Quote:
Originally Posted by Morgoth Bauglir
I just purchased The Book of Lost Tales Part one and am only a few pages into it. Im at the part where he is telling Eriol and the other inhabitants of the cottage about the cottage of lost play.
My question is that when does this take place? It must be after Earendel (this is how its spelt in the book) guides the men to Numenore, because there are references to Earendel constantly. Furthermore, i would like to know if eriol (Aelfwine) is related to Earendel, because i believe there was a reference to that also.
[ November 01, 2002: Message edited by: Morgoth Bauglir ]
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If we look at the actual text of the first version of "The Cottage of Lost Play," in BOLT-1, pp. 13 -21 - hardback edition, there are some very intriguing differences observable when comparing this early Earendel to the more developed Earendil of later texts, especially in BOLT-2 and the Silmarillion.
I think here, Morgoth Bauglir has largely "got it right:" Eriol and Earendel are related.
In fact, it appears from p. 13, that Eriol (in this first version of "The Cottage of Lost Play") is to be seen as the actual, "flesh-and-blood" son of Earendel, or so I interpret the passage:
"Now it happened on a certain time that a traveler from far countries, a man of great curiosity ... brought in a ship as far west even as the Lonely Island, Tol Eressea in the fairy speech..." (BOLT-1, 13) Here JRRT identifies Eriol as a MAN.
"Now at that time [in the evening] the desire of new sights is least , even in one whose heart is that of an explorer; and then even such a son of Earendel as this wayfarer..."(BOLT-1: p. 13 hdbk ver, my emphasis) Here we get the data that our "traveler" is the son of Earendel.
"Then thought Eriol (for thus did the people of the island after call him...)" (BOLT-1, p. 14) and here we get the identification of our traveler, he is, in fact, Eriol.
If the traveler is a Man, and he is the son of Earendel, then, at this time in JRRT's thought, Earendel must have been a Man as well; or IF Earendel is half-elven here, then Eriol would not be classed as a Man, would he? We have no indication from the text (BOLT-1, pp 13-21) that Eriol is ever classed as anything other than a mortal human Man, so it is unlikely that his father would be anything other than a Man.
On p 18 (BOLT-1) we have confirmation that Eriol is the son of Earendel when Lindo says: "For that this night we entertain a guest, a man of great and excellent travel, a son meseems of Earendel..." Eriol then requests a tale of the Lonely Island, its history, and of this he is told, but there is no mention of the quest of Earendil (as found in the Silmarillion). No mention is made of Earendel as anything other than a mortal Man, a human sea-farer. There is no message quest to seek the assistance of the Valar, no silmaril upon Earendel's ship, nothing to indicate the half-elven status of the later tales...
In fact, this first version gives us the further information that Earendel, far from being an immortal "half-elf," has long since died, died a mortal's death, after seeing, and hearing, and dreaming of the Fairy Realm. But, just like the Mortal Man "loony" in the poem, "The Sea Bell," Earendel died still trying to find Faerie: "Now all his life was he restless, as if a longing half-expressed for unknown things dwelt within him; and 'tis said that he died among the rocks on a lonely coast on a night of storm -- and moreover that most of his children and their children since have been of a restless mind -- and methinks I know now the truth of the matter" (BOLT-1, p. 20)
So, what we have here, if we restrict ourselves to just this text in BOLT-1, pp 13 - 21, is a tale of two MEN, who travel by the same "straight path" over the sea toward the same Fairy Land, and they are father and son, Earendel and Eriol.
The confusion arises a bit later, when JRRT alters this original tale to fit with his later development of Earendel (the Man) who becomes morphed into Earendil (the Half-Elf, Half-man). This all gets rather confusing because JRRT has so many "re-used" themes and "re-used" characters in his palimpsestic texts. But, at this moment, in BOLT-1, (pp 13-21) we have nothing yet regarding the Half-Elven nature of Earendel.
Christopher Tolkien muddies this issue (the original mortal-man aspect of Earendel) almost immediately when he mentions in his commentaries on this first tale (BOLT-1, pp 22-27) that his father, JRRT, reworked the material several times, giving different versions of the Eriol narrative. Unfortunately Chris does not have dates for these "notes" so it will probably be very difficult to get an idea of which version came first. But, it appears from the text that "The Cottage of Lost Play" as presented in pages 13-21, was the oldest form of the narrative.
As we know, JRRT often "reworked" his material, and sometimes abandoned a later versions to go back to an earlier one, or he might scrap the entire theme, to work just bits and pieces of the earliest material into later works. I think we can see this happening in this first section of BOLT-1, pp 13-21. It looks like, from the quote that Earendel actually died, we have an initially mortal man, a sea-farer, Earendel. He is twice listed as the "father" of Eriol, the mortal man, in this same section.
But, once we leave this section, the storyline changes, as recorded in the notes JRRT wrote later, in fact the story changes several times. Eriol is now introduced as the son of Eoh, related to Hengest and Horsa, the Anglo-Saxon "leaders" of the real-life historical sources. Then Christopher Tolkien mentions a further text/ note by JRRT to the effect that Eriol may be seen as a "metaphorical" son of the Star Earendel: "If a beam [of light] from Earendel fall on a child new-born he becomes 'a child of Earendel' and a wanderer." (BOLT-1, p. 24) Here Earendel is not given either a human nor even an Elven persona, but would seem rather to be, quite simply, a star.
What I think happened here, is that JRRT took up the character Earendel, and altered this person dramatically, and wrote new material about him, changing him from an original mortal man, into a messenger-salvation character of Half-Elven descent. At this point, it was necessary to alter the material in the first version of "The Cottage of Lost Play," and subsequently, Eriol is now presented as a "metaphorical" son of Earendel, not his actual son; and the data concerning the original mortal "death" of Earendel is simply expunged.
But all this "notational" material comes after the initial story. In the first textual version, pp 13-21, it really seems clear to me that Eriol is meant to be a mortal man, and is meant to be the son (in the flesh) of another mortal man, Earendel. And Earendel, to further cement his "manhood," has in fact died a mortal's death "among rocks on a lonely coast on a night of storm..." (BOLT-1, p. 20)
So, when precisely in BOLT (BOLT-1 or BOLT-2), does JRRT actually change the character of Earendel from a mortal seafarer, and father of the mortal Eriol (also a seafarer) to the half-elven prince we find in The Silmarillion?