Luvailin or Shadowmere was a mere in Eldamar under the shadow of Oiolossë.[1]
Shadowmere is mentioned in Bilbo's song of Eärendil in Rivendell:[2]
where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere.
As the mere reflected the lights of the city of Tirion, "it must have lain in or near to" the valley of Calacirya.[3]
Etymology
Luvailin appears only in the Unfinished index. The name Shadowmere is said to be its "translation".[1] As Paul Strack explains, it could be a compound of root LUB ("shadow, darkness") + ailin ("lake").[4]
Other versions of the legendarium
In an early version of Galadriel's Song, appears the lines:
And by the strand of Tirion there grew a golden Tree.
Beneath the stars of Ever eve in Eldamar it shone,
In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.
But far away and far away beyond the Shadow-meres
A different version of the second line above was: Beneath the Hill of Ilmarin lies Aelinuial.[5][note 1]
Notes
- ↑ The name Aelin-uial appears in The Silmarillion as a name for the Meres of Twilight in Beleriand.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Unfinished index for The Lord of the Rings", in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 217
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings", p. 146
- ↑ Mark Fisher, "Shadowmere" 8 November 2008, The Encyclopedia of Arda, accessed 22 November 2013
- ↑ Paul Strack, "Q. Luvailin loc.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon, accessed 1 February 2023
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Treason of Isengard, "XIV. Farewell to Lórien", pp. 284, 292 (note 35)