Tolkien's Descriptions...?

[Michael Martinez]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Neh heh, that was a fun read.

Thanks. What follows below is probably not what I was thinking about, but it's hard to sift through all the Celeborn-related stuff on the Internet. And it provides a similar, though more brief and less charismatic defense of Celeborn.


----Beginning of citation----
Celeborn doesn't have much of a reputation among a lot of Tolkien's readers. Even Robert Foster says something like: "He doesn't seem to be especially bright" in THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDDLE-EARTH (and this evaluation is a carryover from THE GUIDE TO MIDDLE-EARTH, for what it's worth).

I disagree, however. Celeborn, in his own way, sees things that Galadriel doesn't perceive (as far as the reader is shown). It's Celeborn who points out the painfully obvious to Aragorn: that he has to choose one side of the river or the other. And yet it's also Celeborn who offers the deferral of the decision through the gift of the boats.

Celeborn also reveals a pretty good feel for what lies down river. He's obviously a strategic leader who doesn't just send out scouts but pays attention to what they say to him. Celeborn is equally aware of the peril of the Balrog, if not more so than Galadriel, when the Company tells his court of their adventure in Moria:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'Alas!' said Celeborn. 'We long have feared that under Caradhras a terror slept....'

It's Celeborn who leads the assault across Anduin. Galadriel is the one who deals with the higher matters, certainly, wielding the Ring of Adamant to protect Lorien in some ways as Melian's girdle protected Doriath. Sometimes I think Lorien at the end of the Third Age is intended to recall something of Doriath's memory. Caras Galadon has that sense of splendor and "magic" that Menegroth had. And Celeborn says in his welcome to Gimli, "It is long indeed since we saw any of Durin's folk in Caras Galadon." As in Doriath, Dwarves once had been welcome in Lorien.

Celeborn is really an Elf of the wood, not of the Noldor. As Legolas seems simpler and less complex next to the crafts of the High Elves, so Celeborn must also seem a less sophisticated character. How could he be anything else? He never saw the Light of the Two Trees (in the incarnation Tolkien had in mind when he wrote LOTR).

Even though he requires Galadriel's prompting to do so, Celeborn is able to sympathize with Gimli's longing to see Khazad-dum:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'I did not know your plight was so evil,' he said. 'Let Gimli forget my harsh words. I spoke in the trouble of my heart. I will do what I can to aid you, each according to his wish and need....'

Bound up with Celeborn's full welcome to Gimli earlier, I think these words reveal a significant wisdom in Celeborn that Elu Thingol, for all his
greatness, lacked:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'Welcome Gimli son of Gloin! It is long indeed since we saw one of Durin's folk in Caras Galadon. But today we have broken our long law. May it be a sign that though the world is now dark better days are at hand, and that friendship shall be renewed between our peoples.'

Despite whatever old grudges he may bear against the Dwarves, Celeborn is not unfriendly to them, and he sees the changing of the world in his own way, I think, as much as anyone else of the Elven Wise.

But as I pointed out above, Celeborn is well acquainted with events outside Lothlorien. When Aragorn confesses his doubt that even Gandalf was uncertain of what should be done next, Celeborn says:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'Maybe not...yet when you leave this land, you can no longer forget the Great River. As some of you know well, it cannot be crossed by travellers with baggage between Lorien and Gondor, save by boat. And are not the bridges of Osgiliath broken down and all the landings held now by the Enemy?'

Maybe he learned this from Galadriel. Maybe he learned it from scouts such as Haldir the border-warden, who told the Company he and others sometimes went out to collect news. Galadriel could not possibly have learned everything going on outside Lothlorien through her mirror. Or maybe they had a full accounting of the Council from Elrond in some fashion.

But the significance of the river is pointed to by Celeborn. He's the one who presents both the problem and the solution:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'I see that you do not yet know what to do...It is not my part to choose for you; but I will help you as I may. There are some among you who can handle boats. Legolas, whose folk know the swift Forest River; and Boromir of Gondor; and Aragorn the traveller.'

I think Celeborn's knowledge of the outside world, provided to us only in glimpses, must be considerable indeed. Even Elves of Lorien have only a vague idea of where certain lands lay. Yet Celeborn spouts off geography like he runs the Ph.D. review boards. He even speaks as though he's made the journey downstream himself when he says:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'...Then I will furnish your Company with boats. They must be small and light, for if you go far by water, there are places where you will be forced to carry them. You will come to the rapids of Sarn Gebir, and maybe at last to the great falls of Rauros where the River thunders down from Nen Hithoel; and there are other perils....'

When he is bidding farewell to Aragorn and the others, Celeborn adds yet more description to the journey which lies ahead of them:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'As you go down the water...you will find that the trees will fail, and you will come to a barren country. There the River flows in stony vales amid high moors, until at last after many leagues it comes to the tall island of the Tindrock, that we call Tol Brandir. There it casts its arms about the steep shores of the isle, and falls then with a great noise and smoke over the cataracts of Rauros down into the Nindalf, the Wetwang as it is called in your tongue. That is a wide region of sluggish fen where the stream becomes tortuous and much divided. There the Entwash flows in by many mouths from the Forest of Fangorn in the west. About that stream, on this side of the Great River, lies Rohan. On the further side are the bleak hills of the Emyn Muil. The wind blows from the East there, for they look out, over the Dead Marshes and the Noman-lands to Cirith Gorgor and the black gates of Mordor.'

Of course, Celeborn is not without a little bit of Elvish wisdom. He warns Boromir not to take the old tales about Fangorn too lightly:

Originally Posted by FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

'...But do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know.'

I've always felt this passage was particularly prophetic, given the events in Minas Tirith concerning Athelas and Ioreth's babbling the old rhymes.

Celeborn doesn't have to stand up there with Elrond spouting knowledge of the making of the Rings of Power. He is older than Elrond and has apparently done his own share of travelling. But he also demonstrates that remarkable Elvish gift for remembering details, and the clarity of his foresight, if revealed only on two occasions, is no less certain -- I feel -- than Elrond's.