“There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold. Not till the spring comes and the new green opens do they fall, and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers; and the floor of the wood is golden, and golden is the roof, and it’s pillars are of silver, for the bark of the trees is smooth and grey.”
– Legolas.
Lothlórien was a forest and Elven realm near the lower Misty Mountains. It was first settled by Nandorin Elves, but later populated by Ñoldor and Sindar under Celeborn of Doriath and Galadriel, daughter of Finarfin. It was located on the River Celebrant, southeast of Khazad-dûm, and was the only place where the golden Mallorn trees grew.
Galadriel’s magic, later revealed as the power of her ring Nenya, enriched the land and made it a magic forest into which evil could not enter without difficulty. The only way that Lothlórien could have been conquered by the armies of Mordor is if Sauron had come there himself.
ENCOUNTER OF THE FELLOWSHIP
The Golden Wood was relatively close to Mirkwood and Dol Guldur. Around the time Sauron‘s forces were attacking Minas Tirith, Dol Guldur sent forces to assault Lothlórien as Gondor fought at the Battle of the Black Gate. There were three assaults in total, but though the outer woods were ravaged, the lands inhabited by the Elves were protected thanks to both Elven skill and Galadriel‘s power (Mordor could not have destroyed Lórien unless Sauron himself had arrived). After the three assaults failed, Lórien eventually sent its own forces to cast down Dol Guldur. This attack proved successful and Galadriel cast the walls down.
A PRESERVED BEAUTY
When examined, it is easy to see the correlation of the architectural style between Rivendell and Lothlorien. Both styles celebrated the beauty and greatness of nature yet Lothlorien does this at a level which is way humbler than how it is in Rivendell.
Built deep in the Forest Realm of Lothlórien, the city was created in the middle of, on top of, and out of mallorn, a type of tree originally brought to that land by Galadriel. Lothlorien Elves lives on the top of those golden trees called Mallorn and rather than building up closed spaces, they built open flat grounds called: talan (pl. Telain). They do their daily activities on them.
The few house type buildings were in the colors of trees and decorated with beautifully glowing candles. Similar to Rivendel, many spiral shaped stairs and rooftops of the houses were in the imitation of the textures and pattern which can be seen in the forest.
All of Lothlorien is in a great harmony with the old forest around them. Just like the Elves who dwelled in it.
In the books, Lothlorien described as a place as a symbol for the Elves’ aesthetics of preservation which provides a space ‘out of time’ for the characters who both live and visit there. It is often mention as the last stronghold of Elves, heart of the Middle Earth Elves and remnant of another more peaceful time.
IN MORE PEACEFUL TIMES
In the case of Lothlorien and Rivendell, we see the reflection of that belief of his. The shared beauty of these two elven locations and secrecy and hiddenness of those shows us that, Tolkien tried to pass the message of there are so little beauty and good left in this world and it keeps getting shrinking and fading.
WHY ELVES LEAVE MIDDLE EARTH
The answer of this is that the world burdens the Elves, for in them the long memories still live on. The Elves have also suffered greatly in Middle-earth, and their ability to remember is not like that of humans, for them memory is very much real, like a walking dream. Because of their great sufferings and many losses, they became passionately attached to Middle-earth, but this attachment didn’t bring them comfort. For by the time of the destruction of Sauron they too lost the power to heal those wounds.
Tolkien has always used Elves as a manifestion of beauty and harmony with nature and this shows how he lost fate in humanity by making elves leave Middle Earth, similar to how he believes good things are leaving our real world.
REFERENCES
- Wikipedia, (?), Lothlorien, Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothl%C3%B3rien
- One wiki to rule them all, (?), Lothlorien, Retrieved from https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Lothl%C3%B3rien
- Adrian Balaci, (2018), Why elves are leaving middle earth, Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-elves-have-to-leave-Middle-earth-and-where-did-they-go
Mae govannen mellon! 