Quote:
Originally Posted by Huinesoron
I think by the time Avallone showed up, the geography of Eressea no longer existed: it was an "otherworld", not somewhere you could actually visit. I also feel like it got much smaller: "we can see the tower of Avallone from the Meneltarma" becomes less impressive when you have to add "and a landmass stretching along the entire western horizon".  |
Yeah, I didn't mean
that late version. (Even so, Tavrobel and Cortirion on Eressea are still mentioned in the post-LOTR legendarium.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huinesoron
But during the Aelfwine phase... I think Tolkien found himself in a dilemma. On the one hand, he repeatedly references the Eriol geography as the geography of England - in the Aelfwine II narrative text, he is a man of Mindon Gwar = Kortirion, and his book is still the Golden Book of Tavrobel, laid in the House of a Hundred Chimneys beside the Pine of Belawryn in England. On the other hand, if I'm reading CT's notes right, the names Kortirion and Tavrobel are also used of locations in Eressea.
Ultimately, I think the answer is that the Aelfwine Lost Tales were never developed enough for it to matter. Tolkien continued to use the Eriol geography for both sides of the Great Sea; if he had written further, he would probably have modified the Eressea side, but he didn't get that far.
I've deliberately not used places from the Aelfwine texts: the map doesn't show Evadrien/Coast of Iron/Lionesse, or Belerion, or Rum/Magbar. They don't fit into the Eriol geography, even though I could pinpoint them pretty well. The Lexicons and the heraldic symbols are all Eriol-period, though, so I'm happy to use them.
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I think the Ottor > Aelfwine narrative switch is one of the more abrupt and confusing elements of the legendarium, so to make it as clear as I can:
1) Once Tolkien switched Ottor for Aelfwine, he
also disassociated Britain with Tol Eressea (i.e. they were no longer the same thing)
2) He made the British Isles a remnant of (proto)-Beleriand after the (not yet so named) 'War of Wrath' - after that war many of the remaining Elves who didn't move to Eressea settled on that island remnant (called Luthany/Luthien) and started making a civilization of their own
3) Meanwhile, Eressea (now a completely separate island near Valinor) over the centuries started to get more and more flooded with the Elven refugees from Luthany (i.e. Britain) who eventually made cities and towns on Eressea
in the likeness of the cities and towns in Luthany
4) In other words, there were
two Kortirions/Tavrobels/etc. - there was
Kortirion the Old (i.e. future Warwick, and the original Kortirion) on Luthany: and then, many centuries later, the Elves escaping Luthany (Britain) due to gradual influx of Men, Orcs, etc. built
Kortirion the New on Eressea (in a similar fashion in which Gondolin was made as an image of Tirion)
5) Aelfwine eventually travelled from Britain (Luthany)
to Eressea, and the cities there were the
reconstructions of those cities in the Elves' ancient home from which Aelfwine came from
6) (Second) Faring Forth has now been recontextualized as the Elves of Eressea returning to Luthany and reclaiming it (which was also supposed to be a disaster), with the First Faring Forth being equivalent to the 'War of Wrath' - at least in some outlines