Eärrámë

From Tolkien Gateway

Eärrámë was the great ship of Tuor at the end of his life in Middle-earth. After feeling the Unquiet of Ulmo, he built the ship in F.A. 525, and departed the same year with Idril into the West. Voronwë probably went with them.[1] Later it was sung that they arrived in Valinor, being Tuor the only Man who became a member of the Elder Kindred.[2]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Eärrámë is Quenya for "Sea-Wing",[2] from eär ("sea") + ráma ("wing").[3]

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

In the earliest version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales, the ship of Tuor is called Alqarámë ("Swanwing"), while Eärámë ("Eaglepinion") is the ship of Eärendel (being Wingilot his second ship).[4] Tolkien never finished the Lost Tale of Eärendel, so there are contradictory outlines: first Tuor sails alone in secret in Alqarámë, which is described as twilit and with purple sails;[4] but later it is given a more detailed outline of Tûr's depart:

One evening he calls Eärendel and they go to the shore. There is a skiff. Tûr bids farewell to Eärendel and bids him thrust it off — the skiff fares away into the West. Eärendel hears a great song swelling from the sea as Tûr's skiff dips over the world's rim.
The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "The Tale of Eärendel", p. 260

Tolkien changed the story as it is in the published The Silmarillion in his revision of the Sketch of the Mythology, in which Eärámë became the ship of Tuor instead of Eärendel's.[5]

See also[edit | edit source]

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Three. The Wanderings of Húrin and Other Writings not forming part of the Quenta Silmarillion: V. The Tale of Years", p. 352
  2. 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entries "AYAR-/AIR-", "RAM-"
  4. 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "V. The Tale of Eärendel", pp. 253-254
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Shaping of Middle-earth, "II. The Earliest 'Silmarillion' (The 'Sketch of the Mythology')", pp. 37, 69