Editing Lothlórien (section)

===Elfland where time is different===

{{further|Elfland|Time in The Lord of the Rings}}

[[File:Katherine Cameron-Thomas the Rhymer.png|thumb|left|upright|Time in Lothlórien was distorted, as it was in Elfland for ''[[Thomas the Rhymer]]''.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=89–90}} Illustration by Katherine Cameron, 1908]]

Shippey writes that in Lothlórien, Tolkien reconciles otherwise conflicting ideas regarding time-distortion in Elfland from [[European folklore]], such as is exemplified in the medieval ''[[Thomas the Rhymer]]'', who was carried off by the [[Queen of Elphame|Queen of Elfland]], and the Danish ballad [[Elvehøj|''Elvehøj'' (''Elf Hill'')]].{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=89–90}}

The Tolkien scholar [[Verlyn Flieger]] writes that the Fellowship debated how much time had passed while they were there, [[Sam Gamgee]] recalling that the moon was waning just before they arrived, and was new when they left, though they all felt they had only been there for a few days.<ref name="Flieger 1990">{{cite journal |last=Flieger |first=Verlyn B. |author-link=Verlyn Flieger |title=A Question of Time |date=15 March 1990 |volume=16 |issue=3 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol16/iss3/1 |journal=Mythlore }}</ref> She notes that Sam actually exclaims "Anyone would think that time did not count in there!", while Frodo sees Galadriel as "present and yet remote, a living vision of that which has already been left far behind by the flowing streams of Time" and Legolas, an Elf who ought to know how things work in Elven lands, says that time does not stop there, "but change and growth is not in all things and places alike. For Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by. Slow, because they do not count the running years".<ref name="Flieger 1990"/>

Shippey considers Legolas's explanation to resolve the apparent contradiction between the mortal and Elvish points of view about Elvish time.{{sfn|Shippey|2001|pp=89–90}} Flieger however writes that there is a definite contradiction between Frodo's position, that there is an actual difference in time between Lothlórien and everywhere else, and Legolas's, that it is a matter of perception. She considers Aragorn's view to reconcile these two positions, agreeing that time has passed as Legolas said, but that the Fellowship felt time as the Elves did while they were in Lothlórien. That is not, writes Flieger, the end of the matter, as she feels that Aragorn reintroduces the dilemma when he says that the moon carried on changing "in the world outside": this suggests once again that Lothlórien had its own laws of nature, as in a [[fairy tale]].<ref name="Flieger 1990"/>{{-}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ [[Verlyn Flieger]]'s analysis of the paradoxes of Elvish time in Lothlórien<ref name="Flieger 1990"/>
|-
! Source !! Story !! Time
|-
| ''[[Thomas the Rhymer]]''
| Mortal enters [[Elfland]].<br />Spends a few nights there.<br />Returns to find all friends dead,<br />dim memory of a man lost visiting Elfland.
| flows much more slowly in Elfland.
|-
| [[Elvehøj|''Elvehøj'' (''Elf Hill'')]] 
| Elf-maiden sings: "the swift stream then stood still" 
| flows much faster in Elfland;<br />everything outside stops.
|-
| [[Frodo]]'s view 
| Lothlórien "in a time that has elsewhere long gone by".
| different epoch, long ago.
|-
| [[Legolas]]'s view
| Both fast and slow:<br />Elves change little,<br />"all else fleets by".
| different perception of time's speed.
|-
| [[Aragorn]]'s 1st view
| Mortals feel time as Elves do while in Lothlórien.
| different perception of time's speed.
|-
| Aragorn's 2nd view
| But Moon went on changing<br />"in the world outside".
| different actual flow of time<br />(as ''[[Thomas the Rhymer]]'')
|}

[[File:Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England, a popular tourist destination.jpg|thumb|Cerin Amroth, a grassy mound surrounded by two circles of trees, has been compared to the [[Motte]] of [[Warwick Castle]], Ethelfleda's Mound (pictured), where a young Tolkien went with his future wife [[Edith Bratt]].<ref name="Garth 2020"/>]]

Flieger writes that while time is treated both naturally and [[supernatural]]ly throughout ''The Lord of the Rings'', his "most mystical and philosophical deployment of time"{{sfn|Flieger|2006|pp=648–650}} concerns Elves. It is therefore "no accident",{{sfn|Flieger|2006|pp=648–650}} she writes, that Frodo has multiple experiences of altered time in Lothlórien, from feeling he has crossed "a bridge of Time" on entering that land, to seeing Aragorn on Cerin Amroth as he was as a young man, dressed in white.{{sfn|Flieger|2006|pp=648–650}} Flieger notes that in ''[[The Monsters and the Critics]]'' Tolkien writes "The human-stories of the elves are doubtless full of the Escape from Deathlessness".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1983|loc="[[On Fairy-stories]]", p. 153}}</ref><ref name="Flieger 1990"/> In her view, this explains the exploration of time in his mythology, [[Themes of The Lord of the Rings#Death and immortality|death and deathlessness]] being the "concomitants" of time and timelessness.<ref name="Flieger 1990"/>{{efn|Tolkien's themes of death and deathlessness are discussed further in the article ''[[The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen]]''.}}