Gildor Inglorion: Elves in the Shire!
- Miriam Ellis
- May 27
- 4 min read
I have often wished that particular Pre-Raphaelites could have illustrated from Tolkien. They had a way of using their paint to glorify figures, objects, light, water, and verdure, just as the Professor did with his words.
That artistic movement was waning by the time he was born, but I hope its admirers will enjoy this scene of the hobbits meeting Gildor Inglorion and his folk in the Woody End. I've painted it, in part, as an homage to Edward Robert Hughes' "Midsummer Eve", which I so admire for its masterful lighting (though I expect the Professor would not have approved of the tiny size of the fairy folk it contains).
Keen eyes will see what I've done here, with the light emanating from the feet of the elves and the festive colors in the grass supplied by autumn wildflowers, such as fox-and-cubs, toadflax, St. John's wort, daises, and harebells. This is one of my favorite passages in The Lord of the Rings, and it extends a gilt-edged invitation to contemplate how it was that Tolkien made his elves so uniquely splendid.
Tolkien's subtly sublime elves
I have sometimes seen elves' beauty described as "otherworldly", but I feel the opposite adjective may come closer to what we mean: utter-worldly. Unlike Men, the elves are tied to the fate of Arda. They are part of life here in Middle-earth in a way which mortals can scarcely understand. An aspect of how Tolkien codified his elves that I've come to revere is that the most Faerian things about them are so subtle and so earthly.
Starlight glimmers in their hair. Light like moonrise over a hill marks their footfall. They are linked to trees and to the sea. Some adorn themselves in ores and gems. Every one of these elements (stars, moon, hills, trees, oceans, precious metals, and jewels) are natural things of our own world, seen through wondering eyes.
Tolkien didn't need to reach for the outlandish in order to set his elves apart from Men. He chose, instead, to clothe them in the most beautiful things we can see if we stop, look, and experience, as if we, too, once awoke in starlight on the shores of a great lake and began to enhance our minds by wandering the forests and listening to the trees.
Elven beauty everywhere
The meeting with Gildor Inglorion's folk is the one that most drives this thought home for me, because it happens on what many readers consider home ground: The Shire. There are the excellently simple, almost-ordinary hobbits, going about their garden-variety lives, writing letters, gossiping at inns, and having tea parties. Until we stand them next to one of the Big Folk, they seem familiarly homelike to many.
But look again. Might that fur on their feet signal something a bit more creaturely and natural about the hobbits than us, particularly when we couple it with their love of the green world and unhurried approach to near-continuous grazing? Does this not make them rather like little rabbits or badgers or other lovely animals?
I've begun to wonder if there is something in their closeness to nature that makes the hobbits particularly capable of seeing and responding to the nature-based beauty of the elves. Think of Sam, struck speechless in strolling through his own country and coming upon these stately folk who sing and gleam and laugh and feast and tower over him like slender trees. Compare this to poor Boromir, whose mind is drawn inward to his own importance, cares, and plans, even while standing in the midst of the spectacular reception chamber of Celeborn and Galadriel.
There is a great difference in outlook here between the noisy Big Folk and the quiet hobbits who go softly in the wood with wide eyes. And in this passage, Tolkien lends us hobbit eyes to see the elves. The result is an unforgettable experience.
I think the great wonder of it all is that elven beauty is all around us, right in our own Shires. We don't have to go to a far-off place to find it. Perhaps we can float down rivers that mirror the sky, like raft-elves. Perhaps we can dwell under canopies of singing gold, like the Galadhrim, if our yards are blessed with a poplar or birch. Perhaps we need only step outside to sing to the gem-netted night through woven branches, like Gildor's folk. Our feet may not glow, but our eyes and hearts certainly can with an appreciative perspective.
Tolkien's elves are not magnificent because they point to the fantasy of some other world, but because they are emblems of the beauty in this one.
Re-enchanting ourselves may take work, given the competition of other messaging vying for our attention. Why not make a start, though, by re-reading this outstanding scene from The Fellowship of the Ring, and spending a minute looking through hobbit eyes via this video short? Maybe a star will shine on the hour of your meeting.
