Ship of the Dark

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

It doesn't glorify the wild men of Middle-Earth either: Tal-Elmar's grandmother/mother (Tolkien varied their relationship and it was left a bit unclear who she was) was taken captive by the wildmen and forced to marry one of them, and as Bethberry says, that was gentle fate for one that was taken as slave.

Well, just to clarify, it isn't me who says that fate is gentler than others, but the story. Frankly, I think that attitude shows great failure to understand such a fate.

I wonder about this tale, though. It is written much later than Tolkien's other work, so isn't part of his initial inspiration about the Legendarium. Could this be his toying with more contemporary ideas about point of view/perspective and colonial history, seeing how to incorporate them in a narrative placed back in time? I can imagine him curious to see how he could 'fit' a more modern view of history into his mythical creation, to see how the two would meld.