Morgoth's Ring (79 page)

by violence, and the hroa, in full life, would be rent and die in sudden agony; or else the fea would in loathing and without pity desert the hroa, and it would live on, a witless body, not even a beast but a monster, a very work of Melkor in the midst of Aman, which the Valar themselves would fain destroy.

Now these things are but matters of thought, and might-have-beens; for Eru and the Valar under Him have not permitted Men as they are (10) to dwell in Aman. Yet at least it may be seen that Men in Aman would not escape the dread of death, but would have it in greater degree and for long ages. And moreover, it seems probable that death itself, either in agony or horror, would with Men enter into Aman itself.

At this point Aman as originally written (see p. 424) continued with the words 'Now some Men hold that their hroar are not indeed by nature short-lived ...', which became the beginning of the introductory passage to the Athrabeth (see p. 304).

NOTES.

1. The number III and a further title The Marring of Men (the other titles remaining) was given to the second part, while Aman was numbered II. No writing numbered I is found.

2. It will be seen that, as a consequence of the transformation of the

'cosmogonic myth', a wholly new conception of the 'Valian Year'

had entered. The elaborate computation of Time in the Annals of Aman (see pp. 49 - 51, 59 - 60) was based on the 'cycle' or' the Two Trees that had ceased to exist in relation to the diurnal movement of the Sun that had come into being - there was a 'new reckoning'. But the 'Valian Year' is now, as it appears, a 'unit of perception' of the passage of the Time of Arda, derived from the capacity of the Valar to perceive at such intervals the process of the ageing of Arda from its beginning to its end. See note 5.

3. My father wrote the following passage ('They could move backward or forward in thought ...') in the body of the manuscript at this point, but in a small italic script, and I have preserved this form in the text printed; similarly with the following passage that interrupts the main text at the words 'the unit of Valian time'.

4. 'we may... use the Valian unit': in other words, presumably, the old structure of dates in the chronicle of Aman may be retained, although the meaning of those dates in terms of Middle-earth will be radically different. See note 5.

5. There is now a vast discrepancy between Valian Years and

'mortal years'; cf. also 'his whole life would last little more than one half-year' (p. 428), 'In the seventh part of a year a Man could be born and become full-grown' (p. 429). In notes not given in this book, in which my father was calculating on this basis the time of the Awakening of Men, he expressly stated that 144 Sun Years = 1 Valian Year (in this connection see Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings: 'It seems clear that the Eldar in Middle-earth

... reckoned in long periods, and the Quenya word yen... really means 144 of our years'). Placing the event 'after or about the time of the sack of Utumno, Valian Year 1100' (see pp. 75, 80), a gigantic lapse of time could now be conceived between the

'arising' of Men and their first appearance in Beleriand.

6. For this use of 'Earth' in opposition to 'Aman', very frequent in this essay, see p. 282.

7. The sub-heading Aman and Mortal Men was a later addition.

8. With this use of the word hroa cf. text VII, p. 399: 'the hroa, the

"flesh" or physical matter, of Arda'.

9. This passage, from 'And he would not willingly leave Aman ...', was a later addition. As the text was written, it continued on from 'all the things of Arda' to 'And what should he come to...'

10. The words 'as they are' were a later addition of the same time as those referred to in notes 7 and 9.

APPENDIX.

SYNOPSIS OF THE TEXTS.

This list is intended as no more than a very concise statement of the manuscripts and typescripts referred to in this book (other than those in Part Five).

Ainulindale.

B. Manuscript, dating from the 1930s, given in V.155 ff.

C*. Author's typescript, introducing radical changes in the cosmology, in existence by 1948; see pp. 3 - 7, 39 ff.

C. Rewriting of B, using the old manuscript (see pp. 3, 7); given in full pp. 8 ff.

D. Fine manuscript, the last version of the Ainulindale', developed from C; given in part pp. 29 ff.

Annals of Valinor

AV 1. 'The Earliest Annals of Valinor', given in IV.262 ff.

AV 2. 'The Later Annals of Valinor', given in V.109 ff.

- For the rewriting of the opening of AV 2 preceding the Annals of Aman see p. 47.

Annals of Aman.

AAm. Manuscript, dating from the early 1950s, given in full pp. 48 ff; divided editorially into six sections followed by notes and commentary.

AAm*. Author's typescript of the opening of AAm, with many departures from the manuscript (pp. 64 - 8, 79 - 80).

AAm typescript. Amanuensis typescript, dating from about 1958 (see pp. 141 - 2, 300). Annotations and alterations made to this are given at the end of the commentaries on each section of AAm.

Quenta Silmarillion.

Q. 'The Quenta' (Qenta Noldorinwa), dating from 1930, given in IV.76 ff.

QS. Quenta Silmarillion, fine manuscript abandoned at the end of 1937, given in V.199 ff.

QS typescript. Author's typescript; new text (entitled Eldanyare) of the opening chapters, dating from December 1937 - January 1938 (see p. 143).

LQ 1. 'Later Quenta 1', amanuensis typescript of revised QS, made in 1951( - 2); see p. 141.

LQ 2. 'Later Quenta 2', amanuensis typescript incorporating all alterations made to LQ 1, made about 1958; see pp. 141 - 2.

LQ. For the uses of this abbreviation see pp. 184, 200.

Laws and Customs among the Eldar.

A. Manuscript, given in full in its latter part (pp. 233 ff.), from the point where the typescript B breaks off (see pp. 207 - 8).

B. Author's typescript, unfinished, given in full pp. 209 ff.

Late recasting and development of parts of

The Silmarillion.

Vq 1. Author's typescript developed from LQ 2 Chapter 1 'Of the Valar' (see pp. 199 - 200).

Vq 2. Author's typescript following Vq 1, entitled Valaquenta (pp. 200 ff.).

FM 1. Manuscript rider to QS; the first text treating the story of Finwe and Miriel (pp. 205 ff.).

FM 2. Author's typescript, second text of the story of Finwe and Miriel in the Silmarillion narrative (pp. 254 - 5 ff.).

FM 3. Author's typescript, superseded by FM 4; see pp. 255 - 6.

FM 4. Author's typescript, final text of the story of Finwe and Miriel; given in full pp. 256 ff.

A. Author's typescript (continuation of FM 3), superseded by B; see pp. 271 - 2, 282.

B. Author's typescript (continuation of FM 4), the last, and extensively developed, text of the remainder of the original Chapter 6 and the beginning of Chapter 7 (pp. 272 ff.).

Athrabeth.

A. Manuscript, given (with author's typescript version of the introductory section) in full pp. 304 ff.

B,C. Amanuensis typescripts (see p. 303).

Commentary. Author's typescript of the Commentary on the Athrabeth, with extensive notes; given in full pp. 329 ff.