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Lonely Wanderers and the Tales That Almost Were - Page 2

© Michael Martinez

Let's go back and examine another story, the tale of Earendil. Earendil's voyage to Aman is one of the oldest traditions in the Tolkien legendarium. Even before readers tread breathlessly in Bilbo's footsteps down that long tunnel in Erebor, Tolkien knew without a doubt that Earendil was a Half-elven mariner whose fate was bound up with a Silmaril. Fifty years ago, the story of Imrahil's family was about as likely to be published as was the tale of Earendil. That is, not likely at all. Tolkien had demanded that Allen & Unwin give him a firm answer on whether they would publish The Silmarillion together with The Lord of the Rings. Already daunted by the size and scope of LoTR, Allen & Unwin declined. So Tolkien turned to Collins (now HarperCollins, which has since gobbled up the company that succeeded Allen & Unwin). Tolkien had a friend at Collins in publisher Milton Waldman, but Waldman had troubles of his own. Due to an illness and Waldman's travel schedule, Collins never actually offered Tolkien a contract. In 1951, Waldman asked Tolkien to write a letter "demonstrating that The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion were interdependent and indivisible". In retrospect, we can see some connections, but it's a long stretch to say that one must read The Silmarillion in order to grasp the concept of The Lord of the Rings. It's nice to know what Elrond is talking about when he says Frodo would rank alongside Hurin and Turin (although that is really a dubious honor, in some ways). But the reader doesn't need to know more about Hurin and Turin to understand that Elrond was paying a great tribute to Frodo. And Aragorn's tale of Tinuviel on the slope of Weathertop is enchanting, but he does give enough of the sense of the story for the reader to understand it. Later, we learn that Arwen is likened to Tinuviel by her people, and that Aragorn's love for her is similar to Beren's love for Tinuviel. But we don't need The Silmarillion to understand that something special was going on between Aragorn and Arwen. What we need The Silmarillion for is to satisfy the craving that Tolkien excites within his readers for more stories, more tales, when he drops bits and glimpses of the "past" behind his stories. He engages in constant salesmanship. "I will tell you this story, which is related to that story, now. We'll listen to that story later on." Does this technique sound familiar? It's a very ancient practice, utilized by Homer, the Beowulf poet, Snorri Sturleson, and Sir Richard Burton (translator of The Arabian Nights, which undoubtedly utilized the technique in its original form).

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