Elves and Ringwraiths

[Galin]

WCH wrote: That's a valid point, which I hadn't considered; but it is reinforced by the end of the passage that says "they are all now gone"- cert. a reference to Middle-earth and not the Elves in Aman!

Nerwen responded: Well, I'd never thought of it before myself until I re-read the passage a couple of days ago.

The difficulty is that at the start Tolkien is clearly referring to the Elves of Aman (and, by implication, the Vanyar) as well: "...Eldar, the name of the *Three* Kindreds that sought for the Undying Ream..."

So at some point the subject changes from all the Eldar to those of Middle-earth only. My guess is that the key is in the next sentence where he starts talking about "...such memories of this people as Men preserved...".

Yikes, both good points that I never thought about before..

... and [ahem] here I thought it was me who 'invented' this interpretation too


Reading the fuller passage again with both things in mind, I do agree [admittedly with some reason to, no doubt, in attempt to sustain the interpretation] that there is enough intervening text between the two statements, and perhaps notably, as I think is being noted by Nerwen, about how Men perceive what an 'Elf' is, and about them not possessing wings and so on, as some 'mortals' might think in Tolkien's day for instance.


So if this interpretation holds up, can I ask WCH to pass it on to CJRT and let me know what he thinks about taking this new footnote back out of publication?

Well of course I can ask... even if I already know the answer