The Elves of Hollin

TThurston

Member
A few weeks in the future, we will find the company chatting about Hollin. We read the following, starting with a comment from Gandalf:

'There is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the Elves, if once they dwelt there.'

'That is true," said Legolas. "But the Elves of this land were of a race strange to us of the silvan folk, and the trees and the grass do not now remember them. Only I hear the stones lament them: deep they delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone. They are gone. They sought the Havens long ago.'

My obvious question is, who were these Elves of Hollin, and how were they a strange race to Legolas and/or the silvan Elves of Mirkwood? Were these the Elves who crafted the rings of power? (As suggested by the Narmaleth/Amarthiel LOTRO epic quests and other lore.) What might it mean for the trees and grass to forget the Elves of Hollin, but for the stones to remember them? Is it merely that one can still see relics of the Elves' stonecraft, but none of their husbandry? And is Legolas affirming Gandalf's statement that the country has not wholly forgotten the Elves? (by saying that the stones remember them, if nothing else does) If not, what might Gandalf's statement mean? And what might Gandalf mean by a wholesome air? I guess it's something more than a peasant smell. After all, according the Legolas, the trees and grass (and perhaps other plantlife) what would affect the smell have forgotten the Elves, and the stones would not contribute much to the smell.

And speaking of Hollin, we read later when we get to the Moria gate, that "Holly was the token of the people of that land, and they planted it here to mark the end of their domain; for the West-door was made chiefly for their use in their traffic with the Lords of Moria." The company encountered Holly trees several times during their travels through Hollin, and we presume it is from those trees that the land takes it's name. From Legolas' statement, it would seem that these Holly trees that had been planted by the Elves have nevertheless forgotten them. Strange. (And note that in LOTRO, the wood one gathers in Hollin is known by it's Latin name, ilex, which is the genus for what we call Holly in English.)
 
Last edited:
Hollin is Eregion, where some of the Noldor lived and Celebrimbor made the Rings of Power, except for the One which was made in Mordor. The last refugees from Eregion remaining in Middle-Earth live in Rivendell with Elrond. They fled Eregion after Sauron invaded and defeated Celebrimbor.

As this occurred in the Second Age, I think Legolas’ words are intended to give a reader without knowledge of the Silmarillion a sense of how much time has passed. Even the trees that might be centuries old don’t remember the Elves, only the rocks that endure for millennia do.

The holly trees they encounter would be the distant descendants of the trees planted by the Elves, so no memory remains in the trees.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top