A PDF version of the article can be found here.
It is well-known that in the late 1950s Tolkien made an attempt to revise the cosmology of his imaginary world in order to make it more realistic and scientifically credible than, as he put it, “the Flat Earth and the astronomically absurd business of the making of the Sun and Moon”, which he had been inclined to adhere to earlier. This resulted in a new conception of his world, often referred to as the “Round World” cosmology, which was widely reflected in Tolkien’s writings of that period, notably (but not exclusively) the texts of Myths Transformed published in Morgoth’s Ring. One of those texts contains an abandoned narrative, on which Christopher Tolkien commented:
It may be, though I have no evidence on the question one way or the other, that he came to perceive from such experimental writing as this text that the old structure was too comprehensive, too interlocked in all its parts, indeed its roots too deep, to withstand such a devastating surgery (Morgoth’s Ring, p. 383).
This passage is sometimes cited as an argument that Tolkien allegedly abandoned the “Round World” conception due to the difficulties of reconciling his legends with it, but this does not seem to be the case, given the content of text I of Myths Transformed (Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 370–5), which expresses the idea that the legends of the Silmarillion are traditions handed on by Men in Númenor and later in Middle-earth (Arnor and Gondor), but already far back blended and confused with their own Mannish myths and cosmic ideas, and thus not necessarily reflecting astronomical and geological truths that would have been known to the High Elves. This view was reiterated in text VII of Myths Transformed (Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 401–2), in a note to the contemporary Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (Morgoth’s Ring, p. 337, n. 2), in The Shibboleth of Fëanor from c. 1968 (The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 357, n. 17), in a letter to Roger Lancelyn Green from 1971 (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, #325) and in the note on Elvish reincarnation from 1972–3 (The Nature of Middle-earth, p. 263, fn. 5). Thus the problem was largely solved by accepting the fact that the legends do not have to be fully adjusted to the new cosmological conception. It seems likely that if the Silmarillion had been published during Tolkien’s lifetime, the actual truths of his world or excerpts from authentic Elven-lore would have been presented in notes or appendices, as indicated by the following remark:
The cosmogonic myths are Númenórean, blending Elven-lore with human myth and imagination. A note should say that the Wise of Númenor recorded that the making of stars was not so, nor of Sun and Moon. For Sun and stars were all older than Arda (Morgoth’s Ring, p. 374).
Another argument for the alleged abandonment of the “Round World” conception by Tolkien is the reference to “the Change of the World” in Last Writings (The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 381). However, similar references occur twice in the texts of Myths Transformed (Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 397, 427). One can conclude that this phrasing does not necessary imply the previously flat Earth becoming round and can merely refer to the removal of Aman from the physical world, by whatever means, which surely remains a thing in the “Round World” conception. This problem is considered in the text named The Númenórean Catastrophe & End of “Physical” Aman (c. 1959), published in The Nature of Middle-earth (pp. 343–5), which suggests that after the Downfall of Númenor Aman was removed from the physical world into another mode of existence, being preserved in the memory of the Valar and Elves, its former landmass becoming America. This notion, which probably first appeared here, was reaffirmed a few years later, as will be shown below.
It can be seen that the history of the “Round World” cosmology in fact goes much further back than the late 1950s. Tolkien considered making the world always a globe and altering the story of the Sun in late pencilled notes on Diagram I of the Ambarkanta (The Shaping of Middle-earth, pp. 242–3). The appearance of such names as Arda and Eä in these notes suggests that they were written in the late 1940s and thus contemporary with such experimental writings as the “Round World” version of the Ainulindalë (see Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 3–7, 39–44) and The Drowning of Anadûnê, in which the Messengers of the Valar teach the Númenóreans about the true shape of the Earth:
And behold! the fashion of the Earth is such that a girdle may be set about it. Or as an apple it hangeth on the branches of Heaven, and it is round and fair, and the seas and lands are but the rind of the fruit, which shall abide upon the tree until the ripening that Eru hath appointed (Sauron Defeated, p. 364).
A passing mention of “the girdle of the Earth” in the speech of the Messengers still occurs in the later Akallabêth, but this wording was changed to “the Circles of the World” in the published Silmarillion (see The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 150).
For a time, Tolkien set these ideas aside (only to return to them a decade later), but it may be noted that even in his writings from the early 1950s some details can be found that seem to fit “Round World” better than “Flat World”. There appears in the Narn i Chîn Húrin the name of Ithilbor (presumably “Moon-fist”), whose son Saeros was among the Nandor who “took refuge in Doriath after the fall of their lord Denethor upon Amon Ereb, in the first battle of Beleriand” (Unfinished Tales, p. 77), while in the “Flat World” chronological tradition expressed in the Annals of Aman and the Grey Annals this battle predated the raising of the Sun and Moon. Similarly anachronistic from the point of view of this tradition is the mention of the Moon at the time of the Awaking of the Dwarves in Gimli’s song of Durin (dating back to 1940–1), which made its way into The Lord of the Rings as published in 1954–5:
The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone
When Durin woke and walked alone.
(The Lord of the Rings, p. 315)
Appendix E to The Lord of the Rings (p. 1123) provides a list of the names of the Fëanorian letters, among which there is “áre sunlight (or esse name)”. It is further noted that “áre was originally áze, but when this z became merged with 21, the sign was in Quenya used for the very frequent ss of that language, and the name esse was given to it” (the number stands for a weak untrilled r, sometimes represented by Tolkien as ř). The word “originally” can hardly mean anything but “at the time when the alphabet was invented”, and in any case earlier than z became merged with ř in the Ñoldorin dialect of Quenya, which happened, according to the Outline of Phonology, “not long before the Exile” (Parma Eldalamberon 19, p. 73). This must mean that the concept of sunlight already existed during the Days of Bliss of Valinor when the Tengwar of Fëanor were devised.
Much evidence of the “Round World” cosmology can be found in texts dating from 1958–60 and contemporary with those of Myths Transformed. Tolkien’s final rewriting of the narrative texts of the Quenta Silmarillion mentions the stars in the Dome of Varda, i.e. the lesser firmament over Valinor, the idea of which was introduced in the texts of Myths Transformed (see Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 385–7). A note and glossary to the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth equate Arda with the Solar System and state that the Eldar presumably could have as much and as accurate information concerning its structure, origin and relation to the rest of the Universe as they could comprehend (Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 337–8, 349). The Tale of Adanel closely associated with the Athrabeth mentions the existence of the Sun and Moon during the lifetime of the first generation of Men (Morgoth’s Ring, pp. 346–7), whose Awaking at that point had been moved far into the past in comparison with the earlier legend (see Morgoth’s Ring, p. 327, n. 16). Quendi and Eldar mentions “the glooms and the clouds dimming the sun and the stars during the War of the Valar and Melkor” and the Dome of Varda and cites the Valarin names of the Sun and Moon, which must have been recorded before the Exile (The War of the Jewels, pp. 373, 399, 401). The Cuivienyarna (The War of the Jewels, pp. 420–4) has several mentions of the times of day and a direct mention of the Sun at the time of the Awaking of the Quendi. Finally, the large collection of texts published in Part One: Time and Ageing of The Nature of Middle-earth, most of which date from those years, expressly acknowledges the existence of the Sun and Moon as a primeval part of Arda and relies on Sun-years in various chronologies of the early First Age and generational schemes of the Quendi, as well as mentions such a characteristic detail of the new cosmology as the Dome of Varda.
In 1960–1, Tolkien drew a series of heraldic devices for important characters of his mythology, most of which were reproduced in Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien (#47). Among them can be found the devices of Finwë and Elwë, which depict the Sun and Moon (this interpretation is unambiguously confirmed by the inscriptions “Winged Sun” and “Winged Moon” assigned to them in the original manuscript). Of particular interest is the presence of the Sun on the device of Finwë, which would be impossible within the framework of the old cosmology, as noted by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull:
When he assigned this device to Finwë Tolkien would have had in mind his late reworking of his ‘Silmarillion’ cosmology, in which the Sun and Moon existed from the beginning of the world, and so during Finwë’s lifetime. In most early versions of his tales Finwë was slain before the Sun and Moon were created from the Two Trees (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 194).
In 1962, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil was published. It included the poem “The Hoard”, which begins with the demiurgic making of silver and gold by the Valar (as explained by Tolkien himself in Concerning… “The Hoard”) and mentions the Sun and Moon as already existing at the time of their labours:
When the moon was new and the sun young
of silver and gold the gods sung:
in the green grass they silver spilled,
and the white waters they with gold filled.
In Anaxartaron Onyalië, presumably written in 1963 and used in the published Silmarillion to form the second part of Chapter 2 Of Aulë and Yavanna, Yavanna speaks of her great trees that “sang to Eru amid the wind and the rain and the glitter of the Sun”. Christopher Tolkien comments on this that “the last words were omitted in S on account of the implication that the Sun existed from the beginning of Arda” (The War of the Jewels, p. 341).
In 1964, Tolkien was interviewed by Denys Gueroult about The Lord of the Rings. During the interview, he said that Aman was part of the physical world until the Downfall of Númenor, and then proceeded to discuss the effects of the Catastrophe on the Earth and the Blessed Realm. The full recording of the interview can be found at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p021jx7j. The passage cited below goes from 35:17 to 36:08 (note that there is no official transcription of the interview and the one presented here may contain misreadings insignificant for the purposes of this article).
Then became an intellectual… People lived there only in memory, it lived in time, but not present time… And of course Númenor was drowned and the earthly paradise removed, so then… you could then get to sail to America. [In the] Third Age the world became round, you see, it always had been a vast globe, but they… but people could now sail around, discovered it’s round. And that’s my solution of the… I also wanted to give the fall of Atlantis some universal application. Because the point is really, I’ve written this as a story [about] language, as they get to that, you suddenly see the real curvature of the world going down like a bridge… You’re on a line which leads to what was. Of course I don’t [know] what your theory of time is, but what was, what is… or it never had an existence must… still has that same existence, but that’s just so… we won’t go too… you can’t go too deeply in[to] those [things], but they really are sailing back to a… to world of memory.
It is notable that in this interview both the idea of Aman existing in memory after the Catastrophe and the fact that the world of his legendarium “always had been a vast globe” were confirmed by Tolkien publicly and not in his private writings. As was pointed out to me after the original version of this article was published, the mere mention of the world being “a vast globe” from the beginning does not necessarily contradict the old cosmology, in which the Flat Earth was encircled by Vaiya, the Enfolding Ocean, both from below and from above, which resulted in the spherical shape of the whole world. However, given the rest of the quoted phrase, it seems obvious that the word “world” is used here to refer to the Earth as such with its navigable surface.
By 1965, Tolkien had “nearly completed” The Mariner’s Wife. The tale describes Aldarion’s departure from Númenor as follows: “[Aldarion] sailed from the land; and ere day was over he saw it sink shimmering into the sea, and last of all the peak of the Meneltarma as a dark finger against the sunset” (Unfinished Tales, p. 175). The fact that the land disappears from the bottom up must imply the existence of the Earth’s curvature before the Downfall of Númenor. Curiously, there are passages of similar effect in the Akallabêth, which notes that even the far-sighted Númenóreans could only see the haven of Avallónë in the west “from the Meneltarma, maybe, or from some tall ship that lay off their western coast as far as it was lawful for them to go”, and tells that at the coming of Ar-Pharazôn to Middle-earth “men saw his sails coming up out of the sunset”. Whether these details were left here consciously or not, they can be seen to derive from The Drowning of Anadûnê.
A year later, in 1966, the third edition of The Hobbit was published. Among the changes Tolkien made to the text of the book was the following, in the chapter Flies and Spiders, noted and commented on by Douglas A. Anderson in the revised and expanded edition of The Annotated Hobbit (pp. 218–9):
1937: “In the Wide World the Wood-elves lingered in the twilight before the raising of the Sun and Moon; and afterwards they wandered in the forests that grew beneath the sunrise.” >
1966: “In the Wide World the Wood-elves lingered in the twilight of our Sun and Moon, but loved best the stars; and they wandered in the great forests that grew tall in lands that are now lost.”
In the broader context of this paragraph, the Wood-elves who lingered in Middle-earth “in the twilight of our Sun and Moon” (perhaps a reference to the darkening of the world by Melkor) are contrasted with the Light-elves, Deep-elves and Sea-elves who went to Valinor and lived there for ages, and the revised reading thus implies that the Sun and Moon already existed at the time of the Great Journey. Indeed, Douglas A. Anderson comments on this as follows:
The 1937 version of this passage is in full accord with both the early history of the Elves and the story of the making of the Sun and Moon from the last fruits of the Two Trees in Valinor, as is told in Chapter 11 of the published version of The Silmarillion. The revised reading seems to reflect Tolkien’s decision late in life to abandon this idea and accept that Middle-earth was illuminated by the Sun and Moon from its very beginning (The Annotated Hobbit, p. 219).
Sometime in the late 1960s, Tolkien composed a group of texts describing the primitive Elvish astronomical picture of the world, which was published in the chapter Dark and Light in part three of The Nature of Middle-earth (pp. 279–85). These texts clearly imply that the Sun, the Moon and even Venus (mythologically Eärendil) are celestial bodies existing from the beginning of the world, as well as reiterate the equation of Arda with the Solar System.
Another note from the late 1960s (The Nature of Middle-earth, pp. 353–4) describes the ñaltalma, an Eldarin device for signalling from afar using the light of the Sun and Moon. It is said that the ñaltalma was, as most such things, in later days attributed to Fëanor, but was probably far older. Similar devices were independently used by the Sindar, which indicates that they probably originated in the Common Eldarin period. This scenario would be naturally impossible if the Sun and Moon were created from the Two Trees after their death.
A linguistic text from c. 1967, published in the chapter The Visible Forms of the Valar and Maiar in part three of The Nature of Middle-earth (pp. 241–5), mentions the Common Eldarin stem √phan-, noting “its very ancient application to clouds <…> as (partial) veils over the blue sky, or over the sun, moon, or stars”.
Text 2 of the chapter The Making of Lembas in part three of The Nature of Middle-earth (p. 296), dating from c. 1968, attributes the diminished virtue of the Western Corn during the Great Journey to the “dim sunlight” (another reference, it seems, to the darkening of the world by Melkor).
The Problem of Ros (c. 1968) describes the Menelrond, the great throne hall of Thingol and Melian, the high arched roof of which was adorned with silver and gems set in the order and figures of the stars in the great Dome of Valmar in Aman (The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 371). It is not quite clear what is meant here by “the Dome of Valmar”, but Christopher Tolkien equates it with the Dome of Varda mentioned in Myths Transformed. If that is true, then the name Valmar in this case must stand for the land of the Valar as a whole, usually called Valinor, as it does in the concluding lines of Galadriel’s lament according to Tolkien’s explicit statement in The Road Goes Ever On (p. 70). In any case, another more transparent reference to the Dome of Varda occurs in a discussion of the Eldarin article dating from 1969 or later, where Tolkien explains that the words tintilar i eleni in Galadriel’s lament refer to “those stars that adorned or shone through the transparent roofs of the Domes of Varda, which were not all visible stars, nor in fact the actual stars of the firmament of the outer world” (Parma Eldalamberon 23, p. 133). Curiously, the words “the Domes of Varda” in this passage seem to refer to the roofs of the domed halls of Manwë and Varda upon Taniquetil (which is not necessarily a contradiction – see the note on the word telluma in The War of the Jewels, p. 399), but the idea of the lesser firmament over Valinor is still present.
Even more hints of the new cosmology can be found in Tolkien’s latest narratives, which contain some references to the change of the time of day, which imply the existence of the Sun at the time when it could not yet exist within the framework of the old cosmology. The Shibboleth of Fëanor (c. 1968) tells the story of the burning of the ships at Losgar:
In the night Fëanor, filled with malice, aroused Curufin, <…>
In the morning the host was mustered… (The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 354).
Last Writings. Círdan (1972–3) describes the moment when Círdan sees the Lonely Isle departing from the shores of Beleriand:
Then, it is said, he stood forlorn looking out to sea, and it was night, <…>
From that night onwards… (The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 386).
As a conclusion, it seems evident that the “Round World” conception, first considered by Tolkien in the 1940s and finally accepted by him in the late 1950s, was adhered to by him throughout the 1960s and up to his death in 1973 and never abandoned as the underlying truth of his imaginary world. The conflict between the new cosmological views and the long-established legends, caused by such a dramatic upheaval, was largely solved when Tolkien adopted the idea of Mannish transmission of the Silmarillion, which transformed it into an “inner myth” inside Tolkien’s world, while new texts pertaining to the authentic High-elven tradition recognized the new cosmological truth. Some elements of Tolkien’s earlier creation, such as the role of Ælfwine in the transmission of the Silmarillion, had to be abandoned, but the whole continued to live and evolve. In any case, the purpose of this article is not to judge which version of Tolkien’s cosmology is “better” (opinions may vary on this point), but only to provide evidence of Tolkien’s own views during the last decades of his life, as far as they can be determined.
Read also: The Valian and Elvish Year – in this essay it is suggested that Tolkien’s decision to change the length of the Valian year to make it equal to 144 solar years, which resulted in abandonment of the chronology of the Annals of Aman, was caused by the evolution of his conception of Elvish ageing and not by his reshaping of the cosmology, as it is generally assumed.
Thank you very much, intricately written!
You are very welcome, Nindis, and thank you!
Thank you for the well-argued article!
Perhaps one might also consider Ithilbor, whose name is presumably “Moon-fist”. In “Narn i Chîn Húrin” his son Saeros was among the Nandor who “took refuge in Doriath after the fall of their lord Denethor upon Amon Ereb, in the first battle of Beleriand”. That predates the making of the Sun and Moon in the Flat World chronology, so it certainly seems easier to explain Ithilbor’s name in the Round World.
Incidentally, Christopher Tolkien pointed out (in his commentary to Myths Transformed text I) that the Túrin saga was being worked on at the same time when his father considered making the three Great Tales into Númenórean material. That goes some way to suggesting that Ithilbor’s name (which is on Unfinished Tales p. 77 and 81) is no casual slip.
I am glad you liked the article!
Thank you for pointing out to me the significance of Ithilbor’s name – I have never noticed it before. In theory, one could argue that it might have not been his original name, but a surname given to him at some later point in his life that became widely recognised and replaced his original name in common usage (there are quite a few examples of this in the legendarium), but of course the “Round World” provides an easier explanation. I might add this to the article when I have more material for a significant update. Thank you again!
You’re welcome!
Honestly, the great mystery for me in the Round World is how the identification of Eärendil with Venus works. Frustratingly we get the tidbit from “Dark and Light” that it is somehow mythological and that Venus already existed, but the coming of Eärendil to Valinor appears as late as “The Problem of Ros”. So somehow they were squared together in JRRT’s mind, but he never said precisely how. Oh well. I think it is not a significant argument against the Round World; as you mentioned, there are many repeated confirmations of it in late texts. So it is probably no more than just JRRT not getting around to writing this bit, like he didn’t get around to a rewrite of the Fall of Gondolin. Still a pity.
Maybe if one squints there is one hint. In Letter 283a (1966, extended version) JRRT seemed to be inclined to take it for reality, correcting Plotz by saying “only one of the silmarils is now visible: the one in the ship of Earendil, the morning star”. That would accord with the conception at the time of the Flat World (e.g. Letter 131 from 1951 “The ship of Earendil adorned with the last Silmaril is set in heaven as the brightest star”). However letter 297 (1967) is interestingly different: “But Eärendil, being in part descended from Men, was not allowed to set foot on Earth again, and became a Star shining with the light of the Silmaril, which contained the last remnant of the unsullied light of Paradise, given by the Two Trees before their defilement and slaying by Morgoth.”
So if one reads that completely literally, fixating on the wording “the light of the Silmaril”, then maybe this can be interpreted in light of “Myths Transformed” text II. Note 19 says that JRRT said Varda gave the holy light of Eru also to “the significant Star”, which surely is Venus (as Kristine Larsen pointed out in “(V)Arda Marred – The Evolution of the Queen of the Stars”). So perhaps, after Eärendil reached Valinor and made his plea, Varda somehow transferred the holy light in the Silmaril to Venus. I think that’s the furthest we have, though.
P.S. I am aware this is still reaching somewhat, since even in letter 297 Eärendil “became a Star”! Maybe this is just one of those things where we should just take it that there’s an untold truth behind the myth, as in the “Morgoth’s Ring” p. 374 note you quoted.
I have updated the article with Ithilbor and Anaxartaron Onyalië.
As for the matter of Eärendil, yes, I have pondered it much and have some thoughts to share. I think some additional information can be found in the Dark and Light chapter. First, it is said that the astronomical picture of the primitive Elves was crossed with mythological or poetic talent which coloured their myths even after they learned more scientific truth from the Valar. Second, it is said that Venus was originally called Elmō. This name presumably means something like “Star-person”. I find this significant. I think Venus was personified and mythologised from the beginning. There was a kind of Proto-Eärendil, which later was merged with historical Eärendil.
And some additional random thoughts on possible connections between Venus and historical Eärendil.
Venus might have been a portent of Eärendil as Orion was of Túrin. There was a prophecy of Eärendil among the Elves as Gwindor told Túrin in Nargothrond (it probably originated from the words of Mandos during the council of the Valar concerning Finwë and Míriel, see MR/247).
Eärendil might have followed Venus as an orient when sailing to Valinor. The Elves certainly did so later. In “Bilbo’s Last Song” the ship is said to follow the Star above its mast; the Ring-keepers sailed into the West in twilight; and in the letter № 325 Tolkien says that the ships sailing into the West only set out after sundown.
P.S. The name Signifer from MR does not cease to bug me. Or rather its Q and S equivalents(?) Tainacolli/Tannacolli, Taengyl/Tengyl. One problem is, for what we know, final -i in contemporary Q forms can only appear either as a plural marker (as in eleni, atani) or as a feminine marker (as in heri, tári). Another problem, Latin Signifer clearly has active meaning (sign-bearer), while Q. colla appearing in the same note has passive meaning: borne, worn.
P.P.S. I really appreciate your contribution to the discussion of RW.
Thank you!
I like your idea about an early mythologisation of Venus. If Elmō is “Star-person”, then it seems plausible that Elmo the brother of Elwë and Olwë (mentioned in the RW texts in “Time and Ageing”) was outright named in honour of the planet and its associated myth. We have Elemmírë as well (as a name for Mercury, and the author of the Aldudénië), so it seems planetary names could indeed be used for Elf-children.
However, regarding a prophecy of Eärendil among the Elves: while I agree with your argument, it seems to me that there is a slight wrinkle, which is that in “Glorfindel II” it is said that Glorfindel “cannot have known the importance” of his deed defending Tuor, Idril, and their son. But Mandos’ words in MR/247 outright named Eärendil, and the “Shibboleth” tells us that Eärendil was a prophetic father-name. In that case, presumably many of the Gondolindrim should have recalled the words of Mandos, including Glorfindel. Well, to be fair, such a problem persists as far back as BoLT with Turgon naming his city Gondolin even though there’s a prophecy about its doom. Maybe it did not bother JRRT. As far as my own personal quibbles go, I might resolve this by mentally considering the naming of Eärendil by Mandos to be a later interpolation once the significance became clear.
Another question I have is where Eärendil exactly ends up after delivering his message. Even in the Round World (The Drowning of Anadûnê text II paragraph 23) it seems that Eärendil is not in Aman, and that even the Valar and Eldar can only say of him: “Nay, he is not there; though maybe he liveth. But of such things we cannot speak unto you.” (It’s just before the part you quote about the world being round.)
I am writing a fanfic heavily using RW (it’s “The Long Defeat” on Spacebattles), so I’ve been thinking a lot about this issue. (Of course I am nowhere near that part of the story, and anyway when writing fanfic I play with canon and weld together incompatible versions, in a way I naturally would not in a scholarly discussion like this. For one thing, my fic has the Fëanorian Aredhel from “Time and Ageing” mixed with the late story of Eöl. Still I should like to know what canon has to say before playing around with it!) My general thought is that considering Elwing’s shape-shifting, and the Sea-longing awakening in Tuor (which presumably it shouldn’t in a mortal), perhaps Ulmo poured some of his power into his designs to save the Exiles, so that Tuor, Eärendil, and Elwing are not quite normal cases anymore and are partly Maiarised. (Something like the light version of Morgoth pouring his power into ruining the lives of Húrin and his family, or the opposite of how Melian became more like an Elf after wedding Thingol and bearing Lúthien.) In that case, perhaps Eärendil and Elwing can literally become Venus and Mercury in the sense that they are thereafter like the patron-Maiar of those planets (something like Tilion as the patron Maia of the Moon). It would perhaps explain why the Valar are cagey about his actual fate, since he is no longer living in quite the same way a normal incarnate would; and it would make the mythological identification of Eärendil with Venus to be also true in another way. Well, this is all wild speculation on my part. If you have another idea about what happened to the historical Eärendil, do let me know! :D
Yeah, I agree that there’s a linguistic issue about Signifer. OTOH, CJRT calls those names “experimental”: perhaps the variation in forms at least indicates that JRRT wasn’t satisfied with the result. Personally I also dislike the idea of Varda granting the Holy Light to Venus, just for scientific reasons. It should not be a light-bringer but only a light-reflector, similar to the Moon: and the Valar ought to be teaching the Eldar the scientific truth as we know it. Just my quibble though.
I think the way I’d classify the RW version is simply: as you demonstrated, it’s clearly JRRT’s final intent in the sense that he was so consistent about the Sun and Moon existing before the Trees in late texts. However the precise mechanics and timeline of it are sometimes not all that clear. Eärendil is one example. Another is that I’m highly uncertain about how Aman is supposed to work after the Death of the Trees, because Myths Transformed text III raises some worrying questions. For if the misty Dome of Varda was meant to keep the Sun out, because its light was polluted, then Valinor is no longer blessed. And in some sense maybe it is not: per LaCE, death and decay did appear there while Melkor was in there, as for the withering of Finwë’s body (and in the “Shibboleth” Míriel’s body is allowed to wither away before the unchaining of Melkor). Yet in text IV it seems the Dome was meant to keep out Melkor’s spies, just as the Hiding of Valinor does. Indeed the two are described quite similarly. In Quendi and Eldar note 36 we likewise hear at the Flight that “the mists of Araman wrapped the distant mountains of Valinor from the sight of the Noldor”. (So that presumably Fëanor lifted up his hands in response to Varda doing the same just before.) I really don’t know. Perhaps Valinor’s removal was in a sense necessary because it was now just like any other part of Ambar – stained by the Morgoth-element – and the only way it could be a true unmarred paradise for the Eldar again was its physical removal and transferral into memory alone, as if the End had come early (similar to the c. 1959 text on the Númenórean catastrophe)?
Well, I would take it like your article on the Valian year: JRRT agreed the old conception had to change, and set down key pillars of the new and stuck to them. But he also left much undeveloped (perhaps with the idea that the Númenórean-transmission caveat would save him from much of the remodelling and shift the burden to us poor speculating readers).
There is much to think about here.
Concerning Elmo: I suspect that the younger brother of Elwë and Olwë might have been renamed Nelwë (NM/349) after (and because) Elmo became the original name of Venus (the note where the name Nelwë appears seems to be more or less contemorary with the Dark and Light texts, but difficult to say anything more precise).
Well, as a fan, I like the NM/349 note because it provides a way for Celeborn to be a Teler (which I prefer) without him being Galadriel’s first cousin. The latter would make the Akallabêth somewhat more difficult to rationalise.
However, putting on my scholarly hat, it should also be noted that Carl Hostetter wrote that this NM/349 note was struck through. So I am not sure if it can be considered valid. It also does have a quite anomalous account of Eärwen: she is not named in NM/349, but there it is stated that Galadriel’s mother was sister (rather than daughter!) of Olwë.
Returning to something less speculative, there is another clear example of the Round World in “Of the Ents and the Eagles” (HoME XI typescript B, at least 1958-59). CJRT notes that in typescript B is written “and some sang to Eru amid the wind and the rain and the glitter of the Sun”, and of course (as he notes) this is only compatible with the Round World. (Douglas Kane also pointed this passage out in his discussion of the Silmarillion chapter 2 in “Arda Reconstructed”.)
Oh, great catch! I am surprised I missed that bit when reading the text, especially given the fact that even Christopher himself commented on it. I should certainly add this to the article. Thank you!
Regarding mythological Eärendil, I found another quote:
“To be mythologically precise, as the song I 246-9 relates, the Evening (or Morning) Star is
a transparent boat steered by E. allowing the light of the Silmaril to be seen. The expression Earendil for E. Star I 380 is inaccurate but natural mythologically: like using Apollo for the Sun or Diana for the Moon.” – Parma Eldalamberon XVII, p. 19
I think this is another clear statement that “Eärendil = Venus” is purely a myth in-universe. And it makes me think, since this is certainly later than “The Drowning of Anadûnê”, that the problem is solved by the “Silmarillion” version that CJRT says in HoME XII “The History of the Akallabêth” wasn’t significantly edited. There instead of denying that Eärendil is in Aman, they simply say he has a fate apart, is judged to the Firstborn, and that is doomed never to return. So perhaps Eärendil and Elwing might simply be living in Valinor.
Also in Bilbo’s song about Eärendil from LOTR, the name “Tarmenel” appears, that would later (Parma Eldalamberon XVII p. 22) be explained as the true firmament (then hyphenated as “Tar-menel”) contrasting with “Nur-menel” the Dome of Varda.
(Oh, I should have clarified: when I say it wasn’t significantly edited, I mean simply the matter of the answer to Tar-Atanamir’s question about Eärendil “he has a fate apart, and was adjudged to the Firstborn who die not; yet this also is his doom that he can never return again to mortal lands”. Of course, as CJRT remarks, there were a bunch of edits about thou vs you, and – significant for the RWV – the Akallabêth B 2 has “within the girdle of the Earth” for the Silmarillion’s “within the Circles of the World”, and “The love of this Earth” for the Silmarillion’s “The love of Arda”.)
You made a very interesting observation concerning the change between “The Drowning of Anadûnê” and the “Akallabêth”, though, in my opinion, the most difficult problem is to explain how the connection between the historical Eärendil and Venus arose, especially among the Elves. I was just today pondering whether the vision of Círdan described in a text from the “Last Writings” bundle might have contributed to it.
Do you have an account on Discord? I am very active there (mostly in Tolkien-related communities, and especially Vinyë Lambengolmor), and I think it might be more convenient for lengthy discussions.
My username is amalcarin.