Isle of Seabirds

From Tolkien Gateway

The Isle of Seabirds was a location in the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales. It was located in the northern waters, not far from Falasquil,[1]:255 being the place where "all the birds of all waters come at whiles".[1]:253 Eärendel sailed there with Voronwë after learning that Elwing had been transformed into a seabird. He hoped to find her there among the birds, but she looked for him elsewhere. He dwelt there for "three times seven years" until he sailed in his last travel to the margin of the world.[1]:255 In the last outline of "The Tale of Eärendel", his waiting is successful, as Elwing comes to him as a seamew.[1]:260 The isle had a tower, but it is not said if Eärendel built it.[1]:264

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

The concept of the isle, as well as the northern tower, survived in later versions, so in The Silmarillion Elwing's tower is described with a similar role: "Therefore there was built for her a white tower northward upon the borders of the Sundering Seas; and thither at times all the sea-birds of the earth repaired."[2]

See also[edit | edit source]

  • Ened, an isle in the later legendarium with a similar location

References