1] It is the year 2673 of the Third Age. For the purposes of this story, Legolas was born in 2520 TA (10 years after Celebrían sailed to the Blessed Lands), and is 153 years old. Elladan and Elrohir are 2,543 years old, Arwen is 2,434, and Elrond is 6,171. It is 345 years before the Council of Elrond (3018 TA). As the months of the Elven calendar vary in length, in this story the word month refers to one full cycle of the moon (approximately 29 days).
2] Boundless thanks to AC for access to her research, so I didn’t have to find (and read) all those books....
3] Legolas’s place in his father’s household is unknown in canon, though it can be surmised that he is not Thranduil’s primary heir, as he is sent to Rivendell as a messenger, and is allowed to join the Fellowship.
4] Yes, I know Tolkien said elves rode without saddle or bridle, but in the film, Legolas is clearly riding with tack. He rides a white horse in the film; this is many years before, and I like the image of horse and rider both with golden skin and flaxen hair.
5] The actual conversion of leagues to miles varies geographically and through time. The most common equivalent, however, is three miles to one league. Mirkwood is 200 miles/67 leagues from east to west, then 50 miles/17 leagues to the Anduin, then 150 miles/50 leagues as the crow flies over the mountains to Rivendell. These distances are from the endpaper map of Middle Earth, which has a scale in miles. In The Unfinished Tales (page 298), Tolkien isn’t clear about the equivalencies, but does give the conversion of 5000 paces of 38 inches to a league; this would be about 3 modern miles.
6] Note to AC: Coneys are NOT rabbits. They’re... they’re some OTHER small, furry animal that hops around and tastes good... yeah, that’s it.
7] Of course the elvish word isn’t loo, but we’re translating here....
8] It is (book) canon that the elves are able to converse without words, and indeed in the movie we see Galadriel reading the minds of the members of the Fellowship.
9] The (English) dictionary says a Sprite is a small or young elf.
10] Eating wild mushrooms can be deadly. This is fantasy. Do not do this at home.
11] The Glorfindel at Imladris in the Third Age is the same Glorfindel who defeated the Balrog in the First Age at the Fall of Gondolin. He was acquainted with Elrond’s grandparents, though I may have taken some liberties with canon by tying his release from Mandos’s Halls to service to that family, and with the timing of his release. The elves from Mirkwood do not know he is the same person as the legendary hero; they live in caves and only know what Thranduil tells them.
12] From The Silmarillion: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age (p. 369): “In all the days of the Third Age, after the fall of Gil-galad, Master Elrond abode in Imladris, and he gathered there many Elves, and other folk of wisdom and power from among all the kindreds of Middle-earth, and he preserved through many lives of Men the memory of all that had been fair; and the house of Elrond was a refuge for the weary and the oppressed, and a treasury of good counsel and wise lore.” I mention the archives of Gondor only since we saw (in the movie) Gandalf’s search for Isildur’s journal for the information about the One Ring. That paper stored so haphazardly for three millennia survived is nothing short of amazing.
13] Though the genealogy charts in The Silmarillion show Gil-galad as the son of Fingon, it has been brought to my attention that in editing those charts, Christopher Tolkien, by his own admission, erred. Gil-galad was the son of Orodreth, and is the High-King by virtue of being the last male descendant of Finwë in Middle-earth (other than the descendants of Fëanor). The kingship follows only the male line, therefore, Gil-galad, son of a son of the third son of Finwë, becomes king, and Elrond, son of a son of a daughter of the second son of Finwë does not. All descendants of Fëanor, the first son, were disqualified.
14] The Battle-Game is obviously chess; the names of some of the pieces are different.
Rider = Knight; Tower = Rook; Wizard = Bishop; Halfling = Pawn.
15] Birds and the color blue are both associated with Manwë, chief of all the Valar.
16] Part of Chapter 14 was previously published in slightly different form as “Morning.” Who knew then that it really belonged here?
17] The elvish names and words I’ve used are gleaned from the Sindarin Dictionary Project, and from the appendices in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
Lasarbar: Las(s) = Leaf; ar = without; bar = home
Celanor (his horse): Cel(l) = running; anor = sun
Nenion: Nen = water; ion = son of
Tatharië: Tathar = willow; ië = (to make it sound like an elvish name)
Ellon/ellyn = male elf/elves
Nîn = my
Neth = young
Fea = soul, spirit
Anar (Quenya), Anor (Sindarin) = sun
Ennas = there (that place)
Aglareb = glorious
Ind-hîr = (literally) heart-lord (used as an endearment)
Ada-nîn = my father
Melethron-nîn = my lover
Muindor-nîn = my brother
Other names are total invention.
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