Broseliand (Beleriand) in the Primary World

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by hadserub

Tolkien didn't hate the Arthurian matter. He regarded it as unsuitable as a mythology for England because it isn't English. In fact, the English are the bad guys, and the second option explicitly involves Christianity, which he regarded as fatal. After all, he wrote a long unfinished poem on Arthur.

This is a really good point. Could Broseliand have been, not a reference to the real geographical place, but a reconstruction of the pre-Christianised version of the Arthurian wood, like "Sellic Spell" reconstructs the original Beowulf?

Apparently the Lay of Aotrou and Itroun is set in Broceliande and based on a Breton form of poem; I'm not sure which option that makes more likely!

(I've also just discovered that Paimpont is a remnant of the forest that once covered all of central Brittany. I may have to look through the Lost Tales to see if the geography is fluid enough to work after all...!)

hS