#aelfwine

Limpë [Eriol (Book of Lost Tales)]

for @fall-for-tolkien's Scribbles & Drabbles 2025

Viznak vs Ælfwine

Viznak:

Goblin! Lives in an awful Mordor swamp after getting kicked out for not taking orders very well (Lord of the Rings Online character)

little goblin guy who's been living in the world's most fucked up swamp in mordor. got kicked out for not following orders well enough. makes friends with any random stranger who doesn't try to kill him immediately and also can make you an antidote for aforementioned awful swamp and all its diseases. you can get a title called 'goblin-friend' from him. i love him So much

he's literally just a silly little guy. in the questline you meet him at he raided your camp and stole your provisions, but he ends up saving your ranger friend from dying to a horrible fungus plague and you're all best friends after that!! he's like your fellowship's weird goblin son. he has horrible ideas but somehow they keep working?? he's scrungy! the other orcs and goblins hate him! and after the residents of Agarnaith leave to go besiege some place (it's not important), he takes up residence in the empty fortress of Seregost and declares himself king of Agarnaith. ALL HAIL KING VIZNAK, OUR WEIRD GOBLIN SON

Ælfwine:

One of the narrators of the legendarium in early drafts, an Anglo-Saxon Man who found the Straight Road.

The first guy who reached Tol Eressëa and got to listen to all the stories told by the elves ❤️

This is such an interesting question!

My first thought was I honestly have no idea. Of course, we're supposed to believe that after ROTK the Elves are sailing to Valinor from Middle-earth, and not the other way around, but your question still stands: if they did try to sail to Middle-earth from Valinor, how long would it take? And honestly, how long did it take them to sail from Valinor to Beleriand in the Silmarillion? But the world was shaped differently then... ah, the complexities of Tolkien.

But sticking with your question, I feel like it just has to take a long time. Because Valinor is very far removed from the world, not just physically - it is also removed in a historical sense. If it took a month or two, even six months, that wouldn't work. Your question makes me think of the part in the Book of Lost Tales when Ælfwine and his companions are trying to find Valinor, and of course, because they're mortal Men, they aren't really supposed to find it, but they eventually do (with Ulmo's help, although he is in disguise). The point is, it takes them years.

For the story to work, I think it has to take Ælfwine and his companions years to even catch so much as a glimpse of Valinor, because it emphasizes how elusive it is, how far removed from the world of Men. In that spirit, if Valinor is even more removed from the world after ROTK - because the time of the Elves has come to an end - then if an Elf tried to sail back to Middle-earth, it would be like the reverse of Ælfwine's journey, and I would expect it to take as long, if not longer.

Thank you for the ask! I hadn't forgotten this one, just got distracted.

15. A topic you never get tired of discussing

In-universe narrators (and translators!), and the historical traditions embedded in Tolkien's writings. Pengolodh. Ælfwine. Rúmil, Quennar Onotimo. The Numenóreans. Elemmíre, Maglor, Dírhavel. Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee. The Quenta, the Annals, the Lays. Laws and Customs of the Eldar (written by a Man btw!). The Anglo-Saxon translation of the Annals (not that I can read it). Who wrote them? Why? What are the differences between them? Why do they exist?

Just look at this passage from the 1937 Quenta Silmarillion!

Silmarillion  Ælfwine’s note These histories were written by Pengolod the Wise of Gondolin, both in that city before its fall, and afterwards at Tathrobel in the Lonely Isle, Toleressea, after the return unto the West. In their making he used much the writings of Rumil the Elfsage of Valinor, chiefly in the annals of Valinor and the account of tongues, and he used also the accounts that are preserved in the Golden Book. The work of Pengolod I learned much by heart, and turned into my tongue, some during my sojourn in the West, but most after my return to Britain. [Six lines of verse in Anglo-Saxon quoting Ælfwine] Translator’s note The histories are here given in English of this day, translated from the version of Eriol of Leithian, as the Gnomes called him, who was Ælfwine of Angelcynn. Such other matters as Ælfwine took direct from the Golden Book, together with his account of his voyage, and his sojourn in Toleressea, are given elsewhere.

Also: The out-of-universe textual history. Why did Tolkien write them? When? How has the posthumous Silmarillion been reconstructed from those pieces? How have Christopher Tolkien's editorial choices impacted how we read the Silmarillion?

Please, if you are also insane about this, DM me. I am desperate to talk about it more.

18. Something you initially did not like but came around to

Answered here (incest). Another one: Maedhros. Yes, just Maedhros as a character. Wouldn't say I actively disliked him, but I didn't get the hype. @melestasflight kept at me and changed my mind.

19. Give kudos to someone who leaves great comments

I can't not mention MoonLord, whose excitement is so infectious, whether it's on my fics or others'. But I really want to acknowledge @wanderer-on-the-steppe who gives the most thoughtful, insightful comments that are on the level of literary analysis.

I would also add you and @meadowlarkx in that same category.

BoLT ‘Cottage of Lost Play’