The Nature of Elwing
For Day 2 of @tolkienofcolourweek, where I continue to Māori-fy Tolkien. (I am objectively correct.)
Elwing as a gull is cool and Elwing as an albatross is cooler, but the bird that most closely matches what I imagined upon first reading the silm is this one:
[Image description: four photos of a white bird with long legs and a long neck.]
This is a kōtuku, and it's incredibly sacred to my people. It's also known as the white heron. It lives in many countries, but in Aotearoa the population is very small - only about 200.
Kōtuku are beautiful and graceful creatures. They're such a pure white that in sunlight they seem to be a source of light themselves, glowing and radiant.
We hold them in high esteem because of both their beauty and rarity. There's a Māori saying, he kōtuku rerenga tahi, which means the kōtuku flies once. It's a reference to the fact that a kōtuku in flight is so rare that you only see it once in your life, but it's also used to describe something extremely beautiful/esteemed and extremely rare.
Kōtuku are beings from the spirit world. They exist in-between. An old Ngāti Pikiao funeral lament ends to kōtuku to tapui, e tama e (the kōtuku is now thy sole companion, oh my son). I was told once that they accompany our spirits after death when we travel to the northernmost cliffs of Aotearoa (Te Rerenga Wairua, the Leaping Place of Spirits) to jump from the cliffs to the sea and journey to Hawaiki.
Elwing as a bird that dwells between this world and the spirit world. Elwing as the bird that rerenga tahi, which means flies once but also means leaps [from a high place] once. Elwing, grand-daughter of Luthien, as the most beautiful and rare of birds, the kind that you only see once in a lifetime.
Bonus: Elwing and her twin chicks.
[Image: a kōtuku standing over a nest with two fluffy chicks inside. The adult kōtuku is beautiful and the chicks look like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards.]
(Btw comments and questions are welcome but please don't be weird in the notes - like I said, this bird is sacred.)
