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Old 07-04-2007, 10:51 PM   #36
Morthoron
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
 
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Morthoron is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Morthoron is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Morthoron is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Morthoron is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.Morthoron is a guest of Galadriel in Lothlórien.
I think it's safe to say that Tolkien horded an immense amount of data from various external sources throughout his career and synthesized this accrued information into various literary forms as it suited him. His tastes changed as he developed his prose, and he regretted some of his decisions after his works were published (taking Dwarvish names directly from the Völuspá comes to mind). Efforts to pinpoint with any accuracy where he derived his source material can be accomplished microcosmically from tract to tract (in some cases, chapter to chapter or sentence to sentence), perhaps, but one really can't achieve this on a macrocosmic level with any degree of certainty.

davem and Lalaith have offered varying views on CoH as represenatative of either the Eddas or the Sagas from a stylistic standpoint; however, as I stated previously, the actual character of Turin in some instances bears such a striking resemblance to Kullervo in the Kalevala, that one must consider if Tolkien didn't lift sequences wholly from the Finnish text. Here is a bit of transcribing offered by Nogrod from this post...http://forum.barrowdowns.com//showpo...&postcount=430

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nogrod
Shortly and not actually translated but just described...

The first paragraph:
Kullervo, son of Kalervo took his dog with him and went to the wilds. After a short trek he came to the place where he had "marred the maid, spoiled the one her mother had brought to a life".

The second:
The grass was wailing and the flowers were groaning for the misdeed. No young grass would grow or heaths blossom there as it was a dark place where the maid had been marred, the one mother had brought a life was spoiled.

The third:
Kullervo takes his sword and looks at it, turns it around and asks it questrions and thinks. Asking then from it whether it would eat the guilty flesh, drink the vile blood?

The fourth:
The sword thought about the mind of the man, getting into what he was thinking. answered with the words: "Why shouldn't I eat gladly, eat the guilty flesh and drink the vile blood? I eat the flesh of innocents and drink the blood of those with no vice as well."

The fifth:
Kullervo, son of Kalervo set the hilt of the sword to the ground and brought the edge of it to his chest. He threw himself to the sword. There he met his death.
Again, to demand that the discussion be limited to a single source as the wellspring of an entire Tolkien work(s) leaves much to be desired, particularly when whole sections of text cannot be directly ascribed with certainty to any one source, points decidedly towards a different source, or offers a multiplicity of possible sources.
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Last edited by Morthoron; 07-04-2007 at 11:07 PM.
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