by David Day
Aragorn and Arwen Meet Among the Birches at Rivendell
PART
SEVEN
CELTIC AND SAXON MYTHS
In looking for sources for and influences on the imagination of J. R. R. Tolkien, one must eventually come to the mythologies of the two great races from whom the British people are largely descended: the Celts and the Anglo-Saxons. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon, Tolkien had a great love for the heroic storytelling traditions of this bold warrior race with their wonderful epics, chronicles and adventure tales.
BALOR AND THE EVIL EYE
In The Lord of the Rings we have Sauron the Evil Eye, the lord and master of the Orcs, Trolls, Balrogs and most other monstrous beings. In Celtic myth, we have Balor the Evil Eye, the king of the monstrous race of deformed giants called the Formors, who were the chief rivals of the Tuatha Dé Danann (who are looked at more closely later in this chapter).
The hideous Balor had two eyes: one was normal, but the other was huge and swollen. He kept the huge eye shut because it had been filled with such horrific, sorcerous powers that it virtually incinerated whoever and whatever it looked upon. In war, Balor took his place in the Formor front line, facing his enemies while a henchman used a hook to lift his eyelid and his comrades looked away. In Balor’s case, looks could kill, and any who were within the blaze of his fiery eye were instantly destroyed.
Many fell to King Balor’s Eye until the coming of the champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the golden-haired warrior Lugh of the Long Arm – Balor’s very own grandson. Seeing the blaze of light just as Balor’s eyelid was being lifted by the hook, the god shot a stone with his rod-sling straight into the fiery Eye. He hurled the stone with such force that the Evil Eye was driven right through the back of Balor’s skull and into the ranks. There, the blazing Eye incinerated half of Balor’s monstrous army and the Formors were driven from the field.
RED BOOKS
When we learn that the most important source of Welsh Celtic lore was preserved in the 14th-century Red Book of Hergest, we realize that Tolkien is making a small scholarly joke in naming his “source” of Elf-lore the Red Book of Westmarch.
The Red Book of Hergest is a manuscript which includes that most important compendium of Welsh legends, The Mabinogion. The collection contains many stories of magic rings. The damsel Luned, the Lady of the Fountain, gives a ring of invisibility to the hero Owain. Dame Lyonesse gives her hero, Gareth, a magical ring that will not allow him to be wounded. And Peredur Long Spear goes on a quest for a gold ring, during which he slays the Black Serpent of the Barrows, and wins a stone of invisibility and a gold-making stone.
Tolkien’s Elves are largely based on the traditions and conventions of the Celtic myths and legends of Ireland and Wales. However, it is important to understand that, before Tolkien, the “elf” was a vaguely defined concept associated most often with pixies, flower-fairies, gnomes, dwarfs and goblins of a diminutive and inconsequential nature.
The Laiquendi, also known as the Green-elves
TUATHA DÉ DANANN AND SÍDHE
Tolkien’s Elves are not a race of pixies. They are a powerful, full-blooded people who closely resemble the pre-human Irish race of immortals called the Tuatha Dé Danann. Like the Tuatha Dé Danann, Tolkien’s Elves are taller and stronger than mortals, are incapable of suffering sickness, are possessed of more than human beauty, and are filled with greater wisdom in all things. They possess talismans, jewels and weapons that humans might consider magical. They ride supernatural horses and understand the languages of animals. They love song, poetry and music – all of which they compose and perform perfectly.
The Tuatha Dé Danann gradually withdrew from Ireland as mortal men migrated there from the east. With his ever-present theme of the dwindling of Elvish power on Middle-earth, Tolkien was following the tradition of Celtic myth. The Elves’ westward sailings to timeless immortal realms across the sea, while the human race remained behind and usurped a mortal, diminished world trapped in time, recall the diminishing of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
The remnant of this once mighty race was the Aes Sídhe or the Sídhe (pronounced “Shee”). The name means the “people of the hills”, for it was believed that these people withdrew from the mortal realm and hid themselves inside the “hollow hills” or within ancient mounds once sacred to them. In Tolkien, as in Celtic legends, we have remnant populations of these immortals in all manner of hiding places: enchanted woods (like Lothlórien), hidden valleys (like Rivendell), in caves (like Menegroth), in river gorges (like Nargothrond) and on distant islands (like Tol Eressëa). Tolkien’s Elves, like the Sídhe, seldom intrude on the world of men. They are far more concerned with their own affairs and histories.
Elven time is very different from mortal time: when Tolkien’s mortal adventurers pass through an Elven realm they experience a jolt in time, not unlike that of mortals held within their realms by the Sídhe – in extreme cases, sometimes mistaking hours for years, or years for hours. This may be due to the rules of immortality by which both the Elves and the Sídhe are governed.
Both the Elves and the Sídhe are immortal in the same sense that their lifespan is unlimited, but they can be killed. Tolkien follows the Celtic tradition which suggests that immortals cannot survive in a mortal world; that they can remain only at the cost of their powers diminishing. Ultimately, there is a choice between remaining in the mortal world and leaving it forever for another immortal and timeless world beyond the reach of human understanding.
Although Tolkien used elements of Celtic myth in his creation of his Elvish race, his original contribution to these creatures of his imagination is immense and remarkable. Tolkien took the sketchy myths and legends of the Sídhe and the Tuatha Dé Danann and created a vast civilization, history and genealogy for his Elves. He gave them languages and a vast cultural inheritance that was rooted in real history, but flourished in his imagination.
WELSH AND SINDARIN
The degree to which Tolkien’s Elves were inspired by Celtic models is most obviously demonstrated by looking at his invented Elvish language, Sindarin. Tolkien himself noted that his invented language and Elvish names of persons and places were “mainly deliberately modelled on those of Welsh (closely similar but not identical).” Structurally and phonetically, there are strong links between the two languages.
A few words are identical: mal means “gold” in both the Welsh and Sindar tongues. Others are close: du means “black” in Welsh and “shadow” in Sindarin; calan means “first day” in Welsh and “daylight” in Sindarin; ost means “host” in Welsh and “town” in Sindarin; sarn in Welsh means a “stone causeway” and in Sindarin means a “stone” in a ford. There are many others close in spelling and/or meaning: “fortress” is cacr in Welsh and caras in Sindarin; drud in Welsh means “fierce” while dru in Sindarin means “wild”; dagr in Welsh means “dagger” while dagor in Sindarin means “battle”. Others are the same words with different meanings: adan is “birds” in Welsh and “man” in Sindarin; nen is “heaven” in Welsh and “water” in Sindarin; nar is “lord” in Welsh and “sun” in Sindarin. Some others are strangely connected: iar in Sindarin means “old”, while the Welsh iar means “hen”; however, the Welsh word hen actually means “old”. Coincidentally, a few of Tolkien’s characters take their names directly from Welsh words: Morwen means “maid”, Bard means “poet” and Barahir means “longbeard”.
RESTORING ANGLO-SAXON CULTURE
Although the Celts were the older civilization in Britain, it was the Anglo-Saxons who were the dominant race from whom the British inherited most of their language, and consequently most of their culture. Tolkien being a professor of Anglo-Saxon, we can see how his expertise in this area influenced his imagination in relation to aspects of his human cultures, as much as that of the Celts influenced his Elves.
Tolkien’s Elvish Sindarin language is modelled on Welsh
Tolkien’s Mannish languages are rooted in Anglo-Saxon (Old English)
&nbs
p; It must also be remembered that Tolkien frequently expressed his desire to restore the mythology and literature of early England to the English. By this, he meant the lost mythology and literature of Anglo-Saxon Britain between the time of the Roman retreat in 419 CE and the Norman Conquest in 1066. With the notable exception of Beowulf and a handful of poem fragments, the ruthless obliteration of Anglo-Saxon culture by the Norman conquerors was nearly absolute.
In his imaginative writing, Tolkien wished to retrieve something of the atmosphere of that lost age of heroes and dragons. Consequently, we see Anglo-Saxon elements playing a critical part in his writing. His mortals predominantly speak Westron, or the Common Speech of Men, which is “translated” as modern English; however, many of the names and places relating to Men are “translated” as Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Hundreds of Old English words are employed. Indeed, we find all the Northmen and Rohirrim names (e.g., Éowyn – “horsewoman” – and Théoden – “chief of a nation”) are in Old English as the names of the Dwarves are Icelandic, and those of the Elves are rooted in Welsh.
Also, the names Men give to other races are often rooted in Old English. Ent is derived from the Old English for giant, Orc from demon or goblin, Meara from horse, and Hobbit is from invented Old English Holbytla, or “hole builder”. Wose is derived from wodwos, a sylvan goblin. Pukel Men is from puckle, meaning goblin or demon, a word which survives in the English folklore figure of Puck, immortalized by Shakespeare.
BEOWULF AND THE HOBBIT
In the Teutonic hero cycles popular among the Anglo-Saxons we can see some elements that undoubtedly influenced Tolkien’s writing. This was particularly true in ring-related tales.
The importance of the Völsung ring legend in establishing royal lineage and historic stature can be easily recognized in history and literature throughout Northern Europe. Even in the oldest surviving Teutonic epic, that 8th-century masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon literature, Beowulf, the ring legend and its hero Sigurd are discernible.
There is no doubt that the tale of Beowulf was an Anglo-Saxon attempt to rival the greatness of the Völsung hero. Before the scald sings his tribute to Beowulf, he begins by singing first of Sigurd, or Siegmund, as he was known to the Anglo-Saxons. Siegmund is said to be the most famous of all heroes whose greatest deed was the slaying of a dragon and the winning of a ring-hoard.
The scald gives such an abbreviated version of the legend that it is obvious that this was a tale with which everyone listening was expected to be familiar. Furthermore, it is used to foreshadow Beowulf’s dragon battle which will win him comparable fame among his own folk.
When Beowulf slays the monster Grendel, he is rewarded with gold finger rings, arm rings and neck rings by King Hrothgar, “Lord of the Ring-Danes”. Decades later, Beowulf rules as the Lord of the Ring-Danes in Hrothgar’s place, and his last heroic deed is to do battle with a terrible flying firebreathing dragon that is guardian of a huge ring-hoard of an ancient vanished race.
Tolkien, as a professor of Anglo-Saxon, was an authority on Beowulf. The two tales are not very obviously similar; however, there are strong parallels in the plot structure of the dragon episode of Beowulf and that of the slaying of Smaug in The Hobbit. Beowulf’s dragon is awakened by a thief who finds his way into the dragon’s cavern and steals a jewelled cup from the treasure hoard. This is duplicated by Bilbo Baggins’s burglary in Smaug the Dragon’s cavern, when the Hobbit also steals a jewelled cup from the treasure hoard. Both thieves escape detection and the anger of the dragons themselves; however, the nearby human settlements in both tales suffer terribly from the dragon’s wrath.
It is up to their respective champions, Beowulf and Bard the Bowman, to slay the beast. This they both do, although Bard survives to become King of Dale, while Beowulf does not. Following the pattern of Siegmund in his last battle, Beowulf’s sword, Nailing, breaks, and, although he is victorious, he dies of his wounds. Beowulf’s death is mirrored in The Hobbit by the other warrior-king of the tale, the Dwarf Thorin Oakenshield, who lives long enough to know that he has been victorious, but dies of his wounds on the battlefield.
ANGLO-SAXON ELEMENTS IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Other Anglo-Saxon tales also made major contributions to Tolkien’s writings. One certainly was the ring legend of the Saxon hero Wayland the Smith. Wayland’s tales were extremely popular during the Middle Ages. He was a Saxon Daedalus and the greatest craftsman of his race. Again, it was a legend with which Tolkien was familiar.
In the Middle Ages, it became traditional for the swords of great heroes to come from the forge of Wayland the Smith. In the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried’s sword Balmung was of Wayland’s making, as was Charlemagne’s blade, Joyeuse. In the Wilkina Saga, Wayland forges the sword Mimung or Mimming for his heroic son Witig, but the blade also makes its way to the hero Dietrich von Berne. Wayland is also the sword-maker in the Waltharius, for the Saxon hero Walter of Aquitaine.
Most remarkable of all, one Wayland tale claims that after fleeing to the realm of the Elf-smiths of Alfheim, the hero-smith gave his own sword to Odin the Allfather. This was the same sword that Odin takes to Midgard and drives into the tree Branstock: Gram, the fiery sword of the Völsunga Saga.
VÖLUNDR: THE CURSED SMITH
In Wayland the Smith we have the figure of the gifted but cursed smith who in Tolkien is manifest in the Noldorin Elf Fëanor, who makes the Silmarils that are later stolen by Morgoth. He is also comparable to Telchar the Smith, the supreme Dwarf-smith who forged the Dúnedain sword inherited by Aragorn, with which Elendil cuts the One Ring from Sauron’s hand. Telchar also forged the dagger Angrist, which Beren used in the Quest of the Silmaril to cut the jewel from Morgoth’s iron crown. More particularly, however, we can see in the tale of Wayland’s ring something of the figure of Celebrimbor, Lord of the Elvensmiths of Eregion, who forged the Rings of Power.
The tale of the ring of Wayland the Smith – known as Wieland to the Germans – comes to us largely through a later Norse version, in which the Saxon hero is called Völundr. This was written down in the long Icelandic narrative poem, the Völundarkvitha.
The Haunted Barrow-downs of Eriador
The tale of Völundr begins with his winning of a Valkyrie wife, who had descended to earth in the guise of a swan maiden. Völundr captures the plumage of this swan maid, thus preventing her escape, and in her form as a mortal woman he takes her as a wife. After nine years the Valkyrie discovers the hiding place of her plumage and flees the mortal world. However, as a token of her continued love for him, she leaves Völundr a magical ring of the purest gold.
By the powers of this ring, Völundr’s already formidable skills increase beyond that of all men. Weapons and armour blessed with fantastic powers, and jewels of exquisite beauty and intricacy, come forth from Völundr’s forge. Most valued of Völundr’s creations are his swords, the best of all being his own sword which always has fire playing around its razor edge. It is a blade that can never be blunted or broken, and any who hold it cannot be defeated in battle.
Völundr’s ring is also a source of almost infinite wealth. Placing his ring upon his forge, Völundr pounds out with his hammer seven hundred gold rings of equal weight from its shape. So great is Völundr’s wealth that Nidud, the king of Sweden, sends his soldiers to capture the smith and seize his treasures and his magical ring.
The evil king then makes a slave of Völundr. He has the smith crippled by hamstringing him, then exiled to a rocky isle, where he is forced to build a fortress labyrinth that serves as his own prison. Here Völundr is ordered to make jewels, ornaments and weapons for his master’s amusement.
After many years, Völundr manages by trickery to avenge himself on Nidud by slaying the king’s sons, violating his daughter and regaining his sword and his ring. Völundr then uses his skills to forge a pair of huge wings, much like those of the Valkyrie swan maiden who was once his wife.
With these wings, he flies out of his island prison and far beyond Midgard and the r
ealm of mortal men. He flies to that place called Alfheim, the land of the Elfs, where live the finest smiths in creation. So great is Völundr’s skill that the Elf-smiths welcome him as a peer. With the Elfs of Alfheim and the power of the ring, Völundr conceives and fashions many a miraculous work for gods and heroes, greater than any he made in the world of men.
Frodo Baggins and the Barrow-wight
VÖLUNDR’S RING AND THE BARROW-WIGHTS
In some lost versions of the legends, Völundr’s ring appears to have been stolen in Alfheim by the Dwarf Andvari and taken back into Midgard. There it becomes Andvarinaut, the self-same ring of the Völsunga Saga. However, in the surviving versions of the Völundr tale, his ring has another destiny. It does not remain in Alfheim but is stolen by a daring mortal pirate called Sote the Outlaw. After taking the ring, he becomes obsessed with it. Fearful that someone will steal it from him, he flees to Bretland and has himself buried alive in a hollow barrow grave.
