LotR -- Book 2 - Chapter 08 - Farewell to Lórien

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bb

The more I think about the old Celtic tales the more I think we should have a thread devoted to the uses Tolkien might have made of them. There is something more here than the oft-stated desire to create a mythology for England. What do you think, davem?

I'd happily start (or at least contribute to) such a thread - but who's read the Mabinogion here? Shippey goes into Tolkien's sources in depth, & along with Beowulf, Kalevala & the Eddas, we can find many 'lesser' sources which Tolkien has made use of. I also suspect that there are many sources with which he was familiar which we'll never know. Sir Orfeo, Gawain & the Green Knight also influenced him; there are ceertainly 'echoes' of Pearl in the vision of Lothlorien. Even the siegelhearwen make an appearance. But there's also another source - contemporary literature: Blackwood, Dunsany ('Possible Echoes of Blackwood & Dunsany in Tolkien's Fiction' in Tolkien Studies vol1) & Rider-Haggard ('Gagool & Gollum: Exemplars of Degeneration in King Solomon's Mines & The Hobbit' in Tolkien & His Literary Resonances).

Still, this is a bit off topic, so I'll think about a thread.