Tavrobel

From Tolkien Gateway
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
Tavrobel
Village
J.R.R. Tolkien - Taurobel.png
"Taurobel" by J.R.R. Tolkien, depicting the bridge of Tavrobel
General Information
Other namesTavrost (G)
Taurossë/Tavaros(së) (Q)
Great Haywood (E)
Hægwudu se gréata/Gréata Hægwudu (OE)
LocationTol Eressëa
TypeVillage
People and History
InhabitantsElves
After the Faring Forth, Men
CreatedAfter the March of Liberation
EventsWanderings of Eriol
Faring Forth
GalleryImages of Tavrobel

Tavrobel was a village in Tol Eressëa, according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales. It later became known as Great Haywood.[1]

The village was located in the west of the Gnomish-speaking area of Tol Eressëa,[2] near the confluence of the rivers Afros and Gruir,[3] where Tram Nybol, the grey bridge of Tavrobel, spanned the two rivers.[4]

History

Early history

After the March of Liberation and the defeat of Melko, the exiled Gnomes settled on the Lonely Isle and made many settlements, one of them being Tavrobel. One of its most famous inhabitants was Gilfanon, the Lord of Tavrobel,[3] who lived in the House of the Hundred Chimneys nearby.[5]

The great Pine of Tavrobel was located there as well, which reached the stars. There, according to one outline, after Melko's escape from his second imprisonment, Telimektar son of Tulkas and Ingil son of Inwë chased Melko up the Pine, all the way to Ilwë. Afterwards, the Pine was cut down, and Melko was stranded outside of the world, perpetually guarded by Ingil and Telimektar, preventing his return until the Great End.[6]

Arrival of Eriol and the Faring Forth

Sometime during the 5th century AD,[7] a Mannish mariner called Eriol arrived to Tol Eressëa, and was eventually hosted by Gilfanon at his home in Tavrobel, where he compiled the Golden Book from the tales he had heard from the Elves, and was then allowed to drink limpë.[8]

During the Faring Forth, when the island of Tol Eressëa was dragged across the Ocean and anchored off the coast of the Great Lands, there occurred a great battle not far from Tavrobel, on the Heath of the Sky-roof. Following the battle, Men occupied Tol Eressëa, and the remaining Elves fled over Afros and Gruir, and Eriol[note 1][8] wrote the last words of the Golden Book in an empty Tavrobel.[3]

Later, Tavrobel was conquered by Heorrenda son of Eriol, and became known as Gréata Hægwudu, and eventually as Great Haywood.[9]

Etymology

The name Tavrobel is in Gnomish, meaning "Wood-home", consisting of the elements tavros ("forest, wooded land") + pel ("village, hamlet").[10]

An earlier form of the name was Taurobel.[4]

Other names

Another (Gnomish) name for the place was Tavrost, from tavros + rost ("slope, hill side, ascent").[11]

The Qenya cognates of Tavrobel/Tavrost are Taurossë and Tavaros(së).[12]

The place was also known as Hægwudu se gréata or Gréata Hægwudu in Old English.[13]

Other versions of the legendarium

Early legendarium

In some of the outlines for the continuation of The Book of Lost Tales, Tolkien decided to completely change the nature of the framework of the tales. In that reimagining of the legendarium, Tol Eressëa ceased to be identified with England/British Isles - instead, it became a completely different island, and Great Britain became the island of Luthany.[14]

So, as opposed to the previous conception, where the Elves of the Great Lands sailed directly to Tol Eressëa following the defeat of Melko in the March of Liberation, the Elves now sailed to Luthany instead.

There, they built many cities and settlements - and, after their eventual return to Tol Eressëa, named many places there after the ones in Luthany. For example, the village of Tavrobel (the New) in Tol Eressëa was named after Tavrobel the Old in Luthany.[15]

In some of the contemporary texts, it is said that after Ælfwine wedded Earissë the daughter of Lindo, he went to live in Tavrobel, where he had two sons - Heorrenda and Hlúdwine.[16]

According to one text, it is said that Ælfwine wrote the Golden Book and left it in the House of the Hundred Chimneys, "where it lieth still to read for such as may".[17]

Later legendarium

According to the later legendarium, from the 1937 Quenta Silmarillion, Tavrobel or Tathrobel[note 2] was the home of Pengolod the Wise in Tol Eressëa, a loremaster of Gondolin, after his return to the West.[18]

It was later visited by Ælfwine, the Anglo-Saxon mariner, where Pengolod showed him the histories of the Elves.[18]

The final mention of Tathrobel in the legendarium is in the preamble to the Later Quenta Silmarillion from the 1950s.[19]

Later etymology

The name Tavrobel as used above is in Noldorin. In The Etymologies, a text from the 1930s, it is explained as consisting of tavor ("woodpecker, knocker") + gobel ("village").[20]

The name was afterwards changed to Tathrobel.[21] According to John Garth, Tathrobel means "willow-home" in Noldorin.[22]

In Ælfwine's translation of the Annals of Valinor to Old English, Tavrobel is called Taþrobel.[23]

Tavrobel in Brethil

In The Etymologies, Tavrobel was also considered to be the name of a settlement of Túrin and the Woodmen of Brethil.[20] See: Amon Obel.

In the Grey Annals from the 1950s, there likewise appears a location in Brethil called Tavrobel. It was later changed to Bar Haleth, probably being a transient name for Ephel Brandir.[24]

Christopher Tolkien notes that real-life Great Haywood and the two Tavrobels are near the confluence of two rivers: The Great Haywood: Sow and Trent; Tavrobel of Tol Eressea: Afros and Gruir; Tavrobel of Brethil: Taiglin and Sirion.[25]

Inspiration

Tavrobel was inspired by the village of Great Haywood in Staffordshire, where Edith Bratt lived for a while after her marriage to J.R.R. Tolkien.[1] Tolkien was recovering in Great Haywood after returning from the Great War, where he started writing The Book of Lost Tales.[source?]

The two rivers of Tavrobel, Afros and Gruir, were probably inspired by the rivers Sow and Trent, which reach their confluence near Great Haywood.[25] Also, Tram Nybol, the bridge of Tavrobel, was most likely based on the Essex Bridge, which spans the river Trent near its confluence with Sow.[4]

The Heath of the Sky-roof, located about a league from Tavrobel, might have been inspired by the Hopton Heath, a place where a battle of the English Civil War was fought in 1643.[25]

According to John Garth, however, the Heath of the Sky-roof could have been inspired by the Cannock Chase, a small area of countryside not far from Great Haywood, instead. Likewise, the Brook of Glass, a stream near the Heath of the Sky-roof, mentioned in one outline, was most likely based on the Sher Brook that flows through the Cannock Chase.[26]

Gilfanon's home, the House of the Hundred Chimneys, might have been based, according to G.L. Elkin, Acting Director of the Shugborough Estate, on the Shugborough Hall, which features prominent chimneys.[25] Alternatively, it might have been inspired by a house called Gipsy Green near Penkridge in Staffordshire.[27]

See also

Notes

  1. In another text, Eriol died in Tol Eressëa before the Faring Forth happened.
  2. Tathrobel was a later change from Tavrobel.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "I. The Cottage of Lost Play": "Notes and Commentary", p. 25
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Early Qenya and The Valmaric Script", in Parma Eldalamberon XIV (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), p. 62
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 8, pp. 287-9
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Alphabet of Rúmil & Early Noldorin Fragments", in Parma Eldalamberon XIII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Heraldic Devices of Tol Erethrin", p. 94
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "VIII. The Tale of the Sun and Moon", pp. 174-5
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 4, pp. 281-2
  7. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "I. The Cottage of Lost Play": "Notes and Commentary", p. 23
  8. 8.0 8.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 5, p. 283
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", pp. 292-3
  10. Paul Strack, "G. Tavrobel loc.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 24 April 2022)
  11. Paul Strack, "G. Tavrost loc.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 24 April 2022)
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part I, p. 267
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", p. 292
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", pp. 300-1
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 27, pp. 307-8
  16. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", in Parma Eldalamberon XV (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), Appendix, Text XI, p. 18
  17. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 30, p. 310
  18. 18.0 18.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Part Two: Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings, VI. Quenta Silmarillion", p. 203
  19. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Three. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: (II) The Second Phase: The Valaquenta", pp. 199-200
  20. 20.0 20.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entry PEL(ES)-, p. 380
  21. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Appendix: III. The Second 'Silmarillion' Map", p. 412
  22. John Garth, The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Land of Lúthien", p. 54
  23. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Shaping of Middle-earth, "VI. The Earliest Annals of Valinor: Appendix: Old English versions of the Annals of Valinor, made by Ælfwine or Eriol ([Version] III)", p. 290
  24. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "The Grey Annals": Note on §324, pp. 156-7
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Appendix: III. The Second 'Silmarillion' Map", p. 413
  26. John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, "Epilogue. 'A new light'", p. 273
  27. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 26