Talk:Cottage of Lost Play

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Latest comment: 11 March by Aboehmemason in topic The Two Cottages

Different Cottages[edit source]

According to the Book of Lost Tales Part 1, in the chapter "The Cottage of Lost Play", the city of Kôr in Valinor was located near to a place of gardens where a white cottage was located. Children came there using the Path of Dreams. The text says "No one, 'tis said, dwelt in the cottage", but children came to play in it. "This was the Cottage of the Children, or of the Play of Sleep, and not of Lost Play, as has been wrongly said in song among Men - for no play was lost then, and here alas only and now is the Cottage of Lost Play." Later, following the poems in the chapter, Christopher Tolkien writes "It is notable that the poem was called The Cottage, or The Little House of Lost Play, whereas what is described is the Cottage of the Children in Valinor", and he acknowledges the earlier (quoted) statements of Vairë. Following this he says he will "not attempt any analysis or offer any elucidation of the ideas embodied in the 'Cottages of the Children'." Cottage of Lost Play in the index includes the "other names" "Cottage of the Children, of the Children of the Earth, of the Play of Sleep; House of Lost Play; House of Memory". It seems that the Cottage of Lost Play (Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva) was located in Kortirion on the Lonely Isle, and a separate Cottage of the Children/of the Play of Sleep was in Valinor near Kôr, but there is some confusion and blurring of the lines between the two "Cottages of the Children". I am not sure if something should be done here: Should each have a separate article? Or should both be included here, or under a Cottages of the Children article? Anyone have any suggestions/input? Thank you! --Grace18 00:01, 30 November 2021 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I agree with Grace18[edit source]

Cottage of the Play of Sleep is a completely different thing from the Cottage of Lost Play. IvarTheBoneless (talk) 11:45, 7 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

See the talk page on Veanne for more information. IvarTheBoneless (talk) 11:47, 7 July 2023 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I Agree it should be Separate.[edit source]

I will update the page. I read and re-read the text to see which seems most likely and to me it seems there are two separate cottages. I will make note of this on the page. Aboehmemason (talk) 20:01, 11 March 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]

The Two Cottages[edit source]

As mentioned above by Grace18, through thorough examination of the text (Book of Lost Tales Volume I -The Cottage of Lost Play), I have concluded the following for reasons that two cottages exist:

  1. The cottage of children was in Valinor near a silver sea, and from it you could reach Kôr nearby. Tol Eressëa was a stand-alone island, that even early as this time, Tolkien intended to be separate from Aman, as the isle was planned to become England in the future.
  2. Additionally, Vairë herself says that the old cottage was often mistaken in songs of men for this one.
  3. Vairë says the old cottage was sealed off by a rocks and abandoned and it would remain so even after the Fairing Forth. As they are inside a cottage now, it cannot be the same one.
  4. Vairë also states that the foundation of this old cottage leaned, and few entered in it. The nature of the residents of the cottage of lost play is wholly different as they now play inside here. And it is perhaps less likely Eriol would have found the cottage endearing and inviting if it leaned and had giant boulders lying about.
  5. Vairë says Meril-i-Turinqi asked Lindo and Vairë to build this new cottage. Vairë says, "here we builded of good magic this Cottage of Lost Play." It is unlikely that 'builded' even in its archaic sense means magically reformed instead of newly built as a stand-alone location.
  6. In the analysis section, Christopher Tolkien says that in the poem titled The Little House of Lost Play, the Cottage of Children was described in Valinor, near the city of Kôr, but according to Vairë, the cottage of Lost Play was not the same. He says he will offer little analysis as this story was full of abandoned ideas.

Aboehmemason (talk) 21:27, 11 March 2024 (UTC)Reply[reply]