Each took a single Silmaril, saying that one was lost unto them and two remained, and but two brethren. But the jewel burned the hand of Maidros in pain unbearable (and he had but one hand as has before been told); and he perceived that it was as Fionwë had said, and that his right thereto had become void, and that the oath was vain. And being in anguish and despair he cast himself into a gaping chasm filled with fire, and so ended; and his Silmaril was taken into the bosom of the Earth.
And it is told also of Maglor that he could not bear the pain with which the Silmaril tormented him; and he cast it at last into the sea, and thereafter wandered ever upon the shore singing in pain and regret beside the waves; for Maglor was the mightiest of the singers of old, but he came never back among the folk of Elfinesse.
In those days there was a mighty building of ships on the shores of the Western Sea, and especially upon the great isles, which in the disruption of the Northern world were fashioned of ancient Beleriand. Thence in many a fleet the survivors of the Gnomes and of the Western companies of the Dark-elves set sail into the West and came not again into the lands of weeping and of war; but the Light-elves marched back beneath the banners of their king following in the train of Fionwë’s victory, and they were borne back in triumph unto Valinor. [Later addition: Yet little joy had they in their return, for they came without the Silmarils, and these could not be again found, unless the world was broken and remade anew.] But in the West the Gnomes and Dark-elves rehabited for the most part the Lonely Isle, that looks both East and West; and very fair did that land become, and so remains. But some returned even unto Valinor, as all were free to do who willed; and the Gnomes were admitted again to the love of Manwë and the pardon of the Valar, and the Teleri forgave their ancient grief, and the curse was laid to rest.
Yet not all would forsake the Outer Lands where they had long suffered and long dwelt; and some lingered many an age in the West and North, and especially in the western isles. And among these were Maglor as has been told; and with him Elrond the Half-elven, who after went among mortal Men again, and from whom alone the blood of the Firstborn and the seed divine of Valinor have come among Mankind (for he was son of Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Lúthien, child of Thingol and Melian; and Eärendel his sire was son of Idril Celebrindal, the fair maid of Gondolin). But ever as the ages drew on and the Elf-folk faded on the Earth, they would still set sail at eve from our Western shores; as still they do, when now there linger few anywhere of their lonely companies.
This was the judgement of the Gods, when Fionwë and the sons of the Valar had returned unto Valmar: thereafter the Outer Lands should be for Mankind, the younger children of the world; but to the Elves alone should the gateways of the West stand ever open; and if they would not come thither and tarried in the world of Men, then they should slowly fade and fail. This is the most grievous of the fruits of the lies and works that Morgoth wrought, that the Eldalië should be sundered and estranged from Men. For a while his Orcs and his Dragons breeding again in dark places affrighted the world, and in sundry regions do so yet; but ere the End all shall perish by the valour of mortal Men.
But Morgoth the Gods thrust through the Door of Timeless Night into the Void, beyond the Walls of the World, and a guard is set for ever on that door, and Eärendel keeps watch upon the ramparts of the sky. Yet the lies that Melko, Moeleg the mighty and accursed, Morgoth Bauglir the Dark Power Terrible, sowed in the hearts of Elves and Men have not all died and cannot by the Gods be slain, and they live to work much evil even to this later day. Some say also that Morgoth at whiles secretly as a cloud that cannot be seen or felt, and yet is venomous, creeps back surmounting the Walls and visiteth the world; *but others say that this is the black shadow of Thû, whom Morgoth made, and who escaped from the Battle Terrible, and dwells in dark places and perverts Men to his dreadful allegiance and his foul worship.
[This passage, from the asterisk, was rewritten thus:
but others say that this is the black shadow of Sauron, who served Morgoth and became the greatest and most evil of his underlings; and Sauron escaped from the Great Battle, and dwelt in dark places and perverted Men to his dreadful allegiance and his foul worship.]
After the triumph of the Gods Eärendel sailed still in the seas of heaven, but the Sun scorched him and the Moon hunted him in the sky. Then the Valar drew his white ship Wingelot over the land of Valinor, and they filled it with radiance and hallowed it, and launched it through the Door of Night. And long Eärendel set sail into the starless vast, [struck out: Elwing at his side, see the rewritten passage here] the Silmaril upon his brow voyaging the Dark behind the world, a glimmering and fugitive star. And ever and anon he returns and shines behind the courses of the Sun and Moon above the ramparts of the Gods, brighter than all other stars, the mariner of the sky, keeping watch against Morgoth upon the confines of the world. Thus shall he sail until he sees the Last Battle fought upon the plains of Valinor.
Thus spoke the prophecy of Mandos, which he declared in Valmar at the judgement of the Gods, and the rumour of it was whispered among all the Elves of the West: when the world is old and the Powers grow weary, then Morgoth shall come back through the Door out of the Timeless Night; and he shall destroy the Sun and the Moon, but Eärendel shall come upon him as a white flame and drive him from the airs. Then shall the last battle be gathered on the fields of Valinor. In that day Tulkas shall strive with Melko, and on his right shall stand Fionwë and on his left Túrin Turambar, son of Húrin, Conqueror of Fate; and it shall be the black sword of Túrin that deals unto Melko his death and final end; and so shall the children of Húrin and all Men be avenged.
Thereafter shall the Silmarils be recovered out of sea and earth and air; for Eärendel shall descend and yield up that flame that he hath had in keeping. Then Fëanor shall bear the Three and yield them unto Yavanna Palúrien; and she will break them and with their fire rekindle the Two Trees, and a great light shall come forth; and the Mountains of Valinor shall be levelled, so that the light goes out over all the world. In that light the Gods will again grow young, and the Elves awake and all their dead arise, and the purpose of Ilúvatar be fulfilled concerning them.
Such is the end of the tales of the days before the days in the Northern regions of the Western world.
*
My history of a history thus ends with a prophecy, the prophecy of Mandos. I will end the book with a repetition of what I wrote in my edition of the Great Tale of The Children of Húrin. ‘It is to be borne in mind that at that time the Quenta Noldorinwa represented (if only in a somewhat bare structure) the full extent of my father’s “imagined world”. It was not the history of the First Age, as it afterwards became, for there was as yet no Second Age, nor Third Age; there was no Númenor, no hobbits, and of course no Ring.’
FOOTNOTES
Preface
1To show that this is not fanciful, in his letter to me of 6 May 1944 my father wrote: ‘A new character has come on the scene (I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, the brother of Boromir.’
Prologue
1For the use of Gnomes for the people of the Elves named the Noldor (earlier Noldoli) see Beren and Lúthien here–here.
2Finwë was the leader of the Noldoli on the great journey from Cuiviénen. His eldest son was Fëanor; his second son Fingolfin, father of Fingon and Turgon; his third son Finarfin, father of Finrod Felagund.
The Story Told in the Quenta Noldorinwa
1This sentence marked with an X for rejection, but without replacement.
2The text here is somewhat confused by hasty changes. In this rewriting it is told that Rían ‘went forth into the wild’, where Tuor was born; and that ‘he was fostered by the Dark-elves; but Rían laid herself down and died upon the Hill of Slain. But Tuor grew up in the woods of Hithlum, and he was fair of face and great of stature …’ There is thus in the rewriting no mention of an enslavement
of Tuor.
The Last Version
1This is Círdan the Shipwright who appears in The Lord of the Rings as the lord of the Grey Havens at the end of the Third Age.
2At this point the carefully written manuscript ends, and there follows only a rough text scribbled on a scrap of paper.
The Evolution of the Story
1The reader had in fact only seen a few pages of The Silmarillion, although he did not know this. As I have mentioned in Beren and Lúthien (p.220), he contrasted those pages greatly to the detriment of The Lay of Leithian, having no understanding of their relationship; and in his enthusiasm for the Silmarillion pages he said absurdly that the tale is ‘told with a picturesque brevity and dignity that holds the reader’s interest in spite of its eye-splitting Celtic names. It has something of that mad, bright-eyed beauty that perplexes all Anglo-Saxons in the face of Celtic art.’
2These words, slightly changed, were spoken by Tuor to Voronwë at Vinyamar, LV p.171.
LIST OF NAMES
At the end of the main list that follows here are listed the seven longer additional notes to which a few of the names in the main list are extended. Names that appear in the map of Beleriand are followed by an asterisk.
Ainairos An Elf of Alqualondë.
Ainur See the additional note here.
Almaren The isle of Almaren was the first dwelling of the Valar in Arda.
Alqualondë See Swanhaven.
Aman The land in the West beyond the Great Sea in which was Valinor.
Amnon The words of the Prophecy of Amnon, ‘Great is the fall of Gondolin’, uttered by Turgon in the midst of the battle for the city, are cited in two closely similar forms in isolated jottings under this title. Both begin with the words under the title ‘Great is the fall of Gondolin’, and then follow in the one case ‘Turgon shall not fade till the lily of the valley fadeth’ and in the other ‘When the lily of the valley withers then shall Turgon fade’.
The lily of the valley is Gondolin, one of the seven names of the city, the Flower of the Plain. There are references also in notes to the prophecies of Amnon, and to the places of the prophecies; but nowhere, it seems, is there any explanation of who Amnon was or when he uttered these words.
Amon Gwareth ‘The Hill of Watch’, or ‘The Hill of Defence’, a tall and isolated rocky height in the Guarded Plain of Gondolin, on which the city was built.
Anar The Sun.
Ancalagon the black The greatest of Morgoth’s winged dragons, destroyed by Eärendel in the Great Battle.
Androth Caves in the hills of Mithrim where Tuor dwelt with Annael and the Grey-elves, and afterwards as a solitary outlaw.
Anfauglith* Once the great grassy plain of Ard-galen north of Taur-na-Fuin before its desolation by Morgoth.
Angainor The name of the chain, wrought by Aulë, with which Morgoth was twice bound: for he had been forced to wear it when imprisoned by the Valar in a very remote age, and again in his final defeat.
Angband The great dungeon-fortress of Morgoth in the North-west of Middle-earth.
Annael Grey-elf of Mithrim, fosterfather of Tuor.
Annon-in-Gelydh ‘Gate of the Noldor’: the entrance to the subterranean river rising in the lake of Mithrim and leading to the Rainbow Cleft.
Aranwë Elf of Gondolin, father of Voronwë.
Aranwion ‘Son of Aranwë’. See Voronwë.
Arlisgion A region, translated ‘the place of reeds’, through which Tuor passed on his great southward journey; but the name is not found on any map. It seems impossible to trace the way that Tuor took until he reached the Land of Willows after many days; but it is clear that in this account Arlisgion was somewhere to the north of that land. The only other reference to this place seems to be in the Last Version (p.173), where Voronwë spoke to Tuor of the Lisgardh, ‘the land of reeds at the Mouths of Sirion’. Arlisgion ‘place of reeds’ is clearly the same as Lisgardh ‘land of reeds’; but the geography of this region at this time is very unclear.
Arvalin A desolate region of wide and misty plains between the Pelóri (the Mountains of Valinor) and the sea. Its name, meaning ‘near Valinor’, was later replaced by Avathar, ‘the shadows’. It was here that Morgoth met with Ungoliant, and it was said that the Doom of Mandos was spoken in Arvalin. See Ungoliant.
Aulë He is one of the great Valar, called ‘the Smith’, of might little less than Ulmo. The following is taken from the portrait of him, in the text named Valaquenta:
His lordship is over all the substances of which Arda is made. In the beginning he wrought much in fellowship with Manwë and Ulmo; and the fashioning of all lands was his labour. He is a smith and a master of all crafts, and he delights in works of skill, however small, as much as in the mighty building of old. His are the gems that lie deep in the Earth and the gold that is fair in the hand, no less than the walls of the mountains and the basins of the sea.
Bablon, Ninwi, Trui, Rûm Babylon, Nineveh, Troy, Rome. A note on Bablon reads: ‘Bablon was a city of Men, and more rightly Babylon, but such is the Gnomes’ name as they now shape it, and they got it from aforetime.’
Bad Uthwen See The Way of Escape.
Balar, Isle of An island far out in the Bay of Balar. See Círdan the Shipwright.
Balcmeg An Orc slain by Tuor.
Balrogs ‘Demons with whips of flame and claws of steel’.
Battle of Unnumbered Tears See the note here.
Bauglir A name frequently added to Morgoth; translated ‘The Constrainer’.
Bay of Faërie A great bay in the eastern face of Aman.
Beleg A great archer of Doriath and close friend of Túrin, whom he slew in darkness thinking him a foe.
Belegaer See Great Sea.
Beleriand* The great north-western region of Middle-earth, extending from the Blue Mountains in the East to include all the inner lands south of Hithlum and the coasts south of Drengist.
Beren Man of the House of Bëor, lover of Lúthien, who cut the Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown. Slain by Carcharoth the wolf of Angband; he alone of mortal Men returned from the dead.
The Blacksword (Mormegil) A name given to Túrin on account of his sword Gurthang (‘Iron of Death’).
The Blessed Realm See Aman.
Bragollach Short form of Dagor Bragollach, ‘The Battle of Sudden Flame’, in which the Siege of Angband was ended.
Bredhil Gnomish name of Varda (also Bridhil).
Brethil* The forest between the rivers Teiglin and Sirion.
Brithiach* The ford over Sirion leading into Dimbar.
Brithombar* The northernmost of the Havens of the Falas.
Bronweg The Gnomish name of Voronwë.
Celegorm Son of Fëanor; called the Fair.
Círdan the Shipwright Lord of the Falas (the western coasts of Beleriand); at the destruction of the Havens in that region by Morgoth after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears Círdan escaped to the Isle of Balar and the region of the Mouths of Sirion, and continued the building of ships. This is the Círdan the Shipwright who appears in The Lord of the Rings as the lord of the Grey Havens at the end of the Third Age.
Cirith Ninniach The ‘Rainbow Cleft’; See Cris-Ilfing.
City of Stone Gondolin; See Gondothlim.
Cleft of Eagles In the southernmost of the Encircling Mountains about Gondolin. Elvish name Cristhorn.
Cranthir Son of Fëanor, called the Dark; changed to Caranthir.
Cris-Ilfing ‘Rainbow Cleft’: the ravine in which flowed the river from Lake Mithrim. Replaced by the name Kirith Helvin, and finally Cirith Ninniach.
Crissaegrim* The mountain-peaks south of Gondolin, where were the eyries of Thorondor, the Lord of the Eagles.
Cristhorn Elvish name of the Cleft of Eagles. Replaced by the name Kirith-thoronath.
Cuiviénen The ‘waters of awakening’ of the Elves in the far distant East of Middle-earth: ‘a dark lake amid mighty rocks, and the stream that feeds that water falls therein down a deep cleft, a pale and slender thread’.
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Curufin Son of Fëanor; called the Crafty.
Damrod and Díriel Twin brothers, youngest of the sons of Fëanor; later changed to Amrod and Amras.
Deep-elves A name of the second host of the Elves on the great journey. See Noldoli, Noldor, and the note here.
Dimbar* The land between the rivers Sirion and Mindeb.
Dior The son of Beren and Lúthien and possessor of their Silmaril; known as ‘Thingol’s Heir’. He was the father of Elwing; and was slain by the sons of Fëanor.
Doom of Mandos See note here.
The Door of Night See the entry Outer Seas. In the text named Ambarkanta that I have cited there, concerning Ilurambar, the Walls of the World, and Vaiya, the Enfolding Ocean or Outer Sea, it is further said:
In the midst of Valinor is Ando Lómen, the Door of Timeless Night that pierces the Walls and opens upon the Void. For the World is set amid Kúma, the Void, the Night without form or time. But none can pass the chasm and the belt of Vaiya and come to that Door, save the great Valar only. And they made that Door when Melko was overcome and put forth into the Outer Dark, and it is guarded by Eärendel.
Doriath* The great forested region of Beleriand, ruled by Thingol and Melian. The Girdle of Melian gave rise to the later name Doriath (Dor-iâth ‘Land of the Fence’).
Dor-lómin* ‘The Land of Shadows’: region in the south of Hithlum.
Dor-na-Fauglith The great northern grassy plain named Ard-galen; utterly destroyed by Morgoth it was named Dor-na-Fauglith, translated as ‘the land under choking ash’.
The Fall of Gondolin Page 21