Essais - Le mystérieux roi Bladorthin

[Elendil]

On notera qu'il existe une autre tentative d'identification de Bladorthin dans le Parma Endorion: Essays On Middle-earth de Michael Martinez, que je cite ici (p. 73-74) :

The Great King Bladorthin
Most commentators think Bladorthin, who died before the Dwarves of Erebor could deliver specially made spears to him for his armies, was an Elf because his name ends with "-thin". And yet there is no apparent etymology for the name. The only "Elvish" word containing "-blad" is the abandoned name "Bladorion".

We do know something about the history of the region of Erebor, however, and there is no mention of another Elvish kingdom nearby. Thranduil was the only Elven king to live near Erebor during the centuries prior to Smaug's arrival when Dwarves lived there. Nor are the Elves a particularly war-like people, especially if another Elven realm did exist -- for they would have been Silvan Elves or Avari, essentially "Wood-elves".

It is perhaps significant that "Blad" sounds like the Anglo-Saxon name "Blaed(a)" (renowned), and that "Bladorthin" was originally intended to be the name of the Wizard Gandalf (who in THE HOBBIT is presented as an old man).

The evidence seems to point toward Bladorthin's being a Man, not an Elf. If we make the assumption that he was a man, can we also place him in some historical period? Perhaps so. For the memories of Thorin and Balin are the source of the legend of Bladorthin, and they were discussing treasures which were historically associated with Thror's reign when Bladorthin was mentioned.

Therefore it may be that Bladorthin himself lived in Thror's time, and that perhaps he was a King of Dale. Thror ruled in Erebor from 2590 to 2770, and we know that Girion was slain by Smaug in 2770. It may be that as many as 5 or 6 kings preceded Girion (assuming Dale was established soon after Thror settled in Erebor).

We know that Girion gave his emerald necklace (with 500 jewels) to the Dwarves for the arming of his "eldest son". An eldest son implies Girion had at least one other and perhaps two or more sons in addition to the "eldest". At what age would a prince have been richly outfitted by his father? 14? 16? 18? Perhaps Girion was in his mid- to late 30s when the eldest son was armed. But how long before Smaug's arrival would that have been?

We can look at the problem from another direction. Girion's wife and "young child" escaped to Lake-town when Smaug destroyed Dale and Bard the Bowman was that child's descendant. Bard became King of Dale in 2944 and he died in 2977. It may be that he lived about as long as a King of Rohan, in which case we can guess that Bard's genealogy as similar in design to that of King Thengel of Rohan, who died in 2980. By estimating generations backwards, we can guess that Girion's father should have been alive in 2770 as an old man. So why would he not have been?

The Long Winter presents itself as a possible answer. Although Tolkien had not yet conceived of it when he wrote THE HOBBIT, had he fleshed out the genealogy of the Kings of Dale he might indeed have decided to end a reign in 2758-9, just as he ended the reign of Helm Hammerhand during that winter. Thus, if Girion's father died in the Long Winter, he would have come to the Throne of Dale at a young age.

Furthermore, his people would have suffered terribly in the winter just as the peoples of Rohan and Eriador suffered in it. If Girion's father had been preparing for war, the preparations would have been cut short by the deaths of the king and many of his warriors.

And that brings us back to Bladorthin. Would Tolkien have decided that Bladorthin was Girion's father? We'll never know. But so many pieces fall together to support the idea that it seems hard to imagine Tolkien would have reached any other conclusion.

Ça vaut probablement le coup de mentionner cette hypothèse-là dans le commentaire de l'essai.