The Standing Stone

[Priya]

I am shortly going to return to fairy tales because, per the example provided in my previous post, the standing stone of Einion and Olwen guards the entrance to fairyland; thus it is key. And to recognize that is vital in this quest to understand what Tolkien did.

But before I discuss how the stone of the Barrow-downs may have been used in a similar way to gain entry into Middle-earth Faërie, I would like to highlight some of what Tolkien said about ‘time’ and its relationship to faerie. Also, I would like to chat a little about a ‘green sun’. Tolkien made some candid remarks about these two phenomena. Perhaps his comments will help dispel hesitancy and doubts among readers of this thread as to the existence of a Middle-earth Faërie in The Lord of the Rings.

Now, using faerie of fairy tale lore, Tolkien employed not only ‘Other Place’ but had the hobbits unknowingly:

“… open a door on Other Time, …”.

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript B MS. 4 F73-120 – pg. 228, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

Upon emergence back through the doorway created by the two standing stones, Frodo’s friends were long gone. His all too brief venture into the otherworld of Middle-earth Faërie reflected our world’s reports:

“There are, for instance, many stories telling how men and women have disappeared and spent years among the fairies, without noticing the passage of time, or appearing to grow older.”

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – Note F, HarperCollins, 1983

A Doorway in Fairyland, L. Housman, 1923

Our Primary world and Tolkien’s Faërie touched, but both occupied a different space in the Universe, and both operated under different clock cycles:

“There must be some way or ways of access from and to Faery … but it is also necessary that Faery and the world [of Men], though in contact, should occupy a different time and space, or occupy them in different modes …”.

– Smith of Wootton Major: Extended Edition, Tolkien Essay, Edited by V. Flieger, 2005

“If Faery Time is at points contiguous with ours, the contiguity will occur in related points in space.”

– Smith of Wootton Major: Extended Edition, Tolkien Essay, Edited by V. Flieger, 2005

So by inadvertently entering Middle-earth Faërie, Frodo avoided initial capture by the Wight and thus escaped from the deep ‘sleep’ spell and ceremonial dressing imposed upon the other three hobbits. It allowed him to call for aid. But what I want to emphasize is how Tolkien voiced there was more than one method of gaining entry:

“There must be some way or ways of access from and to Faery …”.
– Smith of Wootton Major: Extended Edition, Tolkien Essay, Edited by V. Flieger, 2005

Hmm … yes I know there is a lot to ponder upon; yet a mixture of fairy tales and Celtic legends allows us to solve and finally fully comprehend another mysterious happening in the fog-laden chapter. We should acknowledge that there is still much to uncover, and remind ourselves only Tolkien knew it all. Even the most renowned of scholars has noted there are things in the novel that appear inexplicable:

“The scene with the wight is especially mysterious …”.

– J.R.R. Tolkien Author of the Century, Chapter II – pg. 67, T. Shippey, 2014

What exactly was the green light in the Wight’s barrow that seemed to emanate from the ground about Frodo and then slowly intensify?

“… a pale greenish light was growing round him. … the light seemed to be coming out of himself, and from the floor beside him, …”.

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

The scholar John Garth has put forward a theory* that the scene may have been linked to Tolkien’s World War I trench warfare experiences and the combative deployment of poisonous gases. But this idea appears tenuous. Especially because Tolkien refers to the aura as ‘light’. A far better and more believable explanation is that here we have simply a continuation of a faerie theme. In tandem with my fairy tale approach advocated all along, very succinctly – the green light was part of Tolkien’s vision of Middle-earth Faërie. Here by the tumuli of the barrows, where two different worlds came closest to touching, the veil was thinnest. It was here why we can truly understand why:

“… green was a fairy colour, …”.

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Note to Line 151, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925

And that was because Tolkien added to its folklore importance by giving his Faërie a ‘green sun’! A sun which was beginning its ascent** in fairyland below!

Aurora Borealis: Perhaps the nearest we can get to imagining a ‘Green Sun’

Quite astoundingly it is all codified in On Fairy-stories. In perhaps his most interesting paper, advice from a personal perspective on secondary world-building faithfully flowed down into his own novel. For an inexperienced novelist trying to invent a fantasy world, Tolkien lectured:

“Anyone … can say the green sun. Many can then imagine or picture it. But that is not enough …”.

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 140, HarperCollins, 1983

Surely Tolkien took the words of St. Augustine who mused upon the creativity of man. Emphasizing that though he had never seen a ‘green sun’ nevertheless it was within his:

“… power to conceive of it as square, …” or “… what color I please, …”.

– The Doctrinal Treatises of St Augustine of Hippo, Book XI Chapter 8 – pg. 156, translated by J. Verlag/J. Beck, 2012

Picking up from where St. Augustine left off, Tolkien warned intense effort would be necessary:

“To make a Secondary World inside which the green sun will be credible***, commanding Secondary Belief, will probably require labour and thought, …”.

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 140, HarperCollins, 1983

Otherwise, it would not possess “an inner consistency of reality”. The reader would disengage and be thrust back into the Primary World. However if sufficient credible ‘realism’ was input, at the end of the exercise would be success:

“Few attempt such difficult tasks. But when they are attempted and in any degree accomplished then we have a rare achievement of Art: indeed narrative art, storymaking in its primary and most potent mode.”

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 140, HarperCollins, 1983

A virtual confession was thus voiced in his paper On Fairy-stories. Tolkien in no roundabout way told us his intentions for The Lord of the Rings. How could he not practice what he preached? Especially as to all intents and purposes confirmation was later openly aired. The Lord of the Rings:

“… was a practical demonstration of the views … expressed.”,

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #234 – 22 November 1961, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

in that ever so revealing On Fairy-stories paper. A ‘green sun’ for Middle-earth Faërie was, I must conclude, Tolkien’s creative artistry at its very best!



… to be continued




* Frodo and the Great War, in The Lord of the Rings, 1954–2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder, ed. Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2006).

** Rational reasons (other than the theory cited) for a slowly growing green light coming from under the earth are hard to arrive at. In any case, one might conclude that after Frodo’s sword-stroke the Wight ‘shrieked’ a counter-spell in retaliation. This instantaneously sealed off the barrow from Middle-earth Faërie (and thus the green sun’s light) in a presumed attempt to cut off external aid.

*** The idea seems to have intrigued Tolkien at least since 1931:

“You may say green sun or dead life and set the imagination leaping.”
– The Monsters and the Critics: And Other Essays, A Secret Vice – pg. 219, HarperCollins, 1983.

Also see Editor’s Commentary by Verlyn Flieger & Douglas Anderson – Tolkien On Fairy-stories, pg. 111, 2014.