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The Irish Mythological Cycle and Tolkien's Eldar Volume 8 Number 4 Article 3 12-15-1982 The Irish Mythological Cycle and Tolkien's Eldar Gerald V. Gillespie University of Massachusetts Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Gillespie, Gerald V. (1982) "The Irish Mythological Cycle and Tolkien's Eldar," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 8 : No. 4 , Article 3. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol8/iss4/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To join the Mythopoeic Society go to: http://www.mythsoc.org/join.htm Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON July 31 - August 1, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm Mythcon 52: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico; July 29 - August 1, 2022 http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm Abstract Compares aspects of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings to The Mythological Cycle of Irish literature, specifically the Book of Invasions. Claims the history of the Eldar shows “a similarity to Irish sources much closer and more extensive than any critic has heretofore remarked.” Additional Keywords Celtic mythology—Influence on J.R.R olkien;T Irish literature—Influence on J.R.R. olkien;T Tolkien, J.R.R.—Characters—Elves—Sources This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol8/iss4/3 MYTHLORE 30: Winter 1982 page 8 The Irish Mythological Cycle and Tolkien's Eldar Gerald V. Gillespie Fair Lady, w ill you travel vel across the sea from the east. This reminds us of Tb the m arvellous land of stars? Tolkien's Elves and the men in the Silm arillion, who origi­ Early Irish poem1 nate in the east of Middle Earth and slowly move westward. A rriving in Ireland, the Nemedians encounter the Fomorians, Critic s have seen in the creatures of Tolkien's Middle representatives of night and chaos, the demons of Irish Earth a sort of m ythological League of N ations, or in the mythology. The Fom orians are described as one-armed, one- case of the "free peoples” a pan-Northern European alliance. legged, and one-eyed. They are vanquished by the Nemedians, The Hobbits are idealised English rural dw ellers. The with the aid of a helper from across the sea, who in fil­ Dwarves (sic) come from Nordic sources; in many cases th eir trates the Fomorians' tower and causes its collapse. Again names are drawn directly from the pages of the Elder Edda. the story is rem iniscent of Tolkien - here of Gandalf and The Rohirrim , TO lkien's horsemen of the plains, are over­ his in filtratio n of Dol Guldor. Exhausted by this struggle, whelmingly Teutonic/Anglo-Saxon in th eir language, social the follow ers of Nemed divide into two main groups and leave structure, and, even, physical appearance. And many feel Ireland for the w hile. One group, consisting mainly of the that the sources of the Eldar, Tolkien's Elves, are C eltic, F ir Bolg, goes off to Greece. The other group voyages more specifically Irish. A close study of the Eldar and across the sea, westward and northward to magic isles, where their "history" w ill show a sim ilarity to Irish sources they learn magical knowledge and w izardry. These are the much closer and more extensive than any c ritic has hereto­ Tuatha De Danaan. The Eldar in the Silm arillion also origi­ fore remarked. nate in the east, move westward, and voyage across the sea to Valinor to learn magical sk ills and crafts. Tolkien certainly had some knowledge of C eltic language and literatu re. He remarks in his O'Donnell lecture that Eventually, the F ir Bolg return to Ireland and assume his early enthusiasm for languages was excited by the Welsh its rulership, to be followed soon after by the Tuatha, placenames he would observe on passing train s.2 Indeed, one flying in clouds. The clerical interpretation of this fly­ of his Eldarin languages, Sindarin, is modelled on W elsh.3 ing entrance in the Book of the Invasions is that the Parker claim s that the Elves are C eltic, and that the men Tuatha burned th eir ships behind them so that no one would nearest the Elves, the Numenoreans, are "C elt-like".4 Com­ be tempted to return to the islands from which they came, menting on T olkien's poem "Imram" (the Irish word for voyage), thus causing great clouds of smoke. So the Eldar burned Kbcher remarks that the Undying lands' "closest counterpart their ships on returning to the Middle Earth, so that no in literatu re is in those early medieval C eltic tales known one would be tempted to retreat.9 In the F irst B attle of as Imrama." The comparisons between the m atter of Tolkien's Moytura, the Fir Bolg fight with the tuatha for the ruler- Eldar and early Irish literatu re, however, seem to go deeper ship of Ireland. The F ir Bolg are shown consistently as than a few allusions. The whole created history and nature being concerned w ith war and rulership, while the Tuatha, of the Eldar echo the history and tales of the Tuatha De like Tolkien's Elves, are people of sk ills and power over, Danaan in Irish literatu re and folklore. or rapport w ith, nature. And it is through these attributes that the Tuatha defeat the Fir Bolg, or at least fight them Pagan Irish literatu re was passed down orally by genera­ to a stan d still.10 tions of filid (combination priests and poets) and finally w ritten down by C hristian clerics. It has been divided into A fter the battle, the Tuatha assume rulership of Ire­ four main cycles: the M ythological, U lster, Fenian and land, and, for some reason, make Bres, a half-Fom orian, H istorical Cycles. The M ythological Cycle concerns the their king. He is a terrible king, suffering fron that most several different waves of m ythological beings who invaded unlrish failing, cheapness. One could v isit him , a s th e and inhabited Ireland before the arrival of the M ilesians, tale goes, and get neither grease upon one's knife, nor, eponymous ancestors of the modern, m ortal Irish . The U lster w hat's worse, ale down one's throat. He enslaves the Tuatha, Cycle contains the tales of the U lster w arriors, their king exploiting their sk ills for his own gains. The Tuatha Oonchobor, and th eir main hero, the Irish A chilles, finally unseat him, and he goes off to the islands to gather CuChulainn. The Fenian Cycle relates the exploits of Finn an army of his relatives. On the eve of the Second Battle McCool and his wandering band of w arriors, the Fiana. The of Moytura, the Tuatha are gathered in their h all, when they H istorical Cycle recounts the histories and genealogies, are visited by Lugh, another half-Fomorian, who has ccme mainly invented, of early Irish kings.6 In a ll these tales, from across the sea to assist them. He possesses many to varying degrees, there is C eltic magic and traffic with sk ills, and Nuadu, the Tuatha king, taiporarily cedes his the otherw orld. The M ythological Cycle, however, is of kingship to him. We have a parallel here to the situation primary interest in any study of Tolkien. in the Lord of the Rings where a ll the leaders of the West tem porarily cede th eir leadership to Gandalf, another helper The M ythological Cycle lends itse lf to division into from across the sea. two parts - the Book of Invasions, and sane assorted later tales. The Book of Invasions was compiled by early Irish In the b attle which follow s, Tuatha w itches and wizards clerics attem pting to do for Ireland what Nennius had done again employ th eir power over nature. The main contest of for B ritain with his H istoria Brittanorum , to relate the the day, however, is between Lugh and Balor, the Fomorian history of Ireland to that of the B iblical and classical champion. Balor has only one eye, but its glance is baleful world. They drew heavily from native Irish sources, and the and w ill destroy anyone upon whom it rests. (Sauron is result, until th is century, has been considered a mainly always represented in the Lord of the Rings as a red, burn­ accurate, if somewhat garbled, history of early Ireland. ing eye.) As B alor's eye is about to open in battle, Lugh C eltic scholars now view th is m aterial not as history, but h its it with a stone so that it turns upon the Fomorians, as the remnants of an early C eltic cosmogeny and theogeny. who are completely and finally routed. So too is Sauron In distorted form, the Bock of Invasions gives a descrip­ destroyed by the loss of his own ring, his own weapon.
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