PART TWO.
THE
ANNALS
OF
AMAN.
THE ANNALS OF AMAN.
The second version (pre-Lord of the Rings) of the Annals of Valinor
(AV 2) has been given in V.109 ff. I mentioned there that the first part
of AV 2 was - years later - covered with emendation and new writing,
and that this new work was the initial drafting of the Annals of Aman.
In this case I shall spend no time on the original draft, apart from some
points arising in it which are mentioned in the notes. It does not
extend very far - not even so far as the bringing forth of the Two
Trees, and so far as it goes it is extremely close to the Annals of Aman;
but my father evidently very soon decided to embark on a wholly new
text.
Of the Annals of Aman, which I shall refer to throughout by the
abbreviation 'AAm', there is a good clear manuscript, with a fair
amount of correction in different 'layers'. Emendations belonging to
the time of composition, or soon after, were carefully made; and the
manuscript gives the impression of being a 'fair copy', a second text.
But while passages of drafting may have been lost, I very much doubt
that a complete 'first text' of the Annals existed (see further p. 121
note 17). The work undoubtedly belongs with the large development
and recasting of the Matter of the Elder Days that my father
undertook when The Lord of the Rings was finished (see p. 3), and it
stands in close relationship to the revision at that time of the
corresponding parts of the Quenta Silmarillion (V.204-43, referred to
throughout as QS), the text that had been abandoned at the end of
1937. Equally clearly it followed the last text of the Ainulindale (D).
There is an amanuensis typescript of AAm bearing some late
emendations and notes, together with its carbon copy bearing a very
few, but different, emendations; I am inclined to date this text to
1958, although the evidence for this is a matter of inference and
suggestion (see pp. 141 - 2, 300). There is also an interesting, divergent
typescript of the early part of the work, made by my father (pp. 64 - 8,
79-80).
I give the whole text of the Annals narrative, incorporating the
emendations made to it; where earlier readings are of interest they are
recorded in the notes. I number the paragraphs for subsequent
reference, and since the text is long I have divided it for convenience
into six sections. The sections are followed by numbered textual notes
(not in the case of section 2), and then by a commentary referenced to
the paragraph-numbers.
The dates of the annals of the Years of the Trees were changed very
frequently - in some cases there are as many as six substitution's - and
I give only the final form. Since the continual changing of the dates
seems in no case to be associated with changes in the actual narrative,
and since the final articulation of the dates seems to have been
achieved before the completion of the manuscript, I think it is
sufficient to notice that my father at first allowed a longer span of
years from the arising of the Trees to their destruction. Thus at first
the Silmarils were achieved by Feanor in the: Year of the Trees 1600
(later 1450), and Tulkas was sent to lay hands on Melkor in 1700 (later
1490) - though other dates were proposed and rejected as well as
these. From this point the revised dating (1490 - 1500) is the only one,
but here too the dates were much altered in detail, and the final result
is not at all points perfectly clear.
First section of the Annals of Aman.
The first page of AAm is extant in two forms, both fine manuscripts,
all but identical in text but differing in title and in the brief preamble.
The first has the title The Annals of Valinor, and opens thus: 'Here
begin the Annals of Valinor, and speak of the coming of the Valar to
Arda'; beside the title was added: 'These were written by Quennar i
Onotimo who learned much, and borrowed much also, from Rumil;
but they were enlarged by Pengolod.' This last was struck out, and the
title and preamble emended to the form they have on the second copy,
as given below, with Valinor > Aman and the addition of the words
'which Rumil wrote (made)'. I imagine that my father recopied the
page because he wished it to look well, and had spoiled it by these
changes. The title Annals of Aman came in at this point, therefore, and
very possibly the final meaning of the name Aman also: it occurs once
in Ainulindale D, but as an addition to the text (p. 33, $32).
THE ANNALS OF AMAN.
Here begin the Annals of Aman, which Rumil made, and speak
of the coming of the Valar to Arda:
$1 At the Beginning Eru Iluvatar made Ea, the World that
is,(1) and the Valar entered into it, and they are the Powers of Ea.
These are the nine chieftains of the Valar that dwelt in Arda:
Manwe, Ulmo, Aule, Orome, Tulkas, Osse, Mandos, Lorien,(2)
and Melkor.
$2 Of these Manwe and Melkor were most puissant and
were brethren. Manwe is lord of the Valar, and holy; but
Melkor turned to lust of power and pride, and became evil and
violent, and his name is accursed, and is not spoken; he is
named Morgoth. Orome and Tulkas were younger in the
thought of Eru ere the devising of the World, and Tulkas came
fast to the kingdom of Arda. The queens of the Valar are seven:
Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Vaire, Vana, Nessa, and Uinen. No
less in might and majesty are they than the chieftains, and they
sit ever in the councils of the Valar.
$3 Varda was Manwe's spouse from the beginning, but
Aule espoused Yavanna, her sister, in Ea.(3) Vana the fair, her
younger sister, is the wife of Orome; and Nessa, the sister of
Orome, is Tulkas' wife; and Uinen, lady of the seas, is the
spouse of Osse. Vaire the Weaver dwells with Mandos. No
spouse hath Ulmo, nor Melkor. No lord hath Nienna the
sorrowful, queen of shadow, Manwe's sister and Melkor's. The
wife of Lorien is Este the pale, but she goes not to the councils of
the Valar and is not accounted among the rulers of Arda, but is
the chief of the Maiar.
$4 With these great powers came many other spirits of like
kind but less might and authority; these are the Maiar, the
Beautiful,(4) the folk of the Valar. And with them are numbered
also the Valarindi, the offspring of the Valar, their children
begotten in Arda, yet of the race of the Ainur who were before
the World; they are many and fair.
At this point my father wrote in: This is drawn from the work of
Quennar Onotimo. These words refer not to what precedes but to the
following passage, headed Of the Beginning of Time and its Reckon-
ing (although in the preamble - struck through - of the rejected first
page of AAm Quennar i Onotimo is said to have been the author of
the Annals as a whole, p. 48).
The entire section on the subject of the Reckoning of Time was later
marked in pencil: 'Transfer to the Tale of Years'. The Tale of Years, a
chronological list of the same sort as that in Appendix B to The Lord
of the Rings, exists in different forms, associated with the earlier and
later Annals; the later form, closely associated with AAm and its
companion the Grey Annals (Annals of Beleriand), is perhaps the most
complex and difficult text of all that my father left behind him. This
need not concern us here; but associated with it are two very fine
manuscripts (one of them, the later of the two, among the most
beautiful that he made: see the frontispiece) giving in almost identical
form the same text Of the Beginning of Time and its Reckoning as is
found here in AAm, but placing it as the opening of The Tale of Years
and the prelude to the chronological list of events. These two
manuscripts are of course later than the text in AAm, and some
readings in which they differ from it are given in the notes. AAm
continues:
This is drawn from the work of Quennar Onotimo.(5)
Of the Beginning of Time and its Reckoning.
$5 Time indeed began with the beginning of Ea, and in that
beginning the Valar came into the World. But the measurement
which the Valar made of the ages of their labours is not known
to any of the Children of Iluvatar, until the first flowering of
Telperion in Valinor. Thereafter the Valar counted time by the
ages of Valinor, whereof each age contained one hundred of the
Years of the Valar; but each such year was longer than are nine
years under the Sun.(6)
$6 Now measured by the flowering of the Trees there were
twelve hours in each Day of the Valar, and one thousand of
such days the Valar took to be a year in their realm. It is
supposed indeed by the Lore-masters that the Valar so devised
the hours of the Trees that one hundred of such years so
measured should be in duration as one age of the Valar (7) (as
those ages were in the days of their labours before the founda-
tion of Valinor).(8) Nonetheless this is not certainly known.
$7 But as for the Years of the Trees and those that came
after,(9) one such Year was longer than nine such years as now
are. For there were in each such Year twelve thousand hours.
Yet the hours of the Trees were each seven times as long as is
one hour of a full-day upon Middle-earth from sun-rise to
sun-rise, when light and dark are equally divided.(10) Therefore
each Day of the Valar endured for four and eighty of our hours,
and each Year for four and eighty thousand: which is as much
as three thousand and five hundred of our days, and is
somewhat more than are nine and one half of our years (nine
and one half and eight hundredths and yet a little).(11)
$8 It is recorded by the Lore-masters that this is not rightly
as the Valar designed at the making and ordering (12) of the Moon
and Sun. For it was their intention that ten years of the Sun, no
more and no less, should be in length as one Year of the Trees
had been; and it was their first device that each year of the Sun
should contain seven hundred times of sunlight and moonlight,
and each of these times should contain twelve hours, each in
duration one seventh of an hour of the Trees. By that reckoning
each Sun-year would contain three hundred and fifty full days of
divided moonlight and sunlight, that is eight thousand and four
hundred hours, equalling twelve hundred hours of the Trees, or
one tenth of a Valian Year. But the Moon and Sun proved more
wayward and slower in their passage than the Valar had
intended, as is hereafter told,(13) and a year of the Sun is
somewhat longer than was one tenth of a Year in the Days of
the Trees.
$9 The shorter year of the Sun was so made (14) because of the
greater speed of all growth, and likewise of all change and
withering, that the Valar knew should come to pass after the
death of the Trees. And after that evil had befallen the Valar
reckoned time in Arda by the years of the Sun, and do so still,
even after the Change of the World and the hiding of Aman;
but ten years of the Sun they account now as but one year,(15) and
one thousand but as a century. This is drawn from the
Yenonotie of Quennar: quoth Pengolod.(16)
$10 It is computed by the lore-masters that the Valar came
to the realm of Arda, which is the Earth, five thousand Valian
Years ere the first rising of the Moon, which is as much as to say
forty-seven thousands and nine hundred and one of our years.
Of these, three thousand and five hundred (or thirty-three
thousand five hundred and thirty of our reckoning) passed ere
the measurement of time first known to the Eldar began with
the flowering of the Trees. Those were the Days before days.
Thereafter one thousand and four hundred and five and ninety
Valian Years (or fourteen thousand of our years and three
hundred and twenty-two) followed during which the Light of
the Trees shone in Valinor. Those were the Days of Bliss. In
those days, in the Year one thousand and fifty of the Valar, the
Elves awoke in Kuivienen and the First Age of the Children of
Iluvatar began.(17)
1. The First Year of the Valar in Arda.
$11 After ages of labour beyond knowledge or reckoning in
the great halls of Ea the Valar descended into Arda in the
beginning of its being, and they began there their labour
fore-ordained for the shaping of its lands and its waters, even
from the foundations to the highest towers of the Air.
$12 But their labours were frustrated and turned aside from
their design, for Melkor coveted the dominion of Arda, and he
claimed the kingship and was at strife with Manwe. And
Melkor wrought great ruin with fire and deadly cold and
marred all that the other Valar made.
1500
$13 It came to pass that hearing afar of the war in Arda
Tulkas the Strong came thither out of distant regions of Ea to
the aid of Manwe. Then Arda was filled with the sound of his
laughter, but he turned a face of' anger towards Melkor; and
Melkor fled before his wrath and his mirth, and forsook Arda,
and there was a long peace.
$14 Now the Valar began their labours anew; and when the
lands and the waters were ordered the Valar had need of light,
that the seeds of Yavanna's devising might grow and have life.
Aule therefore wrought two great lamps, as it were of silver and
of gold and yet translucent, and Varda filled them with hal-
lowed fire, to give light to the Earth. Illuin and Ormal they were
named. 1900 And they were set upon mighty pillars as
mountains in the midst of Arda, to the northward and the
southward.
$15 Then the Valar continued their labours until all the
kingdom of Arda was ordered and made ready, and there was
great growth of trees and herbs, and beasts and birds came forth
and dwelt in the plains and in the waters, and the mountains
were green and fair to look upon. And the Valar made their
dwelling upon a green isle in the midst of a lake; and that lake
was between Illuin and Ormal in the midmost of Arda; and
there in the Isle of Almaren, because of the blending of the
lights, all things were richest in growth and fairest of hue. But
the Valar were seldom there gathered in company, for ever they
would fare abroad in Arda, each in his own business.
$16 And it came to pass that at last the Valar were content,
and they were minded to rest a while from labour and watch the
growth and unfolding of the things that they had devised and
begun. Therefore Manwe ordained a great feast, and summoned
all the Valar and the queens of the Valar unto Almaren, together
with all their folk. And they came at his bidding; but Aule, it is
said, and Tulkas were weary; for the craft of Aule and the
strength of Tulkas had been at the service of all without ceasing
in the days of their labour.
$17 Now Melkor knew of all that was done; for even then
he had secret friends and spies among the Maiar whom he had
converted to his cause, and of these the chief, as after became
known, was Sauron, a great craftsman of the household of Aule.
And afar off in the dark places Melkor was filled with hatred,
being jealous of the work of his peers, whom he desired to make
subject to himself. Therefore he gathered to himself spirits out
of the voids of Ea that he had perverted to his service, and he
deemed himself strong. And seeing now his time he drew near
again unto Arda, and looked down upon it, and the beauty of
the Earth in its Spring filled him the more with hate.
3400
$18 Now therefore the Valar were gathered upon Almaren
and feasted and made merry, fearing no evil, and because of the
light of llluin they did not perceive the shadow in the North that
was cast from afar by Melkor; for he was grown dark as the
Night of the Void.(18) And it is sung that in that feast of the
Spring of Arda Tulkas espoused Nessa the sister of Orome, and
Vana robed [her) in her flowers, and she danced before the
Valar upon the green grass of Almaren.
$19 Then Tulkas slept, being weary and content, and
Melkor deemed that his hour had come. And he passed,
therefore, over the Walls of the Night (19) with his host, and he
came to Middle-earth in the North; and the Valar were not
aware of him.
$20 Now Melkor began the delving and building of a vast
fortress deep under Earth, beneath dark mountains where the
light of Illuin was dim.(20) That stronghold was named Utumno.
And though the Valar knew nought of it as yet, nonetheless the
evil of Melkor and the blight of his hatred flowed out thence,
and the Spring of Arda was marred, and living things became
sick and rotted, or were corrupted to monstrous forms.
3450
$21 Then the Valar knew indeed that Melkor was at work
again, and they sought for his hiding-place. But Melkor,
trusting in the strength of Utumno and the might of his servants,
came forth suddenly to war, and struck the first blow, ere the
Valar were prepared. And he assailed the lights of Illuin and
Ormal, and he cast down their pillars, and broke their lamps.
Then in the overthrow of the mighty pillars lands were broken
and seas arose in tumult; and when the lamps were spilled
destroying flame was poured out over the Earth. And the shape
of Arda and the symmetry of its waters and its lands was marred
in that time, so that the first designs of the Valar were never
after restored.
$22 In the confusion and the darkness Melkor escaped,
though fear fell upon him; for above the roaring of the seas he
heard the voice of Manwe as a mighty wind, and the earth
trembled beneath the feet of Tulkas. But he came to Utumno ere
Tulkas could overtake him; and there he lay hid. And the Valar
could not at that time overcome him, for the greater part of
their strength was needed to restrain the tumults of the Earth,
and to save from ruin all that could be saved of their labour;
and afterward they feared to rend the Earth again, until they
knew where the Children of Iluvatar were dwelling, who were
yet to come in a time that was hidden from the Valar.
$23 Thus ended the Spring of Arda. And the dwelling of the
Valar upon Almaren was utterly destroyed, and the gods had
no abiding place upon the face of the earth. Therefore they
removed from Middle-earth and went to the Land of Aman,
which was westernmost of all lands upon the borders of the
world; for its west shores looked upon the Outer Sea that
encircled the kingdom of Arda, and beyond were the Walls of
the Night.(21) But the east-shores of Aman are the uttermost end
of the Great Sea of the West; and since Melkor had returned to
Middle-earth, and they could not yet overcome him, the Valar
fortified their dwelling, and upon the shores of the Sea they
raised the Pelori, the Mountains of Aman, highest upon earth.
And above all the mountains of the Pelori was that height which
was called Taniquetil, upon whose summit Manwe set his
throne. But behind the walls of the Pelori the Valar established
their mansions and their domain in that region which is called
Valinor. There in the Guarded Realm they gathered great store
of light and all the fairest things that were saved from the ruin;
and many others yet fairer they made anew, and Valinor
became more beautiful even than Middle-earth in the Spring of
Arda; and it was blessed and holy, for the gods dwelt there, and
there nought faded nor withered, neither was there any stain
upon flower or leaf in that land, nor any corruption or sickness
in anything that lived; for the very stones and waters were
hallowed.
$24 Therefore the Valar and all their folk were joyful again,
and for long they were well content, and they came seldom over
the mountains to the Outer Lands; and Middle-earth lay in a
twilight beneath the stars that Varda had wrought in the ages
forgotten of her labours in Ea.
3500
$25 And it came to pass that, after Valinor was full-
wrought and the mansions of the Valar were established and
their gardens and woodlands were arrayed, the Valar built their
city in the midst of the plain beyond the Pelori. That city they
named Valmar the Blessed. And before its western gate there
was a green mound, and it was bare save for a sward of
unfading grass.
$26 Then Yavanna and Nienna came to that Green Mound;
and Yavanna hallowed it, and sat there long upon the green
grass and sang a song of great power, in which was set all her
thought of things that grow in the earth. But Nienna thought in
silence, and watered the mould with tears. Then all the Valar
were gathered together to hearken to the song of Yavanna; and
the mound was in the midst of the Ring of Doom before the
gates of Valmar, and the Valar sat round about in silence upon
their thrones of council, and their folk were set before their feet.
And as the gods watched, behold! upon the mound there sprang
two green saplings, and they grew and became fair and tall, and
they came to blossom.
$27 Thus there awoke in the world the Two Trees of
Valinor, of all growing things the fairest and most renowned,
whose fate is woven with the fate of Arda. The elder of the Trees
was named Telperion, and its blossoms were of shining white,
and a dew of silver light was spilled from them. Laurelin the
younger Tree was called; its green leaves were edged with gold,
and its flowers were like to clusters of yellow flame, and a rain
of gold dripped from them to the ground. From those Trees
there came forth a great light, and all Valinor was filled with it.
Then the bliss of the Valar was increased; for the light of the
Trees was holy and of great power, so that, if aught was good or
lovely or of worth, in that light its loveliness and its worth were
fully revealed; and all that walked in that light were glad at
heart.
$28 But the light that was spilled from the Trees endured
long, ere it was taken up into the airs or sank into the earth for
their enrichment. Therefore of its abundance Varda was wont
to gather great store, and it was hoarded in mighty vats nigh to
the Green Mound. Thence the Maiar would draw it and bring it
to frith and field, even those far removed from Valmar, so that
all regions of Valinor were nourished and waxed ever fairer.
$29 Thus began the Days of the Bliss of Valinor, and thus
began also the count of Time. For the Trees waxed to full bloom
and light, and waned again, unceasingly, without change of
speed or fullness. Telperion came first to flower, and a little ere
he ceased to shine Laurelin began to bud; and again ere Laurelin
had grown dim Telperion awoke once more. Therefore the
Valar took the time of the flowering, first of Telperion and then
of Laurelin, to be for them a Day in Valinor; and the time when
each Tree was flowering alone they divided into five hours, each
equal to the time of the mingling of their lights, twice in each
Day. There were thus twelve such hours in every Day of the
Valar; and one thousand of those Days was held to be a Year,
for then the Trees would put forth a new branch and their
stature would increase.
The opening section of the Annals of Aman ends here; it is followed
by a heading Here begins a new Reckoning in the Light of the Trees,
with dates beginning at Y.T.1, the First Year of the Trees.
NOTES.
1. The definition of Ea as 'the World that Is' is found also at the
appearance of the name in an addition to the text of Ainulindale'
D, p. 31, $20. I give it throughout in the form that it has in
the texts, Ea, Ea, Ea'.
2. The original form of the name was Lorien, but this was changed
to Lorien on the QS manuscript.
3. AV 2 had here (V.110) 'Yavanna, whom Aule espoused after in
the world, in Valinor'; in the later rewriting of the AV 2 manu-
script that led directly to AAm (p. 47) this became 'Yavanna,
whom Aule espoused in Arda', where AAm has 'in Ea'.
4. AV 2 had here (V.110) 'these are the Vanimor, the Beautiful',
changed in the later rewriting (see note 3) to 'these are the
Mairi...', and then to 'these are the Maiar...' This was probably
where the word Maiar first arose.
5. In the earlier (only) of the two manuscripts of the opening of The
Tale of Years the heading Of the Beginning of Time and its
Reckoning was subsequently extended by the addition of From
the work of Quennar Onotimo; see note 6.
6. As this sentence was first written in the draft text for the
beginning of AAm (the rewriting of A V 2) it read: 'each such year
is in length even as are ten years of the Sun that is now'; i.e., my
father still retained the old much simpler computation going back
through AV 2 (V.110) to AV 1 (IV.263). This was changed on the
draft text to 'each such year is longer than are nine years of
the Sun that is now'. In the earlier of the Tale of Years versions the
words 'as it now is' were pencilled in after 'nine years under
the Sun', while the second reads 'than are now nine years under
the Sun'.
The second Tale of Years version, which does not refer to
Quennar Onotimo in the heading Of the Beginning of Time and
its Reckoning (note 5), has here: 'Thus spake Quennar Onotimo
concerning this matter'. What follows from this point is in all
three texts in markedly smaller script, so that the reference to
Quennar seems most appropriate here.
7. The later (only) of the Tale of Years versions has 'one fifth of an
age of the Valar' for 'one age of the Valar'.
8. The earlier of the Tale of Years versions adds here: 'whereas each
age of the Valar is one exact part (how great or small they alone
know) of the whole history of Ea. But these things are not
certainly known even to the Eldar'; the later begins the additional
passage in the same way, but ends: '... of the whole history of Ea
from its beginning to the End that shall be. But these things are
not certainly known even to [the] Vanyar.'
9. The Tale of Years versions have here: 'As for the Years of the
Trees in comparison with those that came after', which makes the
meaning clear.
10. In the earlier Tale of Years version 'from sun-rise to sun-rise' was
changed in pencil to 'from sunset to sunset', and the following
sentence 'at such times as light and dark are equally divided' was
bracketed. The second version has a different reading: 'from
sunset unto sunset beside the Shores of the Great Sea'.
11. In the Tale of Years versions the words '(nine and one half and
eight hundredths and yet a little)' are omitted.
12. In the Tale of Years versions the words 'and ordering' are
omitted.
13. For 'as is hereafter told' (which refers to the account of the Sun
and Moon later in AAm) the Tale of Years versions have 'as is
elsewhere told'.
14. For 'was so made' the Tale of Years versions have 'was appointed
by the Valar'.
15. 'but one year' becomes in the Tale of Years versions 'but one year
unto themselves'.
16. The Tale of Years versions have here 'Thus speaketh the Yenono-
tie of Quennar'. With Yenonotie' cf. Yenie Valinoren 'Annals of
Valinor' in the title-pages of QS (V.202), and the name Onotimo
itself; see the Etymologies, stems NOT 'count', YEN 'year' (V.378,
400).
17. Paragraph $10 had this form in the draft text for the beginning of
AAm:
It hath been computed by the Masters of Lore that the Valar
came to the Kingdom of Arda, which is this Earth, five and
forty thousand years of our time ere the first rising of the
Moon. And of these thirty thousand passed ere the measure-
ment of Time began with the flowering of the Trees. These
were the Days before Days. And fifteen thousand years fol-
lowed after during which the Light of the Trees yet lived, and
nigh on six hundred more of the New Sun and Moon after the
slaying of the Trees. And these are called the Elder Days, and
with their ending ended the First Age of Time, and Melkor was
thrust from the world.
Thus whereas in AV 1 and AV 2 the reckoning was thus (V.Y. =
Valian Year(s), S.Y. = Sun Year(s)):
V.Y. 1000 = S.Y. 10000 First flowering of the Trees
V.Y. 3000 = S.Y. 30000 Rising of the Moon
this first revision gives:
S.Y. 30000 First flowering of the Trees
S.Y. 45000 Rising of the Moon
This reckoning was then replaced again:
V.Y. 3500 = S.Y. 33530 First flowering of the Trees
V.Y. 5300 = S.Y. 50775 Rising of the Moon
These figures show a ratio of 1 V.Y. = 9-58 S.Y. (see the com-
mentary on ($5 - 10, pp. 59 - 60). This last reckoning was the
form in AAm as first written, which was then changed many
times to give the text printed.
18. The text as written had 'dark as the night that was before Ea',
changed later to 'dark as the Night of the Void'.
19. The text as first written had 'over the borders of Ea'; this was
changed later to 'over the Walls of the Night upon the borders of
Arda', and then 'upon the borders of Arda' was struck out.
20. The text was first written 'far from the light of Illuin'.
21. The text as written had 'which is westernmost of all lands' and
'look upon the Outer Sea that encircles the kingdom of Arda'; the
changes to the past tense were perhaps made at the time of
writing, since the next phrase, 'and beyond were the Walls of the
Night', had the past tense as written. On the other hand, the
following sentence has the present tense ('But the east shores of
Aman are the uttermost end of the Great Sea of the West'), where
are was allowed to stand.
Commentary on the first section of the
Annals of Aman.
$$1-3 On the occurrence of the name Eru see p. 7. The account of
the interrelations of the Valar and the queens of the Valar
remains closely based on that in AV 2 (V.110), and retains old
phrases (as 'Manwe and Melkor were most puissant and were
brethren') going back to the original Annals (IV.263). There are
however some developments in this opening section. On the
phrase in $2, 'Orome and Tulkas were younger in the thought of
Eru ere the devising of the World', see V.120. That Tulkas came
last to Arda derives from the rewritten Ainulindale' ($31).
It is not said now, as it was in AV 2, that Orome was the son
of Yavanna. On the other hand, it is now said, as in the Quenta
(Q) and QS, that Vana was the sister of Yavanna (and Varda),
whereas this was not said in AV 2. These differences are perhaps
connected; for if both accounts are combined Orome's wife is
the sister of his mother. But this may be to take too conventional
a view of the divine relations.
The statements that Este 'goes not to the councils of the Valar
and is not accounted among the rulers of Arda', and that she is
the chief of the Maiar (see note 4 above), are entirely new.
$4 The passage concerning the 'lesser spirits' shows no significant
development from that in AV 2 (V.110) except for the replace-
ment of Vanimor by Maiar (translated 'the Beautiful' as Vani-
mor had been); the Valarindi, Children of the Valar, 'begotten
in Arda' and numbered among the Maiar, remain. On the
earlier history of these conceptions see V.120 - 1; and see
further p. 69.
$5 Telperion first appeared in QS $16 (V.209), but not as the
primary name of the Elder Tree, which remained Silpion.
Telperion, used in The Lord of the Rings, now became the
primary name.
$$5-10 The account of the Reckoning of Time is at first sight
somewhat baffling, but it can be clarified.
(i) According to the reckoning by the Trees
12 hours (a full flowering of both Trees) = 1 day
1000 days (12000 hours) = 1 year
100 years = 1 age of the Valar (as the Valar reckoned the ages
before the Trees, according to a supposition of the Lore-
masters of the Elves; see notes 7 and 8 to the text)
(ii) Relation of the reckoning by the Trees to the reckoning by
the Sun
1 hour of the Trees = 7 hours of our time
1 day of the Trees = (7 X 12) 84 hours of our time
1 year of the Trees = (7 x 12000) 84000 hours of our time
There are (365-25 X 24) 8766 hours in a Sun Year, and thus:
1 year of the Trees = (84000 -: 8766) 9 582 Sun Years *
(* Cf. the text ($7): 'nine and one half and eight hundredths and yet a little'.)
(iii) Original intention of the Valar for the new reckoning by
the Sun and Moon
12 hours of moonlight. 24 hours = 1 full day.
12 hours of sunlight.
700 times of sunlight and moonlight = 350 full days = 1 Sun
Year.
1 hour = 1/7 of 1 hour of the Trees
Therefore:
1 Sun Year would have (24 X 350) 8400 hours = (8400 - 7)
1200 hours of the Trees = 1/10 of a Valian Year (see (i) above);
thus 1 Valian Year would = 10 Sun Years
The matter can be expressed more concisely thus:
1 year of the Trees = (7 x 12000) 84000 hours of our time
84000 - (350 x 24) 8400 = 10
but
84000 - (365 25 x 24) 8766 = 9 582
(iv) The dates of the first flowering of the Trees and the first
rising of the Moon ($10)
The Trees first flowered after 3500 Valian Years had passed,
which is said to be equal to 33530 Sun Years (this pre-
supposes an equivalence of 9-58; 9 582 gives 33537).
The Moon first rose after 5000 Valian Years had passed,
which is said to be equal to 47901 Sun Years (this pre-
supposes an equivalence of 9-5802; if the equivalence is 9-582
the number of Sun Years would be 47910, if 9-58 the number
would be 47900).
The Trees shone for 1495 Valian Years, which is said to be
equal to 14322 Sun Years (this presupposes an equivalence of
almost exactly 9-58).
$511-29 The great expansion of the pre-Lord of the Rings narrative
(QS, AV 2) is in part derived from the later Ainulindale' (that
AAm followed the last version, D, of that work is shown by
various details, as for instance the names Ea, Illuin, and Ormal,
the first of these entering D by later addition, and those of the
Lamps replacing Foronte and Hyarante by emendation). But
there is much that is entirely new: as that Manwe held a great
feast on the Isle of Almaren, where Tulkas espoused Nessa; that
Sauron was 'a great craftsman of the household of Aule'; that
the Valar were unable to overcome Melkor at that time because
of the need to subdue the turmoil of the Earth and to preserve
what they might of what they had achieved; and other features
mentioned below. - The question of the cosmology is discussed
at the end of this commentary.
$15 The statement that under the light of the Lamps 'there was great
growth of trees and herbs, and beasts and birds came forth' (cf.
also $18, where Vana robed Nessa in flowers at the feast on
Almaren) belongs with the Ainulindale' ($31): 'flowers of many
hues, and trees whose blossom was like snow upon the
mountains... beasts and birds came forth' - where however the
text was corrected ('As yet no flower had bloomed nor any bird
had sung'). See p. 22 note 17, and p. 38, $31.
$20 A structural difference between AAm and the Ainulindale' is that
in the latter Melkor did not begin the delving of Utumno until
after the overthrow of the Lamps and his escape from the Valar
($32) - a story that goes back through the texts to the old
'Sketch of the Mythology'. In AAm, on the other hand, Melkor
built Utumno, or was at least far advanced in the work, before
the Valar were aware of him, and it was from Utumno that the
blight and corruption proceeded; the Valar then perceived his
presence in Arda and 'sought for his hiding-place', and it was
this (as it appears) that led to Melkor's sudden emergence in
open war and the casting down of the Lamps.
$22 The attack on Melkor by the Valar returning out of Valinor,
described in the Ainulindale' ($32), is not mentioned in AAm,
which says only that they 'could not at that time overcome him',
taking up the words of QS $12 (V.208). That the idea had been
abandoned is seen subsequently, p. 78, $47.
$23 That all life in Aman was free from any fading or withering, and
free of blight and sickness, had not actually been said in
previous texts.
$24 Whereas in the texts of the 1930s the old idea of the Lost Tales
that the stars were created in two separate acts (1.69, 113 - 14,
133) had been abandoned, it now reappears: Varda wrought
stars 'in the ages forgotten of her labours in Ea', and later in
AAm (p. 71, $35) it is told that 'she made stars newer and
brighter' before the awakening of the Elves. This is presumably
to be associated with the conception in the later Ainulindale'
($$14, 28) of the establishment of Arda 'in the midst of the
innumerable stars'.
$$25 - 6 That the Trees grew on a green mound in the Ring of Doom
is a new detail, though the implication of QS $14 (V.209) is that
the Trees were in the Ring. The Ring and the Mound are here
said to have been before the western gate of Valmar; in the Lost
Tales the Trees were to the north of the city, and were moreover
'leagues asunder' from each other (1.71, 143).
$28 This account of the light that spilled from the Trees being drawn
by Maiar from the wells of Varda to 'water' all the lands of
Valinor has its roots in the old idea that the Trees 'must needs be
watered with light to have sap and live' (1.73).
$29 At the end of this paragraph is a remarkable new detail, that
after a thousand days the Trees put out a new branch; and that
this was why a Valian Year was so constituted. It is apparent -
and is stated here expressly - that the Valian day had twelve
hours because the period of mingled light was exactly five times
shorter than the period of full light-flowering of either Telperion
or Laurelin; if it had been three times shorter the day would
have had eight hours, and so on. The Valian day was therefore
of the Trees' nature. We now learn that the Valian year of 1000
days was 'also due to,the Trees' nature, since after that time the
Trees would put out a new branch.
There is no suggestion here that the further calculation that a
hundred years constituted a Valian Age (which goes back to the
earliest Annals, IV.263) was related to the inner structure of the
Trees; but it is said in the section Of the Beginning of Time and
its Reckoning ($6) that the Lore-masters supposed 'that the
Valar so devised the hours of the Trees that one hundred of such
years so measured should be in duration as one age of the Valar
(as those ages were in the days of their labours before the
foundation of Valinor)' - i.e., before the Trees. Since the two
passages are only separated by a few pages in the same
manuscript the presumption is that they are not contradictory;
and taken together the meaning can only be that the periods of
the Trees, which were of their nature, were nonetheless related
to a mode of measurement of time before the Trees came into
existence. That in turn seems to demand that the Valar knew,
and had 'devised', before ever Yavanna and Nienna came to the
Green Mound, the periodic nature of the Trees' light.
The cosmological problem is here provided with new evidences. The
relevant statements in this first section of AAm are these:
$1 Ea is 'the World that is'; the Valar are 'the Powers of Ea'.
$11 After ages of labour 'in the great halls of Ea the Valar
descended into Arda in the beginning of its being'.
$13 Tulkas came to Arda 'out of distant regions of Ea'.
$17 Melkor gathered spirits 'out of the voids of Ea'; and he 'drew
near again unto Arda, and looked down upon it'.
$18 The Valar did not perceive the dark shadow 'cast from afar by
Melkor'.
$19 Melkor 'passed over the borders of Ea' > 'passed over the
Walls of the Night upon the borders of Arda' > 'passed over
the Walls of the Night' (note 19).
$23 The Outer Sea 'encircled the kingdom of Arda, and beyond
were the Walls of the Night'.
The Walls of the Night have not been named elsewhere: but it is hard
to see, especially in view of the sentence cited from $23, how they can
not be equated with the Walls of the World. I have said (p. 29) that the
departure of Melkor from Arda in the Ainulindale' - the new story that i
came in after The Lord of the Rings - raises the question of the
passage of the Walls of the World and of the form which that
conception now took. The idea of such a passage in fact appeared, and
most puzzlingly, in the earlier period, at the end of Q, where it is said
that some believe that Melko at times returns to the world, and that he
'creeps back surmounting the Walls' (IV.164, 253). The passage in
AAm $19 (as emended) is unequivocal: Melkor passed over the Walls
of the Night. We have returned to the earliest imagination of the
Walls: cf. my remark in 1.227, 'the implication seems clear that the
Walls were originally conceived like the walls of terrestrial cities, or
gardens - walls with a top: a "ring-fence".' Thus, we may suppose,
Melkor could 'look down upon Arda' ($17); thus his vast shadow
could be cast even before he passed over the Walls ($18); and thus
Tulkas ($13) and the spirits summoned by Melkor ($19) could enter
the 'fenced region' (as Arda is defined, p. 7).
But the phrase 'he passed over the Walls of the Night' was an
emendation of what my father first wrote: 'he passed over the borders
of Ea'. Can this mean anything other than that on entering Arda
Melkor left Ea? In this connection one may turn back to the two
Ambarkanta diagrams of 'Ilu' (IV.242 - 5), on which much later
(perhaps about this time) my father made pencilled corrections to
Ilurambar 'the Walls of the World', changing this to Earambar ('the
Walls of Ea'). (Of course, if the Walls are no longer conceived as a
spherical shell - whence the expression 'globed amid the Void' as used
in the early Ainulindale' versions - but as a surmountable rampart, the
Earambar cannot be taken as the same conception as the Ilurambar,
but only as a new name for the Walls, now differently conceived; and
the substitution of the new name on the old diagrams is therefore to
that extent misleading.) It is likewise hard to see what Earambar can
mean but 'the Walls that fence out the dark wastes of "the voids of
Ea" ' (an expression used in $17), in contrast to Ilurambar 'the Walls
that fence in Ilu.'
The difficulty with this, of course, is that Ea is elsewhere defined as
the 'Universe of that which Is' (p. 7), 'Creation the Universe' (p. 39),
and Ea therefore necessarily comprehends Arda; it is in any case
abundantly clear from all the texts of the later period that Arda is
within Ea. But it may be that Arda can nonetheless be regarded as
separate from Ea when Ea is regarded as 'Space'.
Amid all the ambiguities (most especially, in the use of the word
'World'), the testimony seems to be that in these texts the Ambarkanta
world-image survived at least in the conception of the Outer Sea
extending to the Walls of the World, now called the Walls of the Night
- though the Walls have come to be differently conceived (see also p.
135, $168). Now in the revision of 'The Silmarillion' made in 1951 the
phrase in QS $12 (V.209) 'the Walls of the World fence out the Void
and the Eldest Dark - a phrase in perfect agreement of course with the
Ambarkanta - was retained (p. 154). This is a central difficulty in
relation to the Ainulindale', where it is made as plain as could be
wished that Ea came into being in the Void, it was globed amid the
Void ($$11, 20, and see pp. 37 - 8); how then can the Walls of Arda
'fence out the Void and the Eldest Darkness'?
A possible explanation, of a sort, may be hinted at in the words
cited above from AAm $17: Melkor gathered spirits out of the voids
of Ea. It may be that, although AAm is not far distant in time from the
last version (D) of the Ainulindale', my father's conception did not in
fact now accord entirely with what he had written there; that (as I
suggested, p. 39) he was now thinking of Arda as being 'set within an
indefinite vastness in which all "Creation" is comprehended', rather
than of a bounded Ea itself set 'amid the Void'. Then, beyond the
Walls of the Night, the bounds of Arda, stretch 'the voids of Ea'.
But this suggestion does not, of course, clear up all the problems,
ambiguities, and apparent contradictions in the cosmology of the later
period, which have been discussed earlier.
I have mentioned (p. 47) that there exists a typescript of the early
part of AAm that is quite distinct from the amanuensis typescript of
the whole work. I was unaware of its existence when the text of The
Silmarillion was prepared for publication. It was taken directly from
and closely based upon the AAm manuscript, and was certainly made
by my father, who introduced changes from the manuscript as he
typed. It has in fact a great many such changes, mostly minor or very
minor, but also some important alterations and additions; and it does
not include the section Of the Beginning of Time and its Reckoning.
None of these changes appear in the emendations made to the
amanuensis typescript or its carbon copy, except the removal of the
section on the Reckoning of Time (p. 68).
I will refer to this text as 'AAm*'. There seems no way to determine
with certainty when it was made, and I can only record my feeling that
it belongs with the writing of the AAm manuscript rather than to some
later time. At any rate my father soon abandoned it (see p. 80). It may
be that having set it aside he forgot about it, or lost it; and when the
opportunity arose to have the work typed by a secretary who was a
trained typist (as appears to be the case) he simply handed over the
AAm manuscript as it stood (including therefore the section on the
Reckoning of Time, although in AAm* he had cut this out).
I give now the noteworthy changes in AAm* (which extends a short
way beyond the point reached in this first section; for the remainder of
the text see pp. 79 - 80).
The preamble
Here begin the 'Annals of Aman'. Rumil made them in the Elder
Days, and they were held in memory by the Exiles. Those parts
which we learned and remembered were thus set down in Numenor
before the Shadow fell upon it.
This is especially interesting since it shows a different mode of
transmission from the 'Pengolod - AElfwine' tradition: the Annals are
conceived as a written work made in Numenor, deriving from the
'Exiles', the Noldor in Middle-earth, who themselves derived it from
the work of Rumil. The idea that Numenor was an essential element in
the transmission of the legends of the Elder Days will reappear (see
especially pp. 370, 373-4, 401-2).
$1 For 'chieftains of the Valar' AAm* has 'lords of the Valar', and
subsequently. Lorien was changed in pencil on the typescript to
Lorion (but not in the passage cited under $3 below).
$2 In AAm the old phrase 'Manwe and Melkor were most puissant
and were brethren' was preserved, but AAm* has here:
Melkor and Manwe were brethren in the thought of Eru, and
the eldest of their kind, and their power was equal and greater
than that of all others who dwelt in Arda. Manwe is King of
the Valar...
It is said in the later Ainulindale' ($$5, 9) that Melkor was the
mightiest of the Ainur, and this in fact goes back to the pre-Lord
of the Rings text B of the Ainulindale' (see V.164 note 4 for the
different statements made on this subject). Later in AAm (p. 97,
$102) Feanor 'shut the doors of his house in the face of the
mightiest of all the dwellers in Ea'.
This text has 'Orome and Tulkas were the youngest in the
thought of Eru' where AAm has 'younger'.
$3 There is a strange mixture of present and past tenses in this
passage: thus 'Vana the fair is the wife of Orome', 'Vaire the
Weaver dwells with Mandos', but 'No spouse had Ulmo, nor
Melkor', 'No lord had Nienna', 'the wife of Lorien was Este the
Pale'. On this question see pp. 204-5.
It is not now said that Vana (marked Vana at the first
occurrence but not subsequently) was the sister of Yavanna (see
p. 59).
As typed, the passage beginning 'No lord had Nienna' (spelt
thus, not Nienna, at all occurrences in AAm*) ran thus:
No lord had Nienna, queen of Shadow, Manwe's sister. The
wife of Tulkas was Nessa the Young; and the wife of Lorien
was Este the Pale. These do not sit in the councils of the Valar
but are the highest among the Maiar.
In AAm it is said of Este alone that 'she goes not to the councils
of the Valar', and her name does not appear in the list of the
queens of the Valar: she is 'the chief of the Maiar'. In the present
text, despite the exclusion of Nessa also from the councils, and
the statement that she and Este 'are the highest among the
Maiar', her name still stands in the list of the queens. Contem-
porary emendations to the typescript produced this remarkable
change:
No lord had Nienna, Manwe's sister; nor Nessa the Ever-
maid. The wife of Tulkas was Lea the Young; and the wife of
Lorien was Este the Pale...
The text then continues as before, so that the two who do not sit
in the councils of the Valar and are 'the highest among the
Maiar' become Lea and Este. There is no trace of this develop-
ment in any other text, but Lea appears again in AAm* as the
text was typed (see under $18 below).
$4 This paragraph was substantially extended:
With these great powers came many other spirits of the
same kind, begotten in the thought of Eru before the making
of Ea, but having less might and authority. These are the
Maiar, the people of the Valar; they are beautiful, but their
number is not known and few have names among Elves or
Men.
There are also those whom we call the Valarindi, who are
the Children of the Valar, begotten of their love after their
entry into Ea. They are the elder children of the World; and
though their being began within Ea, yet they are of the race of
the Ainur, who were before the world, and they have power
and rank below that of the Valar only.
$12 At the end of this paragraph AAm* adds: 'So passed many years
of the Valar in strife.'
$14 The date V.Y.1900 of the setting up of the Lamps is omitted in
AAm*.
$15 AAm* retains the words of AAm, 'and there was great growth
of trees and herbs, and beasts and birds came forth ...' See
the commentary on this passage, p. 60: the reference to the
appearance of birds and flowers at this time was removed from
Ainulindale' D by what looks to be a fairly early change in the
text, and there is in this a suggestion that the two versions of the
opening of the Annals of Aman belong fairly closely together
(see p. 64).
$17 This paragraph underwent several modifications:
Now Melkor knew all that was done; for even then he had
secret friends among the Maiar, whom he had converted to
his cause, whether in the first playing of the Ainulindale or
afterwards in Ea. Of these the chief, as afterwards became
known, was Sauron, a great craftsman of the household of
Aule. Thus far off in the dark places of Ea, to which he had
retreated, Melkor was filled with new hatred, being jealous of
the work of his peers, whom he desired to make subject
to himself. Therefore he had gathered to himself spirits out of
the voids of Ea who served him, until he deemed that he was
strong; and seeing now his time he drew near to Arda again;
and he looked down upon it, and the beauty of the Earth in its
Spring filled him with wonder, but because it was not his, he
resolved to destroy it.
$18 Here Tulkas' wife Lea the Young appears again, in the text as
typed and not by emendation (see under $3 above), named now
Lea-vinya ('Lea the Young'):
It is told that in that feast of the Spring of Arda Tulkas
espoused Lea-vinya, fairest of the maidens of Yavanna, and
Vana robed her in flowers that came then first to their
opening; and she danced before the Valar...
On the reference to the first flowers see under $15 above.
$19 AAm* has 'the Walls of Night' for 'the Walls of the Night', and
again in $23.
$20 Now Melkor began the delving and building of a vast
fortress deep under the Earth, [struck out: beneath the roots
of] far from the light of Illuin; and he raised great mountains
above his halls. That stronghold was after called Utumno the
Deep-hidden; and though the Valar for a long time knew
nothing of it...
In AAm Utumno was delved 'beneath dark mountains'; the new
text, in which Melkor raised mountains above it (as Thangorod-
rim above Angband), arose in the act of typing.
$21 Where AAm has 'And he assailed the lights of Illuin and Ormal'
AAm* has:
He came down like a black storm from the North, and he
assailed the lights of Illuin and Ormal.
$22 The conclusion of this paragraph in AAm, 'who were yet to
come in a time that was hidden from the Valar', is omitted in
AAm*.
$23 The word 'gods' was removed in AAm* at both occurrences: at
the beginning of the paragraph 'the gods had no abiding place'
becomes 'they had', and near the end 'for the gods dwelt there'
becomes 'for the Servants of Iluvatar dwelt there'.
The Land of Aman was 'upon the borders of the ancient
world' (i.e. the world before the Cataclysm); 'upon the borders
of the world' AAm. The passage concerning Taniquetil was
changed to read thus:
But above all the mountains of the Pelori was that height
which was named Taniquetil Oiolosse, the gleaming peak of
Everwhite, upon whose summit Manwe set his throne, before
the doors of the domed halls of Varda.
$25 In AAm it is said that 'the Valar built their city'; AAm* has:
... in the midst of the plain west of the Pelori Aule and his
people built for them a fair city. That city they named Valimar
the Blessed.
This reappears from the Lost Tales; cf. 1.77: 'Now have I
recounted the manner of the dwellings of all the great Gods
which Aule of his craftsmanship raised in Valinor.' - This is the
first occurrence of the form Valimar (again in $$26, 28 of this
text).
$26 After the words 'But Nienna sat silent in thought, and her tears
fell upon the mould' there is a footnote in the new version:
For it is said that even in the Music Nienna took little part,
but listened intent to all that she heard. Therefore she was rich
in memory, and farsighted, perceiving how the themes should
unfold in the Tale of Arda. But she had little mirth, and all her
love was mingled with pity, grieving for the harms of the
world and for the things that failed of fulfilment. So great was
her ruth, it is said, that she could not endure to the end of the
Music. Therefore she has not the hope of Manwe. He is more
farseeing; but Pity is the heart of Nienna.
On this passage see p. 388 and note 2. The statement here that
Nienna 'could not endure to the end of the Music', and that
'therefore she has not the hope of Manwe', is very striking; but
it is not said in what Manwe's hope lies. It may possibly be
relevant to recall the pengolod footnote to Ainulindale' D, $19
(p. 31):
And some have said that the Vision ceased ere the fulfilment
of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn;
wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not
seen as with sight the Later Ages or the ending of the World.
$28 For 'hoarded in mighty vats' AAm* has 'hoarded in deep pools'.
*
It remains to consider the very, few emendations made to the
amanuensis typescript of AAm in this opening section, and those
(almost entirely different) made to the carbon copy. These changes
were hasty, and casual, in no sense a real revision of the work. They
were made at some later time which I am unable to define; but they
have the effect of bringing the opening of AAm into agreement with
the latest form of the other tradition, proceeding from QS chapter 1
'Of the Valar' and ultimately issuing in the short independent work
Valaquenta.
On the top copy of the typescript not only was the section on the
Reckoning of Time struck through (see p. 64) but also the compressed
account of the Valar at the beginning: a note on the covering page of
the text directs that the Annals are to start at the First Year of the
Valar in Arda ($11 in this book). But pencilled changes had been made
to $$1-4 before this:
$1 'nine chieftains' > 'seven chieftains'; Osse and Melkor were
struck from the list. On the removal of Osse see p. 91, $70.
$2 The word 'also' added in 'The queens of the Valar are also
seven'; Este added, and Uinen removed, so that the list becomes
'Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Este, Vaire, Vana, and Nessa'.
$3 'Varda was Manwe's spouse from the beginning' > 'Varda was
Manwe's spouse from the beginning of Arda'
'and Uinen, lady of the seas, is the spouse of Osse' was struck
out (a consequence simply of Osse's being no longer numbered
among the 'chieftains').
'Manwe's sister and Melkor's' (of Nienna) was struck out.
'but she goes not to the councils of the Valar and is not
accounted among the rulers of Arda, but is the chief of the
Maiar' (of Este) was struck out (a consequence of Este's now
being included in the 'queens').
$4 'And with them are numbered also the Valarindi ...' to the end
of the paragraph was struck out (see below).
$28 'mighty vats' > 'shining wells' (cf. the change made in AAm*,
p. 68).
Quite distinct changes were made on the carbon copy in this section
on the Valar. In $3 'the wife of Orome' and 'Tulkas' wife' were
changed to the spouse of Orome and Tulkas spouse,. No lord hath
Nienna' was changed to 'No companion hath Nienna'; and in the
margin against these changes my father wrote:
Note that 'spouse' meant only an 'association'. The Valar had no
bodies, but could assume shapes. After the coming of the Eldar they
most often used shapes of 'human' form, though taller (not gigantic)
and more magnificent.
At the same time the passage concerning the Valarindi, the Children of
the Valar, at the end of $4 was struck out (as it was also on the top
copy), since this note is a most definitive statement that any such
conception was out of the question.
A few other pencillings were made at subsequent points in the
carbon copy:
$20 Against Utumno is pencilled: 'Utupnu V TUI? cover over, hide';
with this cf. AAm* $20 (p. 67): 'that stronghold was after called
Utumno the Deep-hidden', and see the Etymologies (V.394),
stem TUB, where the original form of the name is given as
* Utubnu.
$23 Where the word 'gods' was replaced by 'the Servants of Iluvatar'
in AAm* (p. 67) my father corrected it on the carbon copy of
the typescript to 'the Deathless'. At the occurrence of 'gods' at
the beginning of the paragraph he made the same change (to
'they') as in AAm*.
$25 After 'a green mound' is added Ezellohar; and in $26 Ezellohar
replaces 'that Green Mound'.
Second section of the Annals of Aman.
Here begins a new Reckoning in the Light of the Trees.
1*
$30 For one thousand years of the Trees the Valar dwelt in
bliss in Valinor beyond the Mountains of Aman, and all
Middle-earth lay in a twilight under the stars. Thither the Valar
seldom came, save only Yavanna and Orome; and Yavanna
often would walk there in the shadows, grieving because all the
growth and promise of the Spring of Arda was checked. And she
set a sleep upon many fair things that had arisen in the Spring,
both tree and herb and beast and bird, so that they should not
age but should wait for a time of awakening that yet should he.
But Melkor dwelt in Utumno, and he slept not, but watched,
and laboured; and the evil things that he had perverted walked
abroad, and the dark and slumbering woods were haunted by
monsters and shapes of dread. And in Utumno he wrought the
race of demons whom the Elves after named the Balrogs. But
these came not yet from the gates of Utumno, because of the
watchfulness of Orome.
$31 Now Orome dearly loved all the works of Yavanna,
and he was ever ready to her bidding. And for this reason, and
because he desired at whiles to ride in forests greater and wider
than the friths of Valinor, he would often come also to
Middle-earth, and there go a-hunting under the stars. Then his
white horse, Nahar, shone like silver in the shadows; and the
sleeping earth trembled at the beat of his golden hooves. And
Orome would blow his mighty horn, whereat the mountains
shook, and things of evil fled away; but Melkor quailed in
Utumno and dared not venture forth. For it is said that even as
his malice grew, and the strength of his hatred, so the heart of
Melkor failed; and with all his knowledge and his might and his
many servants he became craven, giving battle only to those of
little strength, tormenting the weak, and trusting ever to his
slaves and creatures to do his evil work. Yet ever his dominion
spread southward over Middle-earth, for even as Orome passed
the servants of Melkor would gather again; and the Earth was
full of shadows and deceit.
(* Pencilled beside '1' is 'YT' (Year of the Trees), and also 'YV 3501' (i.e.
Year of the Valar). - The 'YT' dates were very frequently changed on the
manuscript, and it is in places very difficult to interpret the changes; I give only
the final forms (see pp. 47 - 8).)
1000.
$32 It came to pass that the Valar held council, for they
became troubled by the tidings that Yavanna and Orome
brought from the Outer Lands. And Yavanna spoke before the
Valar, and foretold that the coming of the Children of Iluvatar
was drawing nigh, albeit the hour and the place of that coming
was known only to Iluvatar. And Yavanna besought Manwe to
give light to Middle-earth, for the stay of the evils of Melkor
and the comfort of the Children; and Orome and Tulkas spoke
likewise, being eager for war with Utumno.
$33 But Mandos spoke and said that though the Coming
was prepared it should not yet be for many Years; and the Elder
Children should come in the darkness and look first upon the
Stars. For so it was ordained.
$34 Then Varda went forth from the council, and she
looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the
darkness of the Earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and
far. Then she began a great labour, the greatest of all the works
of the Valar since their coming unto Arda.
1000-1050.
$35 Now Varda took the light that issued from Telperion
and was stored in Valinor and she made stars newer and
brighter. And many other of the ancient stars she gathered
together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda. The greatest of
these was Menelmakar, the Swordsman of the Sky. This, it is
said, was a sign of Turin Turambar, who should come into the
world, and a foreshowing of the Last Battle that shall be at the
end of Days.
1050.
$36 Last of all Varda made the sign of bright stars that is
called the Valakirka, the Sickle of the Gods, and this she hung
about the North as a threat unto Utumno and a token of the
doom of Melkor.
$37 In that hour, it is said, the Quendi, the Elder Children
of Iluvatar, awoke: these Men have named the Elves, and many
other names. By the Waters of Awakening, Kuivienen, they rose
'from the sleep of Iluvatar and their eyes beheld first of all things
the stars of heaven. Therefore they have ever loved the starlight,
and have revered Varda Elentarie above all the Valar.
$38 In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of
seas have been broken and remade; rivers have not kept their
courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to
Kuivienen there is no returning. But it is said among the Quendi
that it lay far off in Middle-earth, eastward of Endon (which is
the midmost point) and northward; and it was a bay in the
Inland Sea of Helkar. And that sea stood where aforetime the
roots of the mountain of Illuin had been ere Melkor overthrew
it. Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the East,
and the first sound that was heard by the ears of the Elves was
the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over
stone.
$39 Long the Quendi dwelt in their first home by the water
under stars and they walked the Earth in wonder; and they
began to make speech and to give names to all things that they
perceived. And they named themselves the Quendi, signifying
those that speak with voices; for as yet they had met no other
living things that spoke or sang.
$40 At this time also, it is said, Melian, fairest of the Maiar,
desiring to look upon the stars, went up upon Taniquetil; and
suddenly she desired to see Middle-earth, and she left Valinor
and walked in the twilight.
1085.
$41 And when the Elves had dwelt in the world five and
thirty Years of the Valar (which is like unto three hundred and
thirty-five of our years) it chanced that Orome rode to Endon in
his hunting, and he turned north by the shores of Helkar and
passed under the shadows of the Orokarni, the Mountains of
the East. And on a sudden Nahar set up a great neighing and
then stood still. And Orome wondered and sat silent, and it
seemed to him that in the quiet of the land under the stars he
heard afar off many voices singing.
$42 Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by
chance, those whom they had so long awaited. And when
Orome looked upon them he was filled with wonder, as though
they were things unforeseen and unimagined; and he loved the
Quendi, and named them Eldar, the people of the stars.
The original manuscript page was interpolated at this point, a
passage being written in the-margin as follows:
Yet by after-knowledge the masters of lore say sadly that Orome
was not, mayhap, the first of the Great Ones to look upon the Elves.
for Melkor was on the watch, and his spies were many. And it is
thought that lurking near his servants had led astray some of the
Quendi that ventured afield, and they took them as captives to
Utumno, and there enslaved them. Of these slaves it is held came the
Orkor that were afterward chief foes of the Eldar. And Melkor's lies
were soon abroad, so that whispers were heard among the Quendi,
warning them that if any of their kindred passed away into the
shadows and were seen no more, they must beware of a fell
huntsman on a great horse, for he it was that carried them off to
devour them. Hence it was that at the approach of Orome many of
the Quendi fled and hid themselves.
The original text then continues, with a new date 1086, 'Swiftly
Orome rode back to Valinor and brought tidings to the Valar' (see $46
below). But the interpolated passage just given was subsequently
replaced on a new page by the following long and important passage
$$43 - 5 (found in the typescript as typed):
$43 Yet many of the Quendi were adread at his coming.
This was the doing of Melkor. For by after-knowledge the
masters of lore say that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware
of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil
spirits to watch and waylay them. So it came to pass, some years
ere the coming of Orome, that if any of the Elves strayed far
abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish and
never return; and the Quendi said that the Hunter had caught
them, and they were afraid. Even so, in the most ancient songs
of our people, of which some echoes are remembered still in the
West, we hear of the shadow-shapes that walked in the hills
about Kuivienen, or would pass suddenly over the stars; and of
the dark Rider upon his wild horse that pursued those that
wandered to take them and devour them. Now Melkor greatly
hated and feared the riding of Orome, and either verily he sent
his dark servants as riders, or he set lying whispers abroad, for
the purpose that the Quendi should shun Orome, if ever haply
they met.
$44 Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Orome
indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves,
and some fled and were lost. But those that had the courage to
stay perceived swiftly that the Great Rider was noble and fair
and no shape out of Darkness; for the Light of Aman was in his
face, and all the noblest of the Quendi were drawn towards it.
545 But of those hapless who were ensnared by Melkor little
is known of a certainty. For who of the living hath descended
into the pits of Utumno, or hath explored the darkness of the
counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressea:
that all those of the Quendi that came into the hands of Melkor,
ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow
arts of cruelty and wickedness were corrupted and enslaved.
Thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orkor in envy and
mockery of the Eldar, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest
foes. For the Orkor had life and multiplied after the manner of
the Children of Iluvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor
the semblance thereof, could ever Melkor make since his
rebellion in the Ainulindale before the Beginning: so say the wise.
And deep in their dark hearts the Orkor loathed the Master
whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. This
maybe was the vilest deed of Melkor and the most hateful to Eru.
1086.
$46 Orome tarried a while among the Quendi, and then
swiftly he rode back to Valinor and brought the tidings to the
Valar. And he spoke of the shadows that troubled Kuivienen.
Then the Valar sat in council and debated long what it were best
to do for the guarding of the Quendi; but Orome returned at once
to Middle-earth and abode with the Elves.
1090.
$47 Manwe sat long in thought upon Taniquetil, and he
resolved at the last to make war upon Melkor, though Arda
should receive yet more hurts in that strife. For the first time,
therefore, the Valar assailed Melkor, not he the Valar, and they
came forth to war in all their might, and they defeated him
utterly. This they did on behalf of the Elves, and Melkor knew it
well, and forgot it not.
1090-2
$48 Melkor met the onset of the Valar in the North-west of
Middle-earth, and all that region was much broken. But this first
victory of the hosts of the West was swift and easy, and the
servants of Melkor fled before them to Utumno. Then the Valar
marched over Middle-earth, and they set a guard over Kuivienen;
and thereafter the Quendi knew naught of the Great War of the
Gods, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and
the waters were moved; and in the North there were lights as of
mighty fires. But after two years the Valar passed into the far
North and began the long siege of Utumno.
1092-1100.
$49 That siege was long and grievous, and many battles were
fought before its gates of which naught but the rumour is known
to the Quendi. Middle-earth was sorely shaken in that time, and
the Great Sea that sundered it from Aman grew wide and deep.
And the lands of the far North were all made desolate in those
days, and so have ever remained; for there Utumno was delved
exceeding deep, and its pits and caverns reached out far beneath
the earth, and they were filled with fires and with great hosts of
the servants of Melkor.
1099.
$50 It came to pass that at last the gates of Utumno were
broken and its halls unroofed, and Melkor took refuge in the
uttermost pit. Thence, seeing that all was lost (for that time), he
sent forth on a sudden a host of Balrogs, the last of his servants
that remained, and they assailed the standard of Manwe, as it
were a tide of flame. But they were withered in the wind of his
wrath and slain with the lightning of his sword; and Melkor
stood at last alone. Then, since he was but one against many,
Tulkas stood forth as champion of the Valar and wrestled with
him and cast him upon his face, and bound him with the chain
Angainor. Thus ended the first war of the West upon the North.
Commentary on the second section of the
Annals of Aman.
(There are no textual notes to this section of the text.) In the portion
given above the Annals of Aman correspond to the opening of Chap-
ter 3 Of the Coming of the Elves in the other or 'Silmarillion' tradition
(QS $$18 - 21, V.211 - 13). Contemporary (more or less) with the
writing of the Annals of Aman was the major revision of the Quenta
Silmarillion, but here comparison must obviously be restricted to the
pre-Lord of the Rings text, together with AV 2, annals V.Y.1000 -
1990 (V.111 - 12).
$30 In AAm there is now recounted the laying by Yavanna of a sleep
on living things that had awoken in the Spring of Arda, of which
there is no trace in QS (or in the later rewritings).
The making of the Balrogs is then mentioned; and while in
AAm ($17) the account of Melkor's 'host', spirits 'out of the
voids of Ea' and 'secret friends and spies among the Maiar', is
fuller than in the other tradition at any stage, the Balrogs are
still firmly stated to be demons of his own making, and
moreover to have been made in Utumno at this time. On the
conception of Balrogs in AAm see further under $$42 - 5, 50 in
this commentary, and especially p. 79, $30.
$31 That Orome's horse was white and shod with gold is stated in
QS ($24) and Q ($2), but this is the first appearance of the
horse's name Nahar. Orome is here represented as a guardian
presence in Middle-earth, to such an extent even that the
Balrogs did not issue from Utumno on account of him ($30); cf.
AV 2 (V.111) 'Morgoth withdrew before his horn'.
$$34 - 6 On the two star-makings see p. 61, $24. There is here the
remarkable statement that Menelmakar (Orion) was 'a sign of
Turin Turambar, who should come into the world, and a
foreshowing of the Last Battle that shall be at the end of
Days.' This is a reference to the Second Prophecy of Mandos (in
the Quenta, IV.165):
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 Fionwe and on his left Turin Turambar, son of
Hurin, Conqueror of Fate, coming from the halls of Mandos;
and it shall be the black sword of Turin that deals unto Melko
his death and final end; and so shall the children of Hurin and
all Men be avenged.
The Quenya name Menelmacar is mentioned in Appendix E (I)
to The Lord of the Rings; in The Fellowship of the Ring (p. 91)
appears the Sindarin form: the Swordsman of the Sky, Menel-
vagor with his shining belt'.
$37 That the Elves awoke at the first shining of the Sickle of the
Gods is told in AV 2 (V.111); 'at the opening of the first stars'
QS 520.
$38 The reference to the site of Kuivienen is interesting. Of this no
more is said in the other tradition than that it lay 'in the East
of the Middle-earth' (QS $20, preserved throughout the later
texts). In AAm Kuivienen lay N.E. of Endon, the midmost point.
In the list of names accompanying the Ambarkanta (IV.241)
appears 'ambar-endya or Middle Earth of which Endor is
the midmost point', and Endor is written over the centre of the
middle-land in the Ambarkanta diagrams (IV.243, 245) - on the
map (IV.248 - 9) it is marked as a point: 'Endor Earth-middle',
and here it was corrected to Endon, the form in the present
passage of AAm, though later changed back again to Endor (so
also on the typescript of AAm my father corrected Endon to
Endor here and in $41, p. 80). See IV.254 - 5.
In AAm Kuivienen was 'a bay in the Inland Sea of Helkar'; in
QS it is 'the starlit mere' (so also in Q), which was retained in
the later texts. On the Ambarkanta map it is shown to the N.E.
of Endor (Endon), and is marked at the eastern side of the Sea of
Helkar; in the text it is 'beside the waters of Helkar' (IV.239). It
is not clear whether these various statements show one and the
same conception. Here in AAm is the first reference to the Sea of
Helkar (formed after the fall of the northern Lamp) since the
Ambarkanta - in which text the Lamp itself was called Helkar;
see IV.256.
$39 Cf. QS $20: 'For a while [Orome] abode with them, and taught
them the language of the Gods, from whence afterwards they
made the fair Elvish speech', and the Lhammas (V.168): 'of
[Orome] they learned after their capacity the speech of the
Valar; and all the tongues that have been derived thence may be
called Oromian or Quendian'. It is now said in AAm that the
Quendi had achieved language, and that they gave names 'to all
things that they perceived', before ever Orome came upon them
(which was 335 Years of the Sun since their awakening). Cf.
Gilfanon's Tale in The Book of Lost Tales (I.232): 'Now the
Eldar or Qendi had the gift of speech direct from Iluvatar'.
$40 This paragraph was interpolated into the manuscript; it appears
in the typescript as typed. The placing of Melian's departure at
this time derives from the Annals of Valinor (IV.264, V.111); in
QS ($31) it is said that she 'often strayed from Valinor on long
journey into the Hither Lands'. The meaning of the words of
AAm, that Melian, 'desiring to look upon the stars, went up
upon Taniquetil', is presumably that she climbed on Taniquetil's
eastern slopes, where the light of the Trees was hidden.
$41 As noted in IV.256, the statement that Orome turned north by
the shores of Helkar and passed under the shadows of the
Orokarni, the Mountains of the East' agrees perfectly with the
Ambarkanta map (IV.249; on the map the Orokarni are named
Red Mountains).
'He heard afar off many voices singing': cf. QS $20: 'But
Orome came upon them ... while they dwelt yet silent beside
the starlit mere, Kuivienen'. See under $39 above.
$42 QS ($20) has here the extraordinary statement that 'Orome
looking upon the Elves was filled with love and wonder; for
their coming was not in the Music of the Ainur, and was hidden
in the secret thought of Iluvatar'; see my discussion of this
passage, V.216 - 17.
On the history of the meaning of the name Eldar see the
references to this given under the entry Eldar in the Index to
Vol.V.
($42 - 5 The origin of the Orcs. The first appearance of the idea that
their origin was connected with the Elves is in QS $18, and later
in QS ($62) it is said that when Morgoth returned to Middle-
earth after the destruction of the Trees
he brought into being the race of the Orcs, and they grew and
multiplied in the bowels of the earth. These Orcs Morgoth
made in envy and mockery of the Elves, and they were made
of stone, but their hearts of hatred.
(For my father's changing views concerning the time of the
origin of the Orcs in the chronology of the Elder Days see
IV.314, V.238.) In the interpolation into the manuscript of
AAm and its subsequent rewriting and extension (pp. 72 - 4)
there appears, together with the story of the Rider who was
rumoured to carry off the Quendi if they strayed, the theory that
Melkor bred the Orcs (here called Orkor) 'in envy and mockery
of the Eldar' from Quendi enslaved in the east of Middle-earth
before ever Orome came upon them. It is explicit ($45) that
Melkor could make nothing that had life of its own since his
rebellion; but this is in sharp contradiction to $30, where it is
said that 'in Utumno he wrought the race of demons whom the
Elves after named the Balrogs'. I do not think that the interpola-
tion in which the former of these statements appears was made
after any very long interval: my father's views on this subject
seem to have been changing swiftly, and a different account of
the origin of the Balrogs is found in the soon abandoned type-
script which I have called AAm* (see p. 79, $30). The retention
of the statement in $30, despite its contradiction to that in $45,
was no doubt due to oversight, and both appear in the main
typescript of AAm. - See further on the question of the origin
of the Orcs p. 123, $127, and pp. 408 ff.
$47 The words 'For the first time, therefore, the Valar assailed
Melkor, not he the Valar' show that the story in the Ainulindale
that the Valar came against him out of Valinor after the fall of
the Lamps had been abandoned (p. 61, $22).
$49 On the changes in the Earth at the time of the Great War of the
Gods as described in the Ambarkanta see IV.239. While the two
texts are not necessarily contradictory, it is curious that it
should be said in AAm that at this time 'the Great Sea that
sundered [Middle-earth] from Aman grew wide and deep'; for
in the Ambarkanta (ibid., and see the map, IV.249) the much
greater width of the Western Sea than that of the Eastern came
about at the time of the foundation of Valinor:
For their further protection the Valar thrust away Middle-
earth at the centre and crowded it eastward, so that it was
bended, and the great sea of the West is very wide in the
middle, the widest of all waters of the Farth. The shape of the
Earth in the East was much like that in the West, save for the
narrowing of the Eastern Sea, and the thrusting of the land
thither.
$50 It is notable that the Balrogs were still at this time, when The
Lord of the Rings had been completed, conceived to have
existed in very large numbers (Melkor sent forth 'a host of
Balrogs'); see p. 80, $50.
*
The typescript text (AAm*) which my father began but soon aban-
doned continues for a little way beyond the point reached in the first
section (p. 68). Significant differences from AAm are as follows:
$30 But Melkor dwelt in Utumno, and he did not sleep, but
watched and laboured; and whatsoever good Yavanna work-
ed in the lands he undid if he could, and the evil things that he
had perverted walked far abroad, and the dark and slumber-
ing woods were haunted by monsters and shapes of dread.
And in Utumno he multiplied the race of the evil spirits that
followed him, the Umaiar, of whom the chief were those
demons whom the Elves afterwards named the Balrogath. But
they did not yet come forth from the gates of Utumno because
of their fear of Orome.
The latter part of this passage is of much interest as showing a
marked development from the idea that Melkor 'made' the
Balrogs at this time (see p. 78). They now become 'evil spirits
(Umaiar) that followed him' - but he could 'multiply' them. The
term Umaiar, not met before, stands to Maiar as Uvanimor to
Vanimor (see IV.293, footnote).
$31 ... and there would go a-hunting under the stars. He had
great love of horses and of hounds, but all beasts were in his
thought, and he hunted only the monsters and fell creatures of
Melkor. If he descried them afar or his great hounds got
wind of them, then his white horse, Nahar, shone like silver as
it ran through the shadows, and the sleeping earth trembled at
the beat of his golden hooves. And at the mort Orome would
blow his great horn, until the mountains shook...
mort: the horn-call blown at the kill.
... and trusting ever to his slaves to do his evil work. [his
slaves and creatures, AAm]
$32 It came to pass that Manwe summoned the Valar to
council, for they were troubled by the tidings that Yavanna
and Orome brought from the Outer Lands, saying that if
Melkor were left longer to work his will unhindered, all
Middle-earth would fall into ruin irretrievable; and Manwe
knew moreover that the coming of the Children of Iluvatar
was now drawing near, although the very hour and place of
their coming was known only to Iluvatar himself. And
Manwe spoke of this to the Valar; and Yavanna besought him
to give light to Middle-earth, for the stay of the evils of
Melkor and the comfort of the Children; and
Here the typescript AAm* ends, at the foot of a page. Once again,
what began as a copy was changing with gathering speed into a new
version. But I see no reason to think that any more of it ever existed.
*
1
It remains to record a very few late scribbled changes and notes
made on one or other copy of the typescript of the whole text.
$$38, 41 Endon > Endor (see p. 76, $38).
$42 'and named them Eldar, the people of the stars' > 'and called
them the people of the stars'. In the margin my father wrote (i.e.
with reference to the original text): 'but he could not - [?as this]
was later Quenya.'
$43 Against the middle portion of this paragraph is a note in the
margin: 'Alter this. Orcs are not Elvish.' See pp. 408 ff.
$50 'a host of Balrogs, the last of his servants that remained' ) 'his
Balrogs, the last of his servants that remained faithful to him'. In
the margin my father wrote: 'There should not he supposed
more than say 3 or at most 7 ever existed.' See p. ?9, $50.
Third section of the Annals of Aman.
1100.
The Chaining of Melkor.
$51 Then the Valar returned to the Land of Aman, and
Melkor was led captive, bound hand and foot and blindfold;
and he was brought to the Ring of Doom. There he lay upon his
face before the feet of Manwe, and he sued for pardon and
freedom, recalling his kinship with Manwe. But his prayer was
denied, and it is said that in that hour the Valar would fain have
put him to death. But death none can deal to any of the race of
the Valar, neither can any, save Eru only, remove them from Ea,
the World that is, be they willing or unwilling. Therefore
Manwe cast Melkor into prison, and he was shut in the fastness
of Mandos, whence none can escape.
$52 And the Valar doomed Melkor there to abide for three
ages of Valinor, ere he should come forth again to be tried by his
peers, and sue once more for terms of pardon. And this was
done, and peace returned to the kingdom of Arda; and this was
the Noontide of the Blessed Realm. Yet many evil things yet
lingered in Middle-earth that had fled away from the wrath of
the Lords of the West, or lay hidden in the deeps of the earth.
For the vaults of Utumno were many, and hidden with deceit,
and not all were discovered by the Valar.
1101.
$53 Now the Valar sat again in council and debated what
they should do for the comfort and guidance of the Children of
Iluvatar. And at length, because of the great love that the Valar
had for the Quendi, they sent a summons to them, bidding them
to remove and dwell in bliss in Aman and in the Light of the
Trees. And Orome bore the message of the Valar to Kuivienen.
1102.
$54 The Quendi were dismayed by the summons of the
Valar, and they were unwilling to depart from Middle-earth.
Therefore Orome was sent again to them, and he chose from
among them ambassadors who should go to Valinor and speak
for their people. And three only of the chieftains of the Quendi
were willing to adventure the journey: Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe,
who afterward were kings.
$55 The three Elf-lords were brought, therefore, to Valmar,
and there spoke with Manwe and the Valar; and they were filled
with awe, but the beauty and splendour of the land of Valinor
overcame their fear, and they desired the Light of the Trees.
1104.
$56 And after they had dwelt in Valinor a while, Orome
brought them back to Kuivienen, and they spoke before their
people and counselled them to heed the summons of the Valar
and remove into the West.
1105.
$57 Then befell the first sundering of the Elvenfolk. For the
kindred of Ingwe, and the most part of the kindreds of Finwe
and Olwe, were swayed by the words of their lords, and were
willing to depart and follow Orome. And these were known
ever after as the Eldar, by the name that Orome gave to them in
their own tongue. But the kindreds of Morwe and Nurwe were
unwilling and refused the summons, preferring the starlight and
the wide spaces of the Earth to the rumour of the Trees. Now
these dwelt furthest from the waters of Kuivienen, and wan-
dered in the hills, and they had not seen Orome at his first
coming, and of the Valar they knew no more than shapes and
rumours of wrath and power as they marched to war. And
mayhap the lies of Melkor concerning Orome and Nahar (that
above were recalled) lived still among them, so that they feared
him as a demon that would devour them.(1) These are the Avari,
the Unwilling, and they were sundered in that time from the
Eldar, and met never again until many ages were past.
$58 The Eldar now prepared for their Great March, and
they went in three hosts. First came the Vanyar, the most eager
for the road, the people of Ingwe. Next came the Noldor, a
greater host (though some remained behind), the people of
Finwe. Last came the Teleri, and they were the least eager. Yet
their host that began the March was greatest of all, and they had
therefore two lords: Elwe Singollo, and Olwe his brother. And
when all was made ready Orome rode before them upon Nahar,
white in the starlight. And they began their long journey and
passed by the Sea of Helkar ere they bent somewhat westward.(2)
And it is said that before them great clouds hung still black in
the North above the ruins of war, and the stars in that region
were hidden. Then not a few grew afraid and repented and
turned back and are forgotten.
1115.
$59 Long and slow was the March of the Eldar into the
West, for the leagues of Middle-earth were uncounted, and
weary and pathless. Nor did the Eldar desire to hasten, for they
were filled with wonder at all that they saw, and by many lands
and rivers they would fain abide; and though all were yet
willing to wander, not a few rather feared their journey's end
than hoped for it. Therefore, whenever Orome departed, as at
times he would, having other matters to heed, they halted and
went forward no more until he returned to guide them.
$60 And it came to pass that after ten Years of journeying
in this manner (which is to say in such a time as we now should
reckon well nigh a century of our years) the Eldar passed
through a forest, and came to a great river, wider and broader
than any that they yet had seen, and beyond it were mountains
whose sharp horns seemed to pierce the realm of the stars.(3)
$61 This river, it is said, was even that river that was after
called Anduin the Great, and was ever the frontier of the West-
lands of Middle-earth. But the mountains were the Hithaeglir,
the Towers of Mist upon the borders of Eriador; yet they were
taller and more terrible in those days, and they were reared by
Melkor to hinder the riding of Orome.(4) Now the Teleri abode
long on the east-bank of-the River and wished to remain there,
but the Vanyar and the Noldor passed the River with the aid of
Orome, and he led them to the passes of the mountains.(5) And
when Orome was gone forward the Teleri looked upon the
shadowy heights and were afraid.
$62 Then one arose in the host of Olwe, which was ever
hindmost on the march, and his name was Nano (or Dan in the
tongue of his own people). And he forsook the westward march,
and led away a numerous folk, and they went south down the
River, and passed out of the knowledge of the Eldar until long
years were over. These were the Nandor.
1125.
$63 And when again ten years had passed, the Vanyar and
Noldor came at length over the mountains that stood between
Eriador and the westernmost land of Middle-earth, that the
Elves after named Beleriand. And the foremost companies
passed over the Vale of Sirion and came to the shores of the
Great Sea. Then great fear came upon them, and many repented
sorely of their journey and withdrew into the woods of
Beleriand. And Orome returned to Valinor to seek the counsel
of Manwe.
1128.
$64 Now the host of the Teleri came at last to Beleriand and
dwelt in the eastward region beyond the River Gelion. And they
came unwillingly, being urged by Elwe their king; for he was
eager indeed to return to Valinor and the light that he had
beheld (though his doom forbade it); and he wished not to be
sundered from the Noldor, for he had great friendship with
Finwe their lord.
1130.
$65 At this time Elwe strayed in the woods of Beleriand and
was lost, and his people sought him long in vain. For as he
journeyed homeward from a meeting with Finwe, he passed by
the borders of Nan Elmoth. There he heard the nightingales
singing, and he was spell-bound, for they were the birds of
Melian the Maia, who came from the gardens of Lorien in the
Blessed Realm. And Elwe followed the birds deep into Nan
Elmoth, and there he saw Melian standing in a glade open to
heaven, and a starlit mist was about her. Thus began the love of
Elwe Greymantle and Melian the fair; and he took her hand,
and it is said that thus they stood while the stars measured out
the courses of many Years, and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew
tall and dark about them.
1132.
$66 Now Ulmo, by the counsel of the Valar, came to the
shores of Middle-earth and spoke with the Eldar; and because
of his words and the music which he made for them upon his
conches their fear of the Sea was turned rather to desire.
Therefore Ulmo and his servants took an island which long had
stood alone amidst the Sea, since the tumults of the fall of Illuin,
and they moved it, and brought it to the grey bay of Balar, as it
were a mighty ship. And the Vanyar and the Noldor embarked
upon the isle, Eressea, and were drawn over the Sea, and came
at last to the land of Aman.(6) But the Teleri remained still in
Middle-earth; for many dwelt in East Beleriand and heard not
the summons of Ulmo until too late; and many searched yet for
Elwe Singollo, their king, and would not depart without him.
But when the Teleri learned that Ingwe and Finwe and their
peoples were gone, they pressed on to the shore, and there dwelt
in longing for their friends that had departed. And they took
Olwe, Elwe's brother, to be their king. And Osse and Uinen
came to them and befriended them and taught them all manner
of sea-lore and sea-music. Thus it came to be that the Teleri,
who were from the beginning lovers of water, and the fairest
singers of the Elvenfolk, were after enamoured of the seas, and
their songs were filled with the sound of the waves upon the
shore.
1133.
$67 In this Year the Vanyar and the Noldor came to Aman,
and the cleft of the Kalakiryan (7) was made in the Pelori; and the
Elves took possession of Eldamar, and began the building of
the green hill of Tuna in sight of the Sea. And upon Tuna they
raised the white walls of the Watchful City, Tirion the Hallowed.
1140.
$68 In this year Tirion was full-wrought, and the Tower of
Ingwe was built, Mindon Eldalieva, and its silver lamp was
kindled. But Ingwe and many of the Vanyar yearned for the
Light of the Trees, and he and many of his household departed
and went to Valinor, and dwell forever with the people of
Manwe. And though others of the Vanyar dwelt still in Tirion in
fellowship with the Noldor, the sundering of those kindreds and
of their tongue was begun; for ever and anon yet more of the
Vanyar would depart.
1142.
$69 In this year Yavanna gave to the Noldor the White
Tree, Galathilion, image of the Tree Telperion, and it was
planted beneath the Mindon and grew and flourished.
1149.
$70 In this year Ulmo hearkened to the prayers of Finwe
and went again to Middle-earth to bring Elwe and his people to
Aman, if they would come. And most of them proved now
willing indeed; but Osse was grieved. For his care was for the
seas of Middle-earth and the shores of the Outer Lands, and he
came seldom to Aman, unless summoned to council; and he was
ill-pleased that the fair voices of the Teleri should be heard no
more in Middle-earth. Some therefore he persuaded to remain,
and those were the Eldar that long abode on the coasts of
Beleriand, the first mariners upon earth and the first makers of
ships. Their havens were at Brithombar and Eglarest. Cirdan the
Shipwright was their lord.
1150.
$71 The kinsfolk and friends of Elwe also were unwilling to
depart; but Olwe would be gone, and at last Ulmo took all who
would embark upon Eressea and drew them over the deeps of
the Sea. And the friends of Elwe were left behind, and they
called themselves, therefore, in their own tongue the Eglath, the
Forsaken People. And they sought still for Elwe in sorrow. But it
was not his doom ever to return to the Light of the Trees,
greatly though he had desired it. Yet the Light of Aman was in
the face of Melian the fair, and in that light he was content.
1151.
$72 Now Osse followed after the Teleri, and when they
were come nigh to the Bay of Eldamar he called to them, and
they knew his voice, and they begged Ulmo to stay their voyage.
And Ulmo granted this, and at his bidding Osse made fast the
island and rooted it in the foundations of the Sea; and there the
Teleri abode as they wished still under the stars of heaven, and
yet within sight of Aman and the deathless shore; and they
could see from afar the Light of the Trees as it passed through
the Kalakiryan, and touched the dark waves to silver and gold.
$73 Ulmo did this the more readily, for that he understood
the hearts of the Teleri, and in the council of the Valar he had
chiefly spoken against the summons, deeming that it were better
for the Quendi to remain in Middle-earth. But the Valar were
little pleased to learn what he had done; and Finwe grieved
when the Teleri came not, and yet more when he learned that
Elwe was forsaken, and knew that he should not see him again,
unless it were in the halls of Mandos.
1152.
$74 At this time Elwe Singollo, it is said, awoke from his
trance, and he dwelt with Melian in the woods of Beleriand. But
he was a great lord and noble, tallest in stature of all the
Children of Iluvatar, and like unto a lord of the Maiar; and a
high doom was before him. For he became a king renowned,
and his folk were all the Eldar of Beleriand; the Sindar they were
named, the Grey-elves, the Elves of the Twilight, and King
Greymantle was he, Elu Thingol in the tongue of the Sindar.
And Melian was his Queen, wiser than any child of Middle-
earth; and of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the
world the fairest of all the Children of Iluvatar that was or ever
shall be.
1161.
$75 It came to pass that after the Teleri had dwelt for one
hundred years of our reckoning upon the Lonely Isle their hearts
were changed, and they were drawn towards the Light that
flowed out from Aman. Therefore Osse (8) taught them the craft
of shipbuilding, and when their ships were made ready he
brought them, as his parting gift, many strong-winged swans.
And the swans drew the white ships of the Teleri over the wind-
less sea. Thus at last and latest they came to Aman and the shores
of Eldamar; and there the Noldor welcomed them with joy.
1162.
$76 In this year Olwe lord of the Teleri, with the aid of
Finwe and the Noldor, began the building of Alqualonde,
the Swanhaven, upon the coast of Eldamar, north of the
Kalakiryan.
1165.
$77 In this year the last of the Vanyar departed from Tirion,
and the Noldor dwelt there alone, and their converse and
friendship thereafter was rather with the Teleri.
NOTES.
1. This sentence is an interpolation in the manuscript, and is itself
rewritten from an earlier interpolation:
And this, maybe, was also one of the first-fruits of the lies of
Melkor for the deceit of the Quendi, that despite his sojourn
among them many still feared him and Nahar his steed.
The typescript has the form given in the text.
2. This is an emendation from 'went north until Helkar was passed
and then north-west'; the typescript has the emended sentence.
3. My father added hastily here, using a ball-point pen and so
apparently much later (see p. 102, $78):
Here they dwelt for a year, and here Indis wife of Finwe bore
him a son, eldest of all the second generation of the Eldar. He
was first named Minyon First-begotten, but afterwards
Curufinwe or Feanor.
This was struck out, perhaps as soon as written; see note 5.
4. 'and they were reared by Melkor to hinder the riding of Orome' is
a pencilled addition that appears in the typescript as typed.
5. Added to the manuscript here at the same time and in the same
way as the passage given in note 3 (and struck out at the same time
as that):
Here Indis wife of Finwe was lost, and fell from a great height.
And her body was found in a deep gorge, and there buried. And
when Finwe would not go forward, and wished to remain there,
Orome spoke to him of the fate of the Quendi, and how they
could return again, if they would, after a while. For their spirits
do not die, and yet do not leave Arda, and by the command of
Eru a dwelling place is made for them in Aman. Then Finwe was
eager to go forward.
6. After this there stood in the manuscript: 'and Ingwe and his
household passed into Valinor, and dwell forever with the people
of Manwe.' This was struck out and is not in the typescript, but it
reappears in the annal for 1140.
7. Kalakiryan is a pencilled emendation from Kalakirya, and at
subsequent occurrences (but at the very end of the Annals, p. 133,
$180, Kalakiryan is the form in the manuscript as written).
8. Ulmo in the manuscript as first written, changed early to Osse'.
Commentary on the third section of the
Annals of Aman.
This section of AAm corresponds to QS Chapter 3 Of the Coming of
the Elves (including 3(b) Of Thingol and 3(c) Of Kor and Alqualonde)
from $22 to $39 and elements of $$43 - 5; and to AV 2, Valian Years
1980 - 2111. These texts are found in V.213 ff., 112 - 13.
A cursory comparison shows that an enormous extension at large
and in detail has taken place; and while concurrent development had
proceeded in the 'Silmarillion' tradition also (with which AAm has not
a few phrases in common), AAm is a very distinct narrative, with a
large number of features absent from the other tradition and some
actual divergences. Here, as before, I observe the more important
developments in AAm in relation to the pre-Lord of the Rings
narratives; and in many cases I restrict myself to a simple reference to
the new elements that have entered the legends, it being implied in
such cases that the matter in question is wholly new.
$51 Melkor sued for pardon in the Ring of Doom; the Valar wished
to put him to death, but none can slay any of Valarin race, nor
remove them from Ea, save Eru only.
$52 Melkor was condemned to Mandos for three ages (three
hundred Valian Years); in AV 2, and in QS ($47), he was
condemned for seven ages.
$54 Elwe, the third of the 'ambassadors', is now Thingol himself,
whereas in QS he was Thingol's brother; see V.217 $23, and cf.
AV 2 (V.112): 'Thingol, brother of Elwe, lord of the Teleri'. The
brother of Elwe-Thingol now becomes Olwe ($58).
$57 Only 'the most part' of the kindreds of Finwe and Olwe were
willing to depart. The Avari were the kindreds of Morwe and
Nurwe (and presumably those of the other kindreds who would
not go); and an explanation is given of their not going: they
dwelt furthest from Kuivienen and had not seen Orome at his
first coming.
$58 The First Host now bears the name Vanyar, not as previously
Lindar (cf. p. 34, $36). The Third Host, the Teleri, had two
lords, the brothers Elwe and Olwe; and Elwe is now called
Singollo ('Greymantle', $65; in QS Sindo 'the Grey', $30). -
The route taken by the Eldar on the Great March is described
(and it agrees well with the track shown on the Ambarkanta
map, IV.249). Many turned back in fear at the great clouds still
hanging in the North.
$59 The slowness of the journey is described: the wonder of the
Elves, the reluctance of many to complete the journey, the long
halts. The journey took twenty Valian Years; in AV 1 it took ten
(IV.272), and apparently also in AV 2.
$$60-1 Important names enter from The Lord of the Rings:
Anduin, Eriador, Hithaeglir ('the Towers of Mist'); the forest
east of the river is not named, but is of course Mirkwood. The
origin of the Hithaeglir is told: they were raised by Melkor to
hinder the riding of Orome. I noticed (IV.256 - 7) in connection
with the Ambarkanta map that there is no trace there of the
Misty Mountains or of Anduin (which first appeared, as did
Mirkwood, in The Hobbit, where the river is called the Great
River of Wilderland).
The Teleri remained on the eastern bank of Anduin when the
Vanyar and the Noldor crossed the river and went up into the
passes of the Misty Mountains.
$62 It was at this point on the Great March that the Nandor broke
off, and they went south down Anduin; they were of the Teleri
(from the host of Olwe), and their leader's name was Nano, or
Dan in the speech of his own people. In QS ($28) and AV 2
these people were of the Noldor, and in QS they were called in
their own tongue Danas, after their first leader Dan; similarly
in the Lhammas (V.175 - 6). The name Nandor does not appear
in these works, but see the Etymologies, stems DAN and NDAN
(V.353, 375), and also V.188.
$63 The fear of the Sea among the Vanyar and Noldor caused many
to withdraw from the shores into the woods of Beleriand; and
Orome returned to Valinor to seek Manwe's counsel.
$64 The Teleri came reluctantly into Beleriand, urged on by Elwe,
and dwelt at first in the east, beyond the River Gelion. Elwe had
great friendship with Finwe.
$65 Elwe was journeying home from a meeting with Finwe when he
entered Nan Elmoth. This name first emerged in the post-Lord
of the Rings rewriting of the Lay of Leithian (III.346 - 7, 349). In
QS ($32) it is not said where the meeting of Thingol and Melian
took place; in AV 2 'Melian enchanted him in the woods of
Beleriand'. The trance into which Elwe fell endured for many
Valian Years (annals 1130, 1152: that is for more than two
centuries measured by the Sun).
$66 Ulmo made music for the Elves and turned their fear of the Sea
into desire. The Teleri came to the shores of the Sea when they
heard that the Vanyar and the Noldor had departed, and took
Olwe to be their king.
$67 The name Kalakilya 'Pass of Light' is found in QS and the
Lhammas; cf. Quenya kilya 'cleft, pass between hills, gorge', in
the Etymologies, stem KIL (V.365). The form in AAm, Kala-
kiryan, replaced earlier Kalakirya (note 7 above).
'The Elves took possession of Eldamar, and began the
building of the green hill of Tuna'; cf. also $$75 - 6 'the shores,
coast, of Eldamar'. This contradicts the footnote to QS $39
(never subsequently changed, p. 176), where Eldamar is a name
of the Elvish city itself and Eldanor or Elende the region where
the Elves dwelt (earlier, on the Ambarkanta map (IV.249),
Elvenhome was named Eldaros). The usage here (found also in
the rewritten Lay of Leithian) is in fact a reversion to the earliest
meaning of Eldamar; see 1.251.
The city is now Tirion upon Tuna, not Tuna upon Kor; see
QS $39 and commentary, and also 1.258 (Kortirion). But my
father continued to use Tuna also as the name of the city: e.g.
p. 97, $101, where Melkor speaks of Feanor's words 'in Tuna'.
Tirion is called here Tirion the Hallowed, as it was in Bilbo's
song at Rivendell (VII.93, 98, 101).
$68 The Tower of Ingwe (Ingwemindon in QS) is now Mindon
Eldalieva. - In AAm Ingwe and 'many of his household'
removed from Tirion only seven Valian Years after the coming
of the Vanyar and the Noldor to Aman, and in the year of the
completion of Tirion and the kindling of Ingwe's lamp; and
the departure of the rest of the Vanyar is represented as a long
drawn out movement over 25 Valian Years (see $77). In QS
($45) a different impression is given, for it is said that 'As the
ages passed the Lindar grew to love the land of the Gods and the
full light of the Trees, and they forsook the city of Tuna'.
$69 In QS ($16) Galathilion is the Gnomish name of Silpion
(Telperion), and there is no mention of an 'image' of the Elder
Tree being given by Yavanna to the Noldor of Tirion (see
IX.58).
$70 Ulmo's return to the shores of Middle-earth was on account of
the prayers of Finwe. The statement that Osse 'came seldom to
Aman, unless summoned to council' reflects the preservation in
AAm (p. 48, $1) of his old status as one of the Valar. The
southern Haven of the Falas now reverts to the form Eglarest,
which preceded Eglorest of QS and AV 2. Cirdan the Ship-
wright, lord of the Havens, appears from The Lord of the Rings.
$71 While it is not said in QS that any others of the Teleri, beside the
Elves of the Falas, remained in Middle-earth when Ulmo
returned, but only that the people of Thingol 'looked for him in
vain' ($32), it is told in the Lhammas $6 (V.174) that Thingol
was 'king in Beleriand of the many Teleri who ... remained on
the Falasse, and of others that went not because they tarried
searching for Thingol in the woods.' In AAm 'the kinsfolk and
friends of Elwe also were unwilling to depart', and they were left
behind, and called themselves Eglath, the Forsaken People.
$$72-3 Ulmo granted readily the request of the Teleri, for he had
opposed the summoning of the Quendi to Valinor, and Osse
rooted Tol Eressea to the sea-bottom at Ulmo's command; but
the Valar were displeased, and Finwe was grieved (most of all
for the knowledge that Elwe Singollo his friend was not in Tol
Eressea). The final form of the legend is thus now present: see
QS $37 and commentary.
$74 Thingol's people were 'all the Eldar of Beleriand', and they were
named the Sindar, the Grey-elves. This is the first time that we
meet the name in the texts (as here presented); it does not occur
in The Lord of the Rings apart from the Appendices. The
Sindarin name of Elwe Singollo is Elu Thingol (see II.50).
$75 The Teleri dwelt for 100 years of the Sun in Tol Eressea; in QS
($43) and in AV 2 they dwelt there for 100 Valian Years (see
p. 183, $43).
It was Osse, not as in QS Ulmo, who taught the Teleri the
craft of shipbuilding; but as the text was written (note 8 above)
it was Ulmo who did so, and it was Ulmo too who gave them the
swans (Osse in QS).
$76 The Teleri had the aid of Finwe and the Noldor in the building
of Alqualonde.
The two passages concerning Indis wife of Finwe, roughly written in
against $$60 and 61 (notes 3 and 5 above) and then struck out, are
notable as the first indications of what would become a major further
development in the Valinorian legend, though the stories told here
bear no relation to the later narrative. These briefly sketched ideas
may have been merely passing, rejected as soon as jotted down; but
they show my father's concern with Feanor, feeling that the greatness
of his powers and formidable nature were related to a singularity of
origin - he was the first-born of the Eldar: that is to say, he did not
'waken' by Kuivienen, but had a father and mother, and was born in
Middle-earth. The idea that Finwe was bereaved also appears; and this
is the first appearance of Feanor's name Curufinwe.
*
Finally, I record a few very late notes on one or other of the
typescript texts (top copy and carbon) of the Annals of Aman:
$65 'the trees of Nan Elmoth' > 'the sapling trees of Nan Elmoth'
$66 Against the word conches, pipes of shell horns, with a
query.
$70 Against the first sentence my father wrote 'Needs revising'; but I
do not know in what respect he intended to do so. Against
'summoned to council' he wrote an X and 'he [Osse] was not a
Vala, but a chief of the Maiar, servant of Ulmo.' He had been
removed from the Valar by emendation to the typescript in $1
(p. 69).
Fourth section of the Annals of Aman.
[This section of the Annals has a good many changes made at the time
of writing, and also various alterations and additions - some substan-
tial - that seem certainly to belong to much the same time. These are
incorporated into the text given here, with details of the more
important alterations recorded in the notes that follow it. A few short
additions that are decidedly later are placed in the notes.]
1179.
$78 Feanor, eldest son of Finwe, was born in Tirion upon
Tuna. His mother was Byrde Miriel.(1)
$79 Now the Noldor (2) took delight in all lore and all crafts,
and Aule and his folk came often among them. Yet such skill
had Iluvatar granted to them that in many matters, especially
such as needed adroitness and fineness of handiwork, they soon
surpassed their teachers. It is said that about this time the
masons of the House of Finwe quarrying in the mountains for
stone for their building (for they delighted in the building of
high towers) first discovered the earth-gems, in which the Land
of Aman was indeed surpassingly rich. And their craftsmen
devised tools for the cutting and shaping of the gems, and
carved them in many forms of bright beauty; and they hoarded
them not but gave them freely to all who desired them, and all
Valinor was enriched by their labour.(3)
$80 In this year Rumil, most renowned of the masters of the
lore of speech, first devised letters and began recording in
writing the tongues of the Eldar and their songs and wisdom.(4)
1190.
$81 In this year was born Fingolfin son of Finwe, who after
was King of the Exiles.
1230.
$82 Finrod Finwe's son was born.
1250.
$83 In this time began the flowering of the skill of Feanor
son of Finwe, who was of all the Noldor the greatest maker and
craftsman. And he took thought and devised new letters,
bettering the devices of Rumil, and those letters the Eldar have
used ever since that day. This was but the beginning of the
works of Feanor. Greatly he loved gems, and he began to study
how by the skill of his hand and mind he could make others
greater and brighter than those hidden in the earth.(5)
$84 [In this time also, it is said among the Sindar, the
Naugrim (6) whom we also name the Nornwaith (the Dwarves)
came over the mountains into Beleriand and became known to
the Elves. Now the Dwarves were great smiths and masons,
being indeed (it is believed) brought into being by Aule; yet of
old small beauty was in their works. Therefore each people had
great profit of the other, though their friendship was ever cool.
But at that time no griefs lay between them, and King Thingol
welcomed them; and the Longbeards of Belegost aided him in
the delving and building of the great halls of Menegroth, where
he after dwelt with Melian, his Queen. Thus saith Pengolod.](7)
1280.
$85 In this year Finrod Finwe's son wedded Earwen King
Olwe's daughter of Alqualonde, and there was a great feast in
the land of the Teleri. Thus the children of Finrod, Inglor
and Galadriel, were the kin of King Thingol Greymantle in
Beleriand.
1350.
$86 [At this time a part of the lost Elves of the people of
Dan after long wanderings came up into Beleriand from the
South. Their leader was Denethor son of Dan, and he brought
them to Ossiriand where seven rivers flow down from the
Mountains of Lindon. These are the Green-elves. They had the
friendship of Thingol. Quoth Pengolod.](8)
1400.
$87 Now it came to pass that Melkor had dwelt alone in the
duress of Mandos for the three ages that were doomed by
the Valar, and he came before their conclave to be tried. And
Melkor sued for pardon at the feet of Manwe, and humbled
himself, and swore to abide his rule, and to aid the Valar in all
ways that he could, for the good of Arda, and the profit of Valar
and of Eldar, if so he should be granted freedom, and a place as
the least of all the folk of Valinor.
$88 And Nienna aided his prayer (because of her kinship),
and Manwe granted it, for being himself free of all evil he saw
not the depths of the heart of Melkor, and believed in his oaths.
But Mandos was silent, and Ulmo's heart misgave him.
1410.
$89 Then Melkor dwelt for a while in a humble house in
Valmar under vigilance, and was not yet suffered to walk
abroad alone. But since in that time all his words and works
were fair, and he became in outward form and seeming even as
the Valar his brethren, Manwe gave him his freedom within
Valinor. Yet Tulkas' mirth was clouded whenever he saw
Melkor pass by, and the nails of his fingers bit into the palms of
his hands, for the restraint that he put upon himself.
$90 And indeed Melkor was false and betrayed the clemen-
cy of Manwe, and used his freedom to spread lies abroad and
poison the peace of Valinor. Thus a shadow fell upon the
Blessed Land and its golden Noon passed; yet it was long ere the
lies of Melkor bore fruit, and still the Valar dwelt long in bliss.
$91 Now in his heart Melkor most hated the Eldar, both
because they were fair and joyful and because in them he saw
the reason for the arising of the Valar and his own downfall and
subjection. Therefore all the more did he feign love for them,
and sought their friendship, and offered them the service of his
lore and labour in any great deed that they would do. And many
of the Noldor, because of their desire of all knowledge,
hearkened to him and took delight in his teaching. But the
Vanyar would have no part with him.
1449.
$92 In this Year Feanor began that labour of his which is
renowned above all the works of the Eldalie; for his heart
conceived the Silmarils, and he made much study and many
essays ere their fashioning could begin. And though Melkor said
after that Feanor had his instruction in that work, he lied in his
lust and his envy; for Feanor was driven by the fire of his own
heart only, and was eager and proud, working ever swiftly and
alone, asking no aid and brooking no counsel.
1450.
The Silmarilli of Feanor are made.
$93 In this year the Silmarils were full-wrought, the wonder
of Arda. As three great jewels they were in form. But not until
the End, when Feanor shall return who perished when the Sun
was young and sitteth now in the Halls of Awaiting and comes
no more amongst his kin; not until Sun passeth and the Moon
falls shall it be known of what substance they were made. Like
the crystal of diamonds it appeared and yet was more strong
than adamant, so that no violence within the walls of this world
could mar it or break it. Yet that crystal was to the Silmarils but
as is the body to the Children of Iluvatar: the house of its inner
fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life. And
the inner fire of the Silmarils Feanor made of the blended Light
of the Trees of Valinor which lives in them yet, though the Trees
have long withered and shine no more. Therefore even in the
uttermost darkness the Silmarils of their own radiance shone
like the stars of Varda; and yet, as were they indeed living
things, they rejoiced in light and received it, and gave it back in
hues more lovely than before.
$94 And all the folk of Valinor were amazed at the
handiwork of Feanor, and were filled with wonder and delight,
and Varda hallowed the Silmarils, so that thereafter no mortal
flesh nor any evil or unclean thing might touch them, but it was
scorched and burned with unendurable pain. And Melkor
lusted for the Silmarils and the very memory of their radiance
was like a gnawing fire in his heart.(9)
1450-1490.
$95 Therefore, though he still dissembled his purposes with
great cunning, Melkor sought now ever more eagerly how he
should destroy Feanor, and end the friendship of Valar and
Eldar. Long was he at work; and slow at first and barren was his
labour. But he that sows lies in the end shall not lack of a
harvest, and soon he may rest from toil indeed, while others
reap and sow in his stead. Ever Melkor found some ears that
would heed him, and some tongues that would enlarge what
they had heard. For the lies of Melkor take root by the truth
that is in them.
$96 Thus it was that whispers arose in Eldamar that the
Valar had brought the Eldar to Valinor being jealous of their
beauty and skill, and fearing that they should grow too strong
to be governed in the free lands of the East. And then Melkor
foretold the coming of Men, of which the Valar had not yet
spoken to the Elves, and again it was whispered abroad that the
gods purposed to reserve the kingdoms of Middle-earth for the
younger and weaker race whom they might more easily sway,
defrauding the Elves of the inheritance of Iluvatar.
$97 Then at last the princes of the Noldor began to murmur
against the Valar, and many became filled with pride, forgetting
all that the Valar had taught to them and given to them. And in
that time (having now awakened anger and pride) Melkor
spoke to the Eldar concerning weapons, which they had not
before possessed or known; for the armouries of the Valar after
the chaining of Melkor were shut. But now the Noldor.,began
the smithying of swords and axes and spears; and shields they
made displaying the tokens of many houses and kindreds that
vied one with another.
$98 A great smith was Feanor in those days, and a proud
and masterful prince, jealous of all that he had; and Melkor
kept watch on him. For still he lusted after the Silmarils; but
Feanor now brought them seldom to light, and kept them
locked rather in the darkness of the treasury of Tuna; and he .
began to begrudge the sight of them to all save to his sire and to
his seven sons. Therefore Melkor set new lies abroad that
Fingolfin was plotting to supplant Feanor and his father in the
favour of the Valar, and was like to succeed, for the Valar were
ill-pleased that the Silmarils were not committed to their
keeping. Of those lies quarrels arose among the proud children
of Finwe and Melkor was well-pleased; for all now went to his
design. And suddenly ere the Valar were aware the peace of
Valinor was broken and swords were drawn in Eldamar.
1490.
$99 Then the Gods were wroth, and they summoned
Feanor before them. And they laid bare all the lies of Melkor;
but because it was Feanor that had first broken the peace and
threatened violence in Aman he was by their judgement
banished for twenty (10) years from Tirion. And he went forth and
dwelt northward in Valinor near to the halls of Mandos, and
built a new treasury and stronghold at Formenos; and great
wealth of gems he laid there in hoard, but the Silmarils were
shut in a chamber of iron. And thither came Finwe, because of
the love that he bore to Feanor; and Fingolfin ruled the Noldor
of Tuna. Thus the lies of Melkor were made true in seeming,
and the bitterness that he had wrought endured long between
the sons of Fingolfin and Feanor.
$100 Straight from the Ring of Doom Tulkas went in haste
to lay hands upon Melkor, but Melkor knowing that his devices
were bewrayed (11) had hidden himself from the sight of eyes, and
a cloud was about him; and it seemed to the folk of Valinor that
the light of the Trees was become dimmer than its wont, and the
shadows were darker and longer.
1492.
$101 And it is said that Melkor was not seen again for a
while; but suddenly he appeared before the doors of the house
of Finwe and Feanor at Formenos, and sought to speak with
them. And he said to them: Behold the truth of all that I have
spoken, and how you are indeed banished unjustly. And think
nof that the Silmarils lie safe in any treasury within the realm of
the gods. But if the heart of Feanor is yet free and bold as his
words were in Tuna, then I will aid you, and bring you far from
this narrow land. For am I not Vala as are they? Yea, and more
than they, and have ever been a friend to the Noldor, most
skilled and valiant of all the folk of Arda.'
$102 Then the heart of Feanor was increased in bitterness
and filled with fear for the Silmarils, and in that mood he
endured. But Melkor's words touched too deep, and awoke a
fire more fierce than he intended; and Feanor looked upon him
with blazing eyes, and lo! he saw through the semblance of
Melkor and pierced the cloaks of his mind, perceiving there the
lust for the Silmarils. Then hate overcame all fear and he cursed
Melkor and bade him begone. 'Get thee from my gate, thou
gangrel,(12) jail-crow of Mandos,' said he, and he shut the doors
of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Ea.
$103 And at that time, being himself in peril, Melkor
departed, consumed with wrath, and bitter vengeance he plot-
ted for his shame. But Finwe was filled with great fear, and in
haste he sent messengers to Manwe in Valmar.
$104 Then Orome and Tulkas set out in pursuit of Melkor,
but ere they had ridden far messengers came from Eldamar,
telling that Melkor had fled through the Kalakiryan,(13) passing
by the hill of Tuna in wrath as a thunder cloud. And with the
flight of Melkor the shadow was lifted from Valinor, and for a
while all the land was fair again. But the gods sought in vain for
tidings of their enemy, and doubt lay heavy upon their hearts
what new evil he might attempt.
$105 It is told that Melkor came to the dark region of
Arvalin. Now that narrow land lay south of the Bay of Eldamar,
but east of the mountains of the Pelori, and its long and
mournful shores stretched away into the South of the world,
lightless and unexplored. There, between the sheer walls of the
mountains and the cold dark Sea, the shadows were deepest in
the world. And there secretly Ungoliante had made her abode.
Whence she came none of the Eldar know, but maybe she came
to the South out of the darkness of Ea, in that time when
Melkor destroyed the lights of Illuin and Ormal, and because of
his dwelling in the North the heed of the Valar was turned most
thither and the South was long forgotten. Thence she crept
towards the realm of the light of the Valar. For she hungered for .
light and hated it. In a deep cleft of the mountains she dwelt,
and took shape as it were a spider of monstrous form, sucking
up all such light as she could find, or that strayed over the walls
of Valinor, and she spun it forth again in black webs of
strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode,
and she was famished.
$106 It may well be that Melkor, if none other, knew of her,
being and her abode, and that she was in the beginning one of
those that he had corrupted to his service. And coming at length
to Arvalin, he sought her out, and demanded her aid in his
revenge. But she was loath to dare the perils of Valinor and the
great wrath of the gods, and would not stir from her hiding until
Melkor had vowed to render her a reward that should heal the
gnawing of her hunger and hatred.
1495.
$107 At last having well laid their plans Melkor and
Ungoliante set forth. A great darkness was about them that
Ungoliante wove, and black ropes also she span and made fast
among the rocks, and so after long labour, from web to web,
she climbed at last to the summit of Hyarantar, which is the
highest pinnacle of the mountains south of Taniquetil. There
indeed (save for that watch-tower of the South) the Pelori were
less lofty, and less was the vigilance of the Valar, for they had
ever been on guard rather against the North.
$108 Now Ungoliante wrought a ladder of ropes and cast it
down, and Melkor climbed upon it, and so came to that high
place, whence he could look down upon the Guarded Realm.
And below lay the wild green-wood of Orome, and west-away
shimmered the fields and pastures of Yavanna, pale gold
beneath the tall wheat of the gods. But Melkor looked north,
and saw afar the shining plain, and the silver domes of Valmar
gleaming in the mingling of the lights of Telperion and Laurelin.
Then Melkor laughed aloud, and leapt swiftly down the long
western slopes; and Ungoliante was at his side and her darkness
covered them.
$109 Now it was a time of festival, as Melkor well knew.
For though all tides and seasons were at the will of the Valar,
and there was in Valinor no winter of death, nonetheless the
gods dwelt then in the kingdom of Arda, and that was but
a small realm in the halls of Ea, whose life is Time, which flows
ever from the first note to the last chord of Eru. And it was then
the pleasure of the Valar (as is told in the Ainulindale) to clothe
themselves in the forms of the Children of Iluvatar; and they ate
and they drank and gathered the fruits of Yavanna, and drew
strength from the Earth which under Eru they ha J made.
$110 Therefore Yavanna set times for the flowering and the
ripening of all growing things: upspringing, blooming, and
seed-time. And at each first gathering of fruits Manwe made a
high-tide for the praising of Eru, and all the folk of Valinor
poured forth their joy in music and song. Such now was the
hour; but Manwe, hoping that indeed the shadow of Melkor
was removed from the land, and fearing no worse than maybe a
new war with Utumno and a new victory to end all, had decreed
that this feast should be more glorious than any that had been
held since the coming of the Eldar. He designed moreover to
heal the evil that had arisen among the Noldor, and they all
were bidden, therefore, to come to him and mingle with the
Maiar in his halls upon Taniquetil, and there put aside all the
griefs that lay between their princes and forget utterly the lies of
their Enemy.
$111 There came the Vanyar, and there came the Noldor,
and the Maiar were gathered together, and the Valar were
arrayed in their beauty and majesty; and they sang before
Manwe in his lofty halls, or played upon the green slopes of
Taniquetil that looked west to the Trees. In that day the streets
of Valmar were empty and the stairs of Tuna were silent; only
the Teleri beyond the mountains still sang upon the shores of
the Sea, for they recked little of seasons or times, and gave no
thought to the cares of the Rulers of Arda or to the shadow that
had fallen upon Valinor, for it had not touched them, as yet.
$112 One thing only marred the design of Manwe. Feanor
indeed came, for him alone Manwe had commanded to come;
but Finwe came not nor any others of the Noldor of Formenos.
For said Finwe, While the ban lasts upon Feanor my son, that
he may not go to Tuna, I hold myself unkinged, and will not
meet my people, nor those that rule in my stead.' And Feanor
came not in raiment of festival, and he wore no ornament,
neither silver nor gold nor any gem; and he denied the sight of
the Silmarils to Eldar and Valar, and left them locked in:
darkness in their chamber of iron. Nonetheless, he met Fingolfin
before the throne of Manwe, and was reconciled in words, and
Fingolfin set at nought the unsheathing of the sword.
$113 It is said that even as Feanor and Fingolfin stood
before Manwe, and it was the Mingling of the Lights and both,
Trees were shining and the silent city of Valmar was filled with
radiance as of silver and gold, in that hour Melkor and
Ungoliante came over the plain and stood before the Green
Mound. Then Melkor sprang up, and with his black spear he
smote each Tree to its core, a little above the roots, and their sap
poured forth, as it were their blood, and was spilled upon the
ground. But Ungoliante sucked it up, and going then from Tree
to Tree she plied her foul lips to their wounds, till they were
drained; and the poison that was in her passed into their tissues
and withered them; and they died. And still Ungoliante thirsted,
and going to the Vats of Varda she drank them dry; but
Ungoliante belched forth black vapours as she drank, and
swelled to a shape so vast and hideous that even Melkor was
adread.
$114 Then Darkness fell upon Valinor. Of the deeds of that
day much is said in the Aldudenie (the Lament for the Trees)
that Elemire of the Vanyar made and is known to all the Eldar.
Yet no song or tale could hold all the grief and terror that then
befell. The Light failed; and that was woe enough, but the
Darkness that followed was more than loss of light. In that hour
was made the Dark which seems not lack but a thing with being
of its own: for it was indeed made by malice out of Light, and it
had the power to pierce the eye, and to enter heart and mind,
and strangle the very will.
$115 Varda looked down from the Holy Mountain, and
beheld the Shadow soaring up in sudden towers of gloom;
Valmar had foundered in a deep sea of night. Soon Taniquetil
stood alone, as a last island of light in a world that was
drowned. All song ceased. There was silence in Valinor, and no
sound could be heard, save only from afar there came on the
wind through the pass of the mountains the wailing of the Teleri
like the cold cry of gulls. For it blew chill from the East in that
hour, and the vast shadows of the Sea were rolled against the
walls of the shore.
$116 But Manwe from his high seat looked out, and his
eyes alone pierced through the gloom, and he saw afar off how a
Darkness beyond dark moved north over the land, and he knew
that Melkor was there. Then the pursuit was begun, and the
earth shook beneath the horses of the host of Orome, and the
fire that was stricken from the hooves of Nahar was the first
light that returned to Valinor. But so soon as any came up with
the Cloud of Ungoliante, the riders of the Valar were blinded
and dismayed, and they were scattered, and went they knew not
whither; and the sound of the Valaroma faltered and failed.
And Tulkas was as a man caught in a black net at night, and
he stood powerless and beat the air in vain. And when the
Darkness had passed, it was too late: Melkor had gone whither
he would, and his vengeance was full-wrought.
NOTES.
1. This annal is an early replacement; the original annal, concerning
the marriage of Finrod and Earwen Olwe's daughter, reappears
in very similar form in the manuscript as originally written under
the year 1280. Later, in ball-point pen, my father changed the
date of this annal to 1169, and added new annals for 1170,
'Miriel falls asleep and passes to Mandar' (on Mandar see
p. 205), and 1172 'Doom of Manwe concerning the espousals of
the Eldar.' On these matters see pp. 205 ff., and see note 4 below.
The new annals appear in the typescript as typed.
2. The name Noldor is here written with a tilde, Noldor (represent-
ing the back nasal, the ng of king; see IV.174). This becomes the
normal form in all my father's later writings, though often
casually omitted (none of his typewriters possessed this sign); it is
not represented in the spelling of the name Noldor in this book.
3. The latter part of this passage, concerning gems, is very largely an
addition. As first written, all that was said on the subject was:
It is said that about this time the craftsmen of the House of
Finwe (of whom Feanor his eldest son was the most skilful)
first devised gems; and all Valinor was enriched by their
labour.
See note 5.
4. A new annal was added here at the same time as those given in
note 1: '1185 Finwe weds Indis of the Vanyar.'
5. This sentence ('Greatly he loved gems ...') is an addition going
with the change and expansion referred to in note 3.
6. Naugrim was written in pencil above the original reading Naug-
lath (which however was not struck out), and the word 'also' (in
'whom we also name') added at the same time.
7. This Beleriandic interpolation by Pengolod, bracketed in the
original, was an addition to the manuscript; cf. note 8. Against it
my father later pencilled: 'Transfer to A[nnals of] B[eleriand]'.
8. This bracketed interpolation by Pengolod was an addition to the
manuscript; and like that referred to in note 7 it was marked later
for transfer to the Annals of Beleriand. The name of the leader of
the Nandor was first written Enadar, changed immediately to
Denethor (the name in AV 2, QS, and the Lhammas).
Later my father added here in pencil a new annal, for 1362:
'Here was born Isfin Fingolfin's daughter, the White Lady of the
Noldor' (see note 9).
9. A hasty addition in ink, subsequently struck out, gives an annal
for 1469: 'Here was born the first daughter of Fingolfin, the
White Lady of the Noldor' (see note 8). It is not said elsewhere
that Fingolfin had any daughter but Isfin.
10. The manuscript has 'three' o 'ten' > 'twenty' (Valian Years).
11. bewrayed: 'revealed', 'betrayed'.
12. gangrel ('vagabond') replaced beggarman (see p. 191).
13. My father first wrote Kalakilya, the old form, but changed it at
once to Kalakirya; -n was added later (see p. 89, $67).
Commentary on the fourth section of the
Annals of Aman.
This section of the Annals corresponds in content to QS Chapter 4 Of
the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor (V.227 - 31), and to AV 2
annals 2500 to the beginning of 2990 (V.113 - 14). The account in
AAm bears no comparison with the cursory AV 2, and represents a
wholly different impulse; indeed, in this section we see the annal form
disappearing as a fully-fledged narrative emerges. As was often the
case in my father's work, the story took over and expanded whatever
restrictions of form he had set for it. The new narrative is double the
length of that in QS, to which it is closely related in structure. In
expression it is almost entirely new; and yet comparison between them
will show that AAm tends rather to a greater definition of the
narrative than to significant change in the structure or marked new
additions - though both are present. The following comments are in
no way intended as an analysis of all the differences of emphasis,
suggestion, and detail between AAm and QS.
$78 Earlier in AAm, under the year 1115, appear rejected insertions
(see p. 87, notes 3 and 5) in which are recorded the birth of
Feanor to Finwe's wife Indis in Middle-earth in the course of the
Great Journey, and her subsequent death in a fall in the Misty
Mountains. Written in ball-point pen these insertions would
appear to be relatively late; here on the other hand, in what
seems to be an early addition (written carefully in ink, and see
note 1 above), Feanor was born in Tirion, and his mother was
Miriel, called Byrde Miriel (Old English byrde, 'broideress';
see pp. 185, 192). In late insertions (notes 1 and 4 above) it is
recorded that in 1170 Miriel 'fell asleep' and passed to Mandos,
and in 1185 Finwe married Indis of the Vanyar.
$79 At an earlier point in QS ($40) it is said that the Noldor
'contrived the fashioning of gems'; similarly in AV 2 (V.113)
they 'invented gems', and again in Ainulindale' B (V.162). This
idea is found in all the earlier texts, going back to the elaborate
account in the old tale of The Coming of the Elves (see I.58,
127). In the later period it survived in the final version D of the
Ainulindale' ($35, see pp. 19 and 34), and was still present at
first in AAm (see note 3 above). The rewriting of this passage
rejects the idea of 'invention': the gems of the Noldor were
mined in Aman.
$80 The association of the Noldor with alphabetic script goes back
to the Lost Tales, where this art is ascribed primarily to Aule
(1.58); 'in those days Aule aided by the Gnomes contrived
alphabets and scripts' (I.141). In Ainulindale' B {V.162) the
Noldor 'added much to [Aule's] teaching and delighted much in
tongues and alphabets', and this survived in the later versions.
Now Rumil and (in $83) Feanor emerge as the great inventors.
Cf. The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E (II):
The Tengwar ... had been developed by the Noldor, the
kindred of the Eldar most skilled in such matters, long before
their exile. The oldest Eldarin letters, the Tengwar of Rumil,
were not used in Middle-earth. The later letters, the Tengwar
of Feanor, were largely a new invention, though they owed
something to the letters of Rumil.
If Rumil were the author of the Annals of Aman, as is said in the
preamble (p. 48), he is here describing himself in the words
'most renowned of the masters of the lore of speech'.
$82 Finrod: earlier name of Finarfin (Finarphin).
$84 The form Nauglath (see note 6, p. 102) is, curiously, a reversion
to the original Gnomish name of the Dwarves in the Lost Tales
(see I.261), although Naugrim occurs as an original form in QS
at a later point in the narrative ($122). [The entry Naugrim was
inadvertently dropped from the index to Vol. V. The references
are 273, 277, 405.] - On the name Sindar see p. 91, $74.
On earlier references to the Dwarves in Beleriand see IV.336;
as I noted there, the statement in the second version of the
earliest Annals of Beleriand (IV.332) that the Dwarves had 'of
old' a road into Beleriand is the first sign of the later idea that
the Dwarves had been active in Beleriand long before the Return
of the Noldor. But the present passage is the first reference to the
Dwarves' aiding of Thingol in the delving and building of
Menegroth. - The legend of Aule s making of the Dwarves is
referred to in the texts of the earlier period: AB 2 (V.129), the
Lhammas (V.178 and commentary), and QS ($123 and com-
mentary).
$85 Here appears the important development whereby the princes of
the Third House of the Noldor became close kin to Thingol of
Doriath (Elwe Singollo, brother of Olwe of Alqualonde, $ 58);
and Galadriel enters from The Lord of the Rings. Cf. Appendix
F (I, Of the Elves): 'The Lady Galadriel of the royal house of
Finrod, father of Felagund, Lord of Nargothrond' (a statement
that was changed in the Second Edition of The Lord of the,
Rings, when Finrod had become Finarphin and Inglor had
become Finrod (Felagund)).
$86 In AV 2 (V.112, also in an interpolation by Pengolod) and in QS
($115) the Elves under Denethor did not come into Beleriand
'from the South', but came over the Blue Mountains; the
meaning here is probably that they crossed the mountains in a
region to the south of Ossiriand. There were nor seven rivers
flowing down from the mountains, but six: the seventh river of
Ossiriand was the great river Gelion, into which the six flowed.
$88 because of her kinship: in AAm $3 (as in AV 2 and in QS $9)
Nienna was 'Manwe's sister and Melko(r)'s'. In AAm* (p. 65)
she is named only Manwe's sister.
$92 In AV 2 two ages passed (V.Y.2500 - 2700) between the making
of the Silmarils and the release of Melkor; similarly in QS
($$46 - 7). In AAm the relation of the two is reversed, with the
release of Melkor placed under Year of the Trees 1400 and the
final achievement of the Silmarils under 1450.
$93 With what is said here concerning the fate of Feanor cf. QS $88:
'so fiery was his spirit that his body fell to ash as his spirit sped;
and it has never again appeared upon earth nor left the realm of
Mandos.'
$97 On the Elves' ignorance of weapons see p. 106, $97.
$98 No mention is made in QS ($52) of the dissensions reaching the
point of drawn swords. In AAm $112 'Fingolfin set at nought
the unsheathing of the sword'; and in the margin of the
typescript text at this point my father wrote: 'refers to what?' A
later expansion of the chapter in QS, close in time to the writing
of AAm, tells that Feanor menaced Fingolfin with drawn sword
(p. 189, $52); and in view of $112 it seems probable that this
was inadvertently omitted here.
$99 The term of Feanor's banishment (see note 10 above) is not
stated in the older texts. - The name Formenos now enters, in
an addition to the text.
$102 the mightiest of all the dwellers in Ea: see p. 65, $2.
$105 The time of Ungoliante's coming to Arda is placed (as a surmise)
with the entry of Melkor and his host before the overthrow of
the Lamps (see p. 53, $19). With 'maybe she came to the South
out of the darkness of Ea' cf. QS $55: 'from the Outer Dark-
ness, maybe, that lies beyond the Walls of the World'.
$106 Though again put as a surmise, Ungoliante's origin is now found
in her ancient corruption by Melkor, and it is suggested that he
went to Arvalin of set purpose to find her.
$107 The high mountain in the southern range of the Pelori now
receives a name, Hyarantar (later replaced by Hyarmentir, see
p. 285).
$109 - 10 In the Lost Tales the occasion of the great festival was
commemoration of the coming of the Eldar to Valinor (I.143),
but in later texts its occasion is not specified. Now a new and
remarkable account of it is given, with a reference to the passage
in the Ainulindale' ($25) where the visible shapes taken by the
Valar in Arda are described; and here the idea of these 'shapes'
is extended (as it appears) to the point where the great spirits
might eat, and drink, and 'draw strength from the Earth'.
Wholly new also in this passage is the element of Manwe's
purpose to achieve concord among the Noldor.
$112 In QS ($60) Feanor was present at the festival on Taniquetil;
now enters the story that he came alone from Formenos, being
commanded so to do by Manwe, in sombre garments, that
Finwe refused to come while his son lived in banishment, and
that Feanor was reconciled 'in words' with Fingolfin before
Manwe's throne. At this stage, of course, Feanor and Fingolfin
were still full brothers.
$114 There is no trace of the work Aldudenie among my father's
papers. With the passage concerning the Darkness that came
with the extinction of the Light of the Trees cf. the Ainulindale'
$19: 'and it seemed to [the Ainur] that in that moment they
perceived a new thing, Darkness, which they had not known
before, except in thought.'
$116 On Orome's horn Valaroma see Ainulindale' D, $34 (pp. 35
and 39).
*
There are a good many notes and changes made on the typescript,
some added by the typist under my father's direction; but only a few of
them need be recorded.
$78 The two new annal entries given in note 1 above, and that in
note 4, are present in the typescript as typed.
$81 After the entry for 1190 a new entry was added for the year
1200: 'Luthien born' (with a query).
$84 A blank is left in the typescript where the manuscript has,
Naugrim written above Nauglath, possibly because the typist
did not know which form to put (see note 6). The blank was not
filled in, but the name Nornwaith that follows was struck
through.
$85 After the annal for 1280 the following Beleriandic entries were
added:
1300 Daeron, loremaster of Thingol, contrives the Runes.
Turgon, son of Fingolfin, and Inglor, son of Finrod, born.
1320 The Orcs first appear in Beleriand.
$86 After the annal for 1350 two entries were added:
1362 Galadriel, daughter of Finrod, born in Eldamar.
Isfin, White Lady of the Noldor, born in Tirion.
The second of these appears also as a pencilled addition to the
manuscript (note 8).
$97 Against the words 'Melkor spoke to the Eldar concerning
weapons, which they had not before possessed or known' my
father wrote on the typescript: 'No! They must have had
weapons on the Great Journey.' Cf. the passage in QS on this
subject (footnote to $49): 'The Elves had before possessed only
weapons of the chase, spears and bows and arrows.'
$99 The term of Feanor's banishment was changed yet again (see
note 10), from 'twenty' to 'twelve'.
$113 After 'the Green Mound' was added: 'of Ezellohar'. This name
was added to the typescript at earlier occurrences: p. 69, $25. -
'The Vats of Varda' become 'The Wells of Varda'; see p. 69,
$28.
$114 The typist misread Elemire, and my father corrected the error to
the form Elemmire.
I do not know what intention lay behind the introduction of the
Beleriandic entries given under $$81, 85 above.
Fifth section of the Annals of Aman.
$117 Thus it came to pass that after a while a great
concourse of folk was gathered about the Ring of Doom; and
the gods sat in shadow, for it was night. But now night only as it
may be in some land of the world, when the stars peer fitfully
through the wrack of great clouds, and cold fogs drift in from a
sullen shore of the sea. Then Yavanna stood upon the Green
Mound, and it was bare now and black; and she gazed upon the
Trees and they were both dead and dark. Then many voices
were lifted in lamentation; for it seemed to those that mourned
that they had drained to the dregs the cup of woe that Melkor
had filled for them. But it was not so.
$118 For Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: 'The
Light of the Trees hath gone hence, and liveth now only in the
jewels of Feanor. Foresighted was he. Lo! for those even who
are mightiest there is some deed that they may accomplish once,
and once only. The Light of the Trees I brought into being, and
can do so never again within Ea. Yet had I but a little of that
Light, I could recall life to the Trees, ere their roots die; and then
our hurt should be healed, and the malice of Melkor be
confounded.'
$119 And Manwe spoke, and said, Hearest thou, Feanor,
the words of Yavanna? Wilt thou grant what she would ask?'
And there was a long silence, but Feanor answered no word.
Then Tulkas cried: Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who
shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Silmarils come
from her work in the beginning?'
But Aule the Maker (1) said, Be not hasty! We ask a greater
thing than thou knowest. Let him have peace yet a while.'
$120 But Feanor spoke then, and cried bitterly: 'Verily for
the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may
accomplish but once only. And in that deed his heart shall rest.
Mayhap I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make
their like; and if they be broken, then broken will be my heart,
and I shall die: first of all the Children of Eru.'
$121 'Not the first,' quoth Mandos, but they understood
not his word; and again there was silence, while Feanor
brooded in the dark. And it seemed to him that he was beset in a
ring of enemies, and the words of Melkor returned to him,
saying that the Silmarils were not safe, if the Valar would
possess them. 'And is he not Vala as are they,' said his thought,
'and understandeth their hearts? Yea, a thief shall reveal
thieves.' Then he cried aloud: 'Nay, this thing I will not do of
free will. But if the Valar will constrain me, then verily shall I
know that Melkor is of their kindred.'
$122 'Thou hast spoken,' quoth Mandos; then all sat in
silence, while Nienna wept upon Korlaire and mourned for the
bitterness of the world. And even as she mourned, messengers
came from Formenos, and they were Noldor, and bore new
tidings of evil. For they told now how a blind Darkness came
northward, and in the midst walked some power for which
there was no name, and the Darkness issued from it. But Melkor
also was there, and he came to the house of Feanor, and there he
slew Finwe, king of the Noldor, before the doors, and spilled the
first blood of the Children of Iluvatar. For Finwe alone had not
fled from the horror of the Dark. But the stronghold of
Formenos Melkor had broken, and had utterly destroyed, and
all the wealth of gems he had taken; and the Silmarils were
gone.
$123 Then Feanor rose up and cursed Melkor, naming him
Morgoth;(2) and he cursed also the summons of Manwe, and the
hour in which he came to Taniquetil, thinking in his folly that
had he been at Formenos, his strength would have availed more
than to be slain also, as Melkor had hoped.(3) But now Feanor
ran from the concourse and fled into the night, as one mad both
with wrath and with grief: for his father was dearer to him than
the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and
who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of
greater worth?
$124 And those who beheld Feanor depart grieved sorely
for him; but Yavanna was dismayed, fearing now that the Great
Darkness would swallow the last rays of Light for ever. For
though the Valar did not yet understand fully what had
befallen, they perceived that Melkor had called upon some aid
that came from Without. The Silmarils had passed away, and all
one it may seem, therefore, whether Feanor would have said (4)
yea or nay at the last; yet had he said yea at the first and so
cleansed his heart ere the dread tidings came, his after deeds
maybe had been other than they were. But now the doom of the
Noldor drew nigh.
$125 Meanwhile, it is told, Morgoth escaping from the
pursuit of the Valar came to the waste-land of Araman, that
northward, as Arvalin to the south, lay between the walls of the
Mountains and the Great Sea. Thus he passed to the Helkaraxe
where the Strait between Araman and Middle-earth is filled
with grinding ice; and he crossed over and came back to the
North of the world. Then so soon as they set foot there and
were escaped from the land of the Valar, Ungoliante summoned
Morgoth to deliver to her her reward. The half of her fee was
the sap of the Trees; the other half was to be a full share in all
the jewels they should take. Morgoth yielded these grudgingly,
one by one, until she had devoured all and their beauty perished
from the earth, and then huger and darker grew Ungoliante, and
yet she hungered for more.
$126 But Morgoth would give her no part in the Silmarils:
these he named unto himself for ever. Thus there befell the first
thieves' quarrel, and the fear of Yavanna came not to pass: that
the Darkness should swallow the last rays of the Light. But
Ungoliante was wroth, and so great had she become that
Morgoth could not master her; and she enmeshed him in her
strangling webs, and his dreadful cry echoed through the world.
Then there came to his aid the Balrogs, who endured still in
deep places in the North where the Valar had not discovered
them. With their whips of flame they smote her webs asunder,
and they drove Ungoliante away, and she went down into
Beleriand and dwelt awhile beneath Ered Orgoroth in that
valley which after was named Nan Dungorthin, because of the
fear and horror that she bred there. But when she had healed her
hurts and spawned there a foul brood she passed away out of
the Northlands, and returned into the South of the world, where
she abides yet for all that the Eldar have heard.
$127 Then Morgoth being freed gathered again all his
servants that he could find, and he delved anew his vast vaults
and his dungeons in that place which the Noldor after called
Angband, and above them he reared the reeking towers of
Thangorodrim. There countless became the hosts of his beasts
and his demons; and thence there now came forth in hosts
beyond count the fell race of the Orkor, that had grown and
multiplied in the bowels of the earth like a plague. These
creatures Morgoth bred in envy and mockery of the Eldar. In
form (5) they were like unto the Children of Iluvatar, yet foul to
look upon; for they were bred (6) in hatred, and with hatred they
were filled; and he loathed the things that he had wrought, and
with loathing they served him. Their voices were as the clashing
of stones, and they laughed not save only at torment and cruel
deeds. The Glamhoth, host of tumult, the Noldor called them.
(Orcs we may name them; for in days of old they were strong
and fell as demons. Yet they were not of demon kind, but
children (7) of earth corrupted by Morgoth, and they could be
slain or destroyed by the valiant with weapons of war. [But
indeed a darker tale some yet tell in Eressea, saying that the
Orcs were verily in their beginning of the Quendi themselves, a
kindred of the Avari unhappy whom Morgoth cozened, and
then made captive, and so enslaved them, and so brought them
utterly to ruin.* For, saith Pengolod, Melkor could never since
the Ainulindale' make of his own aught that had life or the
semblance of life, and still less might he do so after his treachery
in Valinor and the fullness of his own corruption.](8) Quoth
AElfwine.)
$128 Dark now fell the shadow on Beleriand, as elsewhere
is told; but in Angband Morgoth forged for himself a great
crown of iron; and he called himself King of the World.(9) In
token of which he set the Silmarils in his crown. His evil hands
were burned black by the touch of those hallowed jewels, and
black they have been ever since; and he was never again free
from the pain of the burning. The crown he never took from his
head, though its weight became a weariness unto.torment; and
never but once only, while his realm lasted, did he depart for a
while secretly from his domain in the North.(10) And once only
also did he himself wield weapon, until the Last Battle. For now,
more than in the days of Utumno ere his pride was humbled, his
hatred devoured him, and in the domination of his servants and
the inspiring of them with lust of evil, he spent his spirit.
Nonetheless his majesty as one of the Valar long remained,
though turned to terror, and before his face all save the
mightiest sank into a dark pit of fear.
Of the Speech of Feanor upon Tuna.
$129 When it was known that Morgoth had escaped from
Valinor and pursuit was unavailing, the Valar remained long
seated in darkness in the Ring of Doom, and the Maiar and the
Vanyar stood by them and wept; but the Noldor for the most
part returned sadly to Tuna. Dark now was the fair city of
Tirion, and fogs drifted in from the Shadowy Seas, and mantled
its towers. The lamp of the Mindon burned pale in the gloom.
$130 Then suddenly Feanor appeared in the city and called
on all to come to the high Court of the King upon the summit of
Tuna. The doom of banishment that had been laid upon him
was not yet lifted, and he rebelled against the Valar. A great
multitude gathered swiftly, therefore, to hear what he would
say, and the hill and all the streets, and the stairs that climbed to
(* [footnote to the text] In the Annals of Beleriand it is said that this
he did in the Dark ere ever the Quendi were found by Orome.)
the Court were thronged with the many torches that all bore in
hand as they came.
$131 Feanor was a master of words, and his tongue had
great power over hearts when he would use it. Now he was on
fire, and that night he made a speech before the Noldor which
they have ever remembered. Fierce and fell were his words, and
filled with anger and pride; and they moved the people to
madness like the fumes of hot wine. His wrath and his hate were
most given to Morgoth, and yet well nigh all that he said came
from the very lies of Morgoth himself. He claimed now the
kingship of all the Noldor, since Finwe was dead, and he
scorned the decrees of the Valar.
$132 'Why, O my people,' he cried, 'why should we longer
serve these jealous gods, who cannot keep us, nor their own
realm even, secure from their Enemy? And though he be now
their foe, are not they and he of one kin? Vengeance calls me
hence, but even were it otherwise, I would not dwell longer in
the same land with the kin of my father's slayer and the thief of
my treasure. Yet I am not the only valiant in this valiant people.
And have ye not all lost your king? And what else have ye not
lost, cooped here in a narrow land between the jealous moun-
tains and the harvestless Sea? Here once was light, that the
Valar begrudged to Middle-earth, but now dark levels all. Shall
we mourn here deedless for ever, a shadow-folk, mist-haunting,
dropping vain tears in the salt thankless Sea? Or shall we go
home? In Kuivienen sweet ran the waters under unclouded
stars, and wide lands lay about where a free folk might walk.
There they lie still and await us who in our folly forsook them.
Come away! Let the cowards keep this city. But by the blood of
Finwe! unless I dote, if the cowards only remain, then grass will
grow in the streets. Nay, rot, mildew, and toadstool.'
$133 Long he spoke, and ever he urged the Noldor to
follow him and by their own prowess to win freedom and great
realms in the lands of the East ere it was too late; for he echoed
the lies of Melkor that the Valar had cozened them and would
hold them captive so that Men might rule Middle-earth; and
many of the Eldar heard then for the first time of the After-
comers. 'Fair shall the end be,' he cried, 'though long and hard
shall be the road! Say farewell to bondage! But say farewell also
to ease! Say farewell to the weak! Say farewell to your treasures
- more still shall we make! Journey light. But bring with you
vour swords! For we will go further than Tauros, endure longer
than Tulkas: we will never turn back from pursuit. After
Morgoth to the ends of the Earth! War shall he have and hatred
undying. But when we have conquered and have regained the
Silmarils that he stole, then behold! We, we alone, shall be the
lords of the unsullied Light, and masters of the bliss and the
beauty of Arda! No other race shall oust us!'(11)
$134 Then Feanor swore a terrible oath. Straightway his
seven sons leaped to his side and each took the selfsame oath;
and red as blood shone their drawn swords in the glare of the
torches.
'Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean,
brood of Morgoth or bright Vala,
Elda or Maia or Aftercomer,
Man yet unborn upon Middle-earth,
neither law, nor love, nor league of swords,
dread nor danger, not Doom itself,
shall defend him from Feanor, and Feanor's kin,
whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh,
finding keepeth or afar casteth
a Silmaril. This swear we all:
death we will deal him ere Day's ending,
woe unto world's end! Our word hear thou,
Eru Allfather! To the everlasting
Darkness doom us if our deed faileth.
On the holy mountain hear in witness
and our vow remember, Manwe and Varda!'
Thus spoke Maidros and Maglor, and Celegorn, Curufin and
Cranthir, Damrod and Diriel, princes of the Noldor. But by that
name none should swear an oath, good or evil, nor in anger call
upon such witness, and many quailed to hear the fell words. For
so sworn, good or evil, an oath may not be broken, and it shall
pursue oathkeeper or oathbreaker to the world's end.
$135 Fingolfin, and his son Turgon, therefore spoke against
Feanor, and fierce words awoke, so that once again wrath came
near to the edge of swords. But Finrod, who was skilled also in
words, spoke softly, as his wont was, and sought to calm the
Noldor, persuading them to pause and ponder ere deeds were
done that could not be undone. But of his own sons Orodreth
alone spoke in like manner; for Inglor was with Turgon his
friend,(12) whereas Galadriel, the only woman of the Noldor to
stand that day tall and valiant among the contending princes,
was eager to be gone. No oaths she swore, but the words of
Feanor concerning Middle-earth had kindled her heart, and she
yearned to see the wide untrodden lands and to rule there a
realm maybe at her own will. For youngest of the House of
Finwe she came into the world west of the Sea, and knew yet
nought of the unguarded lands. Of like mind was Fingon
Fingolfin's son, being moved also by Feanor's words, though he
loved him little;(13) and with Fingon as ever stood Angrod and
Egnor, sons of Finrod. But these held their peace and spoke not
against their fathers.
$136 In the end after long debate Feanor prevailed, and the
greater part of the Noldor there assembled he set aflame with
the desire of new things and strange countries. Therefore when
Finrod spoke yet again for heed and delay, a great shout went
up: 'Nay, let us be gone! Let us be gone! ' And straightway
Feanor and his sons began to prepare for the marching forth.
$137 Little foresight could there be for those who dared to
take so dark a road. Yet all was done in over-haste; for Feanor
drove them on, tearing lest in the cooling of hearts his words
should wane and other counsels yet prevail. And for all his
proud words he did not forget the power of the Valar. But from
Valmar no message came, and Manwe was silent. He would not
yet either forbid or hinder Feanor's purpose; for the Valar were
aggrieved that they were charged with evil intent to the Eldar, or
that any were held captive by them against their will. Now they
watched and waited, for they did not yet believe that Feanor
could hold the host of the Noldor to his will.
$138 And indeed when Feanor began the marshalling of the
Noldor for their setting out, then at once dissension arose. For
though he had brought the assembly in a mind to depart, by no
means all were of a mind to take Feanor as king. Greater love
was given to Fingolfin and his sons, and his household and the
most part of the dwellers in Tirion refused to renounce him, if
he would go with them. Thus at the last the Noldor set forth
divided in two hosts. Feanor and his following were in the van;
but the greater host came behind under Fingolfin. And he
marched against his wisdom, because Fingon his son so urged
him, and because he would not be sundered from his people that
were eager to go, nor leave them to the rash counsels of Feanor.
With Fingolfin went Finrod also and for like reason; but most
loath was he to depart.
$139 It is recorded that of all the Noldor in Valinor, who
were grown now to a great people, but one tithe refused to take
the road: some for the love that they bore to the Valar (and to
Aule not least), some for the love of Tirion and the many things
that they had made; none for fear of peril by the way. For they
were indeed a valiant people.
$140 But even as the trumpet sang and Feanor issued from
the gates of Tirion a messenger came at last from Manwe,
saying: 'Against the folly of Feanor shall be set my counsel only.
Go not forth! For the hour is evil, and your road leads to
sorrows that ye do not foresee. No aid will the Valar lend you in
this emprise; but lo! they will not hinder you; for this ye shall
know: as ye came hither freely, freely shall ye depart. But thou
Feanor Finwe's son by thine oath art exiled. The lies of Melkor
thou shalt unlearn in bitterness. Vala he is, thou saist. Then
thou hast sworn in vain, for none of the Valar canst thou
overcome now or ever within the halls of Ea,(14) not though Eru
whom thou namest had made thee thrice greater than thou
arr.'(15)
$141 But Feanor laughed, and spoke not to the herald, but
to the Noldor, saying: So! Then will this valiant people send
forth the heir of their King alone into banishment with his sons
only, and return to their bondage? But if any will come with me,
to them I say: Is sorrow foreboded to you.' Verily in Aman we
have seen it. In Aman we have come through bliss to woe. The
other now we will try: through sorrow to find joy. Or at the
least: freedom!'
$142 Then turning to the herald he cried: 'Say this to
Manwe Sulimo, High-king of Arda: If Feanor cannot overthrow
Morgoth, at least he delays not to assail him, and sits not idle in
grief. And Eru, mayhap, has set in me a fire greater than thou
knowest. Such hurt, at the least, will I do the Foe of the Valar
that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear
it. Yea, in the end they shall follow me. Farewell! '
$143 In that hour the voice of Feanor grew so great and so
potent that even the herald of the Valar bowed before him as
one full-answered, and departed; and the Noldor were over-
ruled. Therefore they continued their march; and the House of
Feanor hastened before them along the coasts of Elende: and
not once did they turn their eyes backward to Tirion upon
Tuna. Slower and less eagerly came the host of Fingolfin after
them. Of these Fingon was the foremost; but at the rear went
Finrod and Inglor, and many of the fairest and wisest of the
Noldor; and often they looked behind them to see their fair city,
until the lamp of the Mindon Eldalieva was lost in the night.
More than any others of the exiles they carried thence memories
of the bliss that they had forsaken, and some even of the fair
things that they had made there they took with them: a solace
and a burden on the road.
Of the First Kin-slaying and the Doom of the Noldor.
$144 Now Feanor led the Noldor northward, because his
first purpose was to follow Morgoth. Moreover, Tuna beneath
Taniquetil was set nigh to the girdle of Arda, and there the
Great Sea was immeasurably wide, whereas ever northward the
sundering seas grew narrower, as the waste-land of Araman and
the coasts of Middle-earth drew together. But the hosts had not
gone far, ere it came to the mind of Feanor, over late, that all
these great companies, both of the full-grown and war-high and
many others, and great store of goods withal, would never
overcome the long leagues to the North, nor cross the seas at the
last, save with the aid of ships.
$145 Therefore Feanor now resolved to persuade the Teleri,
ever friends of the Noldor, to join with them; for thus he
thought to diminish the wealth of Valinor yet further and to
increase his own power of war. Thus also he would get ships
swiftly. For it would need great time and toil to build a great
fleet, even if the Noldor had skill and timber in plenty for such
craft, as indeed they had not. He hastened then to Alqualonde,
and spoke to the Teleri as he had spoken in Tirion.
$146 But the Teleri were unmoved by aught that he could
say. They were grieved indeed at the going of their kinsfolk and
long friends, but would rather dissuade them than aid them;
and no ship would they lend, nor help in the building, against
the will of the Valar. As for themselves they desired now no
other home but the strands of Eldamar, and no other lord than
Olwe, prince of Alqualonde. And he had never lent ear to
Morgoth, nor welcomed him to his land, and he trusted still that
Ulmo and the other great among the Valar would redress the
hurts of Morgoth, and that the night would pass yet to new
dawn.
$147 Then Feanor grew wroth, for he still feared delay; and
he spoke hotly to Olwe. 'Thou renouncest thy friendship, even
in the hour of our need,' said he. 'Yet fain were ye of our aid
when ye came at last to these shores, fainthearted loiterers, and
wellnigh emptyhanded. In huts on the beaches would ye dwell
still, had not the Noldor carved out your haven and toiled on
your walls.'
$148 But Olwe answered: 'Nay, we renounce no friendship.
But it may be the hard part of a friend to rebuke a friend's folly.
And when your folk welcomed us and gave us aid, otherwise
then ye spoke: in the land of Aman we were to dwell for ever, as
brothers whose houses stand side by side. But as for our white
ships: those ye gave us not. That craft we learned not from the
Noldor, but from the Lords of the Sea; and the white timbers we
wrought with our own hands and the white sails were woven by
our fair wives and maidens. Therefore we will neither give them
nor sell them for any league or friendship. For I say to thee,
Feanor, these are to us as are the gems of the Noldor: the work
of our hearts, whose like we shall not make again.'
$149 Thereupon Feanor left him, and sat beyond the walls
brooding darkly, until his host was assembled. When he deemed
that his strength was enough he v ent to the Haven of the Swans
and began to man the ships that were anchored there and to
take them away by force. But the Teleri withstood him stoutly,
and they cast many of the Noldor into the sea. Then swords
were drawn, and a bitter fight was fought upon the ships, and
about the lamplit quays and piers of the Haven, and even upon
the great arch of its gate. Thrice the folk of Feanor were driven
back, and many were slain upon either side; but the vanguard of
the Noldor were succoured by Fingon with the foremost people
of Fingolfin. These coming up found a battle joined and their
own kin falling, and they rushed in ere they knew rightly the
cause of the quarrel: some deemed indeed that the Teleri had
sought to waylay the march of the Noldor, at the bidding of the
Valar.
$150 Thus at last the Teleri were overcome, and a great
part of their mariners that dwelt in Alqualonde were wickedly
slain. For the Noldor were become fierce and desperate, and the
Teleri had less strength, and were armed mostly with light bows
only. Then the Noldor drew away their white ships, and
manned their oars as best they might, and rowed them north
along the coast. And Olwe called upon Osse, but he came not;
for he had been summoned to Valmar to the vigil and council of
the gods; and it was no'. permitted by the Valar that the Flight of
the Noldor should be hindered by force. But Uinen wept for the
mariners of the Teleri; and the sea rose in wrath against the
slayers, so that many of the ships were wrecked and those in
them drowned. Of the Kin-slaying at Alqualonde more is told in
that lament which is named Noldolante,(16) The Fall of the
Noldor, which Maglor made ere he was lost.
1496
$151 Nonetheless the greater part of the Noldor escaped,
and when the storm was over they held on their course, some by
ship, some by land; but the way was long and ever more evil as
they went forward. After they had marched for a great while
in the unmeasured night they came at length to the north of
the Guarded Realm upon the borders of the empty waste of
Araman, which were mountainous and cold. There they beheld
suddenly a dark figure standing upon a high rock that looked
down upon the shore. Some say that it was Mandos himself and
no lesser herald of Manwe. And they heard a loud voice, solemn
and terrible, that bade them stand and give ear.(17)
$152 All halted and stood still, and from end to end of the
hosts of the Noldor the voice was heard speaking the Prophecy
of the North and the Doom of the Noldor. 'Turn back! Turn
back! Seek the pardon of the Valar lest their curse fall upon
you!' So the voice began, and many woes it foretold in dark
words, which the Noldor understood not until the woes indeed
after befell them. 'Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; but if ye go
further, be assured that the Valar will fence Valinor against you,
and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation
shall pass over the mountains.
$153 'Lo! on the House of Feanor the wrath of the gods
lieth from the West into the uttermost East, and upon all that
will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive
them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very
treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all
things turn that they begin well; and by the treason of kin unto
kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The
Dispossessed shall they be for ever.
$154 'Behold! Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred
unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye
shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's
shadow. For know now that though Eru appointed unto you to
die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain may ye
be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by
grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos.
There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies and find
little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you.
And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to
Mandos, they shall grow weary of the world as with a great
burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret
before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have
spoken.'
$155 Then many quailed. But Feanor hardened his heart
and said: 'We have sworn, and not lightly. This Oath we will
keep. And lo! we are threatened with many evils, and treason
not least; but one thing is not said: that we shall suffer from
cravens; from cowardice or the fear of cowardice among us.
Therefore I say we will go on, and this doom I add: the deeds
that we do shall be the matter of song until the last days of
Arda.' And the doom of Feanor was true-spoken also.
$156 But in that hour Finrod forsook the march, and
turned hack, being filled with grief, and with hitterness against
the house of Feanor, because of his kinship with Olwe of
Alqualonde; and many of his people went with him, retracing
their steps in sorrow, until they beheld once more the far beam
of the Mindon upon Tuna still shining in the night, and so came
at last to Valinor. There they received the pardon of the Valar,
and Finrod was set to rule the remnant of the Noldor in the
Blessed Realm. But his sons were not with him, for they would
not forsake the sons of Fingolfin; and all Fingolfin's folk went
forward still, feeling the constraint of their kinship and the will
of Feanor, and fearing to face the doom of the gods, since not all
of them had been guiltless of the kinslaying at Alqualonde.
Moreover Fingon and Turgon were bold and fiery of heart and
loath to abandon any task to which they had put their hands
until the bitter end, if bitter it must he. So the main host held on,
and swiftly the evil that was forespoken began its work.
1497
$157 The Noldor came at last far into the North of Arda,
and they saw the first teeth of the ice that floated in the sea, and
knew that they were drawing nigh to the Helkaraxe. For
between the West-land of Aman that in the north curved
eastward and the east-shores of Endar (which is Middle-earth)
that bore westward there was a narrow strait, through which
the chill waters of the Encircling Sea and the waves of the Great
Sea flowed together, and there were vast fogs and mists of
deathly cold, and the sea-streams were filled with clashing hills
of ice and the grinding of ice deep-sunken. Such was the
Helkaraxe, and there none yet had dared to tread save the Valar
only and Ungoliante.
$158 Therefore Feanor halted and the Noldor debated
what course they should now take. But soon they began to
suffer anguish from the cold, and the clinging mists through
which no gleam of star could pierce; and many of them repented
of the road and began to murmur, especially those that followed
Fingolfin, cursing Feanor, and naming him as the cause of all the
woes of the Eldar. But Feanor, knowing all that was said, took
counsel with his sons. Two courses only they saw to escape
from Araman and come unto Endar: by the straits or by ship.
But the Helkaraxe they deemed impassable, whereas the ships
were too few. Many had been lost upon their long journey and
there remained now not enough to bear across all the great host
together; yet none were willing to abide upon the west-coast
while others were ferried first: already the fear of treachery was
awake among the Noldor.
$159 Therefore it came into the hearts of Feanor and his
sons to seize all the ships and depart suddenly; for they had
retained the mastery of the fleet since the battle of the Haven,
and it was manned only by those who had fought there and
were bound unto Feanor. And lo! as though it came at his call
there sprang up a wind from the north-west, and Feanor slipped
away (18) secretly with all whom he deemed true to him, and went
aboard, and put out to sea, and left Fingolfin in Araman. And
since the sea was there narrow, steering east and somewhat
south he passed over without loss, and first of all the Noldor set
foot once more upon the shores of Middle-earth. And the
landing of Feanor was at the mouth of that firth which was
called Drengist, and ran into Dor-lomin.(19)
$160 But when they were landed, Maidros the eldest of his
sons (and on a time a friend of Fingon ere Morgoth's lies came
between) spoke to Feanor, saying: 'Now what ships and men
wilt thou spare to return, and whom shall they bear hither first?
Fingon the valiant?'
$161 Then Feanor laughed as one fey, and his wrath was
unleashed: 'None and none!' he cried. 'What I have left behind I
count now no loss: needless baggage on the road it has proved.
Let those that cursed my name, curse me still! And whine their
way back to the cages of the Valar, if they can find no other! Let
the ships burn!'
$162 Then Maidros alone stood aside, but Feanor and his
sons set fire in the white ships of the Teleri. So in that place
which was called Losgar at the outlet of the Firth of Drengist (20)
ended in a great burning bright and terrible the fairest vessels
that ever sailed the sea. ' And Fingolfin and his people saw the
light afar off red beneath the clouds. This was the first-fruits of
the Kinslaying and the Doom of the Noldor.
$163 Then Fingolfin knew that he was betrayed, and left to
perish in misery or go back in shame. And his heart was bitter,
but desired now as never before to come by some way into
Middle-earth, and meet Feanor again. And he and his host
wandered long and wretchedly; but their valour and endurance
grew greater with hardship; for they were yet a mighty folk, the
elder children undying of Eru Iluvatar, but new-come from the
Blessed Realm, and not yet weary with the weariness of Earth;
and the fire of their hearts was young. Therefore led by Fingolfin
and his sons, and by Inglor and Galadriel the valiant and fair,
they dared to pass into the untrodden North, and finding no
other way they endured at last the terror of the Helkaraxe and
the cruel hills of ice. Few of the deeds of the Noldor thereafter
surpassed that desperate crossing in hardihood or in woe. Many
there perished, and it was with a lessened host that Fingolfin set
foot at last upon the Northlands of Endar. Little love for Feanor
or his sons had those that then marched behind him, and blew
their trumpets in Middle-earth at the first rising of the Moon.
Here the Noldor passed out of Aman and
the Annals of Aman tell of them no more.
NOTES.
1. 'Aule the Maker' replaced 'Ulmo'.
2. Struck out here, probably at once: '(the Dark Enemy)'.
3. Struck out here (later): 'not a second time would the Black Foe of
Arda be dismissed with proud words of scorn.'
4. This passage is a replacement of the original text:
but Yavanna was dismayed, for now the Light of the Trees had
passed utterly into a great Darkness, which though the Valar
did rot yet understand they perceived that it must come from
some aid that Morgoth had called from Without, and they
feared that it was lost beyond the End. Therefore all was one,
whether Feanor said...
5. This passage was emended from the original text, which read
thus:
There countless became the hosts of his beasts and his demons;
and he brought now into being the fell race of the Orkor, and
they grew and multiplied in the bowels of the earth like a
plague. These creatures Morgoth made in envy and mockery of
the Eldar. Therefore in form...
6. 'bred' is an emendation of 'made'.
7. 'children' is an emendation of 'a spawn'.
8. This passage, from 'But indeed a darker tale...' and including the
footnote, was struck out at a later time than the changes given in
notes 5 - 7 and perhaps in revision of the text before the making of
the typescript, in which it does not appear. The whole addition by
AElfwine is enclosed within brackets as originally written.
9. The original text was 'Aran Endor, King of Middle-earth.' Aran
Endor was then corrected to Tarumbar; finally the reading 'King
of the World' was substituted.
10. The text as originally written read here: 'and never but once only
did he come forth from the deeps that he had dug, while his realm
lasted.' When my father corrected this to the text printed he
added all that follows to the end of the paragraph.
11. In this paragraph the passage from 'ere it was too late' as far as
'many of the Eldar heard then for the first time of the After-
comers', and the final sentence 'No other race shall oust us', were
later additions.
12. The associations of the Noldorin princes were different as this
passage was first written: 'Fingolfin and his sons Fingon and
Turgon spoke against Feanor', and 'of [Finrod's] own sons Inglor
alone spoke in like manner, for Angrod and Egnor were with
Fingon, and Orodreth stood aside; whereas Galadriel...' But the
changes that give the text printed appear to have been made
immediately, since the passage at the end of the paragraph
belongs to the original writing of the text.
13. Struck out here: and his sons less (cf. the passage in $160 where
Fingon's friendship with Maidros is referred to).
14. Ea is so spelt here, and again in $154, but in the last two
occurrences in the text it is spelt Ea.
15. Struck out here: 'and Melkor least of all, who is mightiest save
one.'
16. The name Noldolante was added in the margin. It does not
appear in the typescript.
17. The page beginning here and carrying $$152 - 4 is much more
roughly written than the rest of the manuscript, and my father
struck it through and replaced it. It might be thought at first sight
that this is the only place where a first draft of AAm survives, but
this is not the case. The rough 'draft' page was written on the
reverse of that carrying $$149 - 51, and that is in the same good
clear script as elsewhere (with a number of changes made in the
act of composition). It is plain then that the rejected page did not
begin as 'rough draft' (and the handwriting bears this out), but
degenerated into it; and this instance is, if anything, rather
evidence against the idea of a lost first draft of the Annals of
Aman (see p. 47).
The first text originally began, following QS $71, 'Once again
he warned the Noldor to return and seek pardon, or in the end
they should return at last only after bitter sorrow and woes
unspeakable.' The Doom of the Noldor in the final form was in
fact only changed from the draft by a rearrangement of its parts
and in many details of phrasing. Two points may be noted. After
'... over the mountains' at the end of $152 stood 'Ye shall be free
of them and they of you'; and the sentence in $154 beginning
'There long shall ye abide...' read 'There long shall ye ahide, and
be not set free until those ye have slain entreat for you.'
18. This sentence replaced the following: 'Waiting then but a little for
a north wind that brought a deep mist upon the host he slipped
away...'
19. The last sentence of $159 was a later addition.
20. The passage 'in that place ... the Firth of Drengist' was a later
addition.
21. Changed from 'the fairest vessels of the Elder Days'.
Commentary on the fifth section of the
Annals of Aman.
This section of the Annals corresponds in content to QS Chapter 5 Of
the Flight of the Noldor (V.232 - 8), and to AV 2 annals 2990 - 2994
(V.114 - 17). After the opening paragraphs the narrative of the Annals
is again closely related in structure to the chapter in QS, and from
$125 onwards many phrases are retained from it (more in fact than
appears from the text printed, since in some cases my father adopted
phrases without change from QS and then altered them). On the other
hand, the narrative is greatly expanded in scope.
$$117-24 There now enters a new and subtle articulation in the
story, with the assertion of Yavanna that with the holy light
regained from the Silmarils she could rekindle the Trees before
their roots died, the demand made upon Feanor, and his
refusal - before the news came from Formenos.
$121 Mandos said 'Not the first' because he knew that Finwe had
been murdered. See further p. 127, $ 120.
$122 Korlaire: the first occurrence of this name (see p.127, $122).-
A new element in the narrative is that 'Finwe alone had not fled
from the horror of the Dark.' In QS ($60) and AV 2 Morgoth
slew many others beside. Where Feanor's sons were, or where
they went (for Feanor came to the festival alone, $112), is not
cold (see pp. 293 - 4).
$123 It is now first said that it was Feanor who named Melkor
Morgoth ('the Dark Enemy', note 2 above). In AAm (unlike
QS) Melkor is always so named until this point, but after this
almost invariably Morgoth.
$125 Araman: QS Eruman. The change had appeared previously on
the Ambarkanta map V (IV.250 - 1), where it was put in many
years after the making of the map.
$126 In QS ($62) no more is said of Ungoliante's fate than that the
Balrogs drove her away 'into the uttermost South, where she
long remained'; now appears the story that she dwelt first in
Nan Dungorthin, and only afterwards, after spawning there,
did she retreat into the South of the world. But the spiders of
Nan Dungorthin 'of the fell race of Ungoliante' are referred to
later in QS, in the story of Beren's flight from Dorthonion (see
V.299, and the published Silmarillion p. 164).
$127 The origin of the Orcs. In QS ($62) the idea had already
arisen that the Orcs originated in mockery of the Elves, but not
yet that the Orcs were in any other way associated with them:
they were a 'creation' of Morgoth's own, 'made of stone', and
he brought them into being when he returned to Middle-earth.
As AAm was first written (see notes 5 - 7 above) this view still
held; the word 'made' was still used - though not the words
'made of stone'. But in AElfwine's note that follows (and which
was written continuously with what precedes) they are called
'a spawn of earth corrupted by Morgoth'; and the 'darker tale'
told in Eressea - that the Orcs were in their beginning
enslaved and corrupted Elves (Avari) - is certainly the first
appearance of this idea, contradicting what precedes, or
perhaps rather at this stage presenting an alternative theory. It
is ascribed to Pengolod; and Pengolod argues to AElfwine that
Melkor could actually make nothing that had life, but could
only corrupt what was already living. The implication of this
second theory would probably, though not necessarily, be that
the Orcs came into being much earlier, before the Captivity of
Melkor; and that this implication is present is suggested by the
footnote reference to the Annals of Beleriand - meaning the
last version of these Annals, the Grey Annals, companion to
the Annals of Aman: 'it is said that this he did in the Dark ere
ever the Quendi were found by Orome.'
At this point my father went back to an earlier part of AAm
(p. 72, $42) and interpolated the passage 'Yet by after-
knowledge ...', where the idea of the capture of wandering
Quendi in their earliest days is filled out, though it remains
only a supposition of the 'masters of lore'. Perhaps at the same
time he emended the present passage, changing 'he brought
now into being' to 'thence there now came forth in hosts
beyond count', 'made' to 'bred', and 'a spawn of earth' to
'children of earth'. He then (as I conjecture) developed the
interpolation at the earlier point much more fully ($$43 - 5),
where the idea becomes less a supposition than a certainty of
history: the powerlessness of Melkor to make living things is a
known fact ('so say the wise'). Finally, at a later time (see note
8), he cut out the whole passage at the end of $127 beginning
'But indeed a darker tale some yet tell in Eressea ...' - either
because he only then observed that it had been superseded by
$$43 - 5 and was in any case not in the appropriate place, or
because he rejected this theory of the origin of the Orcs. See
further p. 127, $127.
The word for in 'Orcs we may name them; for in days of old
they were strong and fell as demons. Yet they were not of
demon kind' (an observation of AElfwine's) suggests that Orcs
is Old English (cf. orc-neas in Beowulf line 112), conveniently
similar to the Elvish word. This would explain why AElfwine
said, in effect, 'We may call them Orcs, because they were
strong and fell as demons, even though they were not in fact
demons.' In a letter of my father's written on 25 April 1954
(Letters no.144) he said that the word Orc 'is as far as I am
concerned actually derived from Old English orc "demon", but
only because of its phonetic suitability' (and also: 'Orcs... are
nowhere clearly stated to be of any particular origin. But since
they are servants of the Dark Power, and later of Sauron,
neither of whom could, or would, produce living things, they
must be "corruptions"').
$128 The final reading here 'King of the World' (see note 9) returns
to that of QS ($63), which goes hack to Q (IV.93). - On the
subject of Morgoth's departures from Angband QS has: 'it was
never his wont to leave the deep places of his fortress', and
there is no mention of his one absence.
$$132-3 The report of Feanor's speech is greatly extended from that
in QS ($$66 - 7).
$133 Tauros: Orome; cf. QS $8: 'He is a hunter, and he loves all
trees; for which reason he is called Aldaron, and by the
Gnomes Tauros, the lord of forests'; also the Etymologies,
stem TAWAR (V.391): 'N[oldorin] Tauros "Forest-Dread",
usual N by-name of Orome (N Araw)'. It is notable that
Feanor should use this name (see p. 146, $8). In the typescript,
for no very clear reason, the typist left a blank here, in which
my father later pencilled Orome'.
$135 As AAm was first written (see note 12 above) the alignments of
the Noldorin princes were already changed from the account
in QS ($68), since Angrod and Egnor were now opposed to
Feanor - and Galadriel now has a part in the matter, being
eager to leave Aman. As rewritten, a more subtle alignment is
portrayed: for Fingon now independently urges departure, and
Angrod and Egnor move with him. Of Fingolfin's sons Turgon
alone now supports his father, but inglor stands with him; and
Orodreth moves into inglor's place as the only one of his sons
to support Finrod.
The close friendship of Turgon with Felagund (Inglor) had
appeared already in the earliest Annals of Beleriand (IV.296);
in a late addition to the AAm typescript (p. 106, $85) they
were born in the same Year of the Trees.
The statement that Galadriel, 'youngest of the House of
Finwe', 'came into the world west of the Sea, and knew yet
nought of the unguarded lands', is strange, because all the
progeny of Finwe were born in Aman (AAm $$78, 81 - 2).
$136 The Noldor were moved by 'the desire of new things and
strange countries'; in QS they were 'filled with desire for the
Silmarils'.
$137 The march from Tirion was undertaken with too little prepara-
tion and in too great haste; cf. AV 2 (annal 2992): 'The great
march of the Gnomes was long preparing.'
$139 Only one tenth of the Noldor remained behind in Tirion.
$$140-2 The words of Manwe's messenger are given, and the
episode is much expanded. The herald does not say"as in QS
($68), that the Valar forbade the march, but it is now said that
Feanor had exiled himself through the very fact of his oath;
and Feanor in his reply accuses the Valar of sitting idle and
making no move against Morgoth.
$143 Elende (Elvenhome, Elfland): see p. 90, $67.
$$145-8 Feanor himself (not as in QS $70 messengers) went to
Olwe at Alqualonde, and their words together are fully
recounted. In $147 Feanor speaks of the building of the Haven
by the Noldor, which is mentioned earlier in AAm ($76).
$$149-50 The account in AAm of the battle at Alqualonde and its
aftermath follows QS $70 closely and retains much of its
phrasing; but in $149 it is now told that those of the second
host who joined in the battle mistook its cause.
$150 On the weapons of the Teleri see p. 106, $97. - The song of the
Flight of the Gnomes (QS $70) is now called Noldolante, the
Fall of the Noldor, 'which Maglor made ere he was lost.'
$$152-4 The Prophecy of the North, now called 'the Prophecy of
the North and the Doom of the Noldor', is significantly
developed: by the warning that such of the Noldor as may be
slain afterwards shall remain long in Mandos 'yearning for
their bodies', and that those who endure in Middle-earth shall
grow weary of the world and shall wane. In this AAm looks
back to AV 2 (annal 2993, V.116; almost the same in AV 1,
IV.267):
A measure of mortality should visit the Noldor, and they
should be slain with weapons, and with torments, and with
sorrow, and in the long end they should fade upon Middle-
earth and wane before the younger race.
I have discussed these passages in IV.278 - 9. See further
pp. 265 ff.
$156 As in AV (both texts), many of Finrod's people returned with
him to Valinor; in QS ($72) only 'a few of his household'
turned back. A new element in Finrod's motive for return is his
kinship with Olwe of Alqualonde, for his wife was Earwen
Olwe's daughter ($85).
$157 Endar 'Middle-earth'. The form Endon was used earlier in
AAm of 'the midmost point' of Middle-earth ($38), where it
was changed on the typescript to Endor (p. 80). These forms
Endon and Endor had appeared in the Ambarkanta and maps
(see p. 76, $38). In The Lord of the Rings Quenya Endore,
Sindarin Ennor, means not the midmost point but Middle-
earth itself, and in a letter of 1967 (Letters no.297, p. 384) my
father referred to Q. Endor, S. Ennor = Middle-earth, with the
etymology en(ed) 'middle' and (n)dor 'land (mass)'; cf. also
Aran Endor 'King of Middle-earth', note 9 above. But in the
present passage the form Endar is perfectly clear, as also again
in $$158, 163. The typist however in each case, for some
reason, typed Endor, and my father did not alter it. On the
other hand, in the title of the next section in AAm (p. 129) the
typist put Endar as in the manuscript, and again my father let
this stand. In the published Silmarillion (p. 89) I printed,
hesitantly, the form Endor.
This passage concerning the Helkaraxe derives not from QS
but from AV 2 (annal 2994, almost the same in AV 1), and it is
very notable that it remains in complete congruence with the
cosmography of the Ambarkanta (see IV.238, 254).
$159 The story that Angrod and Egnor came to Middle-earth in the
ships with the Feanorians is now abandoned, with the loss of
the story that they were close friends of the sons of Feanor, and
especially of Celegorn and Curufin (QS $$42, 72 - 3).
$160-2 Maidros takes no part in the burning of the ships, and
remembers Fingon, his former friend. Feanor's motive in this
act is sufficiently explained in the older texts, but in AAm the
insane pride and fury that drove him is far more strongly
conveyed; he was indeed 'fey'.
$162 The addition (note 20 above) of the name Losgar of the place
of the burning of the ships is derived from its sole occurrence in
the earlier texts, at the beginning of the later Annals of
Beleriand (AB 2, V.125 and commentary).
$163 On the difference between the final sentence from that in QS
('and came unto Beleriand at the rising of the sun') see V.239,
commentary on $73.
Among the notes and corrections written by my father on the
typescript in this section of AAm, not all of which need be recorded,
there are several indicating proposed extensions of the narrative.
$120 'I shall die' > 'I shall be slain'; 'first of all the Children of Eru'
underlined; and a note in the margin against the words 'Not
the first (at the beginning of $121): 'X This no longer fits
even the Eldar of Valinor. Finwe Feanor's father was first to be
slain of the High-elves, Miriel Feanor's mother the first to die.'
It is to be remembered that when AAm was written the history
of Miriel had not yet been devised; the entries that state that
Miriel 'fell asleep and passed to Mandos' and that Finwe
afterwards wedded Indis (p. 101, notes 1 and 4) were later
additions (found in the typescript as typed). See further
pp. 268-9.
$122 The typist left a blank for Korlaire, which my father filled with
the form Korolaire. Later he underlined this in pencil and
wrote Ezellohar against it (see p. 106, $113).
$126 Ered Orgoroth > Ered Gorgorath; Nan Dungorthin > Nan
Dungortheb. See V.298 - 9.
$127 Against the opening of this paragraph my father wrote: 'The
making of this fortress as a guard against a landing from the
West should come earlier. See p. 156, $12.
In the typescript the passage concerning the Orcs ran as it
stands in the text printed from the manuscript on p. 109 only
as far as 'they could be slain or destroyed by the valiant with
weapons of war'; the remainder of the paragraph had been
struck out in the manuscript (note 8, p. 121), apart from the
words 'Quoth AElfwine' at the end (which the typist did not
notice and omitted, ending the paragraph at 'weapons of war'
without closing the brackets). Against the first part of the
passage my father wrote an X on the typescript and a brief
illegible direction of which the first word might be 'cut', with a
reference to the passage on the subject in $45. It is not clear
what precisely was to be cut (if I read the word correctly), but
seeing that he noted on the typescript against the earlier
passage (p. 80, $43): 'Alter this. Orcs are not Elvish', it seems
likely that the same objection applied here (see further
pp. 408 ff.). - He rectified the typist's error in omitting the
words 'Quoth AElfwine' by cutting out the words '(Orcs we
may name them; for', so that the text reads: 'The Glamhoth,
host of tumult, the Noldor called them. In days of old they
were strong and fell as demons ...' This was perhaps done
without consulting the manuscript.
$132 In 'the salt thankless Sea' the word salt was struck out.
$134 Marginal note against the names of the Sons of Feanor:
'X Names will be revised.' In the text Cranthir > Caranthir,
Damrod and Diriel struck out (but no other names substi-
tuted), and the n of Celegorn underlined.
$135 Marginal note against the opening of this paragraph: 'Names
and relations now altered.' In the text Finrod > Finarphin (and
subsequently), and Inglor o Finrod (and subsequently); also
Orodreth underlined and marked with an X.
$137 Against the sentence 'He [Manwe] would not yet either forbid
or hinder Feanor's purpose' is the marginal note: 'Manwe and
the Valar could not - sc. were not permitted to hinder the
Noldor except by counsel - not by force.'
$149 Marginal note against the passage describing the involvement
of the second host in the fighting: 'Finrod and Galadriel
(whose husband was of the Teleri) fought against Feanor in
defence of Alqualonde.' On this see the very late note (1973) of
my father's concerning Galadriel's conduct at the time of the
rebellion of the Noldor in Unfinished 'Tales, pp. 231 - 2: 'In
Feanor's revolt that followed the Darkening of Valinor Galad-
riel had no part: indeed she with Celeborn fought heroically in
defence of Alqualonde against the assault of the Noldor...'
$162 'Feanor and his sons set fire in' was changed to 'Feanor caused
fire to be set to'. A marginal note at the end of the paragraph
reads: 'Tragedy of the burning of one of Feanor's [added: 2
younger] sons, who had returned to sleep in his ship.' Another
note at the same place reads: 'Feanor's youngest sons were
twins'; this is followed by a bracketed word which was struck
out, probably '(unlike)'. It was said in QS ($41) that Damrod
and Diriel were 'twin brethren alike in mood and face'.
$163 Marginal note against 'Many there perished' (i.e. in the
crossing of the Helkaraxe): 'Turgon's wife was lost and he had
then only one daughter and no other heir. Turgon was nearly
lost himself in attempts to rescue his wife - and he had less love
for the Sons of Feanor than any other.'
Sixth and last section of the Annals of Aman.
1495-1500.
Of the Moon and the Sun. The Lighting of Endar,
and the Hiding of Valinor.
$164 It is told that the Valar sat long unmoved upon their
thrones in the Ring of Doom, but they were not idle as Feanor
said in the folly of his heart. For the gods may work many things
with thought rather than with hands, and without voices in
silence they may hold council one with another. Thus they held
vigil in the night of Valinor, and their thought passed back
beyond Ea and forth to the End; yet neither power nor wisdom
assuaged their grief, and the knowing of evil in the hour of its
being. Neither did they mourn more for the death of the Trees
than for the marring of Feanor: of all Melkor's works the most
wicked.
$165 For Feanor was made the mightiest in all parts of
body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in under-
standing, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the
Children of Eru, and a bright flame was in him. The works of
wonder for the glory of Arda that he might otherwise have
wrought only Manwe might in some measure conceive. And the
Vanyar who held vigil with the Valar have recorded that when
the messengers reported to Manwe the answers of Feanor to his
heralds Manwe wept and bowed his head. But at that last word
of Feanor: that at the least the Noldor should do deeds to live in
song for ever: he raised his head, as one that hears a voice afar
off, and he said: 'So shall it be! Dear-bought those songs shall be
accounted, and yet shall be well-bought. For the price could
be no other. Thus, even as Eru spoke to us, shall beauty not
before conceived be brought into Ea, and evil yet be good to
have been.'
'And yet remain evil,' quoth Mandos. 'To me shall Feanor
come soon.'
$166 But when at last the Valar learned that the Noldor
had indeed passed out of Aman and were come back into
Middle-earth, they arose and began to set forth in deeds those
counsels they had taken in thought for the redress of the evils of
Melkor.
$167 Then Manwe bade Yavanna and Nienna to put forth
all their powers of growth and healing; and they put forth all
their powers upon the Trees. But the tears of Nienna availed not
to heal their mortal wounds; and for a long while Yavanna sang
alone in the shadows. Yet even as hope failed and her song
faltered, behold! Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough
one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single fruit of gold.
$168 These Yavanna took, and then the Trees died, and
their lifeless stems stand yet in Valinor, a memorial of vanished
joy. But the flower and fruit Yavanna gave to Aule, and Manwe
hallowed them; and Aule and his folk made vessels to hold them
and preserve their radiance, as is said in the Narsilion, the Song
of the Sun and Moon. These vessels the gods gave to Varda, that
they might become lamps of heaven, outshining the ancient
stars, being nearer to Arda; and she gave them power to traverse
the lower regions of Ilmen, and set them to voyage upon
appointed courses above the girdle of the Earth from the West
unto the East, and to return.
$169 These things the Valar did, recalling in their twilight
the darkness of the lands of Arda; and they resolved now to
illumine Middle-earth and with light to hinder the deeds of
Morgoth. For they remembered the Quendi, the Avari that had
remained by the waters of their awakening, and did not utterly
forsake the Noldor in exile; and Manwe knew also that the
hour of the coming of Men was drawn nigh.
$170 Indeed it is said that, even as the Valar made war
upon Melkor on behalf of the Quendi, so now for that time they
forbore on behalf of the Hildi, the Aftercomers, younger
children of Eru. For grievous had been the hurts of Middle-earth
in the war upon Utumno, and the Valar feared lest even worse
should now befall; whereas the Hildi should be mortal, and
weaker than the Quendi to withstand fear and tumult. More-
over it was not revealed to Manwe where the beginning of Men
should be, north, south, or east. Therefore the Valar sent forth
light, but made strong the land of their dwelling.
$171 Isil the Sheen the Vanyar of old named the Moon,
flower of Telperion in Valinor; and Anar the Fire-golden, fruit
of Laurelin, they named the Sun. But the Noldor named them
Rana the wayward, and Vasa the consumer; for the Sun was set
as a sign for the awakening of Men and the waning of the Elves,
but the Moon cherishes their memory.
$172 The maiden whom the Valar chose from among the
Maiar to guide the vessel of the Sun was named Arien, and he
that steered the island of the Moon was Tilion.* In the days of
(* Marginal notes against A rien and Tilion: 'daegred AE' and 'hyrned AE'.)
the Trees Arien had tended the golden flowers in the gardens of
Vana and refreshed them with the bright dews of Laurelin.
Tilion was a young hunter of the company of Orome, and he
had a silver bow. He was a lover of silver, and when he would
rest he forsook the woods of Orome and went unto Lorien and
lay adream by the pools of Este in the flickering beams of
Telperion; and he begged to be given the task of tending ever the
last Flower of Silver. Arien the maiden was mightier than he,
and she was chosen because she had not feared the heats of
Laurelin, and was unhurt by them, being from the beginning a
spirit of fire, whom nonetheless Melkor had not deceived nor
drawn to his service. Fair indeed was Arien to behold, but too
bright were her eyes for even the Eldar to look on, and leaving
Valinor she forsook the form and raiment which, like the Valar,
she had there worn, and she was as a naked flame, terrible in the
fullness of her splendour.
1500
$173 Isil was first wrought and made ready, and first rose
into the realm of the stars, and was the elder of the new lights,
as was Telperion of the Trees. Then for a while the world had
moonlight, and many things stirred and woke that had waited
long in the sleep of Yavanna. The servants of Morgoth were
amazed, but the dark-elves looked up in delight; and it is told
that Fingolfin set foot upon the Northern Lands with the first
moon-rise, and the shadows of his host were long and black.
Tilion had traversed the heavens seven times, and was thus in
the furthest East when the vessel of Arien was made ready. Then
Anar arose in glory, and the snow upon the mountains glowed
as with fire, and there was heard the sound of many waterfalls;
but the servants of Morgoth fled to Angband and cowered in
fear, and Fingolfin unfurled his banners.
$174 Now Varda purposed that the two vessels should
journey in Ilmen and ever be aloft, but not together: each should
pass from Valinor into the East and return, the one issuing from
the West as the other turned from the East. Thus the first of the
new days were reckoned after the manner of the Trees from the
mingling of the lights when Arien and Tilion passed in their
courses, above the middle of the Earth. But Tilion was wayward
and uncertain in speed, and held not to his appointed path; and
he sought to come near to Arien, being drawn by the splendour
of her beauty, though the flame of Anar scorched him, and the
island of the Moon was darkened.
$175 Because of the waywardness of Tilion, therefore, and
yet more because of the prayers of Lorien and Este, who said
that sleep and rest had been banished from the Earth, and the
stars were hidden, Varda changed her counsel, and allowed a
time wherein the world should still have shadow and half-light.
Anar rested, therefore, a while in Valinor, lying upon the cool
bosom of the Outer Sea; and Evening, which was the time of the
descent and resting of the Sun, was the hour of greatest light and
joy in Aman. But soon the Sun was drawn down by the servants
of Ulmo, and went then in haste under the Earth, and came so
unseen to the East and there mounted the heaven again, lest
night should be over-long and evil walk under the Moon. But by
Anar the waters of the Outer Sea were made hot and glowed
with coloured fire, and Valinor had light for a while after the
passing of Arien. Yet as she journeyed under the Earth and drew
towards the East the glow faded and Valinor was dim, and the
Valar mourned then most for the death of Laurelin. At dawn the
shadows of their Mountains of Defence lay heavy on the land of
the Valar.
$176 Varda commanded the Moon to journey in like
manner, and passing under Earth to arise in the East, but only
after the Sun had descended from heaven. But Tilion went with
uncertain pace, as yet he goes, and was still drawn towards
Arien, as he shall ever be; so that oft both may be seen above the
Earth together, or at times it will chance that he comes so nigh
that his shadow cuts off her brightness, and there is a darkness
amid the day.
$177 Therefore by the coming and going of Anar the Valar
reckoned the days thereafter until the Change of the World. For
Tilion tarried seldom in Valinor, but more oft would pass
swiftly over the westland of Aman, over Arvalin, or Araman, or
Valinor, and plunge in the chasm beyond the Outer Sea,
pursuing his way alone amid the grots and caverns at the roots
of Arda. There he would oft wander long, and late would
return.
$ 178 Still therefore, after the Long Night, the light of
Valinor was greater and fairer than upon Middle-earth; for the
Sun rested there, and the lights of heaven drew nearer to Earth
in that region. But neither the Sun nor the Moon can recall the
light that was of old, that came from the Trees ere they were
touched by the poison of Ungoliante. That light lives now in the
Silmarils alone, and they are lost.
$179 But Morgoth hated the new lights and was for a while
confounded by this unlooked-for stroke of the Valar. Then he
assailed Tilion, sending spirits of shadow against him, and there
was strife in Ilmen beneath the paths of the stars, and Tilion was
the victor: as he ever yet hath been, though still the pursuing
darkness overtakes him at whiles. But Arien Morgoth feared
with a great fear, and dared not to come nigh her, having indeed
no longer the power. For as he grew in malice, and sent forth
from himself the evil that he conceived in lies and creatures of
wickedness, his power passed into them and was dispersed, and
he himself became ever more earth-bound, unwilling to issue
from his dark strongholds. With shadow therefore he hid
himself and his servants from Arien, the glance of whose eyes
they could not long endure, and the lands nigh his dwelling were
shrouded in fumes and great clouds.(1)
$180 But seeing the assault upon Tilion the Valar were in
doubt, fearing what the malice and cunning of Melkor might yet
contrive against them. Being unwilling, as hath been said, yet
to make war upon him in Middle-earth, they remembered
nonetheless the ruin of Almaren and resolved that the like
should not befall Valinor. Therefore at this time they fortified
Valinor anew; and they raised up the mountain-walls of the
Pelori to sheer and dreadful heights, east, north, and south.
Their outer sides were dark and smooth, without foothold or
ledge,(2) and they fell in great precipices with faces hard as glass,
and they rose up to towers with crowns of white ice. A sleepless
watch was set upon them. No pass led through them - save only
at the Kalakiryan (3) wherein still stood forsaken the green hill of
Tuna. This pass the Valar did not close because of the Eldar that
were faithful: for all those of elven-race, even the Vanyar and
Ingwe their lord, must breathe at whiles the outer air and the
wind that comes over the Sea from the lands of their birth; and
the gods would not sunder the Teleri wholly from their kin.
Therefore in the Kalakiryan they set strong towers and many
sentinels; and at its issue upon the plains of Valmar a host was
encamped; for the armouries of the Valar were opened, and the
Maiar and the Sons of the Valar were arrayed as for war.
Neither bird nor beast nor Elf nor Man, nor any other creature
beside that dwelt in Middle-earth, could pass that leaguer.
$181 And in that time also, which songs call Nurtale
Valinoreva, the Hiding of Valinor, the Enchanted Isles were set,
and all the seas about them were filled with shadows and
I'
bewilderment; and these isles were strung as a net in the
Shadowy Seas (4) from north unto south, before Tol Eressea, the
Lonely Isle, is reached by one sailing west. Hardly might any
vessel pass between them: for in the dangerous sounds the
waves sighed for ever upon dark rocks shrouded in mist. And in
the twilight a great weariness came upon mariners and a
loathing of the Sea; but all that ever set foot upon the islands
were there entrapped, and slept until the Change of the World.
Thus it was that, as Mandos foretold to them in Araman, the
Blessed Realm was shut against the Noldor, and of the many
messengers that in after-days they sent into the West none came
ever to Valinor - save one only: the mightiest mariner of song.
Here with the Hiding of Valinor
end
The Annals of Aman.
NOTES.
1. This paragraph, from 'Then he assailed Tilion ...', was first
written thus:
Tilion indeed he assailed, sending dark spirits of shadow against
him, which still pursue him, though ever yet Tilion has overcome
them. But Arien he feared with a great fear and dared not to
trouble, and neither he nor any of his creatures could look upon
her, nor long endure the glance of her eyes. In shadows he hid
their wickedness from her, and sent forth fumes and dark
clouds, so that the lands near his dwelling were drear and
shrouded in glooms, though far above bright Anar might sail in
blue heaven. For as he grew in malice and let issue forth from
him the evil that he conceived in lies and creatures of ill-
At this point my father stopped, struck out what he had written,
and replaced it with the text printed.
2. As first written this phrase read: 'without ledge or foothold even
for birds', corrected immediately to the text given (QS has 'without
ledge or foothold for aught save birds').
3. Kalakiryan was here so written (and again below); see p. 87,
note 7.
4. 'the Shadowy Seas' (as in QS) emended from 'the Great Sea'.
Commentary on the sixth and last section of the
Annals of Aman.
This account of the Making of the Sun and Moon was the last that my
father wrote. He was following QS Chapter 8 Of the Sun and Moon
and the Hiding of Valinor (V.239 - 43) very closely, but with many
changes and notably many omissions. I indicate here most of the
developments, some much more significant than others.
$164 With the silent communion of the Valar among themselves,
not in QS, cf. what is said in The Return of the King VI.6
'Many Partings' of the speech of Celeborn and Galadriel,
Gandalf and Elrond in Eregion:
If any wanderer had chanced to pass, little would he have
seen or heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he
saw grey figures, carved in stone, memorials of forgotten
things now lost in unpeopled lands. For they did not move
or speak with mouth, looking from mind to mind; and only
their shining eyes stirred and kindled as their thoughts went
to and fro.
Perhaps to be compared also are Michael Ramer's remarks in
The Notion Club Papers, IX.202.
$165 The praise of Feanor, and Manwe's thought concerning his
words, are not in QS, nor the foretelling of Mandos that
Feanor will soon come to him.
$167 In QS Nienna is not named with Yavanna in the attempt to
heal the Trees.
$168 The QS text 'lamps of heaven, outshining the ancient stars;
and she gave them power to traverse the region of the stars' is
changed to 'lamps of heaven, outshining the ancient stars,
being nearer to Arda; and she gave them power to traverse the
lower regions of Ilmen'. AAm here moves in fact closer to the
Ambarkanta, where it was told (IV.237) that the Sun 'sails
from East to West through the lou er Ilmen'. I have said earlier
(p. 63) that 'the testimony seems to be that in these texts
[i.e. AAm and the Ainulindale'] the Ambarkanta world-image
survived at least in the conception of the Outer Sea extending
to the Walls of the World'; now it is seen that the region of
Ilmen, in which the Sun and Moon have their courses, survived
also. Is it to be understood that Ilmen was also still the region
of the stars? This is not a necessary presumption from the
wording of the new text at this point; however, in $173 it is
said that 'Isil ... rose into the realm of the stars'. In the
Ainulindale' the problem has been encountered that 'the three
regions of the firmament' are retained together with the
irreconcilable conception of Arda as set 'in the midst of the
innumerable stars' of Ea: see p. 29.
With 'the girdle of the Earth' (not in QS) cf. AAm $144:
'Tuna beneath Taniquetil was set nigh to the girdle of Arda,
and there the Great Sea was immeasurably wide'.
$170 It is not said in QS that the Valar forbore to make war upon
Morgoth on account of the coming of Men that was at hand,
fearing great destruction and being ignorant of the place where
Mankind should arise.
$171 In QS Isil and Urin are names given by the Gods to Moon and
Sun, and Rana and Anar the Eldarin names ($75 and com-
mentary). In AAm Isil and Anar become Vanyarin names, and
Rana and Vasa Noldorin; so also in The Lost Road (V.41) and
The Notion Club Papers (IX.306) the 'Eressean' or 'Aval-
lonian' (i.e. Quenya) names are Isil and Anar.
$172 One of the Old English glosses by AElfwine, hyrned 'horned' of
Tilion, is found already in QS (marginal note to $75); the other
word, daegred, of Arien, meant 'daybreak, dawn'.
It is not now said that Tilion loved Arien (and for this reason
forsook the woods of Orome and dwelt in the gardens of
Lorien), though in $174 Tilion 'sought to come near to Arien,
being drawn by the splendour of her beauty'. The description
of the fire-spirit Arien, who ceased to clothe herself in any form
but became 'as a naked flame', is not in QS; the original story
of Urwendi in the Lost Tales may be compared (I.187).
$173 'Isil... rose into the realm of the stars': see under $168 above.
The idea of the stars fleeing 'affrighted' from Tilion, who
wandered from his path pursuing them, is abandoned (as is
also subsequently the mythical explanation of shooting stars -
stars that had fled to the roots of the Earth and now flee again
from Tilion into the upper air, QS $78).
$$175-8 The account of the motions of the Sun and Moon is put
entirely into the past tense, where QS uses the present.
$175 Este takes the place of Nienna as complaining against the new
lights. - The name Vaiya is not used of the Outer Sea in AAm.
$177 'Therefore by the coming and going of Anar the Valar
reckoned the days thereafter until the Change of the World':
there is nothing corresponding to this in QS ($78). - The
passage in QS (and very similarly in the Ambarkanta, IV.237)
concerning the coming at times of both Arien and Tilion
together above Valinor is abandoned.
In QS Tilion 'plunges into the chasm between the shores of
the earth and the Outer Sea', and similarly in the Ambarkanta
he plunges into the chasm of Ilmen. In AAm, on the other
hand, he would 'plunge in the chasm beyond the Outer Sea'.
As I have said previously (IV.254, second footnote) I am at a
loss to explain this, though I retained it in the published
Silmarillion which here derives from AAm. But in view of the
fact that in AAm it is said expressly ($23) that the Outer Sea
encircled the Kingdom of Arda, and beyond the Outer Sea
were the Walls of the Night, I am now inclined to think that
the sentence in AAm was a slip, that whatever my father
intended it was not what he wrote. For even if we suppose that
the relations of Ilmen, the Chasm, the Outer Sea, and the Walls
were now in some way differently conceived, it remains that
Tilion after plunging in the chasm came to the roots of Arda:
he must therefore still be within the Outer Sea, which encom-
passes Arda.
$178 The idea of the storing by the Valar of the radiance of the Sun
in vessels, vats, and pools (QS $79) is omitted in AAm.
The last words of this paragraph, 'and they are lost', are not
in QS, but are in fact derived from the Ainulindale: 'the fairest
of all gems were the Silmarils, and they are lost', which first
appeared in the original Music of the Ainur (I.58) and survived
through the later texts (V.162, and in this book p. 19, $35).
$$179-80 The prophecy of the rekindling of the Trees is omitted
(and this ancient feature finally lost, see IV.20, 49 - 50), as is
the foretelling by Ulmo concerning Men; but there now
appears the assault on Tilion by Morgoth, his great fear of
Arien, and the account of his loss of power through dispersion
among his slaves. The phrase in $179 'though still the pursuing
darkness overtakes him at whiles' evidently refers to eclipses of
the Moon.
The further fortification of Valinor still of course arises from
the fear of the Valar of 'the might and cunning of Morgoth'
(QS), but Morgoth's attack on the Moon is now the main-
spring of their fear: 'But seeing the assault upon Tilion the
Valar were in doubt, fearing what the malice and cunning of
Melkor might yet contrive against them.'
$180 The hill of Tuna is said to be forsaken; it is not said in the
account of Finrod's return ($156) that he ruled thereafter in
Tirion, but only (as in QS, $72) that he 'was set to rule the
remnant of the Noldor in the Blessed Realm.' In QS $79,
however, 'the remnant of the Gnomes dwelt ever in the deep
cleft of the mountains.'
'the Maiar and the Sons of the Valar': see p. 59, $4.
$181 The Hiding of Valinor is called Nurtale Valinoreva. - In QS
mariners who set foot upon the Enchanted Isles 'are there
entrapped and wound in everlasting sleep'; in AAm they 'were
there entrapped, and slept until the Change of the World.'
With the reference to the Change of the World cf. under $177
above; and with the change from present to past tense cf.
under $$175 - 8.
*
My father scribbled a few hasty notes on the typescript, but those that
arose from his later rejection of the essentials of the cosmogonic myth
are not given here. The following may however be recorded:
$169 The words 'utterly forsake' were underlined, with a marginal
note: 'They forbade return and made it impossible for Elves or
Men to reach Aman - since that experiment had proved
disastrous. But they would not give the Noldor aid in fighting
Melkor. Manwe however sent Maia spirits in Eagle form to
dwell near Thangorodrim and keep watch on all that Melkor
did and assist the Noldor in extreme cases. Ulmo went to
Beleriand and took a secret but active part in Elvish resistance.'
On the Eagles as Maiar see pp. 409 - 11.
$170 Beside this paragraph (and evidently arising from the words 'it
was not revealed to Manwe where the beginning of Men
should be') my father noted on the typescript that Manwe told
the other Valar that he had been visited by the mind of Eru,
and warned that Men might not be taken living from Middle-
earth.
$176 Against the last sentence of this paragraph my father wrote:
'What then causes eclipses of the Moon?' See the commentary
on $$179 - 80 above.