The Red Book: The Silmarillion: Ainulindalë Part 2

Ainulindalë holds surprisingly few noteworthy connections to The Lord of the Rings. The only characters we have been introduced to yet are the Valar, and the only location we have been shown is one not really mentioned in the Lord of the Rings. LOTR's villain we have not yet seen, and the elves haven't even been born yet. I mean there is the obvious, making the world in which LOTR takes place, but beyond that...

The only one that really comes to mind to me as worth pointing out is the connection between the sea and the elves, shown in Legolas. In Ainulindalë we are told:

"And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen."

If you will recall, Legolas is a perfect example of this 'sea-longing'. First the warning from Galadriel and then the warning coming true, and then his song.

"Legolas Greenleaf long under tree

In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea!

If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,

Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."
~ The Lord of the Rings

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"‘Look!’ [Legolas] cried. 'Gulls! They are flying far inland. A wonder they are to me and a trouble to my heart. Never in all my life had I met them, until we came to Pelargir, and there I heard them crying in the air as we rode to the battle of the ships. Then I stood still, forgetting war in Middle-earth; for their wailing voices spoke to me of the Sea. The Sea! Alas! I have not yet beheld it. But deep in the hearts of all my kindred lies the sea-longing, which it is perilous to stir. Alas! for the gulls. No peace shall I have again under beech or under elm.’"

~ The Lord of the Rings

~~~~~~~~~

"To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,

The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying.

West, west away, the round sun is falling.

Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling.

The voices of my people that have gone before me?

I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me;

For our days are ending and our years failing.

I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing.

Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling,

Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling,

In Eressea, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,

Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!’"

~ The Lord of the Rings