The Book of Lost Tales, Part One

by J. R. R. Tolkien

  In both A and B it is added that ‘the Gods spoke not among themselves the tongues of the Eldalië, but could do so, and they comprehended all tongues. The wiser of the Elves learned the secret speech of the Gods and long treasured it, but after the coming to Tol Eressëa none remembered it save the Inwir, and now that knowledge has died save in the house of Meril.’ With this compare Rúmil’s remarks to Eriol, p. 48: ‘There is beside the secret tongue in which the Eldar wrote many poesies and books of wisdom and histories of old and earliest things, and yet speak not. This tongue do only the Valar use in their high counsels, and not many of the Eldar of these days may read it or solve its characters.’

  Nuin’s words to Tû on the stature of the sleepers in the Vale of Murmenalda are curious. In A is added: ‘Men were almost of a stature at first with Elves, the fairies being far greater and Men smaller than now. As the power of Men has grown the fairies have dwindled and Men waxed somewhat.’ Other early statements indicate that Men and Elves were originally of very similar stature, and that the diminishing in that of the Elves was closely related to the coming of, and the dominance of, Men. Nuin’s words are therefore puzzling, especially since in A they immediately precede the comment on the original similarity of size; for he can surely only mean that the sleepers in Murmenalda were very large by comparison with the Elves. That the sleepers were in fact children, not merely likened in some way to children, is made clear in D: ‘Nuin finds the Slumbrous Dale (Murmenalda) where countless sleeping children lie.’

  We come now to the point where the narrative is carried forward only in the outlines.

  The Awakening of Men

  according to the earlier outlines

  The wizard Túvo told Nuin that the sleepers he had found were the new Children of Ilúvatar, and that they were waiting for light. He forbade any of the Elves to wake them or to visit those places, being frightened of the wrath of Ilúvatar; but despite this Nuin went there often and watched, sitting on a rock. Once he stumbled against a sleeper, who stirred but did not wake. At last, overcome by curiosity, he awakened two, named Ermon and Elmir; they were dumb and very much afraid, but he taught them much of the Ilkorin tongue, for which reason he is called Nuin Father of Speech. Then came the First Dawn; and Ermon and Elmir alone of Men saw the first Sun rise in the West and come over to the Eastward Haven. Now Men came forth from Murmenalda as ‘a host of sleepy children’.

  (In the tale of The Hiding of Valinor it was long after the first rising of the Sunship from Valinor that its Haven in the East was built; see p. 214–15. It is interesting that the first Men, Ermon and Elmir, were woken by Nuin before the first rising of the Sun, and although it was known to Túvo that Men were ‘waiting for light’ no connection is made between Nuin’s act and the Sunrise. But of course one cannot judge the inner tenor of the narrative from such summaries. It is notable also that whereas the tongue of the Elves, in origin one and the same, was a direct gift of Ilávatar (p. 232), Men were born into the world without language and received it from the instruction of an Ilkorin. Cf. The Silmarillion, p. 141: ‘It is said also that these Men [the people of Bëor] had long had dealings with the Dark Elves east of the mountains, and from them had learned much of their speech; and since all the languages of the Quendi were of one origin, the language of Bëor and his folk resembled the Elven-tongue in many words and devices.’)

  At this point in the story the agents of Melko appear, the Úvanimor, ‘bred in the earth’ by him (Úvanimor, ‘who are monsters, giants, and ogres’, have been mentioned in an earlier tale, p. 75); and Túvo protected Men and Elves from them and from ‘evil fays’. A makes mention of Orcs besides.

  A servant of Melko named ‘Fúkil or Fangli’ entered the world, and coming among Men perverted them, so that they fell treacherously upon the Ilkorins; there followed the Battle of Palisor, in which the people of Ermon fought beside Nuin. According to A ‘the fays and those Men that aided them were defeated’, but B calls it an ‘undecided battle’ and the Men corrupted by Fangli fled away and became ‘wild and savage tribes’, worshipping Fangli and Melko. Thereafter (in A only) Palisor was possessed by ‘Fangli and his hosts of Nauglath (or Dwarves)’. (In the early writings the Dwarves are always portrayed as an evil people.)

  From this outline it is seen that the corruption of certain Men in the beginning of their days by the agency of Melko was a feature of the earliest phase of the mythology; but of all the story here sketched there is no more than a hint or suggestion, at most, in The Silmarillion (p. 141): ‘“A darkness lies behind us,” Bëor said; “and we have turned our backs upon it, and we do not desire to return thither even in thought.”7

  The Awakening of Men

  according to the later outline

  Here it is told at the beginning of the narrative that Melko’s Úvanimor had escaped when the Gods broke the Fortress of the North, and were wandering in the forests; Fankil servant of Melko dwelt uncaptured in the world. (Fankil="=Fangli" / Fúkil of A and B. In C he is called ‘child of Melko’. Fankil has been mentioned at an earlier point in D, when at the time of the Awakening of the Elves ‘Fankil and many dark shapes escaped into the world’ see p. 107, note 3.)

  Nuin ‘Father of Speech’, who went again and again to Murmenalda despite the warnings of Tû (which are not here specified), woke Ermon and Elmir, and taught them speech and many things else. Ermon and Elmir alone of Mankind saw the Sun arising in the West, and the seeds of Palúrien bursting forth into leaf and bud. The hosts of Men came forth as sleepy children, raising a dumb clamour at the Sun; they followed it westward when it returned, and were grievously afraid of the first Night. Nuin and Ermon and Elmir taught them speech.

  Men grew in stature, and gathered knowledge of the Dark Elves,8 but Tû faded before the Sun and hid in the bottomless caverns. Men dwelt in the centre of the world and spread thence in all directions; and a very great age passed.

  Fankil with the Dwarves and Goblins went among Men, and bred estrangement between them and the Elves; and many Men aided the Dwarves. The folk of Ermon alone stood by the fairies in the first war of Goblins and Elves (Goblins is here an emendation from Dwarves, and that from Men), which is called the War of Palisor. Nuin died at the hands of the Goblins through the treachery of Men. Many kindreds of Men were driven to the eastern deserts and the southern forests, whence came dark and savage peoples.

  The hosts of Tareg the Ikorin marched North-west hearing a rumour of the Gnomes; and many of the lost kindreds joined him.

  The History of the Exiled Gnomes

  according to the earlier outlines

  The Gnomes, after the passage of Helkaraksë, spread into Hisilómë, where they had ‘trouble’ with the ancient Shadow Folk in that land—in A called ‘fay-people’, in B ‘Úvalear fays’. (We have met the Shadow Folk of Hisilómë before, in the tale of The Coming of the Elves, p. 119, but there this is a name given by Men, after they were shut in Hisilómë by Melko, to the Lost Elves who remained there after straying on the march from Palisor. It will be seen in the later outlines that these Shadow Folk were an unknown people wholly distinct from Elves; and it seems therefore that the name was preserved while given a new interpretation.)

  The Gnomes found the Waters of Asgon* and encamped there; then took place the Counting of the Folk, the birth of Turgon with ‘prophecies’, and the death of Fëanor. On this last matter the outlines are divergent. In A it was Nólemë, called also Fingolma, who died: ‘his bark vanishes down a hidden way—said to be the way that Tuor after escaped by. He sailed to offer sacrifice in the islanded rock in Asgon.’ (To whom was he sacrificing?) In B, as first written, it was likewise ‘Fingolma (Nólemë)’ who died, but this was emended to Fëanor; ‘his bark vanished down a hidden [way]—said to be that opening that the Noldoli after enlarged and fashioned to a path, so that Tuor escaped that way. He sailed to the Islanded Rock in Asgon because he saw something brightly glitter there and sought his jewels.’

  Leaving Asgon the Gnomes passed the Bitter Hills a
nd fought their first battle with Ores in the foothills of the Iron Mountains. (For the Iron Mountains as the southern border of Hisilómë see p. 111–12, 158–9.) In the Tale of Tinúviel Beren came from Hisilómë, from ‘beyond the Bitter Hills’, and ‘through the terrors of the Iron Mountains’, and it thus seems clear that the Bitter Hills and the Iron Mountains may be equated.)

  The next camp of the Gnomes was ‘by Sirion’ (which here first appears); and here the Gnomes first met the Ilkorins—A adding that these Ilkorins were originally of the Noldoli, and had been lost on the march from Palisor. The Gnomes learned from them of the coming of Men and of the Battle of Palisor; and they told the Ilkorins of the tidings in Valinor, and of their search for the jewels.

  Now appears for the first time Maidros son of Fëanor (previously, in the tale of The Theft of Melko, the name was given to Fëanor’s grandfather, p. 146, 158). Maidros, guided by Ilkorins, led a host into the hills, either ‘to seek for the jewels’ (A), or ‘to search the dwellings of Melko’ (B—this should perhaps read ‘search for the dwellings of Melko’, the reading of C), but they were driven back with slaughter from the doors of Angamandi; and Maidros himself was taken alive, tortured—because he would not reveal the secret arts of the Noldoli in the making of jewels—and sent back to the Gnomes maimed. (In A, which still had Nólemë rather than Fëanor die in the Waters of Asgon, it was Fëanor himself who led the host against Melko, and it was Fëanor who was captured, tortured, and maimed.)

  Then the Seven Sons of Fëanor swore an oath of enmity for ever against any that should hold the Silmarils. (This is the first appearance of the Seven Sons, and of the Oath, though that Fëanor had sons is mentioned in the Tale of the Sun and Moon, p. 192.)

  The hosts of Melko now approached the camp of the Gnomes by Sirion, and they fled south, and dwelt then at Gorfalon, where they made the acquaintance of Men, both good and bad, but especially those of Ermon’s folk; and an embassy was sent to Túvo, to Tinwelint (i.e. Thingol, see p. 132), and to Ermon.9 A great host was arrayed of Gnomes, Ilkorins, and Men, and Fingolma (Nólemë) marshalled it in the Valley of the Fountains, afterwards called the Vale of Weeping Waters. But Melko himself went into the tents of Men and beguiled them, and some of them fell treacherously on the rear of the Gnomes even as Melko’s host attacked them; others Melko persuaded to abandon their friends, and these, together with others that he led astray with mists and wizardries, he beguiled into the Land of Shadows. (With this cf. the reference in the tale of The Coming of the Elves to the shutting of Men in Hisilómë by Melko, p. 118.)

  Then took place ‘the terrible Battle of Unnumbered Tears’. The Children of Úrin* (Sons of Úrin, A) alone of Men fought to the last, and none (save two messengers) came out of the fray; Turgon and a great regiment, seeing the day lost, turned and cut their way out, and rescued a part of the women and children. Turgon was pursued, and there is a reference to ‘Mablon the Ilkorin’s sacrifice to save the host’ Maidros and the other sons of Fëanor quarrelled with Turgon—because they wanted the leadership, A—and departed into the south. The remainder of the survivors and fugitives were surrounded, and swore allegiance to Melko; and he was wrathful, because he could not discover whither Turgon had fled.

  After a reference to ‘the Mines of Melko’ and ‘the Spell of Bottomless Dread’ (the spell that Melko cast upon his slaves), the story concludes with ‘the Building of Gondolin’ and ‘the estrangement of Men and Elves in Hisilómë, owing to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears’: Melko fostered distrust and kept them spying on each other, so that they should not combine against him; and he fashioned the false-fairies or Kaukareldar in their likeness, and these deceived and betrayed Men.10

  Since the outlines at this point return to mere headings for the tales of Tinúviel, Túrin, etc., it is clear that Gilfanon’s Tale would have ended here.

  The History of the Exiled Gnomes

  according to the later outline

  The Gnomes sojourned in the Land of Shadows (i.e. Hisilómë), and had dealings with the Shadow Folk. These were fays (C); no one knows whence they came: they are not of the Valar nor of Melko, but it is thought that they came from the outer void and primeval dark when the world was first fashioned. The Gnomes found ‘the Waters of Mithrim (Asgon)’, and here Fëanor died, drowned in the Waters of Mithrim. The Gnomes devised weapons for the first time, and quarried the dark hills. (This is curious, for it has been said in the account of the Kinslaughter at Alqaluntë that ‘so first perished the Eldar neath the weapons of their kin’, p. 165. The first acquisition of weapons by the Eldar remained a point of uncertainty for a long time.)

  The Gnomes now fought for the first time with the Orcs and captured the pass of the Bitter Hills; thus they escaped out of the Land of Shadows, to Melko’s fear and amazement. They entered the Forest of Artanor (later Doriath) and the Region of the Great Plains (perhaps the forerunner of the later Talath Dirnen, the Guarded Plain of Nargothrond); and the host of Nólemë grew to a vast size. They practised many arts, but would dwell no longer in settled abodes. The chief camp of Nólemë was about the waters of Sirion; and the Gnomes drove the Orcs to the foothills of the Iron Mountains. Melko gathered his power in secret wrath.

  Turgon was born to Nólemë.

  Maidros, ‘chief son of Fëanor’, led a host against Angband, but was driven back with fire from its gates, and he was taken alive and tortured—according to C, repeating the story of the earlier outline, because he would not reveal the secret arts of jewel-making. (It is not said here that Maidros was freed and returned, but it is implied in the Oath of the Seven Sons that follows.)

  The Seven Sons of Fëanor swore their terrible oath of hatred for ever against all, Gods or Elves or Men, who should hold the Silmarils; and the Children of Fëanor left the host of Nólemë and went back into Dor Lómin, where they became a mighty and a fierce race.

  The hosts of Tareg the Ilkorin (see p. 237) found the Gnomes at the Feast of Reunion; and the Men of Ermon first saw the Gnomes. Then Nólemë’s host, swollen by that of Tareg and by the sons of Ermon, prepared for battle; and messengers were sent out North, South, East, and West. Tinwelint alone refused the summons, and he said: ‘Go not into the hills.’ Úrin and Egnor* marched with countless battalions.

  Melko withdrew all his forces and Nólemë believed that he was afraid. The hosts of Elfinesse drew into the Tumbled Lands and encamped in the Vale of Fountains (Gorfalong), or as it was afterwards called the Valley of Weeping Waters.

  (The outline D differs in its account of the events before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears from that in the earlier ones, here including C. In the earlier, the Gnomes fled from the camp by Sirion when Melko’s hosts approached, and retreated to Gorfalon, where the great host of Gnomes, Ilkorins, and Men was gathered, and arrayed in the Valley of the Fountains. In D, there is no mention of any retreat by Nólemë’s hosts: rather, it seems, they advanced from the camp by Sirion into the Vale of Fountains (Gorfalong). But from the nature of these outlines they cannot be too closely pressed. The outline C, which ends here, says that when the Gnomes first encountered Men at Gorfalon the Gnomes taught them crafts—and this was one of the starting-points, no doubt, of the later Elf-friends of Beleriand.)

  Certain Men suborned by Melko went among the camp as minstrels and betrayed it. Melko fell upon them at early dawn in a grey rain, and the terrible Battle of Unnumbered Tears followed, of which no full tale is told, for no Gnome will ever speak of it. (In the margin here my father wrote: ‘Melko himself was there?’ In the earlier outline Melko himself entered the camp of his enemies.)

  In the battle Nólemë was isolated and slain, and the Orcs cut out his heart; but Turgon rescued his body and his heart, and it became his emblem.11 Nearly half of all the Gnomes and Men who fought there were slain.

  Men fled, and the sons of Úrin alone stood fast until they were slain; but Úrin was taken. Turgon was terrible in his wrath, and his great battalion hewed its way out of the fight by sheer prowess.

  Melk
o sent his host of Balrogs after them, and Mablon the Ilkorin died to save them when pursued. Turgon fled south along Sirion, gathering women and children from the camps, and aided by the magic of the stream escaped into a secret place and was lost to Melko.

  The Sons of Fëanor came up too late and found a stricken field: they slew the spoilers who were left, and burying Nólemë they built the greatest cairn in the world over him and the [?Gnomes]. It was called the Hill of Death.

  There followed the Thraldom of the Noldoli. The Gnomes were filled with bitterness at the treachery of Men, and the ease with which Melko beguiled them. The outline concludes with references to ‘the Mines of Melko’ and ‘the Spell of Bottomless Dread’, and the statement that all the Men of the North were shut in Hisilómë.

  The outline D then turns to the story of Beren and Tinúviel, with a natural connection from the tale just sketched: ‘Beren son of Egnor wandered out of Dor Lómin* into Artanor…’ This is to be the next story told by the Tale-fire (as also in outline B); in D the matter of Gilfanon’s Tale is to take four nights.

  If certain features are selected from these outlines, and expressed in such a way as to emphasize agreement rather than disagreement, the likeness to the narrative structure of The Silmarillion is readily apparent. Thus:

  —The Noldoli cross the Helkaraksë and spread into Hisilómë, making their encampment by Asgon (Mithrim);

  —They meet Ilkorin Elves (=Úmanyar);

  —Fëanor dies;

  —First battle with Orcs;

  —A Gnomish army goes to Angband;

  —Maidros captured, tortured, and maimed;

  —The Sons of Fëanor depart from the host of the Elves (in D only);

  —A mighty battle called the Battle of Unnumbered Tears is fought between Elves and Men and the hosts of Melko;