Morgoth's Ring (32 page)

(* [footnote to the text] lomelindi: 'dusk-singers' = nightingales.) $33 Thus Elwe's folk who sought him found him not, and Olwe took the kingship of the Teleri and departed; but Elwe Singollo came never again across the sea to Valinor; and Melian returned not thither while their realm together lasted; and of her a strain of the [read: of the race of the] immortal gods came among both Elves and Men, as hereafter shall be told. In after days Melian and Elwe became Queen and King of Grey Elves, and their hidden halls were in Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, in Doriath; and as Thingol Greymantle he was known in the

[read: to all in the] tongue of that land. Great power Melian lent to Thingol her spouse, who was in himself great among the Eldar; for he alone of all the Forsaken had seen with his own eyes the Trees in the day of their flowering, and king though he were [> was] of Alamanyar [> Umanyar], he was not accounted among the Moriquendi, but with the Elves of the Light, mighty upon Middle-earth.

Commentary on Chapter 4, 'Of Thingol and Melian'

$31 The form 'Elu-thingol' here first appeared. - Olofantur was corrected to Lorien on one copy of LQ 2 (see p. 150, $6).

$32 With the mention of the long sojourn of the Teleri in the lands beyond Gelion cf. AAm $64 (p. 83). The story of Elwe's journey to visit Finwe his friend is told also in AAm ($$64 - 5); and the phrase 'the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark' is found in both sources. In AAm Elwe's trance lasted for more than two centuries measured by the Sun (p. 89, $65).

$33 It now becomes explicit, and not merely implied, that Thingol had been to Valinor, as one of the three ambassadors (see pp. 168 - 9, $$23, 27). - The readings in LQ 1 'a strain of the immortal gods' and 'he was known in the tongue of that land'

were clearly mere errors of omission on the part of the typist; the readings proposed are found in my father's manuscript Text A (see p. 158). A late change to Text A made after LQ 1 was copied from it was 'Grey Elves' to 'the Grey Elves'.

5 OF ELDANOR AND THE PRINCES OF

THE ELDALIE.

My father did less revision and rewriting of this chapter than on those preceding, and in fact did not himself make a wholly new text: the revision of 1951 was very largely restricted to emendation of the old QS typescript, and it was from this that LQ 1 was taken. In the QS

typescript this was not a separate chapter, but a 'sub-chapter' entitled Of Kor and Alqualonde' (in The Lost Road numbered 3(c); V.221 - 5); after which that typescript was abandoned, and for the remainder of the work there is only the QS manuscript from the pre-Lord of the Rings period.

Emendation to the QS typescript was carried out at different times, and three important passages of rewriting (see the commentary on $$40, 43) were 'lost' and not taken up into the later texts.

Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalie.

$34 In time the hosts of the Eldalie came to the last western shores of the Hither Lands. In the North these shores, in the ancient days after the battle of the gods, sloped ever westward, until in the northernmost parts of the earth only a narrow sea divided the Outer Land of Aman, upon which Valinor was built, from the Hither Lands; but this narrow sea was filled with grinding ice, because of the violence of the frosts of Melkor.

Therefore Orome did not lead the Eldar into the far North, but brought them to the fair lands about the River Sirion that afterwards were named Beleriand; and from those shores whence first the hosts of the Eldar looked in fear and wonder on the sea there stretched an ocean, wide and dark and deep, between them and the Mountains of Aman.

$35 There they waited and gazed upon the dark waves. But Ulmo came from the Valar; and he uprooted a half-sunken island, which now long had stood alone amid the sea, far from either shore; and with the aid of his servants he moved it, as it were a mighty ship, and anchored it in the bay into which Sirion pours his water.* Thereon he embarked the Lindar [> Vanyar]

and the Noldor, for they had already assembled. But the Teleri were behind, being slower and less eager upon the march, and they were delayed also by the loss of Thingol and their fruitless search; and they did not come until Ulmo had departed.

$36 Therefore Ulmo drew the Lindar [> Vanyar] and the Noldor over the sea to the long shores beneath the Mountains of Valinor, and they entered the land of the gods and were welcomed to its bliss. But the Teleri dwelt long by the coasts of (* [footnote to the text] And some have told that the great isle of Balar, that lay of old in that bay, was the eastern horn of the Lonely Isle, that broke asunder and remained behind, when Ulmo removed that land again into the West. Quoth Rumil. [Placed in the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1 but subsequently reinstated as a footnote.]) the western sea, awaiting Ulmo's return; and they grew to love the sound of the waves, and they made songs filled with the music of water. Osse heard them, and came thither; and he loved them, delighting in the music of their voices. Sitting upon a rock nigh to the margin of the sea he spoke to them and instructed them. Great therefore was his grief when Ulmo returned at length to bear them away to Valinor. Some he persuaded to remain on the beaches of the Middle-earth, and these were the Elves of the Falas that in after days had dwellings at the havens of Brithombar and Eglorest in Beleriand; but most of the Teleri embarked upon the isle and were drawn far away.

$37 Osse followed them, and when they were come near to their journey's end, he called to them; and they begged Ulmo to halt for a while, so that they might take leave of their friend and look their last upon the sky of stars. For the light of the Trees that filtered through the passes of the hills filled them with awe.

And Ulmo understood well their hearts, and granted their request; and at his bidding Osse made fast the island and rooted it in the foundations of the sea. Then Ulmo returned to Valinor and made known what had been done, and the Valar for the most part were ill-pleased; but the island could not again be moved without great hurt, or without peril to the Teleri who dwelt thereon; and it was not moved, but stood there alone for many an age. No other land lay near it, and it was called Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle.* There the Teleri long had their home, and Osse was often among them, and they learned of him strange musics and sea-lore; and he brought to them sea-birds, the gift of Yavanna, for their delight. By this long sojourn of the Teleri apart in the Lonely Isle was caused the sundering of their speech from the language of the Lindar [> Vanyar] and the Noldor.

$38 To these the Valar had given a land and dwelling-places. Even among the radiant flowers of the Tree-lit gardens of the gods they longed still to see the stars at times. Therefore a gap was made in the great walls of the Pelori, and there in a deep valley that ran down to the sea the Eldar raised a high green hill: Tuna it was called. From the West the light of the (* [footnote to the text] Avallone also it was after called, signifying the isle that lies nighest unto the Valar in Valinor. Quoth AElfwine.

[Placed in the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1 but subsequently reinstated as a footnote.])

Trees fell upon it, and its shadow lay ever eastward; and to the East it looked towards the Bay of Elvenhome, and the Lonely Isle, and the Shadowy Seas. Then through the Kalakiryan, the Pass of Light, the radiance of the Blessed Realm streamed forth, kindling the waves with gleams of gold and silver, and it touched the Lonely Isle, and its western shore grew green and fair. There bloomed the first flowers that ever were east of the mountains of the gods.

$39 Upon the crown of Tuna, the green hill, the city of the Elves was built, the white walls and terraces of Tirion; and the highest of the towers of that city was the Tower of Ingwe, the Mindon, Mindon Eldalieva, whose silver lamp shone far out into the mists of the sea. Few are the ships of mortal Men that have seen its slender beam. In Tirion' the Lindar [> Vanyar]

and the Noldor dwelt long time in fellowship. And since of all things in Valinor they loved most the White Tree, Yavanna made for them a tree in all things like a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give light of its own being; and this tree was planted in the courts beneath the Tower and there flourished, and its seedlings were many in Eldanor. Of which one was after planted in Eressea, and prospered. Thence came in the fullness of time, as is later told, the White Tree of Numenor.

$40 Manwe and Varda loved most the Lindar [> Vanyar], the High Elves, and holy and immortal were all their deeds and songs. The Noldor were beloved of Aule, and of Mandos the wise; and great became their knowledge and their skill. Yet ever greater was their thirst for more knowledge, and their desire to make things wonderful and new. They were changeful in speech, for they had great love of words, and sought ever to find names more fit for all things that they knew or imagined. In Valinor they first contrived the fashioning of gems, and they made them in countless myriads of many kinds and hues; and they filled all Elende with them, and the halls of the gods in Valinor were enriched.

(* [footnote to the text] That is the Watchful City. Eldamar (that is Elvenhome) it was also called; but the regions where the Elves dwelt, and whence the stars could be seen, were called Elende, or Eldanor (that is Elvenland): quoth AElfwine. [Placed in the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1 but subsequently reinstated as a footnote.]) $41 The Noldor afterwards came back to Middle-earth, and this tale tells mostly of their deeds; therefore the names and kinship of their princes may here be told in that form which these names after had in the tongue of the Gnomes as it was

[> the Elves] in Beleriand upon the Middle-earth. Finwe was king of the Noldor. His sons were Feanor, Fingolfin, and Finrod

[> Finarphin]. Of these Feanor was the mightiest in skill of word and hand, more learned in lore than his brethren; in his heart his spirit burned as flame. Fingolfin was the strongest, the most steadfast, and the most valiant. Finrod [> Finarphin] was the fairest, and the most wise of heart; and afterwards he was a friend of the sons of Olwe, lord of the Teleri, and had to wife Earwen, the swan-maiden of Alqualonde, Olwe's daughter. The seven sons of Feanor were Maidros [> Maedhros] the tall; Maglor a musician and a mighty singer, whose voice was heard far over land and sea; Celegorn [> Celegorm] the fair, and Cranthir [> Caranthir] the dark; and Curufin the crafty, who inherited most of his father's skill of hand; and the youngest Damrod and Diriel [> Amrod and Amras], who were twin brothers alike in mood and face. They afterwards were great hunters in the woods of Middle-earth. A hunter also was Celegorn [> Celegorm], who in Valinor was a friend of Orome and followed oft the great god's horn.

$42 The sons of Fingolfin were Fingon, who was after king of the Gnomes [> Noldor] in the North of the World; and Turgon of Gondolin; and their sister was Isfin [> Irith] the White. [Added: She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brethren; and when she was grown to full stature and beauty she was greater and stronger than woman's wont, and she loved much to ride on horse and to hunt in the forests, and there was often in the company of her kinsmen, the sons of Feanor; but to none was her heart's love given. She was called the White Lady of the Noldor; for though her hair was dark, she was pale and clear of hue, and she was ever arrayed in silver and white.] The sons of Finrod [> Finarphin] were Inglor

[> Finrod] the faithful (who afterwards was named Felagund, Lord of Caves), [struck out: and Orodreth,] and Angrod, and Egnor [> Aegnor]. And these four [> three] were as close in friendship with the sons of Fingolfin as though they were all brethren together. A sister they had, Galadriel, the fairest lady of the house of Finwe, and the most valiant. Her hair was lit with gold as though it had caught in a mesh the radiance of Laurelin.

$43 Here must be told how the Teleri came at last to Valinor. For nigh on one hundred of the years of Valinor, which were each as ten of the years of the Sun that were after made, they dwelt in Tol Eressea. But slowly their hearts were moved, and were drawn towards the light that flowed out over the sea unto their isle; and they were torn between the love of the music of the waves upon their shores, and desire to see again their kindred and to look upon the splendour of the gods. Yet in the end desire of the light was the stronger. Therefore Ulmo taught them the craft of ship-building; and Osse, submitting to Ulmo, brought them as his farewell gift the strong-winged swans.