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Old 04-26-2005, 04:28 AM   #16
Findegil
King's Writer
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
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I also like to speculate who were the Elven warriors. The benefit of it is that we might be able to determine the placement of Smith within the timescale of Middle-Earth and thus get some further idea if the inclusion of Smith into the legendarium is likely or not.

If we assume that Smith did visit Valinor, than the only elvenwarriors coming back to it were the Vanyar and Noldor of Finarfin after the final defeat of Morgoth. Smithwould thus be placed around the end of the First Age and the beginning of the Second.
I doubt much if the Queen of Faery is Varda and Alf Manwe. It would rather fit the story to take some elvish leaders here. But the only story that would come to mind is that of the Lost Tales in a very forced combination with some other source: If Ingwe died in the War of Wrath (as he did in LT) and Ingwiel his son did follow Telemektar in watching the sky against Melkors return than Alf could be his son that was call back to Valinor to take up the kingdom.

But we can not be sure if it was to Valinor that Smith did go. The geography he described is not fully consistent with what we know about Valinor or any other part of Arda described by Tolkien in detail. In a place the land of Faery in Smith is seen as a isle. This could be a hint to Tol Eressea in the later Ages when it was again inhabited by the Elves from Beleriand. But I remember no event in the history of Arda where elvenwarriors of Tol Eressea would take part.

An other isle that comes to mind is that of Balar. Between the year of the Sun 473 of the First Age and the end of that Age the isle was inhabited by Elves, while an approached to it would be possible to nearly uninhabited lands. Further on it was told that Círdan's people made swift landings up and down the coast before they were driven from Birthombar and Eglarest, it seems possible therefore that what Smith saw were warriors coming back to Balar after such a ride.
Further on we could also in this light interpret the message of the Queen to Alf (read on carefully, what comes now is based on the speculation just made):
Who could be called king living at Balar? Non else than Gil-galad. We do not hear that he ever had a wife but the Queen of Faery must not necessarily be his wife.
If we take a some what forced interpretation we could say that with the answer that Smith got when he asked were the king was ('He has not told us.') was meant king Turgon. Thus after the fall of Gondolin became known at Balar, the Queen of Faery - Orodreth wife, the mother of Gil-galad would be nearest to this possition - called for Gil-galad to come back since he was now the king ('The time has come.').

Respectfully
Findegil
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