The In-universe Authorship of LACE by Independence1776

The In-universe Authorship of LACE

Many thanks to Oshun for the beta! In an interesting coincidence, Adenydd is posting a series of essays also dealing with LACE.

The in-universe writer of “Laws and Customs Among the Eldar” is Aelfwine, a mortal man from medieval England.

Aelfwine (first--and later interchangeably-- called Eriol and occasionally Ereol) visited Tol Eressëa for a time and then returned to England. There are multiple versions of his rather complex story, starting with him as the frame story in The Book of Lost Tales as a mariner from sixth century Heligoland, and later as a tenth century English mariner. [1, 2] His original role was that of a listener to and recorder of Elvish tales, later a reader and translator of them, and finally a reversion back to a listener, recorder, and possibly reader. [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

However, as the legendarium grew, Aelfwine's part in it faded, and his role was taken over by Bilbo in the second edition of The Lord of the Rings in 1966. [8] LACE was written in the late 1950s. [9]

As for proof Aelfwine wrote LACE (apart from Christopher Tolkien's editorial comments in its introduction), it starts off with “Aelfwine's Preamble” and the “Of Re-birth” section ends with “So spoke Aelfwine.” [10]

So what does this mean for LACE in-universe?

Quite simply, the document becomes unreliable.

Here's why:

1. Aelfwine had biases, positive and negative. (Everyone does; it's not a condemnation.) What were they? How did they affect his viewpoint and how he perceived the world? How did they affect what he wrote? Did he deliberately leave things out or obscure them? Did he deliberately expand or make things up to better fit his beliefs? Given his time and location, he is mostly likely Christian, and in one version of his tale that is made explicit [11]. How did he have to juggle his religious beliefs with what he learned? In general, I think it likely he ignored, brushed aside, or did not record things that disagreed with his biases.

2. He may have misunderstood things. It's a new culture, with new people and language(s) he had to learn. No one in that circumstance could understand everything perfectly, no matter how many questions one asked.

Furthermore, which Elves did he talk to and how did that affect what he learned? They were most likely the Exilic Noldor, but also the non-Exilic Noldor, the Teleri, the Vanyar, and the Sindar. Which subcultures of these groups did he talk to? What did he hear secondhand about other groups? What information did he generalize out from one group to the Eldar as a whole? For example, the Exilic Noldor could have become more conservative when they returned to Tol Eressëa, in reaction against the rebellion that caused so much death and destruction. Some of the same group may have refused to do so, thus causing a subcultural split. Plus, six hundred years between the Darkening and return is enough time for different cultural standards to have arisen between the Valinoran and Exilic Noldor, and thousands of years living apart in Valinor and Tol Eressëa could have driven more.

3. He may have been lied to. Why? The Elves could have been protecting themselves. They could have been trying to prevent Aelfwine from encountering something that would harm his mind/mental state/worldview. They could have deliberately fed into his biases for the above reasons. They could have wanted to keep secrets or felt there are some things a mortal need not know or would not understand.

4. He was the sole mortal to visit and leave the Undying Lands. [12] Would that privilege compel, convince, or push him to glorify and/or sanitize his Elvish hosts upon his return to England? I think it possible, especially if he was trying to convince others the Elves were good people.

5. How does his out-universe erasure affect what he wrote in-universe? Does his in-universe replacement affect what he wrote in-universe? Basically: if the person who wrote the document no longer exists, does the document itself? If not, does it even matter anymore? The logical answer is no.

(The above answers are some of the possibilities, not the only ones.)

*

Aside from the above reasons for its unreliability, LACE says in the first section, “There are indeed some differences between the natural inclinations of neri [men] and nissi [women], and other differences that have been established by custom (varying in place and time, and in the several races of the Eldar).” [13]

In other words: the customs and laws of the Elves living on Tol Eressëa when Aelfwine visited in the tenth century AD are not the customs of pre- or post- Darkening Valinor, Beleriand (either Exilic or Sindarin), Rivendell, Mirkwood, Lothlórien, etc. (For point of reference, JRR Tolkien says that the gap between LotR and “now” is about six thousand years. [14]) Furthermore, the document does not concern the Avari at all.

Let me emphasize that: LACE itself says it is not the be-all and end-all of Eldarin customs and laws.

To summarize:

A medieval Man-- not an Elf-- wrote “Laws and Customs Among the Eldar.” As such, the document is inherently flawed. LACE says other customs existed in previous times and places, and thus cultures in the Third Age and before are likely different than the document’s. Therefore, for two separate reasons, LACE is less universal and more unreliable than fanon would have it.

Chapter End Notes

Sources:
1. The Book of Lost Tales 1, The Cottage of Lost Play, “Commentary on 'The Cottage of Lost Play'”
2. The Lost Road, The Lost Road, “(iii) The Unwritten Chapters”
3. The Book of Lost Tales 2, The History of Eriol or Aelfwine and the End of the Tales, (5)
4. The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Valinor, “Commentary on the Annals of Valinor”
5. The Lost Road, Part Two: Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings, VI Quenta Silmarillion, The Title Page of the QS Manuscript
6. Morgoth's Ring, Ainulindalë, Version C Title Page and Version D Title Page
7. War of the Jewels, The Later Quenta Silmarillion, 13 Concerning the Dwarves, “Of the Naugrim and the Edain,” §8.
8. The Book of Lost Tales 1: Foreword.
9. Morgoth's Ring, “The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II),” Note on Dating.
10. Morgoth's Ring, “Laws and Customs Among the Eldar”
11. The Lost Road, The Lost Road, “(iii) The Unwritten Chapters”
12. The Lost Road, Part Two: Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings, VI Quenta Silmarillion, “The Conclusion of the Quenta Silmarillion,” §33.
13. Morgoth's Ring, “Laws and Customs Among the Eldar”
14. The Letters of JRR Tolkien, Letter 211