[Arvegil145]

This is typical of your questions. What has Tolkien written that indicates that he ever necessarily thought Voronwë didn’t have a son, or a daughter, or many children? We are told nothing of any wife of Voronwë before his return to Gondolin, but that is also the case in the Book of Lost Tales. All we know is that in the later Silmarillion Littleheart was not one of Eärendil’s campanions on his final voyage in Vingilot or that Littleheart was a companion, but is named as Falathar, or Aerandil (Airandil), or Erellont, not as Ilfiniol, or Ilverin, or Elfrith, or Elbenil as in the Lost Tales. It is not definitely written by Tolkien that any of Eärendil’s mariner companions were not Elves.

Surely, Littleheart was not a companion of Eärendil, but that doesn't mean that he should have been jettisoned so lightly. Voronwë was a young Elf during the War of the Jewels, and though Gondolin was a blissful place, it is said in the "Athrabeth" that the Eldar do not wed nor bear children at times of war. And if Voronwë sailed with Tuor and Idril (although that is not a sure statement), what might have been his fate during their voyages: did they indeed make it to Aman, and there dwell now in peace, or have they been lost somewhere in the seas about Aman.

And even if Voronwë made to Aman at last, and had a son there, why should his son dwell now in Tol Eressëa? And all of Littleheart's elven names strike me a bit odd - naturally - and I cannot make my mind whether to keep him in my revised version.

I am a loss as to why you are updating “The Cottage of Lost Play” at all when apparently in Tolkien’s latest thought Eriol has no part in this, whether of Eriol’s “former names the story nowhere tells”, whether Eriol was Ottor Wǽfre the father of Hengest and Horsa who traditionally first settled the English in England, or whether Eriol was Æscwine, an 11th century Englishman.

I am NOT talking about Ottor from Angeln - I am talking about Aelfwine from England and his stay at Eressëa - with needed emendations of course.

P.S. Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva - The Cottage of Lost Play - was in Tolkien's later writings referred to the House of Elrond - and its meaning was "House of Past Mirth".

And, of course, I would NOT keep the "children" in the Cottage of Lost Play - nor would I retain its name - in the end, of what purpose is the part "of Lost Play" in its name without the children of Men travelling through the Olorë Málle to taste the bliss of Aman before they die.

Limpë would of course have to go - it contradicts EVERYTHING written about the fates of Elves and Men in the later course of Tolkien's lifetime.


My idea is this - Aelfwine journeys to Eressëa; there he is greeted by the Elves and there is a description of the island - and then, travelling through the country, he comes to a house (the Cottage) - in this sense, simply an Eressëan version of the Last Homely House - and there, he is shown the various old texts, and is taught many things by Pengolodh (in which he, in the later versions, seems the primary source of Aelfwine's oral teachings).

I admit, such a project needs a lot of tinkering with the texts, but I am COMPLETELY hellbent on keeping Aelfwine and his stor(y)ies.

Tolkien’s latest thought is that Silmarillion is a translation made by Bilbo Baggins in Rivendell into Westron of a traditional summary of old tales written in Gondor.

The sheer abundancy of the mentions of Aelfwine and his teaching in the late writings, brings your claim to naught (at least in my opinion).

And wouldn't it be more likely that a script written in Old English would be preserved (if somewhat in a fragmentary form) all the way up to Tolkien's time than a book written 7000 years ago (also in a language and script completely unknown in later times - it would take a Champollion to decipher it - referring, of course, to Bilbo's books and the writing system in which they were written - Tengwar).