Last Homely House "East of the Sea" -- When did it become that?

Stori3D Past

Stori3D Past

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Almost caught up! I'm finishing Ep 104 and real-time is in sight!

So I loved the discussion about The Hobbit's "Last Homely House" transitioning to LOTR's "Last Homely House East of the Sea." And it made me wonder:

When did Tolkien decide the elves were leaving Middle-Earth? This sense that the elves are longing for Elvenhome, and that their time on Middle-Earth is coming to an end -- it permeates the published LOTR, from nearly the beginning. "They are sailing, sailing..." etc. But when did that happen in the writing? It wasn't there in The Hobbit was it?

It made me envision a Tolkien jotting down his first draft of LOTR, and he reaches Rivendell, and he has to recap it. And he starts writing, "The last homely house" ... and then by some inspiration that he then spends the next 35 years thinking & rethinking, he adds "... east of the sea."

Did something like that happen? Do we have evidence?
 
My understanding was that the Fading of the Elves was pretty much built into the stories from the outset. JRRT wrote the stories to explain why the great and glorious Elves might manifest themselves in the modern day as weeny little sprites. I'm not sure about the wings though :p
 
I'm not sure. I think he hated the idea of elves being represented as little sprites and rejected fairy-tales like that, but I do think that the idea of their Fading may have been early. I just don't remember. I don't think Tolkien did any work on the Third Age (or the Second) before he decided in LOTR that he was going to tie the Hobbit stories into his legendarium. So far as I know, all the Silmarillion work he had done up to LOTR was based in the First Age, and had Noldor still claiming and making their lives in Middle-Earth.

Anyway, even if he had the Fading in his mind for his elves, it seems there's still a point in his creation -- an "Ah-hah!" moment -- when he decided that during the period of time in which LOTR is set, the high-elves were legit leaving.
 
Great point to bring up! I think the overall idea of fading was integral to his stories from the outset, this is evident in the Book of Lost Tales, with the poem "Kortirion Among the Trees", and the early ideas Tolkien had about the Elvish afterlife.

"This is the season dearest to the heart... O gentle time,"

Although; I'm really not sure at all when the Elvish physical movement from Middle Earth to Valinor was worked out.
 
Lalaith said:
Although; I'm really not sure at all when the Elvish physical movement from Middle Earth to Valinor was worked out.
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Yeah I guess that's the heart of it -- when, during the writing of LOTR, did JRRT decide to incorporate the idea of the elves leaving Middle-Earth as a central part of the story.
 
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