The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë

The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë, also known as the Eärendillinwë, and "Eärendil was a mariner", was a song written primarily by Bilbo Baggins, though his friend Aragorn II helped with a few of its lines. Its name should be pronounced as ay-ah-ren-dil-lin-way.

History

The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë was said to have been a transformation of Errantry, an earlier nonsensical poem written by Bilbo likely "in the early days after" the Quest of Erebor. The metrical devices found in Errantry were carried over to the Eärendillinwë, where they were applied incongruously to the legends of Eärendil in the First Age. This was probably done because Bilbo was proud of inventing them.

Bilbo performed the song in the Hall of Fire in Rivendell after the feast celebrating Frodo Baggins's recovery from the wound that he suffered on Weathertop Hill. Apparently, Bilbo had asked his listeners to guess which parts he wrote and which were Aragorn's work, as the Elves gathered around requested a second recital of the song in order to make their guess, much to Bilbo's dismay. As Lindir commented, speaking on behalf of his people, "It is not easy for us to tell the difference between two mortals".

Bilbo later told Frodo that Aragorn merely insisted on putting in a green stone and that the rest was his own work. Aragorn also commented that "if I had the cheek to make verses about Eärendil in the house of Elrond, it was my affair".

Text

Eärendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boat of timber felled
in Nimbrethil to journey in;
her sails he wove of silver fair,
with silver were her banners sewn;
her prow he fashioned like the swans
that white upon the Falas roam.

His coat that came from ancient kings,
in chainéd rings was forged of old;
his shining shield all wounds defied,
with runes entwined of dwarven gold.
his bow was made of dragon-horn,
his arrows shorn of ebony,
of triple-steel his habergeon,
his scabbard of chalcedony;
his sword was like a flame in sheath,
with gems was wreathed his helmet tall,
an eagle-plume upon his crest,
upon his breast an emerald.

Beneath the Moon and under star
he wandered far from northern strands,
bewildered on enchanted ways
beyond the days of mortal lands.
From gnashing of the Narrow Ice
where shadow lies on frozen hills,
from nether heats and burning waste
he turned in haste, and roving still
on starless waters far astray
at last he came to Night of Naught,
and passed, and never sight he saw
of shining shore nor light he sought.
The winds of fear came driving him,
and blindly in the foam he fled
from west to east and errandless,
unheralded he homeward sped.

In might the Fëanorians
that swore the unforgotten oath
brought war into Arvernien
with burning and with broken troth;
and Elwing from her fastness dim
then cast her in the waters wide,
but like a mew was swiftly borne,
uplifted o’er the roaring tide.
Through hopeless night she came to him,
and flame was in the darkness lit;
more bright than light of diamond
the fire upon her carcanet.
The Silmaril she bound on him
and crowned him with the living light
and dauntless then with burning brow
he turned his prow at middle-night.
Beyond the world, beyond the Sea,
then strong and free a storm arose,
a wind of power in Tarmenel;
by paths that seldom mortal goes
from Middle-earth on mighty breath
as flying wraith across the grey
and long-forsaken seas distressed
from East to West he passed away.

Through Evernight he back was borne
on black and roaring waves that ran
o'er leagues unlit and foundered shores
that drowned before the Days began,
until he hears on strands of pearl
where ends the world the music long,
where ever-foaming billows roll
the yellow gold and jewels wan.
He saw the Mountain silent rise
where twilight lies upon its knees
of Valinor, and Eldamar
beheld afar beyond the seas.
A wanderer escaped from night
to haven white he came at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere.

He tarried there from errantry,
and melodies they taught to him,
and sages old him marvels told,
and harps of gold they brought to him.
They clothed him then in elven-white,
and seven lights before him sent,
as through the Calacirian
to hidden land forlorn he went.
He came unto the timeless halls
where shining fall the countless years,
and endless reigns the Elder King
in Ilmarin on mountain sheer;
and words unheard were spoken then
of folk of Men and Elven-kin,
beyond the world were visions showed
forbid to those that dwell therein.

A ship then new they built for him
of mithril and of elvenglass
with crystal keel; no shaven oar
nor sail she bore, on silver mast:
the Silmaril as lantern light
and banner bright with living flame
to gleam thereon by Elbereth
herself was set, who thither came
and wings immortal made for him,
and laid on him undying doom,
to sail the shoreless skies and come
behind the Sun and light of Moon.

From Evereven's lofty hills
where softly silver fountains fall
his wings him bore, a wandering light,
beyond the mighty Mountain Wall.
From World's End then he turned away,
and yearned again to find afar
his home through shadows journeying,
and burning as an island star
on high above the mists he came,
a distant flame before the Sun,
a wonder ere the waking dawn
where grey the Norland waters run.

And over Middle-earth he passed
and heard at last the weeping sore
of women and of elven-maids
in Elder Days, in years of yore.
But on him mighty doom was laid,
till Moon should fade, an orbéd star
to pass, and tarry never more
on Hither Shores where Mortals are;
till end of days on errand high,
a herald bright that never rests,
to bear his shining lamp afar,
the Flammifer of Westernesse.

In other versions

Among the various versions of the poem, there is one version which Christopher Tolkien believed that his father most likely intended for publication instead of the one that was published in The Fellowship of the Ring. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull mention that when they were editing the 2004 edition of The Lord of the Rings, they chose not to reinsert the poem that Tolkien intended to include, choosing instead to keep the published version and to just mention the situation in commentary.

In the third chapter of The Lays of Beleriand, there is a fragment of a Lay of Eärendel with no title. It was written around 1918, in time with The Lay of the Children of Húrin.

Inspiration

The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë is derived from the earlier poem Errantry, which was originally published on November 9 in 1933. Years later, when Tolkien was writing the "Many Meetings" chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, he revised Errantry to use it in the book. After fifteen revisions, it reached the form as it was published. In 1962, Errantry was published as part of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book. Both Errantry and the Eärendillinwë use trisyllabic assonances or near-assonances in a meter which Tolkien had invented. This fact passed into the legendarium, as the Preface says that Bilbo was probably proud of his meter and used it as a model for the Eärendillinwë.

See also

• Errantry
• Lay of Eärendil

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Lied van Eärendil
Albanian	Kënga e Eärendil
Arabic	نشيد إيرنديل
Armenian	Երգ Էարենդիլ
Bosnian	Pjesma Eärendila
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Песен на Еарендил
Catalan	Càntic de Eàrendil
Czech	Píseň Eärendilova
Danish	Eärendils sang
Dutch	Lied van Eärendil
Finnish	Eärendilin laulu
French	Le Chant de Eärendil
Georgian	ეარენდილი სიმღერა
German	Lied über Earendil
Hebrew	שיר איארנדיל
Hungarian	Eärendil dala
Icelandic	Söng Eärendil
Indonesian	Lagu Eärendil
Irish Gaelic	Amhrán Eärendil
Italian	Canto a Eärendil
Luxembourgish	Lidd vun Eärendil
Malagasy	Tononkiran'i Eärendil
Norwegian	Eärendils sang
Polish	Pieśń Eärendil
Portuguese	Cântico de Eärendil
Romanian	Cântarea lui Eärendil
Russian	Песнь Эарендиль
Scottish Gaelic	Òran Eärendil
Slovak	Pieseň Eärendil
Slovenian	Eärendilova pesem
Spanish	Canción de Eärendil
Swahili	Wimbo Ulio Eärendil
Swedish	Eärendils sång
Turkish	Eärendil'ın Ezgisi
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Пісня Еаренділа
Welsh	Cân Eärendil
Yiddish	שיר ײאַרענדיל
Yoruba	Orin Earendilì
Zulu	Ingoma kaEärendili