The Tip of the Iceberg: New Information About Middle-Earth - Page 4
© Michael Martinez
More snippets lie beyond these, and the implications for Tolkien historians are extensive. Middle-earth reveals yet another layer -- indeed, several more -- to us. The significance of Arwen's tressure may imply some sort of Vardaic reverence. It is Arwen, after all, who apparently sings the hymn to Elbereth as Frodo and Bilbo leave the Hall of Fire in Rivendell. Gilraen and other women of her family may have shared that Elvish reverence for Varda.
The idea that people of only partial Numenorean blood continued to live in Eriador is tantalizing. Although we know that there could not be settled communities of Men west of the Mitheithel, does this revelation give new meaning to Elrond's words at the council, where he says that few of Aragorn's people still live? Was Elrond perhaps omitting any reference to a larger people governed by Aragorn's Elrosian clan? Those people who wonder where Aragorn found the population to reclaim Eriador may now have sufficient reason to argue that a substantial population dwelt near Rivendell in the Angle.
More revelations await us, especially concerning the early years of Arnor and Gondor. Also, it turns out, the Elves had both a decimal and duodecimal system. So, everyone is right. We all win again. And that's just the tip of the iceberg....
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