This is going to seem strange and out of left field, even by my standards as I explore various story elements. However, the germ of this thought goes back awhile, though I haven't really felt it necessary to sort it out. With my recent thoughts regarding Glorfindel and Gildor, I now want to sort it out or at least get it down and see where it goes.
Earwen is a name that hasn't appeared on this blog until earlier today. She is the wife of Finarfin, who has been mentioned a few times before here. Not much is written about her, other than Tolkien mentions she is Telerin and he guesses she was the daughter of Olwe, who was Thingol's brother. It is because of her connection to Thingol that her children (Galadriel, Finrod, etc.) were received and accepted by Thingol once they were exiled to Middle-earth. It is stated that she stayed behind in Valinor, as did Finarfin (but more on this later - probably different post).
Anyway, getting right to the point, I believe that Eowyn may have been Earwen. At first blush this seems impossible and completely unworkable. Recall that I also have Eowyn as Ilmare, a Maia living in Valinor. If this were true, it would therefore follow that, almost by definition, Eowyn could not also be Earwen.
And yet I think this is the case. A little wink this afternoon gave me the added motivation to put this in a post, which I will explain right now.
It was in my post The ascension of Eowyn: Using the Ithil Stone, where I expanded on and walked through my guess that Eowyn started on a path of 'ascension' from Ithilien sometime following the War of the Ring, using the Ithil Stone, and that as such she is a 'translated' Being, much like we might consider the Three Disciples to have been translated. In other words, if we were to see her today, she would appear, for all intents and purposes, physically as Eowyn.
In that post, I shared I dream from 2020, and how I have now interpreted this dream as being about Eowyn and the event of her leaving Middle-earth. Here is the dream that I related, along with some brief commentary:
In the dream, I was hanging out with one of my friends who I grew up with, and we also roomed together in college. In fact, I would go out to visit him a little later that fall just to continue to try and clear my head.
Anyway, we were hanging out in a bar having a drink, which is funny because we are both Mormons and don't drink (He is an active member, and I am no longer 'active', but am as Mormon as you can get with not drinking). I ended up walking behind him, bumping him and causing him to spill his beer or whatever it was that he was drinking. As I did this, I looked up at a large TV that was behind the bar. On the screen was a green hill, but one of the strangest hills I have ever seen - something that could only be in a dream, and hard to explain. I then noticed a white swan that was flying away from my point of view, and heading toward this hill, after which I woke up
I actually now think that white swan represented Eowyn flying toward Tuna, which is the green hill in Aman on which stands Tirion or Tun. Funnily enough, I think my friend, whose beer I spilled, was meant to represent Legolas, who was still pining away to go over the sea, and who had also taken up residence in Ithilien with Eowyn and Faramir, along with other Elves.
I mentioned that I visited that friend actually just several weeks after having this dream. While visiting him over a weekend in October, I had another dream where the name Earwen was prominently featured - the name was held up in big bold letters for me to see - which caused me to look her up and understand her story (which there wasn't much of) a little more.
Anyway, this afternoon as I was thinking about whether I wanted to post something on the potential connection between Eowyn and Earwen this evening, now having brought her up for the first time just earlier today, this very same friend from my dream called me up.
This is quite a startling coincidence, given that he and I don't talk very frequently. I looked back on my records just to confirm. The last time I spoke with him was almost a year ago, on September 22, 2023. Before that, it had been almost two years ago, which was unbelievable to both of us that we had gone that long without talking. So, his call to me this afternoon was only the 2nd time in 3 years that we have spoken over the phone. To me, this was pretty incredible that of all days he decided to call, it was on the day where I was contemplating putting a post together about the Earwen-Eowyn connection, when he had factored into two dreams I believe connect those two characters.
Anyway, I took it as a nudge that I better get something down, even if only quickly.
Back to the dream itself, you'll note that Eowyn is represented by a Swan. This is the first clue or symbol that connects her to Earwen. As the title of my blog indicates, Earwen was known as the "Swan Maiden of Alqualonde". Alqualonde is where the Telerin Eldar lived in Aman.
I was going to go through other little insights, but I am just going to leave it at that in terms of references. There are other dreams, references, etc. that seem to suggest this is potentially right, but I am running out of steam tonight. It will also help, though, explain some commentary from my May/ June 2020 words, where at one time point I believe Glorfindel is being referred to by another pseudonym of "Murphy". Murphy means Sea Warrior, and along with the other children of Earwen, he would have been acquired this love for and prowess in the Sea from his mother, perhaps.
If true,it is interesting to note that by the time she is Eowyn, a few lives and many years later, she will be completely land-based, being born among the horse-lords of Rohan. In my story, the Sea, in many settings, represents Outer Space or something like that. The area between worlds. Thus, Eowyn's ascension into the Heavens was likely something of a remembering. This had been her natural habitat, or something with which she was very familiar in a time long before, but had completely forgotten. Her journey would have thus been partly a rediscovery of long-lost things.
This view is one reason why I posited that she may have ultimately stopped and stayed in Alqualonde for a time upon returning to Valinor, since this would have been her home in a time long, long ago.
In any case, because there is so little known about Earwen, really the biggest hurdle is the fact that I have Eowyn as Ilmare. How do I solve this conundrum?
Well, the story went on for quite some time on this earth from the time the Ainur first came down into this creation, even before the Years of the Trees and the founding of Valinor. It is said that Earwen was born in Valinor during the Years of the Trees - sometime before 1230 Y.T., when she would have married Finarfin. However, Ilmare, as a Maia, would have entered this creation as she was, in whatever family relationship existed at that time (in which I believe she was the daughter of Manwe and Varda for purposes of this creation).
The only real solution I have is that she condescended to be born as a Telerin elf sometime after entering Arda, either during the Years of the Trees, or perhaps even prior. I've had to think this through a little bit, but I think it makes sense, and I am not aware of any major contradictions in Tolkien's writings. It, in fact, is an example or pattern of these types of condescensions for not only here but also, I believe, many other Beings as the history of this world unfolds.
In looking at names, one other factor or clue that we might be onto something here is the name of Ilmare itself. Though it doesn't have a direct translation, it is speculated that the name means something like "Starlight" from Ilma. However, Christopher Tolkien suggested that the name might also be related to Ilmen and Ilmarin. Ilmen means, per Eldamo, "The region above the air where the stars are, through which the Sun and Moon travelled". In other words, Outer Space.
In remembering that the Sea in many instances refers to this same Outer Space, the name of Earwen can actually be interpreted as meaning something very similar to that of Ilmare. Just something to also consider.
So, in this story, it is possible that Ilmare, the Maia, at some point is born as a Telerin elf in Alqualonde. She will marry Finarfin. This adds then another interesting twist and potential complication. Because if this is true, and some other things I am thinking through are correct, then the makes Finarfin the re-born Eonwe-Faramir. Eonwe would follow the same path as Ilmare, and be reborn as an Elf in Valinor to Finwe and Indis.
We know a whole lot more about Eonwe and Finarfin than we do about Ilmare and Earwen, however (or at least we think we do), so this might get complicated and potentially unworkable. We'll tackle it in a different post. There is reason to think this makes sense also, and can hold together reasonably well.
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