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The Magic of the Minstrels - Page 5

© Michael Martinez

The Wandering Companies must eventually have become fewer in number. The Dunadan cities dwindled and vanished. Men became fearful and mistrustful of the Elves, the Elves became wary of Men, and time marched on toward the inevitable estrangement of the races. The Elves who passed up and down the Anduin singing songs about the Ents and Entwives proably vanished with the rise of Dol Guldur. Thranduil led his people north and they lost contact with the Elves of Lothlorien. The friendly Men of the Vales of Anduin were gradually displaced by Easterlings brought in by Sauron. In the south Gondor must have remained close in friendship with the Elves of Edhellond, but that city was eventually abandoned by its folk before the last King of Gondor disappeared. In the days of the Stewards Men who visited the Elves became few. If Silvan Elves passed through Gondor on their way to the Sea they would not be molested, but neither may they have been invited to stay. The story of Mithrellas, handmaiden of Nimrodel, and her Dunadan husband ends sorrowfully, for she leaves him in the night. In time it fell to the Dunedain to remember the Elvish songs, and to perform them. But the Dunedain waned and dwindled, and they became more concerned with surviving in a hostile world, and slowly forgot their ancient lore. And when the Dunedain of Arnor had passed on to the wilderness the Men and Hobbits who remained behind remembered little if anything at all of the great Elvish civilization. The Wandering Companies stayed to themselves. The Shire-Hobbits became so conservative they didn't have to go far even within the borders of their own land in order to seem out of place. So it's unlikely that any of them traveled through the Shire singing songs or telling stories. These traditions were reduced to local custom. Everyone told the tales and sang the songs, and no one earned special recognition for any particular gift or talent. The families and communities entertained themselves. The inns drew in occasional travelers (mostly Dwarves) who might share new songs and stories, or long-forgotten tales, and by a slow process the amalgamation of disparate cultures and experiences continued. In a way the process of developing great traditions of story-telling and song-making must have begun all over again. For bereft of the Elvish influence Men still needed to exchange news and remember the great deeds of their heroes. But though they might achieve great beauty in their own way, they lacked the magic which would have enhanced the art of the Elvish minstrels. The deeds of Men outlasted the deeds of Elves, but the songs of Men could do no more than vaguely recall the enchantment of the Middle-earth that had once been.

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