Morgoth's Ring (16 page)

$58 The Eldar now prepared for their Great March, and they went in three hosts. First came the Vanyar, the most eager for the road, the people of Ingwe. Next came the Noldor, a greater host (though some remained behind), the people of Finwe. Last came the Teleri, and they were the least eager. Yet their host that began the March was greatest of all, and they had therefore two lords: Elwe Singollo, and Olwe his brother. And when all was made ready Orome rode before them upon Nahar, white in the starlight. And they began their long journey and passed by the Sea of Helkar ere they bent somewhat westward.(2) And it is said that before them great clouds hung still black in the North above the ruins of war, and the stars in that region were hidden. Then not a few grew afraid and repented and turned back and are forgotten.

1115.

$59 Long and slow was the March of the Eldar into the West, for the leagues of Middle-earth were uncounted, and weary and pathless. Nor did the Eldar desire to hasten, for they were filled with wonder at all that they saw, and by many lands and rivers they would fain abide; and though all were yet willing to wander, not a few rather feared their journey's end than hoped for it. Therefore, whenever Orome departed, as at times he would, having other matters to heed, they halted and went forward no more until he returned to guide them.

$60 And it came to pass that after ten Years of journeying in this manner (which is to say in such a time as we now should reckon well nigh a century of our years) the Eldar passed through a forest, and came to a great river, wider and broader than any that they yet had seen, and beyond it were mountains whose sharp horns seemed to pierce the realm of the stars.(3) $61 This river, it is said, was even that river that was after called Anduin the Great, and was ever the frontier of the Westlands of Middle-earth. But the mountains were the Hithaeglir, the Towers of Mist upon the borders of Eriador; yet they were taller and more terrible in those days, and they were reared by Melkor to hinder the riding of Orome.(4) Now the Teleri abode long on the east-bank of-the River and wished to remain there, but the Vanyar and the Noldor passed the River with the aid of Orome, and he led them to the passes of the mountains.(5) And when Orome was gone forward the Teleri looked upon the shadowy heights and were afraid.

$62 Then one arose in the host of Olwe, which was ever hindmost on the march, and his name was Nano (or Dan in the tongue of his own people). And he forsook the westward march, and led away a numerous folk, and they went south down the River, and passed out of the knowledge of the Eldar until long years were over. These were the Nandor.

1125.

$63 And when again ten years had passed, the Vanyar and Noldor came at length over the mountains that stood between Eriador and the westernmost land of Middle-earth, that the Elves after named Beleriand. And the foremost companies passed over the Vale of Sirion and came to the shores of the Great Sea. Then great fear came upon them, and many repented sorely of their journey and withdrew into the woods of Beleriand. And Orome returned to Valinor to seek the counsel of Manwe.

1128.

$64 Now the host of the Teleri came at last to Beleriand and dwelt in the eastward region beyond the River Gelion. And they came unwillingly, being urged by Elwe their king; for he was eager indeed to return to Valinor and the light that he had beheld (though his doom forbade it); and he wished not to be sundered from the Noldor, for he had great friendship with Finwe their lord.

1130.

$65 At this time Elwe strayed in the woods of Beleriand and was lost, and his people sought him long in vain. For as he journeyed homeward from a meeting with Finwe, he passed by the borders of Nan Elmoth. There he heard the nightingales singing, and he was spell-bound, for they were the birds of Melian the Maia, who came from the gardens of Lorien in the Blessed Realm. And Elwe followed the birds deep into Nan Elmoth, and there he saw Melian standing in a glade open to heaven, and a starlit mist was about her. Thus began the love of Elwe Greymantle and Melian the fair; and he took her hand, and it is said that thus they stood while the stars measured out the courses of many Years, and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark about them.

1132.

$66 Now Ulmo, by the counsel of the Valar, came to the shores of Middle-earth and spoke with the Eldar; and because of his words and the music which he made for them upon his conches their fear of the Sea was turned rather to desire.

Therefore Ulmo and his servants took an island which long had stood alone amidst the Sea, since the tumults of the fall of Illuin, and they moved it, and brought it to the grey bay of Balar, as it were a mighty ship. And the Vanyar and the Noldor embarked upon the isle, Eressea, and were drawn over the Sea, and came at last to the land of Aman.(6) But the Teleri remained still in Middle-earth; for many dwelt in East Beleriand and heard not the summons of Ulmo until too late; and many searched yet for Elwe Singollo, their king, and would not depart without him.

But when the Teleri learned that Ingwe and Finwe and their peoples were gone, they pressed on to the shore, and there dwelt in longing for their friends that had departed. And they took Olwe, Elwe's brother, to be their king. And Osse and Uinen came to them and befriended them and taught them all manner of sea-lore and sea-music. Thus it came to be that the Teleri, who were from the beginning lovers of water, and the fairest singers of the Elvenfolk, were after enamoured of the seas, and their songs were filled with the sound of the waves upon the shore.

1133.

$67 In this Year the Vanyar and the Noldor came to Aman, and the cleft of the Kalakiryan (7) was made in the Pelori; and the Elves took possession of Eldamar, and began the building of the green hill of Tuna in sight of the Sea. And upon Tuna they raised the white walls of the Watchful City, Tirion the Hallowed.

1140.

$68 In this year Tirion was full-wrought, and the Tower of Ingwe was built, Mindon Eldalieva, and its silver lamp was kindled. But Ingwe and many of the Vanyar yearned for the Light of the Trees, and he and many of his household departed and went to Valinor, and dwell forever with the people of Manwe. And though others of the Vanyar dwelt still in Tirion in fellowship with the Noldor, the sundering of those kindreds and of their tongue was begun; for ever and anon yet more of the Vanyar would depart.

1142.

$69 In this year Yavanna gave to the Noldor the White Tree, Galathilion, image of the Tree Telperion, and it was planted beneath the Mindon and grew and flourished.

1149.

$70 In this year Ulmo hearkened to the prayers of Finwe and went again to Middle-earth to bring Elwe and his people to Aman, if they would come. And most of them proved now willing indeed; but Osse was grieved. For his care was for the seas of Middle-earth and the shores of the Outer Lands, and he came seldom to Aman, unless summoned to council; and he was ill-pleased that the fair voices of the Teleri should be heard no more in Middle-earth. Some therefore he persuaded to remain, and those were the Eldar that long abode on the coasts of Beleriand, the first mariners upon earth and the first makers of ships. Their havens were at Brithombar and Eglarest. Cirdan the Shipwright was their lord.

1150.

$71 The kinsfolk and friends of Elwe also were unwilling to depart; but Olwe would be gone, and at last Ulmo took all who would embark upon Eressea and drew them over the deeps of the Sea. And the friends of Elwe were left behind, and they called themselves, therefore, in their own tongue the Eglath, the Forsaken People. And they sought still for Elwe in sorrow. But it was not his doom ever to return to the Light of the Trees, greatly though he had desired it. Yet the Light of Aman was in the face of Melian the fair, and in that light he was content.

1151.

$72 Now Osse followed after the Teleri, and when they were come nigh to the Bay of Eldamar he called to them, and they knew his voice, and they begged Ulmo to stay their voyage.

And Ulmo granted this, and at his bidding Osse made fast the island and rooted it in the foundations of the Sea; and there the Teleri abode as they wished still under the stars of heaven, and yet within sight of Aman and the deathless shore; and they could see from afar the Light of the Trees as it passed through the Kalakiryan, and touched the dark waves to silver and gold.

$73 Ulmo did this the more readily, for that he understood the hearts of the Teleri, and in the council of the Valar he had chiefly spoken against the summons, deeming that it were better for the Quendi to remain in Middle-earth. But the Valar were little pleased to learn what he had done; and Finwe grieved when the Teleri came not, and yet more when he learned that Elwe was forsaken, and knew that he should not see him again, unless it were in the halls of Mandos.

1152.

$74 At this time Elwe Singollo, it is said, awoke from his trance, and he dwelt with Melian in the woods of Beleriand. But he was a great lord and noble, tallest in stature of all the Children of Iluvatar, and like unto a lord of the Maiar; and a high doom was before him. For he became a king renowned, and his folk were all the Eldar of Beleriand; the Sindar they were named, the Grey-elves, the Elves of the Twilight, and King Greymantle was he, Elu Thingol in the tongue of the Sindar.

And Melian was his Queen, wiser than any child of Middle-earth; and of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the world the fairest of all the Children of Iluvatar that was or ever shall be.

1161.

$75 It came to pass that after the Teleri had dwelt for one hundred years of our reckoning upon the Lonely Isle their hearts were changed, and they were drawn towards the Light that flowed out from Aman. Therefore Osse (8) taught them the craft of shipbuilding, and when their ships were made ready he brought them, as his parting gift, many strong-winged swans.

And the swans drew the white ships of the Teleri over the wind-less sea. Thus at last and latest they came to Aman and the shores of Eldamar; and there the Noldor welcomed them with joy.

1162.

$76 In this year Olwe lord of the Teleri, with the aid of Finwe and the Noldor, began the building of Alqualonde, the Swanhaven, upon the coast of Eldamar, north of the Kalakiryan.

1165.

$77 In this year the last of the Vanyar departed from Tirion, and the Noldor dwelt there alone, and their converse and friendship thereafter was rather with the Teleri.

NOTES.

1. This sentence is an interpolation in the manuscript, and is itself rewritten from an earlier interpolation:

And this, maybe, was also one of the first-fruits of the lies of Melkor for the deceit of the Quendi, that despite his sojourn among them many still feared him and Nahar his steed.

The typescript has the form given in the text.

2. This is an emendation from 'went north until Helkar was passed and then north-west'; the typescript has the emended sentence.

3. My father added hastily here, using a ball-point pen and so apparently much later (see p. 102, $78):

Here they dwelt for a year, and here Indis wife of Finwe bore him a son, eldest of all the second generation of the Eldar. He was first named Minyon First-begotten, but afterwards Curufinwe or Feanor.

This was struck out, perhaps as soon as written; see note 5.

4. 'and they were reared by Melkor to hinder the riding of Orome' is a pencilled addition that appears in the typescript as typed.

5. Added to the manuscript here at the same time and in the same way as the passage given in note 3 (and struck out at the same time as that):

Here Indis wife of Finwe was lost, and fell from a great height.

And her body was found in a deep gorge, and there buried. And when Finwe would not go forward, and wished to remain there, Orome spoke to him of the fate of the Quendi, and how they could return again, if they would, after a while. For their spirits do not die, and yet do not leave Arda, and by the command of Eru a dwelling place is made for them in Aman. Then Finwe was eager to go forward.

6. After this there stood in the manuscript: 'and Ingwe and his household passed into Valinor, and dwell forever with the people of Manwe.' This was struck out and is not in the typescript, but it reappears in the annal for 1140.

7. Kalakiryan is a pencilled emendation from Kalakirya, and at subsequent occurrences (but at the very end of the Annals, p. 133, $180, Kalakiryan is the form in the manuscript as written).

8. Ulmo in the manuscript as first written, changed early to Osse'.

Commentary on the third section of the

Annals of Aman.

This section of AAm corresponds to QS Chapter 3 Of the Coming of the Elves (including 3(b) Of Thingol and 3(c) Of Kor and Alqualonde) from $22 to $39 and elements of $$43 - 5; and to AV 2, Valian Years 1980 - 2111. These texts are found in V.213 ff., 112 - 13.

A cursory comparison shows that an enormous extension at large and in detail has taken place; and while concurrent development had proceeded in the 'Silmarillion' tradition also (with which AAm has not a few phrases in common), AAm is a very distinct narrative, with a large number of features absent from the other tradition and some actual divergences. Here, as before, I observe the more important developments in AAm in relation to the pre-Lord of the Rings narratives; and in many cases I restrict myself to a simple reference to the new elements that have entered the legends, it being implied in such cases that the matter in question is wholly new.