Talk:Vëannë

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Latest comment: 7 May 2022 by LorenzoCB in topic An Elf? (2)

An Elf? (1)[edit source]

I see that she was a little girl from the Cottage of Lost Play. Is it written somewhere that she was an elf? BartekChom 17:11, 20 August 2020 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Expansion is needed, but I was told by Mith not to add without checking and really, especially in this case, there is a big risk that I am retranslating from Polish wrongly (actually I am not sure that I am not misinterpreting the details), so I am proposing additions on the talk page:

Vëannë Melinir was an Elf of Tol Eressëa according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales. She was a little girl living in the Cottage of Lost Play, being the teller of the Tale of Tinúviel.
She climbed on Eriol's knee when he sat tired after playing with children and asked him to recount about men and their children in Great Lands ("Did you have a garden like ours?"). After he told her about wars, she concluded that they are terrible. When Eriol asked the children to tell some tale they had heard instead, she volunteered to tell the Tale of Tinúviel.[1] She argued with Ausir, who suggested Elvish names Tinwë Linto and Wendelin instead of Gnomish Tinwelint and Gwendeling. She claimed that much earlier, when she was on the Path of Dreams, she saw Gwendeling and Tinúviel. She started the story describing Gwendeling. After she described the death of Beren, Eriol said that such a sad story heard from the mouth of a beautiful maiden calls for compassion. She wept and said that she does not remember what was later. Other children, including Ausir, helped her say that Beren (then a Gnome) and Luthien returned to life, but as mortals. Then Eriol said that he was not expecting such a story from little maidens of Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva. She answered that she learned it by heart from books but does not understand it fully.[2]
  1. after the first star
  2. after the subheader "The tale of Tinúviel"

She climbed on a knee, so she was really a little child. The form of her question makes me start to believe that she was an elf. BartekChom 21:25, 23 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Given the context and her knowledge, she was an Elf no doubt. BartekChom, I'll add and improve your addition, thanks. --LorenzoCB 09:49, 24 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Thank you vary much. If you are convinced that she was an elf, I can agree. However I would like to ask whether you compared what I wrote with the book. I see that you have added page numbers, but I cannot believe that I retranslated the quote perfectly. I am sorry, probably I should not have written a quote that is a translation from Polish, at least not without a clear note. BartekChom 13:11, 24 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I didn't notice the quote. Fixed. Feel free to include info in the articles, we can correct it, but avoid direct quotes if you don't have the English book. --LorenzoCB 14:36, 24 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]
I am sorry. Thank you very much again. I did not expect that Tolkien used thou - I was sure that the translator had to guess whether it was second person singular or plural. BartekChom 15:33, 24 October 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

An Elf? (2)[edit source]

Veanne is one of the children in the Cottage of Lost Play, who were explicitly said to be "children of Men" who visited the Cottage of the Play of Sleep in Valinor - some of them managed to see Kor, after which a portion of them returned to the Great Lands and were filled with longing for the rest of their lives (such as some of Eriol's ancestors), but some of them stayed in Valinor (and later, Tol Eressea) and were, presumably, given limpe.

Here is quote from Christopher Tolkien, in the commentary of The Cottage of Lost Play:

"Later in the Lost Tales, however, there are again references to Olórë Mallë. After the description of the Hiding of Valinor, it is told that at the bidding of Manwë (who looked on the event with sorrow) the Valar Oromë and Lórien devised strange paths from the Great Lands to Valinor, and the way of Lórien's devising was Olórë Mallë, the Path of Dreams; by this road, when 'Men were yet but new-wakened on the earth', 'the children of the fathers of the fathers of Men' came to Valinor in their sleep." - IvarTheBoneless 15:01, 3 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]

In the first chapter, Vaire explains Eriol that Olóre Malle led to the Cottage of Children (where humans came in dreams to play), but the path was closed and now nobody comes from the Great Lands. That's why the Cottage of Lost Play is called so. I doubt Veanne was a child that had stayed in the Cottage for millenia. --LorenzoCB 15:57, 3 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
On the other hand, in The Cottage of Lost Play (p. 19) it is said that:
"These too were the earliest children - the children of the fathers of the fathers of Men that came there; and for pity the Eldar sought to guide all who came down that lane into the cottage and the garden, lest they strayed into Kôr and became enamoured of the glory of Valinor; for then would they either stay there for ever, and great grief fall on their parents, or would they wander back and long for ever vainly, and become strange and wild among the children of Men."
So, I don't see why it is unreasonable that these children of Men should live for millennia. After all, this should not to be confused with later mythology in which the fates of Men are radically different from that of the Elves. - IvarTheBoneless 16:21, 3 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Moreover, here is what Christopher Tolkien says about Eltas, the teller of the Tale of Turambar:
"At the outset of the tale, it would be interesting to know more of the teller, Eltas. He is a puzzling figure: he seems to be a Man (he says that 'our people' called Turambar Turumart 'after the fashion of the Gnomes') living in Hisilómë after the days of Turambar but before the fall of Gondolin, and he 'trod Olórë Mallë', the Path of Dreams. Is he then a child, one of 'the children of the fathers of the fathers of Men', who 'found Kôr and remained with the Eldar for ever'?" - IvarTheBoneless 16:56, 3 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Here is another text which states that the children in the Cottage of Lost Play were Men:
"Lift up your voices, O Pipers of the Shore, and ye Elves of Kôr sing aloud; and all ye Noldoli and hidden fairies of the world dance ye and sing, sing and dance O little children of Men that the House of Memory resound with your voices..." - from Gilfanon's Tale, p. 230 - IvarTheBoneless 15:15, 6 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]
You are right, but let me check everything first and I'll let you know. --LorenzoCB 00:41, 7 May 2022 (UTC)Reply[reply]