In my haste to get the last post out comparing Alvin's Golden Echo Harmonica with the Anor Stone (El-Anor), I overlooked the most obvious, in-plain-English example from those 2019-2020 words. It is actually from words I have shared multiple times, and which I have recently guessed is said as Glorfindel and Gildor give El-Anor to Joseph. I will bold what jumps out in this analogy:
Feb 10 & 11, 2020:
Those of us who delivered that ball-instrument to Lehi's family;
a compass, yet not wholly so, sufficient to lead one across seas to lands promised.
A palantir it was - a globe of crystal, metallic-seeming royal ancient sunlight beaming
[asgwiliant]
Singing songs of heroes bold, yet some songs remain untold
Resonant it was, echoing thought commissary needful for instruction, eggs bearing
[Hodnil]
to learn from who irradescent, a welding link, hands made sickly stewards reward
[Gildor]
Just a reminder that those words in brackets are a different speaker who is overlaying the dialogue with their own commentary regarding the speakers here (Glorfindel and Gildor).
In this scene, we have these Beings (the Couriers) introduce themselves to Joseph as the previous caretakers of the Anor Stone, who had once left the Anor Stone with Lehi and his family. They are now leaving it (literally) in the hands of Joseph, who is the steward with the 'hands made sickly'.
Joseph is sick, and the Anor Stone has now been given to him. In doing so, the Couriers describe the Ball or Stone as being "Resonant" and "Echoing thought".
In looking up "Resonant" on Etymonline, this is what I get: "re-echoing" or "to sound again". So, the Anor Stone has this "Echo" description attached to it, and this is further reinforced with the phrase that the Stone would "echo" thought.
This is a pretty clear tie to Alvin's Golden Echo Harmonica. Just as Alvin gave his Harmonica to the sick Tommy, the Couriers are giving Faramir-Eonwe's Anor Stone to the sick Joseph. It matches up very well, and is an obvious tie-in to the Chipmunk Christmas story and the Harmonica that I missed mentioning.
Two additional interesting points to make in closing, one from the movie itself and then another about the name Harmonica itself.
When Alvin gives the harmonica to Tommy, he makes up a story that the store held a contest and that he won "First Prize". That was the exact phrase he used - First Prize. Prize, per Etymonline, means "that which is obtained or offered as a reward". Refer back to the words from the Couriers to Joseph - they call it a "reward', or in other words, a prize. And it is the 'first' prize. Remember that Joseph needed to receive the Anor Stone before and rather than Faramir-Eonwe. Joseph needed to be 'first'.
As another observation in that scene where Alvin offers the harmonica to Tommy, he starts off by calling himself "the delivery boy". This cracked me up, as I have been calling the Beings who brought the Stone to Joseph (and would later bring the Sawtooth Stone to France) the "Stone Couriers" - basically the Stone Deliver Boys. Rather than Alvin being there himself to deliver the Stone in our story, it was the Couriers who did so on his behalf.
Second, the name of harmonica is interesting, not so much for the name itself, but rather who gave the instrument the name. Benjamin Franklin is credited with creating this name, but it was applied to a much different instrument back in his day as the harmonica of the type that Alvin used had not yet been invented. Rather, the instrument that Ben Franklin originally applied this name too was actually a large musical device that consisted of glass or crystal bowls or discs that had graduated sizing. You rubbed the glasses or crystals to created musical notes. The instrument was both invented by Franklin and named by him. Here is a sample picture:
In a very real sense, Alvin's Golden Echo Harmonica, despite its depiction in the cartoon, could be (based on the name alone) something like a Golden Echo Crystal or Glass, which sounds like it could be a very accurate description for the Anor Stone, which the Couriers described to Joseph as being a "Globe of Crystal", in this case a Golden one.
In addition, Ben Franklin's name has come up before, also as a comparison to the Being who was associated with the Anor Stone previously (Faramir). In National Treasure, Nicholas Cage's name is Ben Franklin Gates. Ben means "Son" and Franklin is yet another instance of a name associated with France, also meaning "Free Man" or "Free-born landholder".
I wasn't able to find any clips, really, of the Chipmunk Christmas on YouTube (it is from 1981, and I am not sure how popular it is). But I did find the video on DailyMotion, and here is the link for anyone interested (the scene with Tommy starts at about the 6 minute mark).
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8hwvm8
No comments:
Post a Comment