The White Council

Re: Time Passing In Lorien (was Re: inspired by wraith-world discussion)

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

: : The book makes it pretty clear that the Fellowship only : : experienced a few days in Lothlorien. They did not witness : : the passing of the month that occurred outside of Lorien.

: I was always under the impression that it simply stopped things : from aging (at least not as quickly), rather than hold back : time. This certainly seems more reasonable. It could be : possible that they were under a similar "spell" as they were in : the House of Tom Bombadil. It seemed that only a few days went : by, but it really was a lot more, or vice versa for Tom's : house.

Tolkien literally wrote that the Rings hold back Time. I could swear I had posted that here recently. But the Rings of Power come up in so many different Tolkien discussions, it's hard to keep up with what I've cited where.

: Anyway, assuming that you are correct, how could elves slow : down time. I mean do they have their own sun and their own : moon? How else could "days" and "nights" happen? Unless they : were just an illusion. It seems like something even the Valar : couldn't accomplish. It just doesn't seem to correspond with : other things. I feel my first paragraph's reason seems more : reasonable. I believe Sam said he could only RECALL a few days : in Lórien, and that he couldn't remember the others. I'll have : to go back and look.

I cannot explain the phenomenon, except to say it's what we would call "magic". For a cue to the time differential (or a possible error on Tolkien's part), look at the dates for the Mirror of Galadriel and the departure of the Fellowship from Lothlorien in the Appendix and then go read the first part of "Farewell to Lorien" again.

What occurs over three days in the Appendix transpires over two days in the chapter. It's a fine hair to split, I suppose, but given Tolkien's description of the powers of the Rings in various letters, I'm inclined to believe he deliberately put the discrepancy in there -- I just cannot prove he did so. Or maybe there is some discussion of it in THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH, but I haven't checked to see.