Post by Andorinha on Nov 19, 2004 2:50:36 GMT -6
"Frodo looked and saw, still at some distance, a hill of many mighty trees... Out of it, it seemed to him that the power and light came that held all the land in sway. ... Then he looked eastward and saw all the land of Lórien running down to the pale gleam of Anduin, the Great River. He lifted his eyes across the river and all the light went out, and he was back again in the world he knew. ... The sun that lay on Lóthlorien had no power to enlighten the shadow of that distant height." (LotR, "Lothlórien," p. 370, Omnibus ed, PB pp 455-456)
Just what is this "light," this special light, this special "sun" that so brightens the atmosphere of Lothlórien?
Concerning the "Special Light" of Lothlórien:
First, just what was so "special" about the light of Lórien? Here I mean, is the light that shines on Lórien something new in Arda, something Ring produced and novel to Middle-earth? Or is this "special light" simply a preserved remnant of the sort of light that once was available all over Middle-earth back in the "good old days" of the Elder Ages?
So, this gets me involved in seeking potential sources for this light of Lórien -- if we do not want to view it as an entirely new phenomenon or new substance created by the Elven Ring itself.
The Simarillion has many statements concerning the wondrous qualities of the light that first occurred in the earliest days of Arda, descriptions that echo the wonderment that Frodo felt upon seeing the "special light" of Lórien in the Third Age of the World: "where the light of both Lamps met and blended. ...when all things were young, and new-made green was yet a marvel in the eyes of the makers..." (Silmarillion, PB, p. 30). This was during the "Spring Time of Arda" when the Valar themselves had their first dwellings in Middle-earth and had not yet removed to Aman in the West. After Melkor threw down the Lamps, this initial light was removed from the world and the second great light was, if I am not mistaken, reserved only for Aman, Valinor -- the Light of the Two Trees. In Middle-earth, the Elves awoke in Darkness so the "special light" of Lórien could not, I think, be derived from the first light of the Lamps, nor even the Light of the Two Trees, or could it?
When Valinor was darkened, the Two Trees being poisoned, a last flicker of their beauties remained trapped within the living crystal of Fëanor's Silmarils. The colours of these Noldoran gems, their associations with air, water, and earth-fire, seem to be repeated in the colours and elemental associations of the Three Rings. Is there some "organic" connection between the power of the Rings and the Silmarils? I'll return to this a bit later.
The next major advancement in light, comes with the kindling of the stars above Middle-earth, though the types of light and their strengths may not approach the absolute blazing splendour of the light Frodo sees in Lórien. Still, I suppose that some remnant of this enhanced starlight could have been the base of Nenya's light? But, I think it more likely that if Nenya was collecting, and preserving ancient light (rather than creating a whole new form of light) that the most likely source would be the effulgences poured fourth by the Young Sun itself, perhaps mingled with the silvered tones of the wayward Moon as well?
We get some hint of the absolute vibrancy of Middle-earth in its initial stages when we listen to the reminiscences of Treebeard concerning those times before the Great Darkness came: "Those were the broad days! Time was when I could walk and sing all day and hear no more than the echo of my own voice in the hollow hills. The woods were like the woods of Lothlórien, only thicker, stronger, younger. And the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing." (LotR, "Treebeard," Omnibus ed, p. 490)
Gimli has ancestral remembrances of this fair time as well when he chants: "The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen ... the world was fair, the mountains tall..." (LotR, "A Journey in the Dark," pp 333-34).
A problem that arises here, is that while Treebeard and Gimli's chant both tell of the "fresh" and wondrous condition of the early Middle-earth (a general condition of cleanness and healthiness being also found in the very airs of Third Age Lórien) I am not certain either of these sources mentions the "special" quality of light as a separate factor. Treebeard, it seems, is actually speaking of pre-Sun times?
But with the coming of the Moon and Sun, we do at last have a deeply powerful light source for Middle-earth. We even have a connection between the light of the Two Trees and the subsequent light of these two celestial bodies. "Yet even as hope failed [and the Two Trees died] ... Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single fruit of gold." (Silmarillion, p. 113) From these two, the Moon and the Sun were fashioned so that, (at least by second hand) the "very special light" of the Two Trees came to Middle-earth.
But was this new light ever all that "special," even at its beginning? Tolkien tells us that the Sun spread its most concentrated magnificence over Valinor, and only a lesser brilliance of its light was let fall upon Middle-earth itself. He further adds that even while it was new and fresh, the light of the Sun and Moon were but pale memories of the beauties of that light once shed by the Two Trees. "But neither the Sun nor the Moon can recall the light that was of old, that came from the Trees before they were touched by the poison of Ungoliant. That light lives now in the Silmarils alone." (Sil. p. 118)
So from the "get go" any pre-existing light source that Galadriel might capture/ renew/ or concentrate in Lothlórien was second rate stuff. As time passed (variable-real, or just "perceived") the natural entropy built into Arda Marred, and qualified by the Elven thinkers as "The Fading," would gradually reduce even this second-hand, "second rate" light to an ever paler sheen. The Sun burned its gradual way towards extinction through a goodly portion of the First Age, and almost 1600 years of the Second Age before Galadriel had at hand a device that could capture the light of those times. This would be pretty weak and watery stuff, compared to its first bright flaring, and especially when compared to its own parent source, The Two Trees. So, just how wonderful was this light of the Second Age Sun? (I make no mention of the Moon as it was apparently not visible in Lórien.) Do we have any Second Age sources that proclaim the special beauties of this light shed generally over Middle-earth just before the Three Rings were activated? I cannot recall any, so I will have to make a special search for such, and report back later if others do not know already.
It is, at any rate, from this weaker light, that Galadriel would have to find the root stuff of the "special light" in Lórien, which, by late in the Third Age was still so able to impress Frodo. This argues that Third Age light (some 5,450 + years later) must have been absolutely ghastly in comparison if even the weakly stuff of the Second Age looked that good.
If Time moved just as rapidly in Lórien as it did in all the other corners of Middle-earth, the ring Nenya must have been ferociously powerful to keep the light so special there (at least of Second Age brilliance!). Would slowing time, within the geographical limits of the ring's power be a more effective way of conserving that Second Age light -- or, in the physics of Middle-earth, would time-bending actually require more power?
Whatever the physics, we are told that it is the power of Nenya that keeps the air clean, the plants healthy, the Elves singing, and the light so special there. I think this is why Tolkien first invented his variable time-schemes. It gave him a plausible, Middle-earth physics reason for the preservation of this zone, including its vigorous plant life, and its sparkling, brilliant light. Lothlórien becomes a sort of Brigadoon, an encapsulated zone where the richer airs, flavours, and lights of an earlier time are still present.
Alternatively:
Do the Three Elven Rings, have some connection, either directly with the Silmarils, or the source power behind them? In that case, could the special light of Lórien be an aspect of the very special light of the Two Trees, and not be from the Sun at all? I do not know of any quotations from Tolkien that might allow or support this notion, so I advance it here as no more than reader speculation.
Another possibility I can see, is that the Ring Nenya -- for some reason that makes it more powerful by far than either Narya or Vilya -- is able to bend time. We have no such discussion of time variability in Rivendell, nor does Gandalf seem to have such time control available to him through Narya. Apparently the discussions found in ToI 367-369 were meant to deal with the special case of Nenya and Lórien alone. Are these two other Elven Rings that much less than Nenya (or is Galadriel that much more potent in herself)?
A final thread that I just mention here is the possibility that Nenya-Galadriel can produce from scratch some substance/ phenomenon that enriches "normal" light and maintains it within Lórien. I think this would follow if one does not choose to see Lóthlorien as a place where the old times and old purities and old intensities are maintained through the mechanism of its variable time.
Ah, another possibility is, of course, that the reputed, special quality of the light in Lorien is but a trick of the perceptions of Sam, Frodo, and Company...
Just what is this "light," this special light, this special "sun" that so brightens the atmosphere of Lothlórien?
Concerning the "Special Light" of Lothlórien:
First, just what was so "special" about the light of Lórien? Here I mean, is the light that shines on Lórien something new in Arda, something Ring produced and novel to Middle-earth? Or is this "special light" simply a preserved remnant of the sort of light that once was available all over Middle-earth back in the "good old days" of the Elder Ages?
So, this gets me involved in seeking potential sources for this light of Lórien -- if we do not want to view it as an entirely new phenomenon or new substance created by the Elven Ring itself.
The Simarillion has many statements concerning the wondrous qualities of the light that first occurred in the earliest days of Arda, descriptions that echo the wonderment that Frodo felt upon seeing the "special light" of Lórien in the Third Age of the World: "where the light of both Lamps met and blended. ...when all things were young, and new-made green was yet a marvel in the eyes of the makers..." (Silmarillion, PB, p. 30). This was during the "Spring Time of Arda" when the Valar themselves had their first dwellings in Middle-earth and had not yet removed to Aman in the West. After Melkor threw down the Lamps, this initial light was removed from the world and the second great light was, if I am not mistaken, reserved only for Aman, Valinor -- the Light of the Two Trees. In Middle-earth, the Elves awoke in Darkness so the "special light" of Lórien could not, I think, be derived from the first light of the Lamps, nor even the Light of the Two Trees, or could it?
When Valinor was darkened, the Two Trees being poisoned, a last flicker of their beauties remained trapped within the living crystal of Fëanor's Silmarils. The colours of these Noldoran gems, their associations with air, water, and earth-fire, seem to be repeated in the colours and elemental associations of the Three Rings. Is there some "organic" connection between the power of the Rings and the Silmarils? I'll return to this a bit later.
The next major advancement in light, comes with the kindling of the stars above Middle-earth, though the types of light and their strengths may not approach the absolute blazing splendour of the light Frodo sees in Lórien. Still, I suppose that some remnant of this enhanced starlight could have been the base of Nenya's light? But, I think it more likely that if Nenya was collecting, and preserving ancient light (rather than creating a whole new form of light) that the most likely source would be the effulgences poured fourth by the Young Sun itself, perhaps mingled with the silvered tones of the wayward Moon as well?
We get some hint of the absolute vibrancy of Middle-earth in its initial stages when we listen to the reminiscences of Treebeard concerning those times before the Great Darkness came: "Those were the broad days! Time was when I could walk and sing all day and hear no more than the echo of my own voice in the hollow hills. The woods were like the woods of Lothlórien, only thicker, stronger, younger. And the smell of the air! I used to spend a week just breathing." (LotR, "Treebeard," Omnibus ed, p. 490)
Gimli has ancestral remembrances of this fair time as well when he chants: "The world was young, the mountains green, No stain yet on the Moon was seen ... the world was fair, the mountains tall..." (LotR, "A Journey in the Dark," pp 333-34).
A problem that arises here, is that while Treebeard and Gimli's chant both tell of the "fresh" and wondrous condition of the early Middle-earth (a general condition of cleanness and healthiness being also found in the very airs of Third Age Lórien) I am not certain either of these sources mentions the "special" quality of light as a separate factor. Treebeard, it seems, is actually speaking of pre-Sun times?
But with the coming of the Moon and Sun, we do at last have a deeply powerful light source for Middle-earth. We even have a connection between the light of the Two Trees and the subsequent light of these two celestial bodies. "Yet even as hope failed [and the Two Trees died] ... Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single fruit of gold." (Silmarillion, p. 113) From these two, the Moon and the Sun were fashioned so that, (at least by second hand) the "very special light" of the Two Trees came to Middle-earth.
But was this new light ever all that "special," even at its beginning? Tolkien tells us that the Sun spread its most concentrated magnificence over Valinor, and only a lesser brilliance of its light was let fall upon Middle-earth itself. He further adds that even while it was new and fresh, the light of the Sun and Moon were but pale memories of the beauties of that light once shed by the Two Trees. "But neither the Sun nor the Moon can recall the light that was of old, that came from the Trees before they were touched by the poison of Ungoliant. That light lives now in the Silmarils alone." (Sil. p. 118)
So from the "get go" any pre-existing light source that Galadriel might capture/ renew/ or concentrate in Lothlórien was second rate stuff. As time passed (variable-real, or just "perceived") the natural entropy built into Arda Marred, and qualified by the Elven thinkers as "The Fading," would gradually reduce even this second-hand, "second rate" light to an ever paler sheen. The Sun burned its gradual way towards extinction through a goodly portion of the First Age, and almost 1600 years of the Second Age before Galadriel had at hand a device that could capture the light of those times. This would be pretty weak and watery stuff, compared to its first bright flaring, and especially when compared to its own parent source, The Two Trees. So, just how wonderful was this light of the Second Age Sun? (I make no mention of the Moon as it was apparently not visible in Lórien.) Do we have any Second Age sources that proclaim the special beauties of this light shed generally over Middle-earth just before the Three Rings were activated? I cannot recall any, so I will have to make a special search for such, and report back later if others do not know already.
It is, at any rate, from this weaker light, that Galadriel would have to find the root stuff of the "special light" in Lórien, which, by late in the Third Age was still so able to impress Frodo. This argues that Third Age light (some 5,450 + years later) must have been absolutely ghastly in comparison if even the weakly stuff of the Second Age looked that good.
If Time moved just as rapidly in Lórien as it did in all the other corners of Middle-earth, the ring Nenya must have been ferociously powerful to keep the light so special there (at least of Second Age brilliance!). Would slowing time, within the geographical limits of the ring's power be a more effective way of conserving that Second Age light -- or, in the physics of Middle-earth, would time-bending actually require more power?
Whatever the physics, we are told that it is the power of Nenya that keeps the air clean, the plants healthy, the Elves singing, and the light so special there. I think this is why Tolkien first invented his variable time-schemes. It gave him a plausible, Middle-earth physics reason for the preservation of this zone, including its vigorous plant life, and its sparkling, brilliant light. Lothlórien becomes a sort of Brigadoon, an encapsulated zone where the richer airs, flavours, and lights of an earlier time are still present.
Alternatively:
Do the Three Elven Rings, have some connection, either directly with the Silmarils, or the source power behind them? In that case, could the special light of Lórien be an aspect of the very special light of the Two Trees, and not be from the Sun at all? I do not know of any quotations from Tolkien that might allow or support this notion, so I advance it here as no more than reader speculation.
Another possibility I can see, is that the Ring Nenya -- for some reason that makes it more powerful by far than either Narya or Vilya -- is able to bend time. We have no such discussion of time variability in Rivendell, nor does Gandalf seem to have such time control available to him through Narya. Apparently the discussions found in ToI 367-369 were meant to deal with the special case of Nenya and Lórien alone. Are these two other Elven Rings that much less than Nenya (or is Galadriel that much more potent in herself)?
A final thread that I just mention here is the possibility that Nenya-Galadriel can produce from scratch some substance/ phenomenon that enriches "normal" light and maintains it within Lórien. I think this would follow if one does not choose to see Lóthlorien as a place where the old times and old purities and old intensities are maintained through the mechanism of its variable time.
Ah, another possibility is, of course, that the reputed, special quality of the light in Lorien is but a trick of the perceptions of Sam, Frodo, and Company...