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By Root 1646 0

and contained the Elvish word meaning ‘golden light’: ‘valley of gold’. The Quenya form would be Lauren-andë, the Sindarin Glornan or Nan Laur. Both here and elsewhere the meaning of the name is explained by reference to the golden mallorn-trees of Lothlórien; but they were brought there by Galadriel (for the story of their origin see pp. 216 – 17), and in another, later, discussion the name Lórinand is said to have been itself a transformation, after the introduction of the mallorns, of a yet older name Lindórinand, ‘Vale of the Land of the Singers’. Since the Elves of this land were in origin Teleri, there is here no doubt present the name by which the Teleri called themselves, Lindar, ‘the Singers’. From many other discussions of the names of Lothlórien, to some extent at variance among themselves, it emerges that all the later names were probably due to Galadriel herself, combining different elements: laurë ‘gold’, nan(d) ‘valley’, ndor ‘land’, lin- ‘sing’ and in Laurelindórinan ‘Valley of Singing Gold’ (which Treebeard told the Hobbits was the earlier name) deliberately echoing the name of the Golden Tree that grew in Valinor, ‘for which, as is plain, Galadriel’s longing increased year by year to, at last, an overwhelming regret’.

Lórien itself was originally the Quenya name of a region in Valinor, often used as the name of the Vala (Irmo) to whom it belonged: ‘a place of rest and shadowy trees and fountains, a retreat from cares and griefs’. The further change from Lórinand ‘Valley of Gold’ to Lórien ‘may well be due to Galadriel herself’ , for ‘the resemblance cannot be accidental. She had endeavoured to make Lórien a refuge and an island of peace and beauty, a memorial of ancient days, but was now filled with regret and misgiving, knowing that the golden dream was hastening to a grey awakening. It may be noted that Treebeard interpreted Lothlórien as “Dreamflower”.’

In ‘Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn’ I have retained the name Lórinand throughout, although when it was written Lórinand was intended as the original and ancient Nandorin name of the region, and the story of the introduction of the mallorns by Galadriel had not yet been devised.

6 This is a later emendation; the text as originally written stated that Lórinand was ruled by native princes.

7 In an isolated and undateable note it is said that although the name Sauron is used earlier than this in the Tale of Years, his name, implying identity with the great lieutenant of Morgoth in The Silmarillion, was not actually known until about the year 1600 of the Second Age, the time of the forging of the One Ring. The mysterious power of hostility, to Elves and Edain, was perceived soon after the year 500, and among the Númenóreans first by Aldarion towards the end of the eighth century (about the time when he established the haven of Vinyalondë,p. 228). But it had no known centre. Sauron endeavoured to keep distinct his two sides: enemy and tempter. When he came among the Noldor he adopted a specious fair form (a kind of simulated anticipation of the later Istari), and a fair name: Artano ‘high-smith’, or Aulendil, meaning one who is devoted to the service of the Vala Aulë. (In Of the Rings of Power,p. 287, the name that Sauron gave to himself at this time was Annatar, the Lord of Gifts; but that name is not mentioned here.) The note goes on to say that Galadriel was not deceived, saying that this Aulendil was not in the train of Aulë in Valinor; ‘but this is not decisive, since Aulë existed before the “Building of Arda”, and the probability is that Sauron was in fact one of the Aulëan Maiar, corrupted “before Arda began” by Melkor’. With this compare the opening sentences in Of the Rings of Power: ‘Of old there was Sauron the Maia.... In the beginning of Arda Melkor seduced him to his allegiance’.

8 In a letter written in September 1954 my father said: ‘At the beginning of the Second Age he [Sauron] was still beautiful to look at, or could still assume a beautiful visible shape – and was not indeed wholly evil, not unless all “reformers” who want to