The Elves of Avalon — J. Ellyne

This is the riveting fourth book of the blockbuster series, The Fair and Fey, translated from the High Elven of Sashegh's third journal by J. Ellyne. The series began 9,000 years ago when Sashegh and her people came from the planet Mag to settle on an island in our world. They endured conflicts with savage natives and Sashegh came of age, finding love with both men and women. One in particular, a young native maiden named Nammi, was her true love. The central theme of The Elves of Avalon, Book 4 of The Fair and Fey, is a romantic and sensual love story between Vilya and another Elf named Narya. This love has spanned ages, through death and reincarnation, from the time when they met in Maginaugh, Book 1 of the Fair and Fey as Sashegh and Nammi.

This book, The Elves of Avalon, is a blockbuster, almost four times the length of the first book. It tells of the ending of Elves in our world and the first half of the true history of the Arthur Pendragon, including his relationship with his sister Anna, aka Morganna Le Fey. They love each other but Guinevere steals Arthur's heart and Morganna and her son go to northern Wales to live with King Lot. The Elves and King Arthur form an alliance to battle both Orcs and Anglo-Saxons.

What if Arthur Pendragon did not want to be a king and for most of his military career was not a king but only the war leader of the united armies of the kings of Britannia? What if there was no such person as Lancelot? In fact, romanticists added him to the legend as pure fiction almost a thousand years after Arthur's last battle. What if Guinevere was not a nice person? She stole Arthur from his first wife Anna Pendragon, aka Morganna Le Fey. What if Arthur needed the help of a small band of Elves to accomplish his goals? What if Arthur had a Christian father (Uther Pendragon) but a Pagan, half-Elven mother (Igraine) and was neither Christian nor Pagan? All but one of the preceding things are provable facts of historical record. The fantasy element is the story of the Elves of Avalon. No one has provided proof that Elves exist but Tolkien convinced some of his readers that Elves really did exist at some time in the past.

Some people have stated that Tolkien invented the trope of Elves. This is not true. In one of his books Tolkien wrote about the time before the setting for his Lord of the Rings trilogy. He said that the first Elves migrated south from the "North Country" to Middle Earth. Tolkien did tons of research for his books, spanning decades of work. It seems likely he got the idea of Elves from the North Country (the Noldor) from reading Finnish mythology. This same mythology is the source for material about the Elves of Maahilund in the second book of J. Ellyne's The Fair and Fey series. Finnish mythology is full of tales about Elves called the Maahiset who live in an underground city in ancient Finland and have magical powers. What if Middle Earth later became known as Germania after the Elves left Middle Earth and sailed into the West (Britannia)? These are the background bones for how the Elves and Arthur Pendragon crossed paths in this latest saga of the Fair and Fey series, The Elves of Avalon. An Elf named Vilya is the main character in both books three and four. Merlin is her mentor. They met in a previous lifetime, 8,000 years ago in Maahilund. Merlin went by the name Vainamoinen at that time and for a while he went by the name Gandalf in Middle Earth. Vilya helped Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, in book three, the Elves of Arthannegh and after his death, she carries baby Arthur to Avalon at Merlin's urging, to keep him safe. In book 4, many years later after many battles with Orcs, Demons and Anglo-Saxons, a few of the surviving Elves might return to Avalon but not Arthur, not yet anyway.