Mae govannen, mellon!
I have been reading Tolkien since I was just a wee lass, and it has become a fixture in my life. I find new meanings, and new curiosities, each time I delve into text written by Tolkien.
So, why have I named my blog The Last Mallorn?
I find the themes of hope amid sorrow, and the fading of the world, to be the most poignant of those within the pages of Tolkien’s writings. I much favor the quieter moments in these tales of bravery and great deeds than the traditionally more “exciting” battles. The Last Mallorn is a reference to the end of The Lord of the Rings, when Sam’s gifts from the Lady Galadriel begin to work their “magic”, speeding up the healing of The Shire after the destruction wrought upon it by Saruman. The little silver nut indeed sprouted into a mallorn tree of exceptional beauty; and it was the only one “west of the Mountains and east of the Sea,” and many hobbits traveled from distant corners of The Shire to see it.
It is a symbol of grace and hope in a fading and broken world, the connection that ordinary folk have to the high beauty of an age long past that is destined to be swept away by the tides of time.
Arwen returned to Lothlórien after the death of Aragorn, “when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come.” It can be inferred that with the departure of Galadriel, the mellyrn lost some of their potency and Lothlórien faded; the golden leaves would no longer wait for the flowers to bloom before they fell, and a land once touched by a light “for which his [Frodo’s] language had no name” had faded to a shadow of its former self: beautiful still, but grey and empty.
It is not explicitly stated, but I like to think that by some special grace, and with Galadriel’s power bestowed upon it, the mallorn in The Shire was not subject to this diminishing. Thus it was that the light and beauty of a past age remained unstained upon one last mallorn in memory of what once was. The idea embodies everything that I hold dear about Tolkien’s works. The inevitable forward momentum of Time does not preclude us from holding dear what is to be cherished from the past, so long as we are not ruled by greed. Samwise can return to his simple life, but it is blessed and enriched by something fair beyond the measure of what the Shirefolk once knew; and it is not a treasure that is hoarded, but free for all to see and love.
I’m delighted that you’ve stumbled upon my little corner of the internet. This all began as simply publishing my thoughts on each episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to a facebook page (called Of the Rings of Power). Though facebook is rather cumbersome to manage, and quite unfashionable these days, so I am making an effort to veer away from that path. Enjoy your time here!
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