreans are known for their various crafts learned from the elves, especially ship building, in virtue of the blood of Elros. There are intrinsic parallels between alchemy and magic in LotR. Sauron is the epitome of the alchemist. In the forging of the rings of power he makes the alchemical bridge between the spiritual and material creation. The alchemist is often called the master of fire. Sauron wields fire at every turn. Even Gandalf can be seen in this light, he carries the ring of fire, and he proclaims himself the “servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor.”

In all the mythologies that I perused the alchemist figure is always otherworldly, like the Tuatha Dé Danann. Andvari the Dwarf in the Volsunga Saga, and his parallels in the German romances, is the craftsman who forges the ring of unlimited wealth. In the same, Regin who forged anew Odin’s sword into Gram, was not a man, but born long before the first men. Völund (Wayland) crafts wondrous items, interestingly enough, by the power of an otherworldly magical ring.

I wonder if we could place the Lady of the Lake into this mold as well.

Iron was one of the most influential discoveries of human history, and the art of smelting raw ore into workable iron was a secret jealously guarded; thus the origin of the “secrets” of the furnace’s fire. With such a world changing discovery at their finger tips, is it any wonder that these holders of the secrets of its creation would appear to the common person as otherworldly figures, and associate their fiery craft with sorcery and magic? However, for our present discussion, which is the mythology of Middle Earth, such a speculation does not belong. Whether or not the origin of historical alchemy/magic was based on simple natural science and pagan belief systems is of no consequence. What is of consequence is the connection between the otherworldly character of sub-creation within the fabric of the myths, themselves.

Its apparent that Tolkien may have drawn from these sources his basic conception of magic. It comes from a wisdom or secret knowledge held only by a select few (which reminds me of Christian Gnotics) and is intimately tied to sub-creation. Like the other mythologies I came across, Tolkien makes these select creatures and characters otherworldly in nature.