The Book of Lost Tales - J. R. Tolkien [191]
Notable here is the reference to ‘the Second Faring Forth’, which strongly supports my interpretation of the expression ‘Faring Forth’ in (18), (20), and (25); but the prophecy or hope of the Elves concerning the Faring Forth has been greatly changed from its nature in citation (6): here, the Trees are to be replanted in Luthany.
(28) How Ælfwine lands in Tol Eressëa and it seems to him like his own land made…….clad in the beauty of a happy dream. How the folk comprehended [his speech] and learn whence he is come by the favour of Ulmo. How he is sped to Kortirion.
With these two passages it is interesting to compare (9), the prose preface to Kortirion among the Trees, according to which Kortirion was a city built by the Elves in Tol Eressëa; and when Tol Eressëa was brought across the sea, becoming England, Kortirion was renamed in the tongue of the English Warwick (13). In the new story, Kortirion is likewise an ancient dwelling of the Elves, but with the change in the fundamental conception it is in Luthany; and the Kortirion to which Ælfwine comes in Tol Eressëa is the second of the name (being called ‘after their home in Luthany’). There has thus been a very curious transference, which may be rendered schematically thus:
(I) Kortirion, Elvish dwelling in Tol Eressëa.
Tol Eressëa England.
Kortirion = Warwick.
(II) Kortirion, Elvish dwelling in Luthany (> England).
Elves Tol Eressëa.
Kortirion (2) in Tol Eressëa named after Kortirion (1) in Luthany.
On the basis of the foregoing passages, (15) to (28), we may attempt to construct a narrative taking account of all the essential features:
– March of the Elves of Kôr (called ‘the Faring Forth’, or (by implication in 27) ‘the First Faring Forth’) into the Great Lands, landing in Luthany (25), and the Loss of Valinor (18).
– War with evil Men in the Great Lands (18).
– The Elves retreated to Luthany (not yet an island) where Ing(wë) was king (18, 20).
– Many [but by no means all] of the Elves of Luthany sought back west over the sea and settled in Tol Eressëa; but Elwing was lost (18, 25).
– Places in Tol Eressëa were named after places in Luthany (27).
– Eärendel came to Luthany, taking refuge with Ing(wë) from the hostility of Ossë (20, 23, 24).
– Eärendel gave Ing(wë) limpë to drink (24), or Ing(wë) received limpë from the Elves before Eärendel came (23).
– Eärendel blessed the progeny of Ing(wë) before his departure (23).
– Ossë’s hostility to Eärendel pursued Ing(wë) also (23, 24).
– Ing(wë) set sail (with many of his people, 24) to find Tol Eressëa (23, 24).
– Ing(wë)’s voyage, through the enmity of Ossë, ended in shipwreck, but Ing(wë) survived, and far to the East [i.e. after being driven across the North Sea] he became King of the Ingwaiwar the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain (23, 24).
– Ing(wë) instructed the Ingwaiwar in true knowledge of the Gods and Elves (23) and turned their hearts to seafaring westwards (24). He prophesied that his kin should one day return again to Luthany (22).
– Ing(wë) at length departed in a boat (22, 24), and was heard of no more (24), or came to Tol Eressëa (22).
– After Ing(wë)’s departure from Luthany a channel was made so that Luthany became an isle (26); but Men crossed the channel in boats (27).
– Seven successive invasions took place, including that of the Rúmhoth or Romans, and at each new war more of the remaining Elves of Luthany fled over the sea (20, 22).
– The seventh invasion, that of the Ingwaiwar, was however not hostile to the Elves (20, 21); and these invaders were ‘coming back to their own’ (22), since they were the people of Ing(wë).
– The Elves of Luthany (now England) throve again and ceased to leave Luthany for Tol Eressëa (19), and they spoke to the Ingwaiwar in their own language, Old English (21).
– Ælfwine was