This morning had some more dream words/ sequences that seem to tie with the overall general theme.
The first was "Unassailable". When I heard this word, I understood it to have a double meaning - it seemed fairly clearly communicated in that way.
The first meaning just takes it as it is: Un-Assailable. Meaning something like unable to be assaulted, attacked, or defeated. Pretty straightforward.
The second meaning came from viewing it as Un-a-Sailable, as in something or somewhere to which one is not able to sail (un-sailable). Also pretty straightforward and understandable.
Following this, I had a short dream where I saw a bright light in the night sky on the western horizon. I knew it was west because I viewed it from my house. West from my house looks out to the back of our farm, where our pasture is surrounded by several rows of large spruce trees on 3 sides, like a large, narrow rectangle. It was above the back treeline where the light appeared. I took it to be a star. However, after I looked at it for only a few seconds, the light disappeared from the sky and I woke up.
After falling back asleep, the second word of "Aldaroth" came. No visual that I can remember was associated with the word.
In waking up and looking up Aldaroth on Eldamo, the translation seems fairly straightforward also:
Aldar: Trees
Oth: Fort or fortress
So, Fortress of Trees, or Tree Fort... something like either of those would probably be close enough, or even a few other derivations to make it sound better. I don't know.
Putting that together, then, we have an "Unassailable, un-sailable Fortress of Trees/ Tree Fort".
Based on everything I've been writing, this seems fairly consistent with the description of Tirion as this 'high fortress' that people will be led to. I guess "Aldar" could be left as trees plural, and we might imagine Two Trees there, just as there would have been in the beginning in Valinor, or modified to one single tree to map to the story that I was exploring around Galathilion (Mellow-G). Either could work in the absence of any other insight. Maybe we will find out at some point.
Anyway, maybe this means some of this is kind of on the right track. Or, that it's coming from inside my head - if the latter, at least my brain is keeping it all consistent in these various languages, and is having a fun time generating double meanings and word games. If crazy, I'd prefer to be a consistent and interesting crazy, so this works. No complaints.
Lastly, the name Aldaroth reminds me of Alderaan, Princess Leia's home planet from Star Wars. The one that gets obliterated by the Death Star. In fact, they could almost have the same meaning in Elvish if we just phonetically transfer the name to Elvish : Aldaar = trees (just modified spelling with that extra 'a'), and Aan = On = great, land, or even tower (Like the name Tirion itself, which I believe Aldaroth is referring to).
I guess we just hope that Aldaroth-Tirion proves to be more unassailable than Alderaan was...
It's amazing how far movie making has come. From the way it explodes in that video you'd think Alderaan was made up of pure gasoline instead of earth/rocks etc.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, your post made me think of Aldarion from the rather depressing Mariner's Wife in Unfinished Tales. Aldarion has a real connection to trees in that tale. IIRC he was the one who made sure their ship-building was done in a way that wouldn't completely deforest Numenor. Not only did he insist all harvested trees must be replaced, but he expanded forests where it was possible. But to his wife's dismay, this was all done for the purpose of ship building and not b/c he loved or cherished trees.
He was also gifted a white sapling from Eressea by the elves when he married his wife. I don't know if it explicitly says anywhere that this sapling is the future Nimloth, but I think it's at least heavily implied. In fact I think there is some question he poses the elves about whether the tree would make a good wood for ships, to which the elves reply that they wouldn't know b/c they never thought to try. At any rate, trees factor in heavily in their tale.
I really love and hate that entire tale. I love it for expanding the lore of Numenor. I hate it b/c of the wasted love between Aldarion and his wife. Personally I think Aldarion bears the brunt of the blame and I just can't understand many of the choices he made. His life seems to be a critical turning point in Numenor's history, the fulcrum from which the king's line descended into degeneracy and rebellion.
All that aside, he turned Numenor into something of a tree fortress. If it wasn't for Aldarion, there may never have been unassailable (to borrow your word) armadas and such a heavy shift to militancy. However, I'm not saying Numenor is the tree fortress from your experience necessarily. Just pointing out where your post took my mind.
I also can't help but notice WJT has referenced a tree fort or tree house several times on his blog and that it was a place from which he received transmissions and such.
Leo:
ReplyDeleteWell, Aldarion does come up in my 2020 words, or I guess his ships do, more accurately ("ships of Aldarion").
The Mariner's Wife is a sad story, I agree - seems like quite a lot of misunderstanding between those two. Gil-Galad, however, might have a slightly softer take on Aldarion and his actions than you do, since he stated in his letter to Aldarion's father that it was Gil-Galad's own fault many times in detaining Aldarion a long time as they worked through the best course in taking on the 'new shadow' of their age (which turned out to be Sauron). He and Elrond would benefit directly from Aldarion's foresight and Numenorean aid many, many years after Aldarion's death.
So, I think you might judge him too harshly. But, even if he bears as much blame for Numenor's degeneracy as you say (and it is definitely clear he and Erendis' relationship was broken), we are dealing with a story of individual redemption. Numenor will need to be restored as part of this whole thing - perhaps both Aldarion and Erendis will have a positive part to play in that. That would be a good story.
Without Numenor's reestablishment, the path for many to arrive in Valinor at some future time can't come about, I think. And that will require Numenoreans maybe.
To clarify a little, I don't think Aldarion himself was degenerate. Prideful and probably misguided but I don't doubt he had the best of intentions. One of the biggest questions I had after reading that story was why Tolkien wrote it at all and I concluded that there must be significance beyond just to depress me. I think it was to show a few things and hint at others.
ReplyDeleteFirst, how Aldarion's good intentions were pretty easily twisted into something horrific. At first his gifts resulted in saving the elves of ME as you mentioned, only to later be used to break the entire world! Without his shift to overwhelming militancy, you may never have Pharazon's fleets or Sauron getting brought to Numenor. And of course the consequences of their broken marriage had a pretty negative impact on the king's line.
Second, I think there must be some significance to he and Erendis to justify the ink spent on their tale. As you said, maybe they have some role in reversing the ills Numenor inflicted on the world. In my mind they were clearly a turning point that changed Numenor's trajectory for the worse. And I love the idea of them being a turning point again to correct that trajectory toward redemption.
In fact, part of that idea in my mind is that Aldarion did more ship building than the tales say, and that he somehow perhaps preserved some ships here that will be used for some good purpose. Maybe he had some inkling that for all his good intentions, his efforts would be twisted to something evil and so he left some other means (ships) to help undo or resolve that evil in some future day.
I'm probably beating a dead horse here but I wonder if in what appears to be pettiness, Aldarion cuts down all the trees of his own garden for ship building, maybe instead it's a step toward something different, despite how it was perceived at the time. Perhaps those trees are the ones used for some special ships. Idk. Just kicking ideas around as I noodle on this.
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