In any case, given the freedom which Tolkien allowed himself when drawing
from his mythology in The Hobbit in this earliest draft (e.g., the application of ‘Fingolfin’
as a goblin name on p. 8), it’s unreasonable to expect a strict consistency
with his earlier material, especially given the fluid, shifting nature of details and
concepts within that corpus. Tolkien often seems to have described scenes as he initially
visualized them and worked out the details to make them consistent with the
rest of the tale afterwards (e.g., contrast p. 90 with p. 828): in this case, ‘goldenhaired
elf-lord’ was a motif he decided to use when inserting this interpolation into
The Hobbit and he did so, very effectively.
(iii)
The King of Wood and Stone
If Tolkien’s wood-elves as a whole harken back to folklore beliefs about ‘the Fair
Folk’, then in his depiction of the Elvenking he is drawing on a specific modern
literary source: his own unpublished writings.33 Certainly there are striking similarities
between the Elvenking’s halls and the caves of the Rodothlim, a shy and fugitive
people who in the later evolution of the mythology became the elves of Nargothrond:
. . . in the mountains there was a place of caves above a stream, and that
stream ran down to feed the river Sirion, but grass grew before the doors of
the caves, and these were cunningly concealed by trees and such magics as
those scattered bands that dwelt therein remembered still. Indeed at this time
this place had grown to be a strong dwelling of the folk . . . long ere [Túrin
and his companion] drew nigh to that region . . . the spies and watchers of the
Rodothlim (for so were that folk named) gave warning of their approach, and
the folk withdrew before them, such as were abroad from their dwelling. Then
they closed their doors and hoped that the strangers might not discover their
caves, for they feared and mistrusted all unknown folk of whatever race, so
evil were the lessons of that dreadful time.
Now then Flinding and Túrin dared even to the caves’ mouths, and perceiving
that these twain knew now the paths thereto the Rodothlim sallied and
made them prisoners and drew them within their rocky halls, and they were led
before the chief, Orodreth.
—‘Turambar and the Foalókë’ [circa 1919],
BLT II.81–2.
While the wood-elves’ dwelling [circa 1931] is not described as being located in
mountains, it otherwise strongly resembles the Rodothlim’s lair, being ‘a great cave’
alongside a river that ‘ran from out of the heights of the forest’; these heights are
also described as ‘the highlands’ (p. 315) and ‘a steep slope’ (p. 379). Like the
Rodothlim, the wood-elves initially flee before the intruders (at the three feasts),
only to waylay and capture the trespassers the next day and bring them before their
king for judgement. But aside from their dwelling the Rodothlim are not a very
close parallel to the wood-elves: we are told the former are so industrious that ‘there
the ancient arts and works of the Noldoli [Deep Elves] came once more to life . . .
There was smithying in secret and forging of good weapons, and even fashioning
of some fair things beside, and the women spun once more and wove, and at times
was gold quarried privily in places nigh . . . so that deep in those caverns might vessels
of beauty be seen in the flame of secret lights’ (BLT II.81). By contrast, we are
specifically told that the Elvenking’s treasure is small because his people ‘neither
mined nor worked metal or jewels, nor did they trade, nor till the earth more than
they could help’ (see below). Also, the wood-elves do not share the Rodothlim’s
aversion to marching off to war, as we shall see in later chapters, although admittedly
this was a slightly later development.
A much closer parallel to the wood-elves can be found in the woodland realm of
Doriath, located in the heart of a dark forest known for its impenetrability, a place
where most travellers get lost and perish miserably. Like the elven kingdom in Mirkwood,
Doriath is a realm of the Sea Elves (the Teleri), not the Deep Elves (the Noldoli
or Noldor) as had been the case with the Rodothlim of Nargothrond. At the
heart of Doriath lies their stronghold, Menegroth (‘The Thousand Caves’), which
can only be reached by crossing a guarded bridge over a stream that runs just past
its gates – or, as The Book of Lost Tales put it, describing a scene strikingly like the
one depicted in one of the illustrations for The Hobbit (DAA.224): ‘his halls were
builded in a deep cavern of great size, and they were nonetheless a kingly and a fair
abode. This cavern was in the heart of the mighty forest of Artanor [Doriath] that
is the mightiest of forests, and a stream ran before its doors, but none could enter
that portal save across the stream, and a bridge spanned it narrow and well-guarded’
(‘The Tale of Tinúviel’, BLT II.9–10).34
Furthermore, the wood-elves of Mirkwood are great archers, who can ‘hit a bird’s
eye in the dark’; indeed, their extreme skill with the bow is so well known that the
dwarves promptly and prudently surrender on the spot when faced with wood-elves
armed with bows. Similarly, the most renowned warrior of Doriath was Beleg of
the bow (also called Beleg the Bowman, the character known in The Silmarillion as
Beleg Strongbow), Túrin’s closest friend after whom the second canto of ‘The Lay
of the Children of Húrin’ is named (HME III.29–48). The bow is also the weapon
most associated with the Teleri of Eldamar, those of the Third Kindred who had immigrated
to Valinor, with which they defend themselves against the Noldor during
the Kinslaying (Silm.87).
The strongest parallel between Doriath and the wood-elves’ realm, however, is
the Elvenking himself, who strongly resembles one of the most famous characters in
the legendarium: King Thingol Greycloak, ruler of the woodland realm of Doriath
and high king of the Elves of Beleriand. It is said in the 1937 Quenta Silmarillion
that his name was ‘held in awe’ by the Lords of the Noldor (Fingolfin, Fingon,
Maidros/Maedhros, and Inglor/Finrod) [HME V.266]. Thingol is unique in that he is
a major character in not one but two of the ‘great tales’ that form the heart of the Silmarillion:
‘The Lay of Leithian’ (the story of his daughter, Lúthien Tinúviel, and her
mortal lover Beren) and the story of the children of Húrin (as loyal foster-father to
Túrin the Hapless). He is also one of the original elves, one of those who began life
in Cuiviénen, the lost elven Eden far to the east of what we know as Middle-earth,
and one of the three who travel to Valinor as representatives of their people. He thus
became the leader of one of the three great divisions of the Eldar, the Sea Elves (see
above), in their migration half-way across the world towards Elven-home. He is the
only one of the Children of Ilúvatar to marry one of the Ainur or angels, Queen
Melian, and ultimately became either ancestor or close kin to many of Tolkien’s other
important characters – for example, he is Elrond Halfelven’s great-great-grandfather.
35 Later legends, not yet written at the time The Hobbit was drafted, would
make him great-uncle to Galadriel (the most powerful elf depicted in The Lord of
the Rings) and her brother Finrod Felagund (the first elf to befriend humans and perhaps
the most appealing character in The Silmarillion), and the direct ancestor of
the kings of Númenor and hence of Gondor and Arnor as well, including Aragorn/
Strider.