Lembas

Lembas, by Alan Lee

"Eat little at a time, and only at need. For these things are given to serve you when all else fails. The cakes will keep sweet for many many days, if they are unbroken and left in their leaf-wrappings, as we have brought them. One will keep a traveler on his feet for a day of long labour, even if he be one of the tall men of Minas Tirith."

—The Fellowship of the Ring, "Farewell to Lorien"

Lembas, also called Elven bread or Waybread in the Common Speech, was a special food made by the Elves.

History

It is said by the Eldar that the art of preparing the Lembas came from the Vala Yavanna as far back to the Elves Great Journey to Aman, when she brought to them a special corn grown on her fields there. These traditions were passed on throughout the long ages from house to house of the High Elves.

Melian, the Queen of Doriath, was the Maia who originally held this recipe. Later, it was passed to Galadriel and other Elves.

Galadriel gave a large store of it to the Fellowship of the Ring upon its departure from Lothlórien. One of the elves commented "[...] we call it lembas or waybread, and it is more strengthening than any food by men, and it is more pleasant than cram, by all accounts." Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee subsisted on it through the majority of their journey from the Anduin River to Mordor.

Description

The bread was very nutritious, stayed fresh for months when wrapped in mallorn leaves, and was used for sustenance on long journeys. Lembas was a yellowish colour on the outside and a cream colour on the inside. It was often wrapped inside a green leaf to remain fresh. The recipe of lembas was a closely guarded secret, and only on rare occasions was it given to non-elves. Like other products of the Elves, it was offensive to creatures corrupted by evil; Gollum refused outright to eat it.

During the First Age, lembas was wrapped in "leaves of silver [...] a wafer of white wax shaped as a single flower of Telperion."

Etymology

Lembas is Sindarin for "Waybread", from the older form lenn-mbass ("journey bread"). In Quenya, it is called Coimas ("life-bread").

Portrayal in adaptations

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Legolas holding a piece of lembas.

In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the term "lembas bread" is occasionally used; because the gift of lembas at Lothlórien is not included in the theatrical release of The Fellowship of the Ring, the redundant term "lembas bread" was probably chosen in order to immediately identify the substance to filmgoers at the beginning of The Two Towers.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, before departing Lothlórien, Legolas commented to Merry and Pippin that "one small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man." Merry's and Pippin's appetites as hobbits put the power of lembas to the test. Merry asked Pippin how much he had eaten. Pippin responded, "Four", and then belched loudly.

Later on, when Sam and Frodo were travelling alone, they ate chunks of the bread at a time as their only food source.

Video games

• In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game), the lembas bread is green on the outside instead of brown (presumably because it is wrapped in Mallorn leaves) and cream colour on the inside.

Behind the Scenes

Tolkien most likely based lembas on bread known as hard tack that was used during long sea voyages and military campaigns as a primary foodstuff. This very un-magical bread was little more than flour and water which had been baked hard and would keep for months as long as it was kept dry. However, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa wrote in his book Libri tres de occulta philosophia (Book 1, Chapter 13) of a herb from Scythia that allowed people to go for twelve days afterward without any need for food or water. It is also possible that Tolkien based lembas on this description in Agrippa's writings. Others have speculated that the lembas serves as an allegory for the Eucharist.

Translations around the World

Foreign Language	Translated name
Chinese (Hong Kong)	蘭巴斯

External link

• Lembas at Tolkien Gateway