295choking he fell with barb in throat;
with leering face the earth he smote.
Forth then as wolfhound grim there leapt
Beren among them. Two he swept
aside with sword; caught up the ring;
300slew one who grasped him; with a spring
back into shadow passed, and fled
before their yells of wrath and dread
of ambush in the valley rang.
Then after him like wolves they sprang,
305howling and cursing, gnashing teeth,
hewing and bursting through the heath,
shooting wild arrows, sheaf on sheaf,
at trembling shade or shaken leaf.
In fateful hour was Beren born:
310he laughed at dart and wailing horn;
fleetest of foot of living men,
tireless on fell and light on fen,
elf-wise in wood, he passed away,
defended by his hauberk grey,
315of dwarvish craft in Nogrod made,
where hammers rang in cavern’s shade.
As fearless Beren was renowned:
when men most hardy upon ground
were reckoned folk would speak his name,
320foretelling that his after-name
would even golden Hador pass
or Barahir and Bregolas;
but sorrow now his heart had wrought
to fierce despair, no more he fought
325in hope of life or joy or praise,
but seeking so to use his days
only that Morgoth deep should feel
the sting of his avenging steel,
ere death he found and end of pain:
330his only fear was thraldom’s chain.
Danger he sought and death pursued,
and thus escaped the doom he wooed,
and deeds of breathless daring wrought
alone, of which the rumour brought
335new hope to many a broken man.
They whispered ‘Beren’, and began
in secret swords to whet, and soft
by shrouded hearths at evening oft
songs they would sing of Beren’s bow,
340of Dagmor his sword: how he would go
silent to camps and slay the chief,
or trapped in his hiding past belief
would slip away, and under night
by mist or moon, or by the light
345of open day would come again.
Of hunters hunted, slayers slain
they sang, of Gorgol the Butcher hewn,
of ambush in Ladros, fire in Drûn,
of thirty in one battle dead,
350of wolves that yelped like curs and fled,
yea, Sauron himself with wound in hand.
Thus one alone filled all that land
with fear and death for Morgoth’s folk;
his comrades were the beech and oak
355who failed him not, and wary things
with fur and fell and feathered wings
that silent wander, or dwell alone
in hill and wild and waste of stone
watched o’er his ways, his faithful friends.
360Yet seldom well an outlaw ends;
and Morgoth was a king more strong
than all the world has since in song
recorded: dark athwart the land
reached out the shadow of his hand,
365at each recoil returned again;
two more were sent for one foe slain.
New hope was cowed, all rebels killed;
quenched were the fires, the songs were stilled,
tree felled, hearth burned, and through the waste
370marched the black host of Orcs in haste.
Almost they closed their ring of steel
round Beren; hard upon his heel
now trod their spies; within their hedge
of all aid shorn, upon the edge
375of death at bay he stood aghast
and knew that he must die at last,
or flee the land of Barahir,
his land beloved. Beside the mere
beneath a heap of nameless stones
380must crumble those once mighty bones,
forsaken by both son and kin,
bewailed by reeds of Aeluin.
In winter’s night the houseless North
he left behind, and stealing forth
385the leaguer of his watchful foe
he passed—a shadow on the snow,
a swirl of wind, and he was gone,
the ruin of Dorthonion,
Tarn Aeluin and its water wan,
390never again to look upon.
No more shall hidden bowstring sing,
no more his shaven arrows wing,
no more his hunted head shall lie
upon the heath beneath the sky.
395The Northern stars, whose silver fire
of old Men named the Burning Briar,
were set behind his back, and shone
o’er land forsaken; he was gone.
Southward he turned, and south away
400his long and lonely journey lay,
while ever loomed before his path
the dreadful peaks of Gorgorath.
Never had foot of man most bold
yet trod those mountains steep and cold,
405nor climbed upon their sudden brink,
whence, sickened, eyes must turn and shrink
to see their southward cliffs fall sheer
in rocky pinnacle and pier
down into shadows that were laid
410before the sun and moon were made.
In valleys woven with deceit
and washed with waters bitter-sweet
dark magic lurked in gulf and glen;
but out away beyond the ken
415of mortal sight the eagle’s eye
from dizzy towers that pierced the sky
might grey and gleaming see afar,
as sheen on water under star,
Beleriand, Beleriand,
420the borders of the Elven-land.
FOOTNOTES
Preface
* ‘The Lost Tales’ is the name of the original versions of the legends of The Silmarillion.
The Return of Beren and Lúthien According to the Quenta Noldorinwa
* A later version of the story concerning the Nauglamír told that it had been made by craftsmen of the Dwarves long before for Felagund, and that it was the sole treasure that Húrin brought from Nargothrond and gave to Thingol. The task that Thingol then set the Dwarves was to remake the Nauglamír and in it to set the Silmaril that was in his possession. This is the form of the story in the published Silmarillion.
* The manner of Lúthien’s death is marked for correction; subsequently my father wrote against it: ‘Yet it hath been sung that Lúthien alone of Elves hath been numbered among our race, and goeth whither we go to a fate beyond the world.’
Extract from the Lost Tale of the Nauglafring
* Earlier in the tale, when Naugladur was preparing to leave Menegroth, he declared that Gwendelin the queen of Artanor (Melian) must go with him to Nogrod: to which she replied: ‘Thief and murderer, child of Melko, yet art thou a fool, for thou canst not see what hangs over thine own head.’
LIST OF NAMES IN THE ORIGINAL TEXTS
I have made this List of Names (restricted to names that occur in the passages of my father’s writing), which is obviously not an index, with two purposes in mind.
Neither of them is in any way essential to the book. In the first place, it is intended to assist a reader who cannot recall, among the mass of names (and forms of names), the reference of one that may be of significance in the narrative. In the second place, certain names, especially those that occur rarely or only once in the texts, are provided with a slightly fuller explanation. For example, while this is obviously of no significance in the tale, one may nonetheless want to know why the Eld
ar would not touch spiders ‘because of Ungweliantë’ (p. 41).
Aeluin A lake in the northeast of Dorthonion where Barahir and his companions made their lair.
Aglon A narrow pass between Taur-na-Fuin and the Hill of Himring, held by sons of Fëanor.
Ainur (singular Ainu) ‘The Holy Ones’: the Valar and the Maiar. [The name Maiar was a late introduction of an earlier conception: ‘With the great ones came many lesser spirits, beings of their ownkind but of smaller might’ (such as Melian).]
Aman The Land in the West beyond the Great Sea in which the Valar dwelt (‘the Blessed Realm’).
Anfauglith ‘The Gasping Dust’. See Dor-na-Fauglith, The Thirsty Plain.
Angainu The great chain, made by the Vala Aulë, in which Morgoth was bound (later Angainor).
Angamandi (plural) ‘The Hells of Iron’. See Angband.
Angband The great dungeon-fortress of Morgoth in the north-west of Middle-earth.
Angrim Father of Gorlim the Unhappy.
Angrod Son of Finrod (later Finarfin).
Arda The Earth.
Artanor ‘The Land Beyond’; region subsequently named Doriath, the kingdom of Tinwelint (Thingol).
Aryador ‘Land of Shadow’, a name of Hisilómë (Dor-lómin) among Men. See Hisilómë.
Ascar River in Ossiriand, renamed Rathlorion ‘Goldenbed’ when the treasure of Doriath was sunk in it.
Aulë The great Vala known as Aulë the Smith; he is ‘a master of all crafts’, and ‘his lordship is over all the substances of which Arda is made.’
Ausir A name of Dior.
Balrogs [In the Lost Tales the Balrogs are conceived as existing ‘in hundreds’. They are called ‘demons of power’; they wear iron armour, and they have claws of steel and whips of flame.]
Barahir A chieftain of Men, the father of Beren.
Bauglir ‘The Constrainer’, a name of Morgoth among the Noldor.
Beleg Elf of Doriath, a great archer, called Cúthalion, ‘Strongbow’; close companion and friend of Túrin Turambar, by whom he was tragically slain.
Belegost One of the two great cities of the Dwarves in the Blue Mountains.
Beleriand (earlier name Broseliand) The great region of Middle-earth, largely drowned and destroyed at the end of the First Age, extending from the Blue Mountains in the East to the Mountains of Shadow in the North (See Iron Mountains) and the western coasts.
Bëor Leader of the first Men to enter Beleriand. See Edain.
Bitter Hills See Iron Mountains.
Blessed Realm See Aman.
Blue Mountains The great range forming the eastern bounds of Beleriand.
Boldog A captain of Orcs.
Bregolas Brother of Barahir.
Burning Briar The constellation of the Great Bear.
Calacirya A pass in the Mountains of Valinor in which was the city of the Elves.
Carcharoth See Karkaras.
Celegorm Son of Fëanor, called ‘the Fair’.
Cranthir Son of Fëanor, called ‘the Dark’.
i-Cuilwarthon ‘The Dead that Live Again’, Beren and Lúthien after their return from Mandos; Cuilwarthien: The land where they dwelt. (Later form Guilwarthon.)
Cuiviénen The Water of Awakening: the lake in Middle-earth where the Elves awoke.
Cûm-nan-Arasaith The Mound of Avarice, raised over the slain in Menegroth.
Curufin Son of Fëanor, called ‘the Crafty’.
Dagmor Beren’s sword.
Dairon A minstrel of Artanor, numbered among ‘the three most magic players of the Elves’; originally the brother of Lúthien.
Damrod and Díriel The youngest sons of Fëanor. (Later names Amrod and Amras.)
Deadly Nightshade A translation of Taur-na-Fuin; See Mountains of Night.
Dior Son of Beren and Lúthien; father of Elwing, the mother of Elrond and Elros.
Doriath The later name of Artanor, the great forested region ruled by Thingol (Tinwelint) and Melian (Gwendeling).
Dor-lómin See Hisilómë.
Dor-na-Fauglith The great grassy plain of Ard-galen north of the Mountains of Night (Dorthonion) that was transformed into a desert (See Anfauglith, The Thirsty Plain).
Dorthonion ‘Land of Pines’; vast region of pinewoods on the northern borders of Beleriand; afterwards called Taur-na-Fuin, ‘the Forest under Night’.
Drûn A region to the north of Lake Aeluin; not named elsewhere.
Draugluin Greatest of the werewolves of Thû (Sauron).
Eärámë ‘Eagle’s Pinion’, Tuor’s ship.
Eärendel (later form Eärendil) Son of Tuor and Idril daughter of Turgon King of Gondolin; wedded Elwing.
Edain ‘The Second People’, Men, but used chiefly of the three Houses of the Elf-friends who came earliest to Beleriand.
Egnor bo-Rimion ‘The huntsman of the Elves’: the father of Beren, replaced by Barahir.
Egnor Son of Finrod (later Finarfin).
Eilinel Wife of Gorlim.
Elbereth ‘Queen of the Stars’; See Varda.
Eldalië (The people of the Elves), the Eldar.
Eldar The Elves of the Great Journey from the place of their awakening; sometimes used in early texts to mean all Elves.
Elfinesse An inclusive name for all the lands of the Elves.
Elrond of Rivendell Son of Elwing and Eärendel.
Elros Son of Elwing and Eärendel; first King of Númenor.
Elwing Daughter of Dior, wedded Eärendel, mother of Elrond and Elros.
Eönwë Herald of Manwë.
Erchamion ‘One-handed’, name given to Beren; other forms Ermabwed, Elmavoitë.
Esgalduin River of Doriath, passing Menegroth (the halls of Thingol), and flowing into Sirion.
Fëanor Eldest son of Finwë; maker of the Silmarils.
Felagund Noldorin Elf, founder of Nargothrond and sworn friend of Barahir father of Beren. [On the relation of the names Felagund and Finrod see p. 104.]
Fingolfin The second son of Finwë; slain in single combat with Morgoth.
Fingon Eldest son of Fingolfin; king of the Noldor after the death of his father.
Finrod The third son of Finwë. [Name replaced by Finarfin, when Finrod became the name of his son, Finrod Felagund.]
Finwë Leader of the second host of the Elves, the Noldor (Noldoli), on the Great Journey.
Foamriders The kindred of the Eldar named the Solosimpi, later the Teleri; the third and last host on the Great Journey.
Gaurhoth The werewolves of Thû (Sauron); Gaurhoth Isle, See Tol-in-Gaurhoth.
Gelion The great river of East Beleriand fed by rivers flowing from the Blue Mountains in the region of Ossiriand.
Gilim A giant, named by Lúthien in her ‘lengthening’ spell sung over her hair (p. 55), unknown save for the corresponding passage in The Lay of Leithian, where he is called ‘the giant of Eruman’ [a region on the coast of Aman ‘where the shadows were deepest and thickest in the world’].
Gimli A very old and blind Noldorin Elf, long a captive slave in the stronghold of Tevildo, possessed of an extraordinary power of hearing. He plays no part in The Tale of Tinúviel or in any other tale, and never reappears.
Ginglith River flowing into the Narog above Nargothrond.
Glómund, Glorund Earlier names of Glaurung, ‘Father of Dragons’, the great dragon of Morgoth.
Gnomes Early translation of Noldoli, Noldor: See pp. 32–3.
Gods See Valar.
Gondolin The hidden city founded by Turgon the second son of Fingolfin.
Gorgol the Butcher An Orc slain by Beren.
Gorgorath (Also Gorgoroth) The Mountains of Terror; the precipices in which Dorthonion fell southwards.
Gorlim One of the companions of Barahir, the father of Beren; he revealed their hiding place to Morgoth (later Sauron). Called Gorlim the Unhappy.
Great Lands The lands east of the Great Sea: Middle-earth [a term never used in the Lost Tales].
Great Sea of the West Belegaer, extending from Middle-earth to A
man.
Green Elves The Elves of Ossiriand, called Laiquendi.
Grinding Ice Helkaraxë: the strait in the far North between Middle-earth and the Western Land.
Grond Weapon of Morgoth, a great club known as the Hammer of the Underworld.
Guarded Plain The great plain between the rivers Narog and Teiglin, north of Nargothrond.
Guilwarthon See i-Cuilwarthon.
Gwendeling Earlier name of Melian.
Hador A great chieftain of Men, called ‘the Goldenhaired’, grandfather of Húrin father of Túrin, and of Huor father of Tuor father of Eärendel.
Haven of the Swans See Notes on the Elder Days, p. 23.
Hills of the Hunters (also The Hunters’ Wold) The highlands west of the river Narog.
Himling A great hill in the north of East Beleriand, a stronghold of the sons of Fëanor.
Hirilorn ‘Queen of Trees’, a great beech-tree near Menegroth (Thingol’s halls); in its branches was the house in which Lúthien was imprisoned.
Hisilómë Hithlum. [In a list of names of the period of the Lost Tales it is said: ‘Dor-lómin or the “Land of Shadow” was that region named of the Eldar Hisilómë (and this means “shadowy twilights”) . . . and it is so called by reason of the scanty sun which peeps over the Iron Mountains to the east and south of it.’]
Hithlum See Hisilómë.
Huan The mighty wolfhound of Valinor, who became the friend and saviour of Beren and Lúthien.
Húrin Father of Túrin Turambar and Niënor.
Idril Called Celebrindal ‘Silverfoot’, daughter of Turgon King of Gondolin; wedded to Tuor, mother of Eärendel.
Ilkorins, Ilkorindi Elves not of Kôr, city of the Elves in Aman (See Kôr).
Indravangs (also Indrafangs) ‘Long Beards’, the Dwarves of Belegost.
Ingwil River flowing into the Narog at Nargothrond (later form Ringwil).
Iron Mountains Also called the Bitter Hills. A great range corresponding to the later Ered Wethrin, the Mountains of Shadow, forming the southern and eastern borders of Hisilómë (Hithlum). See Hisilómë.
Ivárë A renowned minstrel of the Elves, ‘who plays beside the sea’.
Ivrin The lake below the Mountains of Shadow where the Narog rose.
Karkaras The huge wolf that guarded the gates of Angband (later Carcharoth), its tail named in Lúthien’s ‘lengthening spell’; translated ‘Knife-fang’.
Kôr City of the Elves in Aman, and the hill on which it was built; later the city became Tûn and the hill alone was Kôr. [Finally the city became Tirion and the hill Túna.]
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