Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfirin
As I said in my quote of the 22nd of last year, it's sort of implied. We know the elves of Mirkwood like the wine of Dorwinion, and we know that, in general, elves do not generally like to have much contact with men or other non elves, especially with regards to the elves of Mirkwood (hence, as I said, why they are simply tossing empty barrels into the river and letting the current take them down, as opposed to say loading them on a raft or a ship (they live on a big river, so they presumably make at least some use of it) and sailing them down. So there really seem to be only 3 possibilites on how the full wine barrels GET to Mirkwood 1. there are men whom the Mirkwood elves trust enough to let them sail into Mirkwood to drop them off 2. The Mirkwood elves are in the habit of regularly sailing down to Esagaroth themselves to pick the wine up or 3. There are elves in Dorwinion to take the wine on board, sail it to Mirkwood then sail back (assuming that the trasport of the empty barrels from Esgaroth to wherever they go (presumably back to Dorwinion to be refilled.) is accomplished by men. I also seem to recall some quote (don't know where) that while wine was the main thing being taken into Mirkwood from Dorwinion, there were other goods from there some of which were specifically referred to as being of elven make. In short, it boils down to, if the elves do not allow men to come to Mirkwood, and do not travel to Esgaroth themselves, then there has to be some other sort of elven presence, or there is NO WAY to get the wine IN. The men of Esgaroth can be sending full barrels back in the river for at least three good reasons. 1. the wine is probably too expensive to risk the losses caused by letting them find there way there 2. Full barrels would sink and 3. Rivers only flow one way under normal circumstances.
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But the Mirkwood Elves do travel to Esgaroth. They form the empty barrels into rafts and ride them downriver. Not only that, but they dine with the Lake-men while they're there. And Esgaroth itself is where the barrels are refilled. This is all in the chapters "Barrels out of Bond " and "A Warm Welcome".
If, however, there *is* a quote about elven-made goods from Dorwinion, that would of course change everything. I haven't been able to find it, though.