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The Sleeper was a messenger of Turgon[1] who dwelled within the Tower of Pearl on Tol Withernon[2] according to "The Tale of Eärendel" in The Book of Lost Tales Part Two.[3]
History[]
Many years before the Fall of Gondolin, Turgon sent a messenger to sail across the Sundering Seas for unspecified purposes.[1] This mariner set foot in the Tower of Pearl on the westernmost[2] of the Twilit Isles in the Shadowy Seas that surrounded Valinor. After he became "enmeshed in magics", the messenger became unable to leave the tower.[1]
During the voyage of Eärendel to Kôr, it was said that Littleheart, the Gong-warden of Tombo, rang the gong and woke the Sleeper.[3] Despite still being unable to leave the tower, the Sleeper nonetheless warned the travellers of the magic.[1]
In other versions[]
On July 24[4] of 1915, before Tolkien wrote any version of his legendarium, he wrote a poem entitled Tha Eadigan Saelidan: The Happy Mariners[5] that was spoken by the Sleeper describing the Tower of Pearl. In The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, Christopher Tolkien identified the poem as being "the song of the Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl"[6] that was mentioned in "The Hiding of Valinor" in The Book of Lost Tales Part One.[7]
In an early outline of the "The Tale of Eärendel", Tolkien identified the Sleeper as Idril herself, writing that Eärendel did not know, but he later struck this idea through.[8] After rejecting this, Tolkien decided that the Sleeper was to be a messenger of Turgon who was cursed and unable to leave the Tower.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, V: The Tale of Eärendel, "The Co-events to Eärendel's Tale", pg. 263 (entry "xii")
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, I: "The Cottage of Lost Play", pg. 15
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, V: The Tale of Eärendel, pg. 254
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, V: "The Tale of Eärendel", IV: The Happy Mariners, note 12
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, pg. 459 (entry "Northern Venture, A")
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, IX: "The Hiding of Valinor", pg. 215
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, V: "The Tale of Eärendel", IV: The Happy Mariners, pgs. 273-4
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, V: "The Tale of Eärendel", Notes, pg. 276 (note 6)