Morgoth's Ring (30 page)

$22 But when the Battle was ended and from the ruin of the North great clouds arose and hid the stars, the Valar drew Melkor back to Valinor bound hand and foot and blindfold, and he was cast into prison in the halls of Mandos, from whence none have ever escaped save by the will of Mandos and Manwe, neither Vala, nor Elf, nor mortal Man. Vast are those halls and strong, and they were built in the north of the land of Aman.

There was Melkor doomed to abide for seven [> three] ages long, ere his cause should be tried again, or he should sue for pardon.

$23 Then again the gods were gathered in council and were divided in debate. For some (and of these Ulmo was the chief) held that the Quendi should be left free to walk as they would in Middle-earth, and with their gifts of skill to order all the lands and heal their hurts. But the most part feared for the Quendi in the dangerous world amid the deceits of the starlit dusk; and they were filled moreover with the love of the beauty of the Elves and desired their fellowship. At the last, therefore, the Valar summoned the Quendi to Valinor, there to be gathered at the knees of the gods in the light of the blessed Trees for ever.

And Mandos who had spoken not at all in the debate broke silence and said: 'So it is doomed.' For of this summons came many woes that after befell; yet those who hold that the Valar erred, thinking rather of the bliss of Valinor than of the Earth, and seeking to wrest the will of Iluvatar to their own pleasure, speak with the tongues [read tongue] of Melkor.

Nonetheless the Elves were at first unwilling to hearken to the summons, for they had as yet seen the Valar only in their wrath as they went to war, save Orome alone, and they were filled with dread. Therefore Orome was sent again to them, and he chose from among them three ambassadors; and he brought them to Valmar. These were Ingwe and Finwe and Elwe, who after were kings of the Three Kindreds of the Eldar; and coming they were filled with awe by the glory and majesty of the Valar and desired greatly the light and splendour of the Trees.

Therefore they returned and counselled the Elves to remove into the West, and the greater part of the people hearkened to their counsel. This they did of their free will, and yet were swayed by the majesty of the gods, ere their own wisdom was full grown.

The Elves that obeyed the summons and followed the three kings are called the Eldar, by the name that Orome gave them; for he was their guide and led them at the last unto Valinor. Yet there were many who preferred the starlight and the wide spaces of the Earth to the rumour of the glory of the Trees, and they remained behind. These are called the Avari, the Unwilling.

$24 The Eldar prepared now a great march from their first homes in the East. When all was made ready, Orome rode at their head upon Nahar, his white horse shod with gold; and behind him the Eldalie were arrayed in three hosts.

$25 The smallest host and the first to set forth was led by Ingwe, the most high lord of all the Elvish race. He entered into Valinor and sits at the feet of the Powers, and all Elves revere his name; but he has never returned nor looked again upon Middle-earth. The Lindar [> Vanyar] were his folk, fairest of the Quendi; they are the High Elves, and the beloved of Manwe and Varda, and few Men have spoken with them.

$26 Next came the Noldor, a name of wisdom.* They are the Deep Elves, and the friends of Aule. Their lord was Finwe, wisest of all the children of the world. His kindred are renowned in song, for they fought and laboured long and grievously in the northern lands of old.

$27 The greatest host came last, and they are named the Teleri, for they tarried on the road, and were not wholly of a mind to pass from the dusk to the light of Valinor. In water they had great delight, and those that came at last to the west shores were enamoured of the Sea. The Sea-elves therefore they became in Valinor, the Soloneldi [> Falmari], for they made music beside the breaking waves. Two lords they had, for their numbers were very great: Elwe Singollo, which signifies Greymantle, and Olwe his brother. The hair of Olwe was long and white, and his eyes were blue; but the hair of Elwe was grey as silver, and his eyes were as stars; he was the tallest of all the Elven-folk.

[$28 The paragraph concerning the people of Dan who left the Great March and turned south was displaced to follow $29; see the Commentary.]

$29 These are the chief peoples of the Eldalie, who passing at length into the uttermost West in the days of the Two Trees are called the Kalaquendi, the Elves of the Light. But others of the Eldar there were who set out indeed upon the Westward March, but became lost upon the long road, or turned aside, or lingered on the shores of Middle-earth. They dwelt by the sea, or wandered in the woods and mountains of the world, yet their hearts were ever turned towards the West. These the Kalaquendi call the Alamanyar [> Umanyar], since they came never to the Land of Aman and the Blessed Realm. But the Alamanyar [> Umanyar] and the Avari alike they name the Moriquendi, Elves of the Darkness, for they never beheld the light before the Sun and Moon.

The Alamanyar [> Umanyar] were for the most part of the (* [footnote to the text] The Gnomes they may be called in our tongue, quoth AElfwine. (The word that he uses is Witan. More is said of this matter in the Tenth Chapter where the tale speaks of the Edain.) [See the commentary on $26.])

race of the Teleri. For the hindmost of that people, repenting of the journey, forsook the host of Olwe, and Dan was their leader; and they turned southward and wandered long and far; and they became a folk apart, unlike their kin, save that they loved water, and dwelt most beside falls and running streams.

They had greater lore of living things, tree and herb, bird and beast, than all other Elves. The Nandor they are called. It was Denethor son of Dan who turning again west at last led a part of that people over the mountains into Beleriand ere the rising of the Moon.

$30 Others there were also of the Teleri that remained in Middle-earth. These were the Elves of Beleriand in the west of the Northern lands. They came from the host of Elwe the Grey.

He was lost in the woods and many of his folk sought him long in vain; and thus when their kindred departed over Sea they were left behind and went not into the West. Therefore they are called the Sindar, the Grey Elves, but themselves they named Eglath, the Forsaken. Elwe after became their king, mightiest of all the Alamanyar [correction to Umanyar missed]. He it was who was called Thingol in the language of Doriath.

[Other names in song and tale are given to these peoples. The Vanyar are the Blessed Elves, and the Spear-elves, the Elves of the Air, the friends of the Gods, the Holy Elves and the Immortal, and the Children of Ingwe; they are the Fair Folk and the White.

The Noldor are the Wise, and the Golden, the Valiant, the Sword-elves, the Elves of the Earth, the Foes of Melkor, the Skilled of Hand, the Jewel-wrights, the Companions of Men, the Followers of Finwe.

The Teleri are the Foam-riders, the Singers of the Shore, the Free, and the Swift, and the Arrow-elves; they are the Elves of the Sea, the Ship-wrights, the Swanherds, the Gatherers of Pearl, the Blue Elves, the people of Olwe. The Nandor are the Host of Dan, the Wood-elves, the Wanderers, the Axe-elves, the Green Elves and the Brown, the Hidden People; and those that came at last to Ossiriand are the Elves of the Seven Rivers, the Singers Unseen, the Kingless, the Weaponless, and the Lost Folk, for they are now no more. The Sindar are the Lemberi, the Lingerers; they are the Friends of Osse, the Elves of the Twilight, the Silvern, the Enchanters, the Wards of Melian, the Kindred of Luthien, the people of Elwe. Quoth Pengolod.]

Commentary on Chapter 3, 'Of the Coming of the Elves'.

LQ 1 is here again, as in the previous chapter, virtually the final text, for the later typescript LQ 2 was scarcely touched, and there was no further enlargement or expansion.

$18 In AAm $30 (p. 70) it is said that Melkor 'wrought' the Balrogs in Utumno during the long darkness after the fall of the Lamps; but in an interpolation to AAm there enters the view that Melkor, after his rebellion, could make nothing that had life of its own ($45, see pp. 74, 78), and in AAm*, the second version of the opening of AAm (p. 79, $30), the Balrogs become the chief of 'the evil spirits that followed him, the Umaiar', whom at that time he multiplied. The statement in QS $18 that the Balrogs were 'the first made of his creatures' survived through all the texts of the later revision of the Quenta, but in the margin of one of the copies of LQ 2 my father wrote: 'See Valaquenta for true account.' This is a reference to the passage which appears in the published Silmarillion on p. 31:

For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror.

The actual text of LQ 2 my father emended at this time very hastily to read:

These were the (ealar) spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. Balrogs they were named by the Noldor in later days.

And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; and his realm spread now ever southward over the Middle-earth. But the Orks, mockeries and perversions of the Children of Eru, did not appear until after the Awakening of the Elves.

There is a footnote to the word ealar in this passage:

'spirit' (not incarnate, which was fea, S[indarin] fae). eala

'being'.

On the origin of the Orcs in AAm (and especially with respect to the word 'perversions' in the passage just given) see pp. 78, 123 - 4. Orks was my father's late spelling.

$18a Of Yavanna's words before the Valar, and the words of Tulkas and Mandos, there has been no previous suggestion in the Quenta tradition; but cf. AV 2 (V.111, annal 1900): 'Yavanna often reproached the Valar for their neglected stewardship'.

This was extended in AAm $$32 - 3 (p. 71), where most of the elements of the present passage appear, though more briefly expressed.

$19 Here the two star-makings are expressly contrasted, and Varda's names Tintalle 'the Kindler' and Elentari 'Queen of the Stars'

differentiated in their bearing. The second star-making is described also in AAm $$35 - 6 (p. 71), but far more briefly, and though the 'gathering together of the ancient stars' to form signs in the heavens is mentioned there also, only the constellations Menelmakar (Orion) and Valakirka are named. That Menelmakar forebodes the Last Battle is said in both sources, but l Q

does not name it as a sign of Turin Turambar.

The name 'Burning Briar' for the Great Bear still survives in the Quenta tradition. This observation was made into a footnote in Text A (on which see p. 158), with the addition 'quoth Pengolod', but the typist of LQ 1 put it as usual into the body of the text, where my father left it.

In Text A, in which the names of the great stars and the constellations first entered, Wilwarin, Karnil, and Alkarinque were typed Vilvarin, Carnil, and Alcarinque and then altered to the forms in LQ 1. By a later change to Text A Elentari > Elentarie, not found in LQ 1 and LQ 2. - The name Elemmire has appeared in AAm $114 (pp. 100, 106) as that of the Vanyarin Elf who made the Aldudenie.

$20 Although in Text A my father added the words quoth AElfwine to 'whom we call Elves' (deriving from QS) he retained this in the body of the text, and only on the final typescript LQ 2 wrote a direction that it should be a footnote.

The aberrant idea in QS that the coming of the Elves was not in the Music of the Ainur (see V.217) is now displaced by a much more subtle explanation of Orome's astonishment. The detailed statement of the place of Kuivienen in AAm $38 (p. 72) is absent here.

The history of the passage concerning Orome and the Quendi (from 'For a while he abode with them ...') is curious and complex. In text A as he typed it my father followed QS exactly in saying that Orome 'taught them the language of the gods, from whence afterwards they made the fair Elvish speech', and that afterwards he returned to Valinor and brought tidings of the Awakening of the Quendi to Valmar. He then altered this to the text found in LQ 1 above (he 'aided them in the making of language; for that was their first work of craft upon Earth...'), and at the same time added at the beginning of $20 the words

'in their own tongue' ('but Orome named them in their own tongue Eldar, people of the stars'). In this form the passage survived into LQ 2 without further change.

On Text A, however, my father struck out the passage beginning 'For a while he abode with them...' and replaced it with the following on a slip pinned to the typescript: Then swiftly he rode back over land and sea to Valinor, filled with the thought of the beauty of the long-awaited, and he brought the tidings to Valmar. And the gods rejoiced, and yet were in doubt amid their mirth, and they debated what counsel it were best now to take to guard the Elves from the shadow of Melkor. At once Orome returned to Kuivienen, and he abode there long among the Elves, and aided them in the making of language; for that was their first work of craft upon Earth, and ever the dearest to their hearts, and sweet was the Elven-tongue on the ears of the Valar. But Manwe sat alone upon Taniquetil...