Swans

Swans were large white birds of Arda. They are usually depicted as servants of the Vala Ulmo.

History

The Maia Ossë sent a flock of swans to draw the ships of the Telerin Elves across the Sea to Aman. For this reason the Falmari came to revere swans, building their ships in swan-form and calling their city Alqualondë, "Swanhaven" in Quenya, to the point that they gained the epithet of Swanherds. The Teleri who had stayed behind in Middle-earth revered swans as well: the Sindar of Mithrim used a swan as their symbol, while the Nandor of Lothlórien made a ship that resembled a real, giant swan.

Later in First Age Ulmo ordered Turgon to leave in Vinyamar an armor with a shield which had "an emblem of a white swan's wing". Tuor, who was fostered by the Elves of Mithrim, was led to Vinyamar by seven great swans sent by Ulmo. After Tuor have recovered the armor and the shield the seven swans offered one feather each, which him set in the crest of his helm. Later, the wing of a white swan become the symbol of the House of the Wing in Gondolin, led by Tuor himself. Also Vingilot, the ship of Eärendil son of Tuor, had a figurehead shaped like a swan.

In the Hills of Agar, there were legends about the great Swans of Gorbelgod, though little else is told of them.

In the Third Age, the swan was a symbol of Dol Amroth.

In other versions

In an earlier version of the legendarium, Aulë was the first to make ships shaped like swans.

In adaptations

Middle-earth Role Playing

In the Creatures of Middle-earth and Dagorlad and the Dead Marshes supplements to the Middle-earth Role Playing game, it was said that Black Swans were "known to mob and overturn boats" since they were bigger than ordinary swans. There also is an intelligent and friendly type of swan which are "creamy white in color, liberally splotched and speckled with black and grey" hence why they were given the Sindarin name Elph Tithen ("Pied Swans").

External links

• The Missing Pinfeather? at The Long Defeat (blog)