Tol Eressëa
the Lonely Isle; the isle of the Elves
Name and Place
Tol Eressëa — the “Lonely Isle” — lies in the waters between Middle-earth and Aman (in some accounts in the Bay of Eldamar, in others far out in the ocean), “the island of the Elves”: the isle that, in the Great Journey, the Teleri received — the famous isle of the Eldar, in the fullest tradition, Ossë drew it — in the tale of the Teleri’s crossing, the island served as their resting-place and (in the later lore) the abode of the great scholar-Elves (like Rúmil the Loremaster) and the center of Eldarin learning.
In the Tale
In the later histories the isle was home to the “Eressëan” loremasters — in the Lost Road (HoME 5) and the tale of the “Lhammas” the “Lonely Isle” is the harbor of the early philology of the legendarium (Rúmil of Eressëa composed the tongue-lores there); its white roads and mariners are the comfort of the “elvenhome” image in the songs.
Significance
Tol Eressëa is the “halfway house” of the Eldar — between the dark world and the Light; in the early forms of the myth (the Book of Lost Tales), it is the true “Elvenhome” where the Lost Elves dream, and its character as the isle of memory and song persists through all versions as the emblem of the sea-longing resolved.