[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Which volume did you get this from? Just to save me rummaging for the Index, you understand

I'm wondering if the name evolved into Tevildo, Lord of Cats? Being that Tolkien was fond of recycling names...

By now you'll have figured this out, likely enough, Lal, but here is it for the public record anyway: this is out of The Book of Lost Tales. It's from the chapter "Gilfanon's Tale" which isn't so much a narrative as disjointed scraps around the missing "middle section." Insofar, therefore, as Tuvo/Tu's name goes, it probably postdates rather than predates Tevildo, since Tevildo is a major character in the original tale of Beren and Tinuviel, which predates these near-the-end workings on the Book of Lost Tales.

That is not to say, however, that Groin is quite right in his assertion:

Originally Posted by Groin Redbeard

After this Tuvo (as I shall refer to him) is never mentioned anywhere else in all of Tolkien’s writing (at least not under the name of Tu or Tuvo).

The name "Tu" does not reappear, this is correct, but a very similar DOES appear--as a wizard, a powerful one, and a not so pleasant character either. Interesting enough, Thû, while having a name similar to "Tu"--and possessing some similar characteristics, is more of a replacement of Tevildo in the Beren and Tinuviel story--who was also apparently a Necromancer of some distinction. He had a minor role in The Hobbit, and as the 1930s went by, Tolkien gave him another name, by which he would chiefly be known in both the developing Silmarillion and in [i]The Hobbit[/b]'s famous sequel--Sauron.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that Sauron is equatable with Tu, but I WOULD suggest that, by stages, Sauron inherited something of the persona or aura of Tu, mixed into his plot-role inherited from Tevildo. And insofar as Saruman seems to be something of another working of the Sauron tradition (servant of Aulë, evil wizard, ring-maker, corrupter of orks), I think The Might might be on to something.