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<I>War of the Rings</I> Treelogy: an Elegy for Lost Innocence and Wonder

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<I>War of the Rings</I> Treelogy: an Elegy for Lost Innocence and Wonder Volume 5 Number 1 Article 1 5-15-1978 The War of the Rings Treelogy: An Elegy for Lost Innocence and Wonder Stephen L. Walker Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Walker, Stephen L. (1978) "The War of the Rings Treelogy: An Elegy for Lost Innocence and Wonder," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 5 : No. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol5/iss1/1 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 Review of trees in the Middle-earth legendarium, from Telperion and Laurelin to Treebeard. Argues that throughout the history of Arda, the practice of art and agriculture have negative consequences, constituting as they do distance and alienation from the original creation. Additional Keywords Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings—Trees; Trees in J.R.R. Tolkien 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/vol5/iss1/1 T h e War of the Rings T reelo g y : A n Elegy for Lost Innocence and Wonder by Stephen L. Walker ture to the w ill of a creature. The result of this Trees are axiological to the aesthetic, ethic, is tragedy. and metaphysic of J. R. R. Tolkien's M iddle-earth; The s i l m a r i l l i proved too strong a temptation and his masterwork may be fairly called a Treelogy. for Morgoth. Had Feanor not fashioned them, would That M iddle-earthling propriety dictates a child­ Morgoth have dared poison the Trees? Probably not, like innocence and a wonder at Nature is evidenced for the Trees themselves were fountains of Life, by an indictment of creature duplication of Nature, the living, shining immanence of Eru in creation. for murder, and interference with Nature, for Yet the temptation to arrogate their second-hand alienation. Creatures are beset with traumas, light proved too strong a lure for him. The grow­ crises, and travail because they have presumed ing, living Trees were in the Public Domain; but into the province of the Makers by practicing art the jewels, as a private treasure trove, were steal- and agriculture. able. Greed got its start because Nature was dup­ Eru and the Valar created M iddle-earth, and licated in a form that could be claimed by anyone it was good and bright and beautiful. Then Eru with the w ill and sufficient force to do so. Once created elves and men, making them like himself a simple creature could arrogate a distillation of and the Valar in that they were free to do as they the most beautiful in Nature, then Nature itself would. Creature doom was simple: stewardship became second-best. would bring peace and plenty and contentment; Morgoth could not enjoy the jewels in Valinor, but possession, war and want and worry. Then Eru, so he exiled himself and bred ores and trolls for seeing that what was was ample, withdrew. company; and he reared them in his w ill. In his The Valar named their home, the westernmost own damning evil he schooled them, and he taught of lands, Valinor. From Valimar, that part of them to kill trees. His sacrilege is duplicated Valinor west of the Pelori, through Calacirya, on a lesser scale by lesser creatures and is an flowed eastward the Light of the Two Trees, alerting signal to the good, of otherwise unknown Laurelin and Telperion. Here Middle—earth was e v i l . most beautiful. Some of the Noldor, notably Feanor, Galadriel, Telperion, the elder of the Two, was the eldest and Celebrimbor, against the wishes of the Valar, of all trees. Like the moon and the stars, it was returned to Middle-earth to try to rescue the jew­ silver. Laurelin, which was the color of the sun, els. One was recovered, but the other two were lost and Telperion were at once the Tree of Life, the forever. Feanor perished because his inordinate Tree of Knowledge, and the Burning Bush; for life, pride, marked by his disobedience to the Valar, light, knowledge, and grace, the Maker's nurturing had decreed his doom. Morgoth perished because and sustaining presence, were their fruit. Com­ his evil, strong though it was, was no match for plements, they were the reciprocal energies that the good he affronted. Inherent in evil is separ­ counterbalanced each other cyclicly in the continu­ ation from good, but good is also life. Thus evil ation of what we now call substance through space unwittingly defeats itself by separating itself and tim e . from l i f e . All was well until Feanor, one of the Noldor The Valar did not permit the one recovered and the greatest elven artisan of all time, made s i l m a r i l to be returned to Middle-earth. Instead, s i li m a and fashioned the s i l m a r i l l i and thereby they set it in the heavens as the Evenstar. It set into motion the beginnings of what became the is called Earendil's star because it is mounted on Fall of Morgoth, an important Vala, and the birth the prow of his ship which sails the heavens for­ of the first evil in Middle-earth. ever. The Valar made sure that its light would O riginally, all things made had been made by remain public by setting it out of the reach of Eru and the Valar; but with the Noldor came creatures. It is there, free for all who have the "improvements" upon Nature in the forms of the eyes to see it; but it is also, sadly, forever p a l a n t i r i , th e s i l m a r i l l i , and the Tengwar. Each remote from M iddle-earth. of these inventions was flawed in that each of them Morgoth killed the parents of all trees. was an im itation of something much greater. The Laurelin was lost forever, but a sapling of Tel­ p a l a n t i r i brought pictures to the mind's eye, perion survived. It was called Galathilion, and pictures of past, present, and possible reality. it did not shine. As earth aged and peoples spread, The s i l m a r i l l i transfixed the living light of creation grew away from prim ordial goodness both Laurelin and Telperion in cold crystal. The in space and in time. Murder and other evils were Tengwar, words w ritten, robbed the spoken word abroad. The Light of the Presence of Eru had been of those subtle nuances that give it life. All extinguished, and its closest approximation made three were second-generation wonders that, by remote by the Guardians. Galathilion grew in comparison with what they duplicated, came off as Eressea, an island once removed from Valinor. lifeless and sad. Westernmost of the mortal lands was Elenna, It seems that the exercise of art initiates and on Elenna grew Nimloth which was a descendant in creatures, or perhaps only makes them recognize, of Galathilion. Elenna had been given to the the want to control that which they im itate. The Edain, the Dunedain, for their part in the battle making of artifacts seems to confirm the existence against Morgoth. The Dunedain called Elenna, of some flaw in creatures. Perhaps this s what Numenor. From Numenor, Isildur carried a sapling is at the very heart of the notion of h u b r i s , a of Nimloth to Minas Anor, later re-named Minas creature's overstepping into the province of the T irith, where the tree which sprouted had no indi­ Makers. As is always the case, the Noldor"s inno­ vidual name of its own but was called simply The vations were m eant to be used only for good pur­ White Tree. poses; but, as is always also the case, they were Each successive removal of Telperion's de­ misused, as power of this nature is always misused. scendants from Valinor witnesses a degeneration. Art pretends to give creatures power over Nature in Galathilion did not shine; but the Eldar of Eressea that it deludes them into thinking that they can were immortal and remembered Telperion. Nimloth reshape Nature according to their own vision. was less to men, for they were less. They were Power might be called the "art" of conforming Na­ mortal and Elenna was farther from Calacirian. The 3 White Tree of Gondor is still a talismanic link best efforts at bringing the gold and silver light w ith th e W e s t, but the tree does not shine and its of Earendil's star down to life on M iddle-earth.
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