The Transit of Earendil

[Lalwendë]

It might be another case of metaphors (like the Balrog) - Tolkien says "like a white bird". It may be more to do with the rising than looking like a bird? I like this theory. We've got a couple of articles about Tolkien and astronomy at home (and other scientific subjects) but I didn't find anything to explain this passage about Elwing at all.

If anyone finds anything which may be some kind of reference to the Transit of Venus that would be fantastic. I started out by looking for these, failed, and found that odd reference to Elwing instead. I wouldn't be surprised if there were none as Tolkien never experienced one in his lifetime, there was a large gap between 1882 and 2004. He must have experienced the eclipse of 1927 and he does explain these in a Middle-earth context.