~The Elven-names~ The Lore

"This is the history of those elven-named", read the book. "It is unclear how these began, but there is one legend. It is said that when in Middle-Earth the second slaying of elf by elf took place, and Celegorm's servants took the young sons of Dior and Nimloth, Elured and Elurin, and left them in the forest to starve, Manwe took pity on them. He appealed on their behalf to Iluvatar, who removed them from Middle-Earth, and took them to a place that had not know elves before that day. Here he told them that in this new place they would not be immortal, but would have the gift of Man, and die and leave the world. But their legacy would continue, if their descendants were named in the elven tongue. And so it came to pass, that when Elured came of age and was married, he named his children in the elven tongue. And so it was with Elurin also. After many generations, an intermarriage took place between two of these Elven-Named. And it was realized that when this happened, the children of such a union were more like unto the elves than their parents. They were fair of face, and had long life-spans, but were not immortal. And they were called the Eldar-hin, the children of elves.

"The first of these Eldar-hin was..." I sighed. Now it was getting into genealogies, and those were boring! Okay, I realize that you probably don't have any idea what the first part of that paragraph was about. Most of it's in the Silmarillion. There was this, like, huge war that lasted for a whole age, and even some elves fought other elves over these really great jewels. Iluvatar was The Creator of All, and Manwe was one of his servants, sort of like God and His angels.

I dug around in the chest, looking to see if there was anything else, and I found a little leather-bound book. I opened it, and gasped. There was my mother's handwriting staring out at me.

I am now the keeper of the lore. I did not want to be, but I was chosen. And I am not sure of the legend any more. It's really neat, but I think something else is happening. I just got a copy of Tolkien's works. And now that I know all of the races of Middle-Earth, I think I've seen a Hobbit-named, if there is such a thing. And if the legend is true, there's no place for hobbits here. There must be some other explanation for the origins of the Elven-named.

So Mom hadn't thought the legend was right. What was the deal here?

I picked Mom's diary thing up and started downstairs.