Posted: July 10, 1998 at 04:28:24: by Stephen Geard
First a correction: The brief mention of Tu (or Tuvo) and the discovery of the sleeping Fathers of Men is found in HOME vol. 1 (not 4).Tu must remain a mystery as he does not reappear. We certainly can't call him a Maia as Tolkien had not invented that category at that stage! It seems most likely he is a precursor to Sauron (whom Tolkien first called Thu). Although in the Book of Lost Tales (HOME vols. 1 & 2) the role later played by Sauron (Beren's captor) is played by Tevildo, Prince of Cats. We might speculate that Thu arose as a combination of the name and description of Tu (a wizard) with the role of Tevildo. It is a pity that Tolkien did forget about Tu and his discovery of the Sleeping Men, as it could have got him out of a tight spot re the origin of the Orcs. In HOME vol. 10 we learn that Tolkien eventually abandoned the idea that the Orcs were bred from Elves and decided they were bred from Men. But that meant pushing the Awakening of Men well back, long before the Rising of the Sun, which doesn't really fit with the rest of the Silmarillion story. But, if we make Tu into Sauron, we can solve the problem. Sauron was chiefly responsible for breeding the Orcs, whilst Morgoth was in prison in Mandos (see HOME 10:416ff). So perhaps Sauron found the Sleeping Fathers of Men and awakended some of the prematurely, and from them bred the Orcs. This allows for the Orcs to be of Mannish descent, but still allows for the proper awakening of men to have occured at the Rising of the Sun. But unfortunately Tolkien forgot about Tu, so this very neat solution to his problem did not occur to him. P.S. Who say Tom and Goldberry were Maiar? Tom was Aule and Goldberry was Yavanna!
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