LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 12 - Flight to the Ford

[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

Yes, it does not say explicitly that in ME the land is a feminine presence - but looking at what Tolkien drew upon, i would like to think that it is. But this has made me think...was Eru female?

Try this:http://www.unclenicks.net/Garden/body_philosophy.html

Originally Posted by Child

(The literary embodiment of this earlier mythic tradition does appear in the Third Branch of the Mabinogi, but the legends themselves go back much deeper.)

Yes, but I don't think the Wasteland theme is limited to the Third Branch. It does have a different cause though, in that it is usually the result of the malignancy of the Otherworld beings (Caitlin Matthews has a lot to say on this subject in her two-volume study of the Mabinogion; Mabon & the Mysteries of Britain & Arthur & the Sovereignty of Britain). I do think Tolkien has leant towards the later, Christianised, view. In the earlier versions there is constant conflict between the OtherWorld inhabitants & the inhabitants of this world - which we see set out in the First Branch tale of Pwyll.

In the medieval mind, there is very little sense of the wilderness as a place of renewal and beauty which was so often voiced in the romantic era. The feeling is that the best land is domesticated and undomesticated land -- in effect, a wasteland --is a curse.

Certainly, this comes in later, yet even in the early medieval period (not counting the writings of the Celtic saints) there is an inkling of it - in the Vita Merlini Merlin runs wild into the Caledonian forest, driven mad by his grief, & is healed by a sacred spring (& by the teachings of Taliesin on the nature of the Universe).

Clearly, though, Tolkien sees the wounding of the Land as the result of a malicious act by evil forces, a result of their malice. I think we have to distinguish between wild & waste land, though. Often in the Irish legends the Wasteland is healed by the King's union or marriage with the Goddess of the Land, the figure of Sovereignty. The Otherworld is the realm of the Fairies, the Sidhe, who are out for revenge on men who have taken over their Land & driven them into the Hollow Hills. Alongside this runs the idea of the King who fails his people, or who is simply unlucky, or in the case of Vortigern, who betrays his people, & attempts to kill the young Merlin, who's blood shed on its foundations will (he is told) enable his tower to be built. In the Prophecies which follow Merlin predicts the wasting of the Land, & ultimately the 'wasting' of the Universe, as his vision extends as far as the ending of the Universe.

Middle earth is the victim of malicious attacks by its inhabitants, & it suffers upheaval & destruction on a massive scale, & it seems to respond with an almost conscious yearning to be healed - its interesting how the 'good' characters seem to have a deep love for the land, a desire to heal it & make it whole - which Tolkien seems to explain by having them on some deep level 'aware' of Arda Unmarred - a sense that the world is not as it should be - which drives them to struggle & sacrifice themselves if necessary, to bring about its healing. This is an interesting theme for me, that it is not a mythology which offers as reward not an eternity in some Nirvana of light & peace, but in a world healed & made perfect, a physical realm. This is clearly a Christian vision - a New Heaven & a New Earth, but it touches on earlier, Pagan ideas of the sacredness of the Living Land. Tolkien never takes for granted the polluted, wounded Land - it is always a deep, profound WRONG, which must be fought, because a wounded Land wounds its inhabitants psychologically & physically - Sam, on seeing the Waste before Mordor feels physically sick.

The woundedness of the Land is reflected in the woundedness of its inhabitants, & its healing brings about their own healing - symbolised in the Two Trees which begin & end the Legendarium.