Flammifer
Well-Known Member
Hi Rachel and Longtimer,
Both of you are astute to recognize the capitalization of Elder Days, as significant. But you differ as to whether it should clue in the first-time reader on whether the Battle of the Last Alliance could be considered 'Elder Days' when Elrond comments on the host of Elves.
As Longtimer points out, capitalizing 'Elder Days' could indicate that it signifies the proper name for a defined time period.
However, JRRT does not use capitalization just to indicate that something is a proper name. He also uses capitalization to indicate mythic or legendary significance. An example is Gandalf saying, "A Ring of Power looks after itself, Frodo." A 'Ring of Power' is different from a 'ring of power' in that the capitalization confers mythic or legendary significance. When Sam says of Elves, "They are sailing, sailing, sailing over the Sea, they are going into the West and leaving us." The 'Sea' is not the sea. It is a mythic and legendary sea. It is in fact, the 'Old Straight Path' and not the oceans of Middle-earth at all. The 'West' is not the west. It is the mythic and legendary West, home of the Valar.
That is why the first-time reader might not have taken the capitalization of 'Elder Days' as a proper name, denoting a specific time period, but as "Long Long Ago' or 'Once Upon a Time', as in the start of most good fairy tales. Indicating ancient but mythic and legendary times.
Both of you are astute to recognize the capitalization of Elder Days, as significant. But you differ as to whether it should clue in the first-time reader on whether the Battle of the Last Alliance could be considered 'Elder Days' when Elrond comments on the host of Elves.
As Longtimer points out, capitalizing 'Elder Days' could indicate that it signifies the proper name for a defined time period.
However, JRRT does not use capitalization just to indicate that something is a proper name. He also uses capitalization to indicate mythic or legendary significance. An example is Gandalf saying, "A Ring of Power looks after itself, Frodo." A 'Ring of Power' is different from a 'ring of power' in that the capitalization confers mythic or legendary significance. When Sam says of Elves, "They are sailing, sailing, sailing over the Sea, they are going into the West and leaving us." The 'Sea' is not the sea. It is a mythic and legendary sea. It is in fact, the 'Old Straight Path' and not the oceans of Middle-earth at all. The 'West' is not the west. It is the mythic and legendary West, home of the Valar.
That is why the first-time reader might not have taken the capitalization of 'Elder Days' as a proper name, denoting a specific time period, but as "Long Long Ago' or 'Once Upon a Time', as in the start of most good fairy tales. Indicating ancient but mythic and legendary times.
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