Quote:
Originally Posted by Galin
With respect to the sources, as far as I recall Gimli refers to Galadriel as a Queen in The Lord of the Rings, as does the narrator of Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age [a Queen of the Woodland Elves]. Of course the latter wasn't published by JRRT himself, but since it does not disagree with the story published by the author I see no reason for Christopher Tolkien to edit this.
And yes, later Tolkien seems to have changed his mind here: in the 'Zimmerman letter' for example, JRRT explained that Artanis was not in fact a Queen, and in a relatively late text in Unfinished Tales he notes that she and Celeborn took no title of Queen and King, despite that they took up rule there.
Anyway, if we are talking about consistency, you characterizing your reference as not literal is, to my mind, you trying to explain a seeming inconsistency. And if we look at only what Tolkien himself chose to publish, in my opinion we have a different perspective concerning this matter.
Since Feanor is mentioned...
In the 1930s Tolkien wrote: 'Of these Feanor was the mightiest in skill of word and hand, more learned in lore than his brethren; in his heart his spirit burned as flame. Fingolfin was the strongest, the most steadfast, and the most valiant. Finrod was the fairest, and the most wise of heart.' Quenta Silmarillion
And then in the early 1950s Tolkien writes (Annals of Aman): 'For Feanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtelty alike: of all the Children of Eru, and a bright flame was in him.'
But yet in the early 1950s Tolkien keeps the first passage I quoted, even changing Finrod to Finarfin and extending the last sentence (so we know he simply didn't overlook this) -- thus if Feanor is the mightiest 'in valour', how then is Fingolfin the most valiant? Or if 'in strength' why then is Fingolfin the strongest? Or if 'in beauty' why then is Finarfin the fairest?
Maybe this is a matter of authorship and opinion: The Annals of Aman were said to be written by Rumil in the Elder Days, and held in memory by the Exiles, and parts remembered were set down in Numenor before the Shadow fell upon it. Could it be that Rumil esteemed Feanor so highly while another author rather noted the greatness of Fingolfin and Finarfin in certain areas?
Or something else; perhaps Tolkien just writing, in the moment, enjoying superlatives.
In any event, here's what Tolkien added (and thus published himself) to the second edition of 1965 (in Appendix A): 'Feanor was the greatest of the Eldar in arts and lore, but also the proudest and most self-willed.'
Of course this might be attributed to brevity, if Feanor was really the great- est in more than arts and lore.
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The example about the sons of Finwe and of course the famous Treebeard/Tom (about who is the oldest) are examples of where Tolkien has gone overboard with superlatives and they contradict each other. It's at times like these where there is a need we have to resort to other measures.
However, this is not the case with say Earendil being the greatest mariner or Luthien being the fairest. The story is very clear and Tolkien consistently praises them as the best with no contradiction as far as I am aware of.
The same with the stealing of the Silmarillion. Tolkien refers to this as the greatest deed of Elves and Men against Morgoth. There is nothing to contradict this.
Now in the case of Finwe's sons, I think originally there is a case that the translations were not completely accurate. Not only was their author bias in the case of Rumil, but there was also 'mistranslation' by the official translator, which led to more mistakes. These 'mistakes' were deliberately left in.
Later as I have said previously Tolkien seemed to move away from this position and wanted a more definitive story most of the time, but certainly not all the time.
In the case of Finwe's sons I tend to favour the interpretation as Fingolfin being the strongest, Finarfin the most handsome and wises, with Feanor the best at crafts and lore. I favour this interpretation, because we see this traits somewhat being inherited by their descendants.
Galadriel and Finrod are the most beautiful and wisest out of the younger descendants of Finwe.
Turgon, Fingon and Argon are all very big men. Turgon and Argon being the two tallest after Thingol.
Then we have Feanor's boys inheriting his powers of persuasion and craft like Curufin and Celebrimbor.