Swans

The swan was an important bird in the tales of the Elder Days. The Maia Ossë sent "many strong-winged swans" to draw the ships of the Teleri over Belegaer to Aman without help of the winds. The Teleri (who were later called by the epithet the Swanherds) thus especially came to revere swans, and named their city Alqualondë (the Swanhaven) and built their ships in swan-form.

Ossë's master Ulmo, the Vala, sent seven great swans to guide Tuor to Vinyamar, where he found a shield which had "an emblem of a white swan's wing". Tuor already loved these birds, having been fostered at Mithrim, where swans seem to have been plentiful (and Tuor's foster-father, Annael and his folk, had the swan as a symbol). Departing from Vinyamar, Ulmo's seven swans approached Tuor and offered him one feather each, which Tuor set in the crest of his helm.

The Teleri were not alone in using the swan-form in ship-building: the prow of Eärendil's ship Vingilótë "was fashioned like a swan", and the Elves of Lothlórien made a Swan-ship, so well crafted that it resembled a real, giant swan.

In the Third Age, the symbol of the swan-knights of Dol Amroth was a banner, silver upon blue, bearing a "token of the Ship and the Silver Swan", and their mariners used swan-prowed ships.

In Sindarin, the name for "swan" was alph (pl. eilph), as in Nîn-in-Eilph. The Quenya cognate was alqua, as in Alqualondë, and the Telerin was alpa.

In Tolkien's early tongues Ilkorin and Danian, the name for "swan" was alch and ealc, respectively. Other early conceptions include Gnomish alfa or alfuil and Qenya alqe.

A fragment of an unfinished story mentioned a possibly fictitious race known as the Swans of Gorbelgod.

In an early version of the legendarium, more details about the use of swans in symbolism and crafting are given:

• Reminiscent of the Elven Swan-ships, Aulë seems to have been the first to make "great vessels like to the bodies of swans".
• It is also said Tuor used a "boat with a prow fashioned like to the neck of a swan" on Lake Mithrim, and that Ulmo apparently sent three swans to guide him out of Mithrim (much reminding of the later device of the "seven swans"). Later, the wing of a white swan became the symbol for Tuor and his company (House of the Wing) in Gondolin.

See also House of the Swan

In a poem about Tom Bombadil, it is said that Tom "wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather". J.R.R. Tolkien explained in a letter to Pauline Baynes that the swan, (traditionally the property of the King), indicated a "special friendship with Tom", the swans being among the creatures "who looked for the return of their rightful Lord, the true King". Perhaps this perceived nobility of the swans explains why Tolkien used the bird as a symbol for the princely line of Dol Amroth, and why the swans were described as allies of the Ainur and Elves.

A glimpse of Tolkien's childhood experience with swans has also been described:

Swans in adaptations

1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:

Black Swans are conceived as quite ill-meaning creatures "known to mob and overturn boats", and being larger than normal swans. Another type of swans, the Pied Swans (given the name Elph Tithen in Sindarin), are described as "creamy white in color, liberally splotched and speckled with black and grey", and said to be intelligent and friendly to travellers.

2022: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:

September 1: A Shadow of the Past:

A group of Elf children are seen playing before watching a young Galadriel build a paper ship. When Galadriel sets the ship to float down a river, the paper changes its shape to that of a swan. However, the Elf children cause it to sink by throwing stones at it, resulting in Galadriel attempting to attack them, only to be prevented by her older brother, Finrod, who pulls the Swan-ship from the river with his dagger.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.