PART THREE. THE LATER QUENTA SILMARILLION. THE LATER QUENTA SILMARILLION. (I) THE FIRST PHASE. In this book, as explained in the Foreword, my account of the development of The Silmarillion in the years following the completion of The Lord of the Rings is restricted to the 'Valinorian' part of the narrative - that is to say, to the part corresponding to the Annals of Aman. As with the Annals of Valinor (Aman) (p. 47), my father did not begin revision of the Quenta Silmarillion as a new venture on blank sheets, but took up again the original QS manuscript and the typescript (entitled 'Eldanyare') derived from it (see V.199 - 201) and covered them with corrections and expansions. As already seen (p. 3), he noted that the revision had reached the end of the tale of Beren and Luthien on 10 May 1951. The chapters were very differently treated, some being much more developed than others and running to several further texts. An amanuensis typescript was then made, providing a reasonably clear and uniform text from the now complicated and difficult materials. This was made by the same person as made the typescript of Ainulindale' D (p. 39) and seems to have been paginated continuously on from it. I shall call this typescript 'LQ 1' (for 'Later Quenta 1', i.e. 'the first continuous text of the later Quenta Silmarillion'). It seems virtually certain that it was made in 1951( - 2). LQ 1 was corrected, at different times and to greatly varying extent. A new typescript, in top copy and carbon, was professionally made later, incorporating all the alterations made to LQ 1. This text I shall call 'LQ 2'. In a letter to Rayner Unwin of 7 December 1957 (Letters no.204) my father said: I now see quite clearly that I must, as a necessary preliminary to 'remoulding',* get copies made of all copyable material. And I shall put that in hand as soon as possible. But I think the best way of dealing with this (at this stage, in which much of the stuff is in irreplaceable sole copies) is to install a typist in my room in college, and not let any material out of my keeping, until it is multiplied. (* This word refers to a letter from Lord Halsbury, who had said: 'I can quite see that there is a struggle ahead m re-mould it into the requisite form for publication' (cited earlier in my father's letter to Rayner Unwin).) It seems likely that it was soon after this that LQ 2 was made. It is noteworthy that it was typed on the same machine as was used for the typescript of the Annals of Aman (also extant in top copy and carbon), and both texts may well belong to the same time - say 1958. LQ 2 (like LQ 1) has naturally no textual value in itself, but it received careful emendation in Chapter 1 Of the Valar (thereafter, however, only scattered jottings). Finally, my father turned to new narrative writing in the Matter of the First Age before the Hiding of Valinor. The first chapter, Of the Valar, much altered at this time, became separated off from the Quenta Silmarillion proper under the title Valaquenta; while the sixth chapter, Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor (numbered 4 in QS, V.227), and a part of the seventh, Of the Flight of the Noldor (numbered 5 in QS), were very greatly enlarged and gave rise to new chapters with these titles: Of Finwe and Miriel Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor Of the Darkening of Valinor Of the Rape of the Silmarils Of the Thieves' Quarrel This new work exemplifies the 'remoulding' to which my father looked forward in the letter to Rayner Unwin cited above. It repre- sents (together with much other writing of a predominantly specula- tive nature) a second phase in his later work on The Silmarillion. The first phase included the new version of the Lay of Leithian, the later Ainulindale, the Annals of Aman and the Grey Annals, the later Tale of Tuor, and the first wave of revision of the Quenta Silmarillion, much of this work left unfinished. The years 1953 - 5 saw the preparation and publication of The Lord of the Rings; and there seems reason to think that it was a good while yet before he turned again to The Silmarillion, or at least to its earlier chapters. In these substantially rewritten chapters of the 'second phase' he was moving strongly into a new conception of the work, a new and much fuller mode of narrative - envisaging, as it appears, a thorough- going 're-expansion' from the still fairly condensed form (despite a good deal of enlargement in the 1951 revision) that went back through QS and Q to the 'Sketch of the Mythology' of 1926, which had made a brief summary from the amplitude of The Book of Lost Tales (on this evolution see IV.76). It has been difficult to find a satisfactory method of presentation for the later evolution of The Silmarillion. In the first place, the chapters must obviously be treated separately, since the extent of the later development, and the textual history, varies so widely. Equally clearly, a complete documentation of every alteration from start to finish (that is detailing the precise sequence of change through successive texts) is out of the question. After much experimentation the plan I have followed is based on this consideration: seeing that a great deal of the development can be ascribed to a relatively short time (the '1951 revision'), it seems best to take LQ 1, marking the end of that stage, as the 'common text'. But while I print LQ 1 in full as it was typed (as far as Chapter 5: Chapters 6 - 8 are differently treated), I also include in the text the corrections and expansions made to it subsequently, indicated as such. This gives at once a view of the state of the work in both LQ 1, at the end of the 'first phase', and in LQ 2, at the beginning of the 'second phase' some seven years later. Beyond this, the treatment of each chapter varies according to the peculiarities of its history. The late expanded versions of certain chapters belonging to the 'second phase' are treated separately (pp. 199 ff.). Particular difficulties are encountered in the later work on The Silmarillion, in that so much of the typescript material was not made by my father, and he seems often to have corrected these texts without going back to the earlier ones from which they were taken; while when there were both top copy and carbon copy he often kept them in different places (for fear of loss), and one copy is often emended differently from the other, or one is not emended when the other is. Moreover he was liable to emend a text after later texts had been derived from it. 1 OF THE VALAR. In my edition of 'QS' in Volume V of this history the text of the first chapters (1, 2, 3(a), 3(b), 3(c)) is taken from the typescript which my father made from the QS manuscript in (as I have argued, V.200) December 1937 - January 1938, and which incorporated certain revi- sions made to the opening chapters on the manuscript. This text I will refer to as 'the QS typescript'. Both manuscript and typescript were used for the '1951 revision', but it was the latter that was the copy from which LQ 1 was made, there being some fourteen years between them. As already explained, the changes made subsequently to LQ 1 are shown as such in the text. There is now no title-page to LQ 1 (see p. 200), which begins with AElfwine's note (with the Old English verses) and the Translator's note in an almost exact copy of the old QS typescript (V.203 - 4), the only difference being Pengoloth for Pengolod (at the first occurrence changed to Pengolodh, representing voiced 'th'). The page, like that of the QS typescript, is headed Eldanyare (History of the Elves). The paragraph numbers are those of QS (V.204 - 7), with '10a' and '10b' used to indicate the passages additional to the text of QS, and belonging to different times, at the end of the chapter. Here begins the Silmarillion or History of the Silmarils. 1. Of the Valar. $1 In the beginning Eru, [added: the One,] who in Elvish tongue is named Iluvatar, made the Ainur of his thought; and they made a great music before him. Of this Music the World was made; for Iluvatar made visible the song of the Ainur, and they beheld it as a light in the darkness. And many of the mightiest among them became enamoured of its beauty and of its history which they saw beginning and unfolding as in a Vision. Therefore Iluvatar gave to their vision Being, and set it amid the Void, and the Secret Fire was sent to burn at the heart of the World. Then those of the Ainur who would entered into the World at the beginning of Time, and behold! it was their task to achieve it and by their labour to fulfill the Vision which they had seen. Long they laboured in the regions of Ea, which are vast beyond the thought of Elves and Men, until in the time appointed was made Arda, the Kingdom of Earth. Then they put on the raiment of Earth and descended into it and dwelt therein; and they are therein. $2 These spirits the Elves name the Valar, which is the Powers, and Men have often called them gods. Many lesser spirits of their own kind they brought in their train, both great and small; and some of these Men have confused with the Elves, but wrongfully [read wrongly], for they were made before the World, whereas Elves and Men awoke first on Earth, after the coming of the Valar. Yet in the making of Elves and of Men, and in the giving to each of their especial gifts, none of the Valar had any part. Iluvatar alone was their author; wherefore they are called the Children of Iluvatar [> Eru]. $3 The chieftains of the Valar were nine. These were the names of the Nine Gods [> gods] in the Elvish tongue as it was spoken in Valinor; though they have other or altered names in the speech of the Gnomes [> Sindar], and their names among Men are manifold: Manwe and Melkor, Ulmo, Aule, Mandos, Lorien [> Lorion], Tulkas, Osse, and Orome. $4 Manwe and Melkor were brethren in the thought of Iluvatar / and mightiest of those Ainur who came into the World. But Manwe is the lord of the gods, and prince of the airs and winds, and ruler of the sky. With him dwells as wife Varda the maker of the stars [> The mightiest of those Ainur who came into the World was Melkor; but Manwe was dearest to the heart of Iluvatar and understood most clearly his purposes. He was appointed to be, in the fullness of time, the first of all kings: lord of the realm of Arda and ruler of all that dwell therein. And there his delight is in the winds of the world and in all the regions of the air. With him in Arda dwells as spouse Varda kindler of the stars], immortal lady of the heights, whose name is holy. Fionwe and Ilmare are their son and daughter [this sentence struck out]. Next in might and closest in friendship to Manwe is Ulmo, lord of waters. He dwells alone in the Outer Seas, but has the government of all waters, seas, and rivers, fountains and springs, throughout the earth. Subject to him is Osse, the master of the seas about the lands of Men; and his wife is Uinen the lady of the sea. Her hair lies spread through all the waters under skies. $5 Aule has might but little less [> little less] than Ulmo. He is a smith and a master of crafts; and his spouse is Yavanna, the giver of fruits and lover of all things that grow. In majesty she i." next to Varda, her sister, among the queens of the Valar. She is fair and tall, and often the Elves name her Palurien, the Lady of the Wide Earth. $6 The Fanturi [> Feanturi] were brethren, and are named Mandos and Lorien [> Lorion]. Yet these are not their right names, and are the names rather of the places of their abiding. For their right names are seldom spoken save in secret: which are Namo and Irmo. Quoth Rumil. Nurufantur the elder was also called, [> which are Namo and Irmo. Namo, the elder, is] the master of the houses of the dead, and the gatherer of the spirits of the slain. He forgets nothing, and knows all that shall be, save only what Iluvatar has hidden; but he speaks only at the command of Manwe. He is the doomsman of the Valar. Vaire the weaver is his wife, who weaves all things that have been in time in her storied webs, and the halls of Mandos that ever widen as the ages pass are clothed therewith. Olofantur the younger of these brethren was also named, [> Irmo, the younger of these brethren, is] the master of visions and of dreams. His gardens in the land of the gods are the fairest of all places in the world, and filled with many spirits. Este the pale is his wife, who walks not by day, but sleeps on an island in the dark lake of Lorien [> Lorion]. Thence her fountains bring refreshment to the folk of Valinor; yet she comes not to the councils of the Valar, and is not reckoned among their queens. $7 Strongest of limb, and greatest in deeds of prowess, is Tulkas, who is surnamed Poldorea the Valiant. He is unclothed in his disport, which is much in wrestling; and he rides no steed, for he can outrun all things that go on feet, and he is tireless. His hair and beard are golden, and his flesh ruddy; his weapons are his hands. He recks little of either past or future, and is of small avail as a counsellor, but a hardy friend. He has great love for Fionwe, son [> Eonwe, herald] of Manwe. His wife is Nessa, sister of Orome; she is lissom of limb and fleet of foot, and dances in Valinor upon lawns of never-fading green. $8 Orome is a mighty lord, and little less than Tulkas in strength, or in wrath, if he be aroused. He loved the lands of Earth, while they were still dark, and he left them unwillingly and came last to Valinor; and he comes even yet at times east over the mountains. Of old he was often seen upon the hills and plains. He is a hunter, and he loves all trees; for which reason he is called Aldaron, and by the Gnomes [> Sindar] Tauros [> Tauron], the lord of forests. He delights in horses and in hounds, and his horns are loud in the friths and woods that Yavanna planted in Valinor; but he blows them not upon the Middle-earth since the fading of the Elves, whom he loved. Vana is his wife, the ever-young, the queen of flowers, who has the beauty both of heaven and of earth upon her face and in all her works; she is the younger sister of Varda and Palurien. $9 But mightier than she is Nienna, Manwe's sister and Melkor's. She dwells alone. Pity is in her heart, and mourning and weeping come to her; shadow is her realm and her throne hidden. For her halls are west of West, nigh to the borders of the World and Darkness [read the Darkness]; and she comes seldom to Valmar, the city of the gods, where all is glad. She goes rather to the halls of Mandos, which are nearer and yet more northward; and all those who go to Mandos cry to her. For she is a healer of hurts, and turns pain to medicine and sorrow to wisdom. The windows of her house look outward from the walls of the World. $10 Last do all name Melkor. But the Gnomes [> Noldor], who suffered most from his evil deeds, will not speak his name, and they call him Morgoth, the black god [> the Black Foe], and Bauglir, the Constrainer. Great might was given to him by Iluvatar, and he was coeval with Manwe, and part he had of all the powers of the other Valar; but he turned them to evil uses. He coveted the world and all that was in it, and desired the lordship of Manwe and the realms of all the gods; and pride and jealousy and lust grew ever in his heart, till he became unlike his brethren. Wrath consumed him, and he begot violence and destruction and excess. In ice and fire was his delight. But darkness he used most in all his evil works, and turned it to fear and a name of dread among Elves and Men. $10a Thus it may be seen that there are nine Valar, and Seven queens of the Valar of no less might; for whereas Melkor and Ulmo dwell alone, so also doth Nienna, while Este is not numbered among the Rulers. But the Seven Great Ones of the Realm of Arda are Manwe and Melkor, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aule, and Nienna; for though Manwe is their chief [> king], in majesty they are peers, surpassing beyond compare all others whether of the Valar and their kin, or of any other order that Iluvatar has conceived [> caused to be]. $10b [All the following was added to the typescript in ink: With the Valar were other spirits whose being also began before the world: these are the maiar, of the same order as the Great but of less might and majesty. Among them Eonwe the herald of Manwe, and Ilmare handmaid of Varda were the chief. Many others there are who have no names among Elves or Men, for they appear seldom in forms visible. But great and fair was Melian of the people of Yavanna, who [struck out: on her behalf] tended once the gardens of Este, ere she came to Middle-earth. And wise was Olorin, counsellor of Irmo: secret enemy of the secret evils of Melkor, for his bright visions drove away the imaginations of darkness. Of Melian much is later told; but of Olorin this tale does not speak. In later days he dearly loved the Children of Eru, and took pity on their sorrows. Those who hearkened to him arose from despair; and in their hearts the desire to heal and to renew awoke, and thoughts of fair things that had not yet been but might yet be made for the enrichment of Arda. Nothing he made himself and nothing he possessed, but kindled the hearts of others, and in their delight he was glad. But not all of the maiar were faithful to the Valar; for some were from the beginning drawn to the power of Melkor, and others he corrupted later to his service. Sauron was the name by which the chief of these was afterwards called, but he was not alone.] * All the changes shown in the text of LQ 1 given above were taken up into the second complete and continuous typescript LQ 2, made some seven years later (pp. 141 - 2), which introduced a few errors. It cannot be said when the alterations were made to LQ 1, though most of them look as if they were made at the same time. The typescript LQ 2 was much more fully and carefully emended in this chapter than in any subsequent one, though in many cases only on one of the two copies. I give here a list of these alterations:* $1 After 'the Secret Fire was sent to burn at the heart of the World' was added: 'and it was called Ea', with 'Let it be! ' in a footnote (struck out on the top copy). $2 'and some of these Men have confused with the Elves, but wrongfully' > 'these are the Maiar, whom Men have often confounded with the Elves, but wrongly' ('wrongfully' was an error on the part of the typist of LQ 1). $3 On the form Lorien with short vowel see p. 56 note 2. The typist did not understand my father's corrections of the name on LQ 1, which were unclear, and typed at the three occurrences ($$3, 6) Lorien, Lorin, Lorion. At the first two my father corrected the name to Lorinen, but struck this out, probably at once; his final form on LQ 2 was Lorien (so marked). $4 'in all the regions of the air.' > '... air; therefore he is surnamed Sulimo.' The typist of LQ 2 omitted the word 'kindler' after 'Varda', so producing 'Varda of the stars'; my father changed 'stars' to 'Stars', showing that he had not observed the error. $5 In 'she [Yavanna] is next to Varda, her sister,' the words 'her sister' were struck out (cf. under $8 below). $6 The opening of the paragraph was again rewritten, to read: 'The Feanturi were brethren, and are called most often Mandos and Lorien. Yet these are rightly the names of the places of their abiding; for their true names are Namo and Irmo. Namo, the elder, dwells in Mandos, and is the keeper of the Houses of the Dead' '(Vaire the weaver is his) wife' ) 'spouse' 'His gardens in the land of the gods are the fairest' > 'In Lorien are his gardens in the land of the gods, and they are the fairest' '(Este the pale is his) wife' > 'spouse' (top copy only) 'an island in the dark lake of Lorion' ) 'an island in the tree-shadowed lake of Lorellin' (* No doubt many of the corrections to LQ 1 as a whole belong to the 'second phase' of revision (p. 142), while LQ 2 and the corrections made to it are constituent elements in that phase; but it is obviously far more convenient and clear to set them all out together in relation to the primary text LQ 1.) $7 'Poldorea' > 'Astaldo' 'His wife is Nessa' > 'His spouse is Nessa' $8 The earlier part of this paragraph was substantially altered, but almost all of the new text appears on the carbon copy only: He loved the lands of Middle-earth, and he left them unwil- lingly and came last to Valinor; and oft of old he passed back east over the mountains, and returned with his host to the hills and plains. He is a hunter of monsters and fell beasts, and delights in horses and hounds, and all trees he loves; and Tauron the Sindar called him, the lord of the forests. The Valaroma was the name of his great horn, the sound of which was like the upgoing of the Sun in scarlet, and the sheer lightning cleaving the clouds. Above all the horns of his host it was heard in the woods that Yavanna brought forth in Valinor; for there he would train his folk and his beasts for the pursuit of the evil creatures of Melkor. But the Valaroma is blown no more upon the Middle-earth since the change of the world and the fading of the Elves, whom he loved. 'she [Vana] is the younger sister of Varda and Palurien' > 'she is the younger sister of Yavanna' (top copy only) $9 'Nienna, Manwe's sister and Melkor's' o 'sister of Namo' (top copy only) $10 'Bauglir' > 'Baugron' (top copy only) the lordship of Manwe > the kingship of Manwe (top copy only) $10b 'With the Valar were other spirits' > 'With the Valar, as has been said, were other spirits' (top copy only) 'these are the maiar' o 'the Maiar' (top copy only); maiar > Maiar again at end. I have shown all these changes in unnecessary detail since they serve to indicate the nature of much of the material constituting 'the later Silmarillion'. Commentary on Chapter 1, 'Of the Valar'. $1 The new opening of The Silmarillion came in with the first phase of the revision, and it is obvious that it followed and was dependent on the new version of the Ainulindale', with its new conception of the Creation of the World: Iluvatar made visible the song of the Ainur... [The Ainur saw the history of the World] unfolding as in a Vision. Therefore Iluvatar gave to their vision Being ... it was their task to achieve it and by their labour to fulfill the Vision which they had seen. The first form of the new opening, written on the QS manu- script, had 'Long they laboured in the regions of Aman', using that name in the sense that it bore in the later Ainulindale' texts ('the Halls of Aman', the World); on the QS typescript (see p. 143) Aman was emended to Ea' (which therefore appears in LQ 1). $2 The name Maiar, introduced in the addition made at the end of LQ 1 ($10b) and appearing in this paragraph in LQ 2, is first found in the preliminary drafting for the Annals of Aman (Mairi > Maiar, p. 49 and note 4). See further under $10b below. $3 The passing change of Lorien to Lorion is found also in AAm* (the second, abandoned version of the opening of AAm), p. 65, $1. $4 On the change to LQ 1 whereby Melkor becomes 'the mightiest of those Ainur who came into the World' (and not possessing only powers equal to those of Manwe) see p. 65, $2. On the loss of the original sentence 'Fionwe and Ilmare are their son and daughter', heavily inked out on LQ 1, see under $10b below. So also in the final text D of the Ainulindale the reference to Fionwe and Ilmare as the son and daughter of Manwe and Varda was strongly blacked out (p. 34, $36). On the striking out on LQ 2 of the statement that Yavanna was the sister of Varda see under $8 below. $6 In the earliest phase of the revision a marginal note was added against the names Mandos and Lorien, which as entered on the QS typescript read: Yet these are not their right names, and are the names rather of the places of their abiding. For their right names are seldom spoken save in secret: which are Nur and Lis. Quoth Rumil. (In the Lost Tales Mandos is the name of the God, and also the name of his halls; it is also said (1.76) that Vefantur (Mandos) called his halls by his own name, Ve.) Nur and Lis were then corrected to Namo and Irmo. The typist of LQ 1 took this up into the body of the text, which was obviously not my father's intention. This typist did the same elsewhere, and my father then restored the passage to its original status as a marginal note; but in this case he left it to stand, getting rid of the words 'Quoth Rumil' (and of the old name Nurufantur; similarly with Olofan- tur subsequently). At the foot of the page carrying this passage in the carbon copy of LQ 2 he pencilled the following (referring to the names Namo and Irmo), Judgement (of what is) Desire (of what might be or should be)'. What is said at the end of the paragraph about Este is found in AAm (p. 49, $3), where it is also told that she was 'the chief of the Maiar'. This was repeated in AAm* (p. 65, $3), where Nessa is added to Este as 'the highest among the Maiar'. The change of 'wife' to 'spouse' was made on LQ 2 in the accounts of Vaire, Este, and Nessa ($$6 - 7); in that of Vana ($8) it was merely overlooked, while Varda had become Manwe's 'spouse' in a change made to LQ 1 ($4), and Yavanna was already Aule's 'spouse' in QS ($5). The same change was made on the typescript of AAm (p. 69), and its significance is seen from the accompanying marginal comment: 'Note that "spouse" meant only an "association". The Valar had no bodies, but could assume shapes.' At this time the passage in AAm concerning the Children of the Valar was removed (see under $10b below). $8 In AAm ($133, pp. 111, 124) the form was still Tauros (in Feanor's speech on the summit of Tuna), and was not corrected. The name Valaroma (appearing in the expanded passage on LQ 2) occurs in AAm (p. 101, $116) and by emendation of Rombaras in Ainulindale' D (p. 35, $34). The statement in $5 that Yavanna is the sister of Varda does not appear in QS, but it was merely derived from that in QS $8, that Vana is 'the younger sister of Varda and Palurien'. This goes back to Q (IV.79, 167), but no further. Varda and Yavanna were still sisters in AAm (p. 49, $3), but the idea was abandoned in corrections to LQ 2. $9 That Nienna was the sister of Manwe and Melkor ('brethren in the thought of Iluvatar') goes back to the earliest Annals of Valinor (IV.263), and remained in AAm (p. 49, $3; cf. p. 93, $88, where Nienna aided the prayer of Melkor for pardon 'because of her kinship'). With the change in LQ 2 whereby she becomes 'sister of Namo', omitting Irmo his brother, cf. AAm* (p. 65, $3), where she is named only 'Manwe's sister', omitting Melkor. $10 The name Baugron (changed from Bauglir in LQ 2) is found nowhere else. It was not adopted in the published Silmarillion. $10a The meaning of the passage is more evident from a table; the names italicised are 'the Seven Great Ones of the Realm of Arda'. Manu e'...................Varda Melkor Ulmo Aule'.....................Yavanna Nienna Mandos....................Vaire Lorien ...................................(Este) Tulkas ...................Nessa Osse......................Uinen Orome.....................Vana $10b Fionwe and Ilmare were removed from $4 as the children of Manwe and Varda, and in $7 Fionwe becomes Eonwe, 'herald of Manwe'; here Ilmare becomes 'handmaid of Varda'. This is an aspect of an important development in the conception of the Powers of Arda, the abandonment of the old and long-rooted idea of 'the Children of the Valar, the Sons of the Valar'. It was still present in AAm (p. 49, $4), where the Valarindi, 'the offspring of the Valar', were 'numbered with' the Maiar (but in AAm* they are distinguished from the Maiar, p. 66, $4). On the typescript text of AAm the conception of the Children of the Valar was struck out (see under $6 above). Melian is a Maia (as in AAm $40), and she is 'of the people of Yavanna' (in QS $31 'she was akin, before the World was made, unto Yavanna'). And here Olorin (Gandalf), as 'counsellor of Irmo', enters The Silmarillion. In AAm (p. 52, $17) Sauron ('a great craftsman of the household of Aule') is likewise said to have been the chief of the Maiar who turned to Melkor. It may be that the (relatively) heavy correction carried out on the LQ 2 text of this chapter was the preliminary to its final, enlarged form called the Valaquenta (pp. 199 ff.). 2 OF VALINOR AND THE TWO TREES. The textual situation in this chapter differs from that in Chapter 1, in that here, after the alterations made to the original pre-Lord of the Rings texts (the QS manuscript and derived QS typescript) there followed two typescripts made by my father before LQ 1 was made, and in the first of these the opening of the chapter was greatly changed from its form in QS. I shall not however distinguish the 'layers' in the textual history before the amanuensis typescript LQ 1 was reached, although some particular points are recorded in the commentary. The further development of this chapter from QS was effectively confined to the 1951 revision, since late rewriting and expansion corresponding to the development of the Valaquenta out of Chapter 1 Of the Valar was not undertaken in this case. It is conceivable, I think, that (while there is no evidence one way or the other) having remade Chapter 1 as the Valaquenta my father postponed the rewriting of Chapter 2 because his views on the treatment of the myth of the Two Trees in the light of the later cosmology were too uncertain. There follows now the text of LQ 1, with the (very few) subsequent changes made to it shown as such. The paragraph numbers corres- pond to those in QS (V.208 - 10). 2. Of Valinor and the Two Trees. $11 Now in the beginning of the Kingdom of Arda Melkor contested with his brother Manwe and the Valar for the overlordship, and all that they wrought he hindered or marred, if he might. But he fled before the onset of Tulkas, and there was peace. But since Melkor had perverted light to a destroying flame, when he was gone and his fires were subdued the Valar perceived that the Earth was dark, save for the glimmer of the innumerable stars which Varda had made in the ages un- recorded of the labours of Ea. Aule, therefore, at the prayer of Yavanna, wrought two mighty Lamps [added: illuin and Ormal] for the lighting of Arda; and the Valar set them upon lofty pillars northward and southward in Middle-earth, and in the light of the Lamps they ordered all their realm, and the desire of Yavanna had fruit, and living things came forth and grew abundantly. In those days the dwelling of the Valar was upon an isle in a great lake in the midst of the Middle-earth that Aule had built. There the light of the Lamps mingled and growth was swiftest and fairest; and behold! in the blending of Illuin and Ormal there came forth Greenness, and it was new; and Middle-earth rejoiced, and the Valar praised the name of Yavanna. But Melkor hearing of these works, and being filled with wrath and envy, returned secretly to Arda out of the Darkness and gath- ered his strength in the North, and he marred the labours of Yavanna, so that the growth of Earth was corrupted and many monstrous things were born. Then coming with war against the Valar suddenly, he cast down the Lamps, and night returned, and in the fall of the pillars of Illuin and Ormal the seas arose and many lands were drowned. $12 In the darkness and the confusion of the seas the Valar could not at that time overcome Melkor; for his strength had increased with his malice, and he had now gathered to his service many other spirits, and many evil things also of his own making. Thus he escaped from the wrath of the Valar, and far in the North he built himself a fortress, and delved great caverns underground, and deemed that he was secure from assault for ever. But the gods removed into the uttermost West and there made their home and fortified it; and they built many mansions in that land upon the borders of the World, which is called Valinor. And Valinor was bounded upon the hither side by the (* [footnote to the text - see page 154] Which is Garsecg: quoth AElfwine. [This note was mistakenly placed in the text by the typist, and subsequently reinstated as a footnote.]) Great Sea of the West,* and eastward upon its shores the Valar built the Pelori, the Mountains of Aman, that are highest upon Earth. But on the further side lay the Outer Sea, which encircles the Kingdom of Arda, and is called by the Elves Vaiya. How wide is that sea none know but the gods, and beyond it are the Walls of the World to fence out the Void and the Eldest Darkness. $13 Now in that guarded land the Valar gathered all light and all fair things; and there are their houses, their gardens, and their towers. In the midst of the plain beyond the Mountains was the City of the Gods [> their city], Valmar the beautiful of many bells. But Manwe and Varda had halls upon the loftiest of the Mountains of Aman, whence they could look out across the Earth even into the furthest East. Taniquetil the Elves name that holy mountain, and Oiolosse Everlasting Whiteness, and Elerina [> Elerrina] Crowned with Stars, and many names beside. But the Gnomes [> Sindar] spoke of it in their later tongue as Amon Uilos.** $14 In Valinor Yavanna hallowed the mould with mighty song, and Nienna watered it with tears. In that time the gods [) Valar] were gathered together, and they sat silent upon their thrones of council in the Ring of Doom nigh unto the golden gates of Valmar the Blessed; and Yavanna Palurien sang before them and they watched. $15 From the earth there came forth two slender shoots; and silence was over all the world in that hour, nor was there any other sound save the slow chanting of Palurien. Under her song two fair trees uprose and grew. Of all things which the gods [> she] made they have most renown, and about their fate all the tales of the Elder World are woven. The one had leaves of dark green that beneath were as shining silver; and he bore white blossoms like unto a cherry-tree, were it surpassing great and fair; and from each of his countless flowers a dew of silver light was ever falling, but the earth beneath was dappled with (* [footnote to the text - see page 153]) (** [footnote to the text] In the language of this island of Men Heofonsy'I was its name among those few that ever descried it afar off. Yet in error [> So I wrote in error], as the Eldar teach me; for that is rightly the name only of the mountain of Numenor, the Meneltarma, which has foundered for ever: quoth AElfwine. [This note was also mistakenly placed in the text by the typist. See the commentary on $13.]) the dancing shadows of his fluttering leaves. The other bore leaves of a young green like the new-opened beech; their edges were of glittering gold. Flowers swung upon her branches like clusters of yellow flame, formed each to a glowing horn that spilled a golden rain upon the ground; and from the blossom of that tree there came forth warmth and a great light. $16 Telperion the one was called in Valinor, and Silpion, and Ninquelote, and many names in song beside; but the Gnomes name him [> but in the Sindarin tongue he was called] Galathilion. Laurelin was the other [> the other was] called, and Malinalda, and Kulurien, and many other names; but the Gnomes name her [> but the Sindar named her] Galadloriel. $17 In seven hours the glory of each tree waxed to full and waned again to naught; and each awoke once more to life an hour before the other ceased to shine. Thus in Valinor twice every day there came a gentle hour of softer light when both Trees were faint and their gold and silver beams were mingled. Telperion was the elder of the Trees and came first to full stature and to bloom; and that first hour in which he shone alone, the white glimmer of a silver dawn, the gods reckoned not into the tale of hours, but named it the Opening Hour, and counted therefrom the ages of their reign in Valinor. Therefore at the sixth hour of the First Day, and of all the joyous days thereafter until the Darkening, Telperion ceased his time of flower; and at the twelfth hour Laurelin her blossoming. And each day of the gods in Valinor [> Aman] contained twelve hours, and ended with the second mingling of the lights, in which Laurelin was waning but Telperion was waxing.' And the dews of Telperion and the spilth of Laurelin Varda let hoard in great vats, like (* [footnote to the text] Other names of Laurelin among the Noldor [> in the Sindarin tongue] are [> were] Glewellin (which is the same as Laurelin, song of gold), Lasgalen green of leaf, and Melthinorn tree of gold; and her image in Gondolin was named Glingal. [Struck out: Of old among the Noldor] The Elder Tree was named also Silivros glimmering [> sparkling] rain, Celeborn tree of silver, and Nimloth pale blossom. But in after days Galathilion the Less was the name of the White Tree of Tuna, and his seedling was named Celeborn in Eressea, and Nimloth in Numenor, the gift of the Eldar. The image of Telperion that Turgon made in Gondolin was Belthil. Quoth Pengo- lod. [Like the previous ones this footnote was put into the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1, but afterwards reinstated in its proper place.]) [struck out: unto] shining lakes, that were to all the land of the Valar as wells of water and of light. Commentary on Chapter 2, 'Of Valinor and the Two Trees'. The final typescript (LQ 2) of this chapter received very few correc- tions, and those only on the top copy (such as were made are recorded in the commentary that follows). Thus the LQ 1 text given above, with the corrections shown, is virtually the final text of the chapter. $511 - 12 This chapter underwent little change from the text of QS (V.208 - 10) apart from the greatly expanded opening - in which most of the new material derives from the later Ainulindale'. That the much fuller story in AAm (see p. 60, commentary on $$11 - 29) was written after the revision of the Silmarillion chapter can be seen from various points. Thus the old story that Melkor only began the delving of Utumno after the fall of the Lamps is still present (see p. 61, $20). The phrase in LQ $11 concerning the first star-making of Varda was first written in the form '... the ages unrecorded of the labours of the Great in Aman' (for Aman > Ea see p. 149, $1), which shows it to be earlier than the closely similar phrase in AAm ($24): 'Middle- earth lay in a twilight beneath the stars that Varda had wrought in the ages forgotten of her labours in Ea' - where it is used in a distinct context, of the darkness after the fall of the Lamps. $12 The footnote to QS $12 giving the name Utumno of Melko's original fortress survived at first in the revised version, but was lost from one of the typescripts and not reinstated. On the final text LQ 2 my father pencilled a hasty footnote after 'deemed that he was secure from assault for ever': The chief of his fortresses was at Utumno in the North of Middle-earth; but he made also a fortress and armoury not far from the northwestern shores of the Sea, to resist any assault from Aman. This was called Angband and was commanded by Sauron, lieutenant of Melkor. In QS ($$62, 105) the story was that Morgoth, when he returned from Valinor, built Angband on the ruins of Utumno; in AAm ($127, p. 109) this may well have been still present, but j the statement of QS $62 that 'Morgoth came back to his ancient habitation' is lacking. Now there enters the story that Melkor built both strongholds in the ancient days - and also that Sauron was the commander of Angband; cf. the late note written on the typescript of AAm (p. 127, $127): 'The making of this fortress [Angband] as a guard against a landing from the West should come earlier.' The original passage in QS concerning Vaiya, the Outer Sea, beyond which 'the Walls of the World fence out the Void and the Eldest Dark', reflecting the contemporary Ambarkanta, survived in the revision almost unchanged, except that it is now said that none but the Valar know how wide is the Outer Sea (in contrast to the Ambarkanta and its diagrams). On the great difficulty of interpreting this passage in the light of the later world-image see pp. 62-4. On LQ 2 my father emended Vaiya to Ekkaia (whence its occurrence in the published Silmarillion). The Outer Sea is given no Elvish name in AAm. $13 In the first texts of the 1951 revision the sentence 'and in the language of this island of Men Heofonsyl was its name among those few that ever descried it afar off' was part of the text (as it was in QS, with Tindbrenting for Heofonsyl), and the footnote began at 'Yet in error, as the Eldar teach me...' This seems the natural arrangement. The typist of LQ 1, as often elsewhere, put the footnote into the body of the text; but my father when correcting LQ 1 put the whole passage into a footnote - in contrast to what he did in a similar case in the first chapter (p. 150, $6), where he left the footnote in the text. It certainly seems clear in these cases that he did not refer back to the texts preceding LQ 1 (see p. 143). - The Old English name Heofonsyl 'Pillar of Heaven' occurs in The Notion Club Papers of the Meneltarma (IX.314). $14 Palurien > Kementari by a pencilled change on LQ 2. This was as it were a casual change, not made in $15 (nor in $5). Kementari occurs in the Valaquenta (p. 202). $16 Telperion (not Silpion) is the primary name in AAm (first appearing in $5, pp. 50, 59); in the Silmarillion tradition it became the primary name by emendation to the first typescript text of the 1951 revision. $17 With the reference (in the footnote on the names of the Two Trees) to Galathilion the Less, the White Tree of Tuna, cf. AAm $69 (annal 1142, p. 85): 'In this year Yavanna gave to the Noldor the White Tree, Galathilion, image of the Tree Telperion'. In the last sentence the word 'vats' was changed to 'wells' on LQ 2 (cf. 'mighty vats' in AAm $28, changed on the typescript to 'shining wells' (p. 69); in AAm* 'deep pools' (p. 68)). On the carbon copy of LQ 2, which otherwise received no emendations, my father added the following note to the word spilth in the last sentence: meant to indicate that Laurelin is 'founded' on the laburnum. 'jocund spilth of yellow fire' Francis Thompson - who no doubt got the word from Timon of Athens (his vocabulary was largely derived from Elizabethan English) The reference is to Francis Thompsons's Sister Songs, The Proem: Mark yonder, how the long laburnum drips Its jocund spilth of fire, its honey of wild flame! Cf. the original description of Laurelin in the Lost Tales (1.72): 'all its boughs were hidden by long swaying clusters of gold flowers like a myriad hanging lamps of flame, and light spilled from the tips of these and splashed upon the ground with a sweet noise.' In the earlier versions (from Q through to the first typescript of the 1951 revision) Laurelin was expressly likened to 'those trees Men now call Golden-rain' - that being a name of the laburnum, and the words 'a golden rain' are used in the final form of the passage ($15). - The reference to Timon of Athens is to Act II, Scene 2, 'our vaults have wept / With drunken spilth of wine'. 3 OF THE COMING OF THE ELVES. The textual situation here is similar to that in the previous chapter but more complicated. After very substantial revision carried out on the old pre-Lord of the Rings texts there followed a typescript made by my father; but after LQ 1 had been taken from it he made further changes to it (mostly very minor, but a major alteration in $20), which were 'lost', since LQ 2 was a straight copy of LQ 1 and he clearly never compared the texts in detail. This typescript I shall refer to for the purposes of this section as 'Text A'. For some reason it ceases to be a typescript at the words 'counselled the Elves to remove' (near the end of $23), which stand at the foot of a page, and becomes a manuscript on the following page with the words 'into the West'. The manuscript portion is in two forms, the first heavily emended, and the second written out fair. There follows now the text of LQ 1 (the 'lost' alterations made to Text A are given in the commentary). The system of paragraph- numbering in this chapter, and elsewhere, needs a word of explana- tion. As generally, I have retained the numbers of QS, introducing 'sub-paragraph numbers' (as $18a) where QS has nothing correspond- ing. Where the revised text expands a QS paragraph into more than one, or several (as in $$20, 23) only the first is numbered. 3. Of the Coming of the Elves. $18 In all this time, since Melkor overthrew the Lamps, the Middle-earth east of the Mountains was without light. While the Lamps had shone, growth began there which now was checked, because all was again dark. But already the oldest living things had arisen: in the sea the great weeds, and on the earth the shadow of great trees; and in the valleys of the night-clad hills there were dark creatures old and strong. In those lands and forests Orome would often hunt; and there too at times Yavanna came, singing sorrowfully; for she was grieved at the darkness of Middle-earth and ill content that it was forsaken. But the other Valar came seldom thither; and in the North Melkor built his strength, and gathered his demons about him. These were the first made of his creatures: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. Balrogs they were named by the Noldor in later days. And in that dark time Melkor made many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; yet the Orcs were not made until he had looked upon the Elves, and he made them in mockery of the Children of Iluvatar. His realm spread now ever southward over the Middle-earth. $18a It came to pass that the Valar held council, and Yavanna spoke before them, saying: 'Behold, ye mighty of Arda, the Vision of Eru was brief and soon taken away, so that maybe we cannot guess within a narrow count of days the hour appointed. Yet be sure of this: the hour approaches, and within this age our hope shall be revealed, and the Children shall awake. But it is not in Aman that they shall awaken. Shall we then leave the lands of their dwelling desolate and full of evil? Shall they walk in darkness while we have light? Shall they call Melkor lord while Manwe sits upon the Holy Hill?' And Tulkas cried aloud: 'Nay! Let us make war swiftly! Have we not rested from strife over-long, and is not our strength now renewed? Shall one alone contest with us for ever?' But at the bidding of Manwe Mandos spoke and he said: 'In this age the Children shall come indeed, but they come not yet. Moreover it is doom that the First Children should come in the darkness and should look first upon the Stars. Great light shall be for their waning. To Varda ever shall they call at need.' $19 And Varda said naught, but departing from the council she went to the mountain of Taniquetil and looked forth; and she beheld the darkness and was moved. Then Varda took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the First-born. Wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Ea was Tintalle, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentari, the Queen of the Stars. Karnil and Luinil, Nenar and Lumbar, Alkarinque and Elem- mire she wrought in that time, and other of her works of old she gathered together and set as signs in Heaven that the gods may read: Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronume, and Anarrima; and Menelmakar with his shining belt that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be. And high in the North as a challenge unto Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, the Valakirka, the Sickle of the Gods and sign of doom. Many names have these stars been given; but in the North in the Elder Days Men called them the Burning Briar: quoth Pengolod [> (quoth Pengolod)]. $20 It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmakar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the First-born of Iluvatar. Themselves they named the Quendi, whom we call Elves (quoth AElfwine); but Orome named them in their own tongue Eldar, people of the stars, and that name has since been borne by all that followed him upon the westward road. In the beginning they were stronger and greater than they have since become; but not more fair, for though the beauty of the Quendi in the days of their youth was beyond all other beauty that Iluvatar has caused to be, it has not perished, but lives in the West, and sorrow and wisdom have enriched it. And Orome looking upon the Elves was filled with love and wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforetold. For [so] it shall ever be even with the Valar. From without the world, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Ea each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and strange. Thus it was that Orome came upon the Quendi by chance in his wandering, while they dwelt yet silent upon [read beside] the star-lit mere, Kuivienen, Water of Awakening, in the East of Middle-earth. For a while he abode with them and aided them in the making of language; for that was their first work of craft upon Earth, and ever most dear to their hearts, and the fair Elvish speech was sweet in the ears of the Valar. Then swiftly Orome rode back over land and sea to Valinor, filled with the thought of the beauty of the Elves, and he brought the tidings to Valmar. And the gods rejoiced, and yet were amazed at what he told; but Manwe sat long upon Taniquetil deep in thought, and he sought the counsel of Iluvatar. And coming then down to Valmar he called a conclave of the Great, and thither came even Ulmo from the Outer Sea. And Manwe said to the Valar: 'This is the counsel of Iluvatar in my heart: that we should take up again the mastery of Arda, at whatsoever cost, and deliver the Quendi from the shadows of Melkor.' Then Tulkas was glad; but Aule was grieved, and it is said that he (and others of the Valar) had before been unwilling to strive with Melkor, foreboding the hurts of the world that must come of that strife. $21 But now the Valar made ready and came forth from Aman in the strength of war, resolving to assault the fortress of Melkor in the North and make an end. Never did Melkor forget that this war was made on behalf of the Elves and that they were the cause of his downfall. Yet they had no part in those deeds; and little do they know of the riding of the power of the West against the North in the beginning of their days, and of the fire and tumult of the Battle of the Gods. In those days the shape of Middle-earth was changed and broken and the seas were moved. Tulkas it was who at the last wrestled with Melkor and overthrew him, and he was bound with the chain Angainor that Aule had wrought, and led captive; and the world had peace for a great age. Nonetheless the fortress of Melkor at Utumno had many mighty vaults and caverns hidden with deceit far under earth, and these the Valar did not all discover nor utterly destroy, and many evil things still lingered there; and others were dispersed and fled into the dark and roamed in the waste places of the world, awaiting a more evil hour. $22 But when the Battle was ended and from the ruin of the North great clouds arose and hid the stars, the Valar drew Melkor back to Valinor bound hand and foot and blindfold, and he was cast into prison in the halls of Mandos, from whence none have ever escaped save by the will of Mandos and Manwe, neither Vala, nor Elf, nor mortal Man. Vast are those halls and strong, and they were built in the north of the land of Aman. There was Melkor doomed to abide for seven [> three] ages long, ere his cause should be tried again, or he should sue for pardon. $23 Then again the gods were gathered in council and were divided in debate. For some (and of these Ulmo was the chief) held that the Quendi should be left free to walk as they would in Middle-earth, and with their gifts of skill to order all the lands and heal their hurts. But the most part feared for the Quendi in the dangerous world amid the deceits of the starlit dusk; and they were filled moreover with the love of the beauty of the Elves and desired their fellowship. At the last, therefore, the Valar summoned the Quendi to Valinor, there to be gathered at the knees of the gods in the light of the blessed Trees for ever. And Mandos who had spoken not at all in the debate broke silence and said: 'So it is doomed.' For of this summons came many woes that after befell; yet those who hold that the Valar erred, thinking rather of the bliss of Valinor than of the Earth, and seeking to wrest the will of Iluvatar to their own pleasure, speak with the tongues [read tongue] of Melkor. Nonetheless the Elves were at first unwilling to hearken to the summons, for they had as yet seen the Valar only in their wrath as they went to war, save Orome alone, and they were filled with dread. Therefore Orome was sent again to them, and he chose from among them three ambassadors; and he brought them to Valmar. These were Ingwe and Finwe and Elwe, who after were kings of the Three Kindreds of the Eldar; and coming they were filled with awe by the glory and majesty of the Valar and desired greatly the light and splendour of the Trees. Therefore they returned and counselled the Elves to remove into the West, and the greater part of the people hearkened to their counsel. This they did of their free will, and yet were swayed by the majesty of the gods, ere their own wisdom was full grown. The Elves that obeyed the summons and followed the three kings are called the Eldar, by the name that Orome gave them; for he was their guide and led them at the last unto Valinor. Yet there were many who preferred the starlight and the wide spaces of the Earth to the rumour of the glory of the Trees, and they remained behind. These are called the Avari, the Unwilling. $24 The Eldar prepared now a great march from their first homes in the East. When all was made ready, Orome rode at their head upon Nahar, his white horse shod with gold; and behind him the Eldalie were arrayed in three hosts. $25 The smallest host and the first to set forth was led by Ingwe, the most high lord of all the Elvish race. He entered into Valinor and sits at the feet of the Powers, and all Elves revere his name; but he has never returned nor looked again upon Middle-earth. The Lindar [> Vanyar] were his folk, fairest of the Quendi; they are the High Elves, and the beloved of Manwe and Varda, and few Men have spoken with them. $26 Next came the Noldor, a name of wisdom.* They are the Deep Elves, and the friends of Aule. Their lord was Finwe, wisest of all the children of the world. His kindred are renowned in song, for they fought and laboured long and grievously in the northern lands of old. $27 The greatest host came last, and they are named the Teleri, for they tarried on the road, and were not wholly of a mind to pass from the dusk to the light of Valinor. In water they had great delight, and those that came at last to the west shores were enamoured of the Sea. The Sea-elves therefore they became in Valinor, the Soloneldi [> Falmari], for they made music beside the breaking waves. Two lords they had, for their numbers were very great: Elwe Singollo, which signifies Greymantle, and Olwe his brother. The hair of Olwe was long and white, and his eyes were blue; but the hair of Elwe was grey as silver, and his eyes were as stars; he was the tallest of all the Elven-folk. [$28 The paragraph concerning the people of Dan who left the Great March and turned south was displaced to follow $29; see the Commentary.] $29 These are the chief peoples of the Eldalie, who passing at length into the uttermost West in the days of the Two Trees are called the Kalaquendi, the Elves of the Light. But others of the Eldar there were who set out indeed upon the Westward March, but became lost upon the long road, or turned aside, or lingered on the shores of Middle-earth. They dwelt by the sea, or wandered in the woods and mountains of the world, yet their hearts were ever turned towards the West. These the Kala- quendi call the Alamanyar [> Umanyar], since they came never to the Land of Aman and the Blessed Realm. But the Alamanyar [> Umanyar] and the Avari alike they name the Moriquendi, Elves of the Darkness, for they never beheld the light before the Sun and Moon. The Alamanyar [> Umanyar] were for the most part of the (* [footnote to the text] The Gnomes they may be called in our tongue, quoth AElfwine. (The word that he uses is Witan. More is said of this matter in the Tenth Chapter where the tale speaks of the Edain.) [See the commentary on $26.]) race of the Teleri. For the hindmost of that people, repenting of the journey, forsook the host of Olwe, and Dan was their leader; and they turned southward and wandered long and far; and they became a folk apart, unlike their kin, save that they loved water, and dwelt most beside falls and running streams. They had greater lore of living things, tree and herb, bird and beast, than all other Elves. The Nandor they are called. It was Denethor son of Dan who turning again west at last led a part of that people over the mountains into Beleriand ere the rising of the Moon. $30 Others there were also of the Teleri that remained in Middle-earth. These were the Elves of Beleriand in the west of the Northern lands. They came from the host of Elwe the Grey. He was lost in the woods and many of his folk sought him long in vain; and thus when their kindred departed over Sea they were left behind and went not into the West. Therefore they are called the Sindar, the Grey Elves, but themselves they named Eglath, the Forsaken. Elwe after became their king, mightiest of all the Alamanyar [correction to Umanyar missed]. He it was who was called Thingol in the language of Doriath. [Other names in song and tale are given to these peoples. The Vanyar are the Blessed Elves, and the Spear-elves, the Elves of the Air, the friends of the Gods, the Holy Elves and the Immortal, and the Children of Ingwe; they are the Fair Folk and the White. The Noldor are the Wise, and the Golden, the Valiant, the Sword-elves, the Elves of the Earth, the Foes of Melkor, the Skilled of Hand, the Jewel-wrights, the Companions of Men, the Followers of Finwe. The Teleri are the Foam-riders, the Singers of the Shore, the Free, and the Swift, and the Arrow-elves; they are the Elves of the Sea, the Ship-wrights, the Swanherds, the Gatherers of Pearl, the Blue Elves, the people of Olwe. The Nandor are the Host of Dan, the Wood-elves, the Wanderers, the Axe-elves, the Green Elves and the Brown, the Hidden People; and those that came at last to Ossiriand are the Elves of the Seven Rivers, the Singers Unseen, the Kingless, the Weaponless, and the Lost Folk, for they are now no more. The Sindar are the Lemberi, the Lingerers; they are the Friends of Osse, the Elves of the Twilight, the Silvern, the Enchanters, the Wards of Melian, the Kindred of Luthien, the people of Elwe. Quoth Pengolod.] Commentary on Chapter 3, 'Of the Coming of the Elves'. LQ 1 is here again, as in the previous chapter, virtually the final text, for the later typescript LQ 2 was scarcely touched, and there was no further enlargement or expansion. $18 In AAm $30 (p. 70) it is said that Melkor 'wrought' the Balrogs in Utumno during the long darkness after the fall of the Lamps; but in an interpolation to AAm there enters the view that Melkor, after his rebellion, could make nothing that had life of its own ($45, see pp. 74, 78), and in AAm*, the second version of the opening of AAm (p. 79, $30), the Balrogs become the chief of 'the evil spirits that followed him, the Umaiar', whom at that time he multiplied. The statement in QS $18 that the Balrogs were 'the first made of his creatures' survived through all the texts of the later revision of the Quenta, but in the margin of one of the copies of LQ 2 my father wrote: 'See Valaquenta for true account.' This is a reference to the passage which appears in the published Silmarillion on p. 31: For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror. The actual text of LQ 2 my father emended at this time very hastily to read: These were the (ealar) spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. Balrogs they were named by the Noldor in later days. And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; and his realm spread now ever southward over the Middle-earth. But the Orks, mockeries and perversions of the Children of Eru, did not appear until after the Awakening of the Elves. There is a footnote to the word ealar in this passage: 'spirit' (not incarnate, which was fea, S[indarin] fae). eala 'being'. On the origin of the Orcs in AAm (and especially with respect to the word 'perversions' in the passage just given) see pp. 78, 123 - 4. Orks was my father's late spelling. $18a Of Yavanna's words before the Valar, and the words of Tulkas and Mandos, there has been no previous suggestion in the Quenta tradition; but cf. AV 2 (V.111, annal 1900): 'Yavanna often reproached the Valar for their neglected stewardship'. This was extended in AAm $$32 - 3 (p. 71), where most of the elements of the present passage appear, though more briefly expressed. $19 Here the two star-makings are expressly contrasted, and Varda's names Tintalle 'the Kindler' and Elentari 'Queen of the Stars' differentiated in their bearing. The second star-making is de- scribed also in AAm $$35 - 6 (p. 71), but far more briefly, and though the 'gathering together of the ancient stars' to form signs in the heavens is mentioned there also, only the constellations Menelmakar (Orion) and Valakirka are named. That Menel- makar forebodes the Last Battle is said in both sources, but l Q does not name it as a sign of Turin Turambar. The name 'Burning Briar' for the Great Bear still survives in the Quenta tradition. This observation was made into a foot- note in Text A (on which see p. 158), with the addition 'quoth Pengolod', but the typist of LQ 1 put it as usual into the body of the text, where my father left it. In Text A, in which the names of the great stars and the constellations first entered, Wilwarin, Karnil, and Alkarinque were typed Vilvarin, Carnil, and Alcarinque and then altered to the forms in LQ 1. By a later change to Text A Elentari > Elentarie, not found in LQ 1 and LQ 2. - The name Elemmire has appeared in AAm $114 (pp. 100, 106) as that of the Vanyarin Elf who made the Aldudenie. $20 Although in Text A my father added the words quoth AElfwine to 'whom we call Elves' (deriving from QS) he retained this in the body of the text, and only on the final typescript LQ 2 wrote a direction that it should be a footnote. The aberrant idea in QS that the coming of the Elves was not in the Music of the Ainur (see V.217) is now displaced by a much more subtle explanation of Orome's astonishment. The detailed statement of the place of Kuivienen in AAm $38 (p. 72) is absent here. The history of the passage concerning Orome and the Quendi (from 'For a while he abode with them ...') is curious and complex. In text A as he typed it my father followed QS exactly in saying that Orome 'taught them the language of the gods, from whence afterwards they made the fair Elvish speech', and that afterwards he returned to Valinor and brought tidings of the Awakening of the Quendi to Valmar. He then altered this to the text found in LQ 1 above (he 'aided them in the making of language; for that was their first work of craft upon Earth...'), and at the same time added at the beginning of $20 the words 'in their own tongue' ('but Orome named them in their own tongue Eldar, people of the stars'). In this form the passage survived into LQ 2 without further change. On Text A, however, my father struck out the passage beginning 'For a while he abode with them...' and replaced it with the following on a slip pinned to the typescript: Then swiftly he rode back over land and sea to Valinor, filled with the thought of the beauty of the long-awaited, and he brought the tidings to Valmar. And the gods rejoiced, and yet were in doubt amid their mirth, and they debated what counsel it were best now to take to guard the Elves from the shadow of Melkor. At once Orome returned to Kuivienen, and he abode there long among the Elves, and aided them in the making of language; for that was their first work of craft upon Earth, and ever the dearest to their hearts, and sweet was the Elven-tongue on the ears of the Valar. But Manwe sat alone upon Taniquetil... This further revision makes Orome return at once to Valinor, and then come back to Kuivienen, where he aided the Elves in the making of language. It does not appear in LQ 1 and LQ 2 because, as I have said, this and other alterations were made to Text A after LQ 1 had been taken from it. In AAm $39 (p. 72) the story is different: there the Quendi 'began to make speech and to give names to all things that they perceived' long before Orome came upon them (335 Sun Years after the Awakening); and nothing is said of his playing any part in the evolution of Elvish speech. In the sentence 'while they dwelt yet silent upon the star-lit mere' Text A has beside; upon in LQ 1 (and LQ 2) was clearly an error introduced by the typist (and similarly with the omission of so earlier in this paragraph and tongues for tongue in $23). $21 On LQ 2 my father changed 'the fortress of Melkor' in the first sentence to 'the fortresses of Melkor', and at the end of the paragraph 'the fortress of Melkor at Utumno' to 'the fortresses of Melkor'. In this case he made the changes on LQ 1 also, but I have not included them in the text printed, since they were very late, and belonged with the changed story of the origin of Angband: see the commentary on Chapter 2, $12 (p. 156). On Text A 'little do they know of the riding of the power of the West' was changed to 'they know little', but this, like the major change made to $20, was made after LQ 1 had been taken from Text A. There reappears here for the first time since the Lost Tales the story that Aule made the chain Angainor (elaborately recounted in The Chaining of Melko, I.100 - 1, where the form was Angaino; in The Tale of Tinuviel, II.19, there is a reference to 'the chain Angainu that Aule and Tulkas made'). $22 Changes were also made in this paragraph after LQ 1 had been made: 'from whence' > 'whence', and 'Vast are those halls and strong' > 'Vast and strong are those halls'. In AAm $52 Melkor was condemned to Mandos for three ages (pp. 80, 88). $23 That there were differing counsels of the Valar on the Summon- ing of the Quendi was not even hinted in the Quenta tradition till now. In AAm $53 (p. 81) there is mention of a debate, and in $73 (p. 86) it is told that in the council of the Valar Ulmo 'had chiefly spoken against the summons, deeming that it were better for the Quendi to remain in Middle-earth.' The belief that the Valar erred is not here imputed to them as an error 'with good intent' (QS, V.214), and to this extent is harshly repudiated. The passage concerning the three ambassadors remains vir- tually unchanged from QS, but in the course of the revision (see under $27 below) there came to be an internal change of reference - when Elwe became Thingol, whereas previously he had been Thingol's brother (see V.217, $23). Probably the sentences 'These were Ingwe and Finwe and Elwe, who after were kings of the Three Kindreds of the Eldar' and 'The Elves that obeyed the summons and followed the three kings' should have been modified when that transformation took place, and when the Third Host came to have two lords. There is no mention in LQ of the kindreds of Morwe and Nurwe, who refused the summons (AAm $57, p. 81). Another very minor change was made to Text A after LQ 1 was made: 'And Mandos who had spoken not at all' > 'And Mandos who had not spoken'. $25 The name Lindar was altered to Vanyar by a late change made to the final text of the Ainulindale' (p. 34, $36); in AAm $58 (p. 82) Vanyar appears in the text as written. - By a pencilled change to LQ 2 'High Elves' was changed to 'Fair Elves' (see V.218, $25). $26 In Text A the opening sentence of this paragraph read: 'Next came the Noldor, a name of wisdom, and the Gnomes they may be called in our tongue', with 'Quoth AElfwine. (The word that he uses ...' placed in a footnote. The typist of LQ 1 placed all this in the body of the text; but my father directed that it should all go into a footnote, as is done in the text printed. In the Old English versions of the 1930s Witan was not used, but Noldelfe, Noldielfe (see also IV.212). On one copy of LQ 2 my father struck out 'Gnomes' and wrote above 'Enquirers'; this occurs nowhere else. At the end of the paragraph he added to Text A: 'Dark is their hue and grey are their eyes'; this did not get into the later typescripts. See 1.44. $27 By the end of the revision, represented by LQ 1, the final position had been reached, as in AAm $$58, 74: Elwe Singollo (Greymantle) - who is Elu Thingol King of Doriath - and his brother Olwe, the two lords of the host of the Teleri on the Great March until Elwe was lost. The stages passed through to reach this can be observed in the earlier version of the end of Text A (see p. 158). First came the idea that there were two lords, because the numbers were very great: Elwe and his brother Sindo ('the locks of Sindo were as grey as silver ... but the hair of Elwe was long and white, and he was the tallest of all the Elven-race'). Then Elwe' was changed to Solwe, and Sindo to Elwe'; at this stage, probably, Elwe (the Grey) became one of the three original ambassadors, displacing his brother (now Solwe) in this at the same time as he took his name (and became in his stead 'the tallest of all the Elven-folk'). $28 In the first stage of the 1951 revision, carried out on the original QS typescript, the people of Dan, still from the host of the Noldor, were thus described: They are not counted among the Eldar, nor yet among the Avari. The [Nandar >] Nandor who turn back they were called, and akin was the name of their first leader Nano, who in their tongue was called Dan. His son was Denethor, who led them into Beleriand ere the rising of the Moon. The Danathrim, Danians, they were named in that land. The term Pereldar 'Half-eldar' used in QS had now disappeared, and in this passage is clearly the first occurrence of the name Nandor (which appears subsequently in AAm $62: see pp. 83, 89). In the next stage (Text A) the paragraph was removed from its former place and set at the end of $29. At this stage the Nandor, also called the Laiquendi or Green-elves, became Telerin Elves from the host of Sindo the Grey, and were placed with the other Teleri (followers of Sindo) who remained behind in Beleriand under the name Ekelli (first written Ecelli), 'the Forsaken'. See further under $$29 - 30. $$29 - 30 In the first stage of the revision the form Lembi Lingerers - the Elves of the Great Journey who 'were lost upon the long road' - became Lemberi, classed with the Avari as Moriquendi, Dark Elves. The term Kalaquendi, Light Elves, also appeared in the account (though found much earlier, together with Mori- quendi, in the table associated with the Lhammas, V.197, and also in the Etymologies). At this stage the old subdivision Ilkorindi (comprising Lembi and Pereldar or Danas, see the table given in V.219) is not present, and the place of the Nandor is not defined. In the next stage (Text A) the term Lemberi was not used, and there emerged the short-lived term Ekelli (Ecelli) used (like the old Ilkorindi) of all the 'lost Eldar', including the Nandor (see under $28); Ekelli was the name given to them by the Elves of Valinor, and meant 'the Forsaken, their kin that were left behind'. Thus: Followers of Nandor Avari Elwe Ekelli (the Forsaken) Moriquendi (Dark Elves) Ekelli was then replaced by Alamanyar ('since they came never to the Land of Aman'), and the Nandor became Elves from the host of Olwe; while those who sought in vain for Elwe Singollo (Thingol) are 'therefore' called Sindar, the Grey Elves, 'but themselves they named Eglath, the Forsaken.' Thus: Sindar Nandor (= Eglath, the Forsaken) Avari Alamanyar Moriquendi It was here, undoubtedly, that the name Sindar arose: occur- rences earlier in LQ were inserted later, and that in AAm ($74, see p. 91) was later also. With the change of Alamanyar to Umanyar on LQ 1 the final form (as shown in the table in the published Silmarillion, p. 309) was reached. Thus some important developments in the narrative emerged in the course of the 1951 revision of the end of this chapter. The original Elwe, who in QS ($30) was Thingol's brother, became Olwe, while the name Elwe was transferred to Thingol - who became one of the three Elvish 'ambassadors' taken by Orome to Valinor, in the place of his brother; and both Olwe and Elwe were leaders of the Telerin host on the Great March from Kuivienen. The story that the Eldar of Beleriand (the Sindar) did not pass over the Sea because they were left behind seeking for Elwe Singollo takes up a passage in the Lhammas (V.174, cited on p. 90, $71); in QS there was no suggestion that the Elves of Doriath were specifically those of Thingol's following who would not abandon the search for him. In AAm the whole matter is treated from a different point of view: there, the events and geography of the Great Journey are a central element, but the complexities of naming and classifica- tion are not. It is clear however that AAm was not written until the revision of the Quenta tradition concerning the Sundering of the Elves was virtually complete: for in AAm the Nandor are from the host of Olwe ($62), and the followers of Elwe who were left behind called themselves Eglath, the Forsaken People ($71). The passage recounting the names used in poetry for the Elvish peoples, which goes back to QS, and which forms an integral part of Text A, was for some reason omitted from LQ 1; my father wrote it onto the typescript subsequently (with Vanyar for Lindar of Text A). Later changes made to Text A altered 'Axe-elves' to 'Staff-elves' as a name of the Nandor, and introduced 'Axe-elves' as a name of the Sindar (following 'the Friends of Osse'); but these were 'lost' and do not appear in LQ 1 and LQ Z. - The name Lemberi 'Lingerers' (see under $$29 - 30 above) reappears as one of the by-names of the Sindar; and 'the Green Elves and the Brown' re-emerge from the old Tale of the Nauglafring (11.237, etc.). It remains to notice lastly that on LQ 2 my father changed the title of the chapter to Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor, which was followed in the published Silmarillion; and also that on one copy of this typescript, against the first occurrence of Umanyar ($29), he wrote Alamanyar in the margin, as if he were considering a return to the earlier name. 4 OF THINGOL AND MELIAN. Of Thingol and Melian was not a separate chapter in the QS manuscript and the derived QS typescript, although in both there was a sub-heading (and in The Lost Road, V.220, I treated it as separate, numbering it 3(b)). The first text of the 1951 revision was a manuscript that continued on from the manuscript ending of 'Text A' of The Coming of the Elves (see p. 158), and here my father may have intended it as a separate chapter, although there is no number. From 'Text A', as in the preceding chapter, LQ 1 was taken, and the final text was LQ 2 (in which the chapter is numbered '4'). The first paragraph remained almost unchanged from QS, but the remainder was much expanded. Of Thingol and Melian. $31 Thus it came to pass that Elu-thingol [> Elwe Singollo] and many of his folk abode in Beleriand and went not to Valinor. Melian was a maia, of the race of the Valar. She dwelt in the gardens of Olofantur, and among all his fair folk there was none more beautiful than she, nor more wise, nor more skilled in songs of enchantment. It is told that the gods would leave their business, and the birds of Valinor their mirth, that the bells of Valmar were silent and the fountains ceased to flow, when at the mingling of the lights Melian sang in Lorien. Nightingales went always with her, and she taught them their song. She loved the deep shadow of great trees; but she was akin, before the world was made, unto Yavanna herself, and on a time she departed from Valinor on a long journey into the Hither Lands, and there she filled the silence of Arda before the dawn with her voice and with the voices of her birds. $32 Now it came to pass that when their journey was near its end the folk of Elwe rested long and dwelt in Beleriand beyond Gelion; and King Elwe went often through the great woods, for he had friendship with the Noldor who lay to the westward, and with Finwe their lord. And it chanced on a time that he came alone to the starlit wood of Nan Elmoth, and there on a sudden he heard the song of nightingales. Then an enchantment fell upon him, and he stood still; and afar off beyond the voices of the lomelindi * he heard the voice of Melian, and it filled all his heart with wonder and desire. He forgot then utterly all his folk and all the purposes of his mind, and following the birds under the shadows of the trees he passed deep into Nan Elmoth and was lost. But he came at last to a glade open to the stars, and there Melian stood; and out of the darkness he beheld her with hands outstretched, and the light of Aman was in her face. No word she spoke; but being filled with love Elwe came to her and took her hand; and straightway a spell was laid on him, so that they stood thus, hand in hand, while long years were measured by the wheeling stars above them; and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark ere they spoke any word one to another. (* [footnote to the text] lomelindi: 'dusk-singers' = nightingales.) $33 Thus Elwe's folk who sought him found him not, and Olwe took the kingship of the Teleri and departed; but Elwe Singollo came never again across the sea to Valinor; and Melian returned not thither while their realm together lasted; and of her a strain of the [read: of the race of the] immortal gods came among both Elves and Men, as hereafter shall be told. In after days Melian and Elwe became Queen and King of Grey Elves, and their hidden halls were in Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, in Doriath; and as Thingol Greymantle he was known in the [read: to all in the] tongue of that land. Great power Melian lent to Thingol her spouse, who was in himself great among the Eldar; for he alone of all the Forsaken had seen with his own eyes the Trees in the day of their flowering, and king though he were [> was] of Alamanyar [> Umanyar], he was not accounted among the Moriquendi, but with the Elves of the Light, mighty upon Middle-earth. Commentary on Chapter 4, 'Of Thingol and Melian' $31 The form 'Elu-thingol' here first appeared. - Olofantur was corrected to Lorien on one copy of LQ 2 (see p. 150, $6). $32 With the mention of the long sojourn of the Teleri in the lands beyond Gelion cf. AAm $64 (p. 83). The story of Elwe's journey to visit Finwe his friend is told also in AAm ($$64 - 5); and the phrase 'the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark' is found in both sources. In AAm Elwe's trance lasted for more than two centuries measured by the Sun (p. 89, $65). $33 It now becomes explicit, and not merely implied, that Thingol had been to Valinor, as one of the three ambassadors (see pp. 168 - 9, $$23, 27). - The readings in LQ 1 'a strain of the immortal gods' and 'he was known in the tongue of that land' were clearly mere errors of omission on the part of the typist; the readings proposed are found in my father's manuscript Text A (see p. 158). A late change to Text A made after LQ 1 was copied from it was 'Grey Elves' to 'the Grey Elves'. 5 OF ELDANOR AND THE PRINCES OF THE ELDALIE. My father did less revision and rewriting of this chapter than on those preceding, and in fact did not himself make a wholly new text: the revision of 1951 was very largely restricted to emendation of the old QS typescript, and it was from this that LQ 1 was taken. In the QS typescript this was not a separate chapter, but a 'sub-chapter' entitled Of Kor and Alqualonde' (in The Lost Road numbered 3(c); V.221 - 5); after which that typescript was abandoned, and for the remainder of the work there is only the QS manuscript from the pre-Lord of the Rings period. Emendation to the QS typescript was carried out at different times, and three important passages of rewriting (see the commentary on $$40, 43) were 'lost' and not taken up into the later texts. Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalie. $34 In time the hosts of the Eldalie came to the last western shores of the Hither Lands. In the North these shores, in the ancient days after the battle of the gods, sloped ever westward, until in the northernmost parts of the earth only a narrow sea divided the Outer Land of Aman, upon which Valinor was built, from the Hither Lands; but this narrow sea was filled with grinding ice, because of the violence of the frosts of Melkor. Therefore Orome did not lead the Eldar into the far North, but brought them to the fair lands about the River Sirion that afterwards were named Beleriand; and from those shores whence first the hosts of the Eldar looked in fear and wonder on the sea there stretched an ocean, wide and dark and deep, between them and the Mountains of Aman. $35 There they waited and gazed upon the dark waves. But Ulmo came from the Valar; and he uprooted a half-sunken island, which now long had stood alone amid the sea, far from either shore; and with the aid of his servants he moved it, as it were a mighty ship, and anchored it in the bay into which Sirion pours his water.* Thereon he embarked the Lindar [> Vanyar] and the Noldor, for they had already assembled. But the Teleri were behind, being slower and less eager upon the march, and they were delayed also by the loss of Thingol and their fruitless search; and they did not come until Ulmo had departed. $36 Therefore Ulmo drew the Lindar [> Vanyar] and the Noldor over the sea to the long shores beneath the Mountains of Valinor, and they entered the land of the gods and were welcomed to its bliss. But the Teleri dwelt long by the coasts of (* [footnote to the text] And some have told that the great isle of Balar, that lay of old in that bay, was the eastern horn of the Lonely Isle, that broke asunder and remained behind, when Ulmo removed that land again into the West. Quoth Rumil. [Placed in the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1 but subsequently reinstated as a footnote.]) the western sea, awaiting Ulmo's return; and they grew to love the sound of the waves, and they made songs filled with the music of water. Osse heard them, and came thither; and he loved them, delighting in the music of their voices. Sitting upon a rock nigh to the margin of the sea he spoke to them and instructed them. Great therefore was his grief when Ulmo returned at length to bear them away to Valinor. Some he persuaded to remain on the beaches of the Middle-earth, and these were the Elves of the Falas that in after days had dwellings at the havens of Brithombar and Eglorest in Beleriand; but most of the Teleri embarked upon the isle and were drawn far away. $37 Osse followed them, and when they were come near to their journey's end, he called to them; and they begged Ulmo to halt for a while, so that they might take leave of their friend and look their last upon the sky of stars. For the light of the Trees that filtered through the passes of the hills filled them with awe. And Ulmo understood well their hearts, and granted their request; and at his bidding Osse made fast the island and rooted it in the foundations of the sea. Then Ulmo returned to Valinor and made known what had been done, and the Valar for the most part were ill-pleased; but the island could not again be moved without great hurt, or without peril to the Teleri who dwelt thereon; and it was not moved, but stood there alone for many an age. No other land lay near it, and it was called Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle.* There the Teleri long had their home, and Osse was often among them, and they learned of him strange musics and sea-lore; and he brought to them sea-birds, the gift of Yavanna, for their delight. By this long sojourn of the Teleri apart in the Lonely Isle was caused the sundering of their speech from the language of the Lindar [> Vanyar] and the Noldor. $38 To these the Valar had given a land and dwelling- places. Even among the radiant flowers of the Tree-lit gardens of the gods they longed still to see the stars at times. Therefore a gap was made in the great walls of the Pelori, and there in a deep valley that ran down to the sea the Eldar raised a high green hill: Tuna it was called. From the West the light of the (* [footnote to the text] Avallone also it was after called, signifying the isle that lies nighest unto the Valar in Valinor. Quoth AElfwine. [Placed in the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1 but subsequently reinstated as a footnote.]) Trees fell upon it, and its shadow lay ever eastward; and to the East it looked towards the Bay of Elvenhome, and the Lonely Isle, and the Shadowy Seas. Then through the Kalakiryan, the Pass of Light, the radiance of the Blessed Realm streamed forth, kindling the waves with gleams of gold and silver, and it touched the Lonely Isle, and its western shore grew green and fair. There bloomed the first flowers that ever were east of the mountains of the gods. $39 Upon the crown of Tuna, the green hill, the city of the Elves was built, the white walls and terraces of Tirion; and the highest of the towers of that city was the Tower of Ingwe, the Mindon, Mindon Eldalieva, whose silver lamp shone far out into the mists of the sea. Few are the ships of mortal Men that have seen its slender beam. In Tirion' the Lindar [> Vanyar] and the Noldor dwelt long time in fellowship. And since of all things in Valinor they loved most the White Tree, Yavanna made for them a tree in all things like a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give light of its own being; and this tree was planted in the courts beneath the Tower and there flourished, and its seedlings were many in Eldanor. Of which one was after planted in Eressea, and prospered. Thence came in the fullness of time, as is later told, the White Tree of Numenor. $40 Manwe and Varda loved most the Lindar [> Vanyar], the High Elves, and holy and immortal were all their deeds and songs. The Noldor were beloved of Aule, and of Mandos the wise; and great became their knowledge and their skill. Yet ever greater was their thirst for more knowledge, and their desire to make things wonderful and new. They were changeful in speech, for they had great love of words, and sought ever to find names more fit for all things that they knew or imagined. In Valinor they first contrived the fashioning of gems, and they made them in countless myriads of many kinds and hues; and they filled all Elende with them, and the halls of the gods in Valinor were enriched. (* [footnote to the text] That is the Watchful City. Eldamar (that is Elvenhome) it was also called; but the regions where the Elves dwelt, and whence the stars could be seen, were called Elende, or Eldanor (that is Elvenland): quoth AElfwine. [Placed in the body of the text by the typist of LQ 1 but subsequently reinstated as a footnote.]) $41 The Noldor afterwards came back to Middle-earth, and this tale tells mostly of their deeds; therefore the names and kinship of their princes may here be told in that form which these names after had in the tongue of the Gnomes as it was [> the Elves] in Beleriand upon the Middle-earth. Finwe was king of the Noldor. His sons were Feanor, Fingolfin, and Finrod [> Finarphin]. Of these Feanor was the mightiest in skill of word and hand, more learned in lore than his brethren; in his heart his spirit burned as flame. Fingolfin was the strongest, the most steadfast, and the most valiant. Finrod [> Finarphin] was the fairest, and the most wise of heart; and afterwards he was a friend of the sons of Olwe, lord of the Teleri, and had to wife Earwen, the swan-maiden of Alqualonde, Olwe's daughter. The seven sons of Feanor were Maidros [> Maedhros] the tall; Maglor a musician and a mighty singer, whose voice was heard far over land and sea; Celegorn [> Celegorm] the fair, and Cranthir [> Caranthir] the dark; and Curufin the crafty, who inherited most of his father's skill of hand; and the youngest Damrod and Diriel [> Amrod and Amras], who were twin brothers alike in mood and face. They afterwards were great hunters in the woods of Middle-earth. A hunter also was Celegorn [> Celegorm], who in Valinor was a friend of Orome and followed oft the great god's horn. $42 The sons of Fingolfin were Fingon, who was after king of the Gnomes [> Noldor] in the North of the World; and Turgon of Gondolin; and their sister was Isfin [> Irith] the White. [Added: She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brethren; and when she was grown to full stature and beauty she was greater and stronger than woman's wont, and she loved much to ride on horse and to hunt in the forests, and there was often in the company of her kinsmen, the sons of Feanor; but to none was her heart's love given. She was called the White Lady of the Noldor; for though her hair was dark, she was pale and clear of hue, and she was ever arrayed in silver and white.] The sons of Finrod [> Finarphin] were Inglor [> Finrod] the faithful (who afterwards was named Felagund, Lord of Caves), [struck out: and Orodreth,] and Angrod, and Egnor [> Aegnor]. And these four [> three] were as close in friendship with the sons of Fingolfin as though they were all brethren together. A sister they had, Galadriel, the fairest lady of the house of Finwe, and the most valiant. Her hair was lit with gold as though it had caught in a mesh the radiance of Laurelin. $43 Here must be told how the Teleri came at last to Valinor. For nigh on one hundred of the years of Valinor, which were each as ten of the years of the Sun that were after made, they dwelt in Tol Eressea. But slowly their hearts were moved, and were drawn towards the light that flowed out over the sea unto their isle; and they were torn between the love of the music of the waves upon their shores, and desire to see again their kindred and to look upon the splendour of the gods. Yet in the end desire of the light was the stronger. Therefore Ulmo taught them the craft of ship-building; and Osse, submitting to Ulmo, brought them as his farewell gift the strong-winged swans. These they harnessed to their fleet of white ships, and thus they were drawn without the help of the winds to Valinor. $44 There they dwelt upon the long shores of Elvenhome [> Elvenland], and if they wished they could see the light of the Trees, and could visit the golden streets of Valmar and the crystal stairs of Tirion upon the Green Hill. But most it was their wont to sail in their swift ships upon the waters of the Bay of Elvenhome, or to walk in the waves upon the shore with their long hair gleaming like foam in the light beyond the hill. Many jewels the Noldor gave them, opals and diamonds and pale crystals, which they strewed upon the shores and scattered in the pools. Marvellous were the beaches of Elende in those days. And many pearls they won for themselves from the sea, and their halls were of pearl, and of pearl were the mansions of Elwe [> Olwe] at the Haven of the Swans, lit with many lamps. For Alqualonde, the Haven of the Swans, was their chief town, and the harbour of their ships; and these were fashioned in the likeness of swans, white, and their beaks were of gold with eyes of gold and jet. The gate of that harbour was an arch of living rock sea-carven, and it lay upon the confines of the Elvenland, north of Kalakiryan, where the light of the stars was bright and clear. $45 As the ages passed the Lindar [> Vanyar] grew to love the land of the gods and the full light of the Trees, and they forsook the city upon Tuna, and dwelt upon the mountain of Manwe, or about the plains and woods of Valinor, and became sundered from the Noldor. But remembrance of the Earth under the Stars remained in the hearts of the Gnomes [> Noldor], and they abode in the Kalakiryan, and in the hills and valleys within sound of the western sea; and though many of them went oft about the land of the gods [> Valar], making far journeys in search of the secrets of land and water and all living things, [struck out: yet their intercourse was more with the Teleri than with the Lindar (> Vanyar); and] the tongues [> peoples] of Tuna and of Alqualonde drew together in those days. Finwe was king of Tuna and Elwe [> Olwe] of Alqualonde; but Ingwe was ever held the high-king of all the Elves. He dwelt thereafter at the feet of Manwe upon Taniquetil. Feanor and his sons abode seldom in one place for long. They travelled far and wide upon [read: within] the confines of Valinor, going even to the borders of the Dark and the cold shores of the Outer Sea, seeking the unknown. Often they were guests in the halls of Aule; but Celegorn [> Celegorm] went rather to the house of Orome, and there he got great knowledge of all birds and beasts, and all their tongues he knew. For all living things that are or have been in the Kingdom of Arda, save only the fell and evil creatures of Melkor, lived then in Valinor; and there also were many other creatures beautiful and strange that have not yet been seen upon the Middle-earth, and perchance never now shall be, since the fashion of the World was changed. Commentary on Chapter 5, 'Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalie'. $35 The identification of the isle of the Gods' first dwelling with the isle of the Elves' ferrying (see IV.45) was abandoned when the isle of the Gods amid the seas became an isle (Almaren) in a great lake in the midst of Middle-earth. Tol Eressea has now no significant origin. Cf. AAm $66 (p. 84): 'an island which long had stood alone amidst the Sea, since the tumults of the fall of Illuin'. The old story was still present in a draft narra- tive associated with The Drowning of Anadune (IX.402 and note 11). $36 The form Eglorest was retained from QS presumably through oversight and not changed to Eglarest as in AAm ($70). $37 The changed story of the rooting of Tol Eressea to the bottom of the sea appears also in AAm ($$72 - 3 and commentary); with 'Ulmo understood well their hearts' cf. LQ $23 (p. 161: Ulmo's belief that the Quendi should be left in Middle-earth). In AElfwine's note Avallone' appears as a name of Tol Eressea, not, as in the published Silmarillion, of a haven in the isle; cf. the Akallabeth (p. 260): 'there is in that land a haven that is named Avallone, for it is of all cities the nearest to Valinor.' In the third version of The Fall of Numenor (IX.332), as here, Tol Eressea 'was named anew Avallon: for it is hard by Valinor and within sight of the Blessed Realm'; while on the other hand in the narrative sketches associated with The Drowning of Anadune the name 'Avallon(de)' already appears as the name of the eastern haven (IX.399, 403 and note 12). $38 'The Bay of Elvenhome': in the footnote to $39, as in its forerunner in QS, 'Elvenhome' is the name of the city, translat- ing Eldamar, while 'Elvenland' is the name of the regions where the Elves dwelt, translating Eldanor; in $44 of this chapter QS 'shores of Elvenhome' was changed in the revision to 'shores of Elvenland', but 'the Bay of Elvenhome' was allowed to stand in $$38, 44. In AAm Eldamar is the name of the region: see p. 90, $67. The form Kalakiryan, for earlier Kalakirya, arose in the course of the composition of AAm (p. 87 note 7). On 'the first flowers that ever were east of the mountains of the gods' see p. 60, $15, and the references given there. $39 Tirion upon Tuna, replacing Tuna upon Kor, and Mindon Eldalieva replacing Ingwemindon, are found also in AAm $$67 - 8 (pp. 84 - 5, 90). - On LQ 2 'the Mindon, Mindon Eldalieva' (the original emendation to the QS typescript, not an error) the repetition of 'Mindon' was bracketed for exclusion. 'In Tirion the Vanyar and the Noldor dwelt long time in fellowship': this is scarcely in accord with AAm (see p. 90, $68). LQ retained also the old phrase in $45: 'As the ages passed the Vanyar grew to love the land of the gods ... and they forsook the city upon Tuna'. The gift of Yavanna to the people of Tirion of an 'image' of Telperion is recorded also in AAm $69 (p. 85), where it is named Galathilion and is a gift to the Noldor. In LQ $16 Galathilion is the Sindarin name of Telperion, and in the footnote to LQ $17 on the names of the Trees the White Tree of Tuna is Galathilion the Less. The Trees of Eressea and Numenor are referred to in that note also, and given the names Celeborn and Nimloth (both of which were names of Telperion). $40 'High Elves' > 'Fair Elves' by a late change to LQ 2, as in Chapter 3 (p. 168, $25). On one copy of LQ 2 my father revised the paragraph thus: Manwe and Varda loved most the Vanyar, the High Elves, and all their deeds and songs were holy and immortal. The Noldor were beloved of Aule, and of Mandos the wise; and their knowledge and skill became great. Yet ever greater grew their thirst for more knowledge, and their desire to make things new and wonderful. They were changeful in speech, for they had great love of words, and were never weary of devising names more fitting for all the things that they knew or imagined. This is strange, and I cannot really explain it; it seems as if he were experimenting (but casually, and only in this and one other passage) with a stylistic 'reduction', especially in respect of the characteristic 'inversions'. Comparison with the text as it stood (which is that of QS) shows how flat the opening sentences had become. After LQ 1 had been made my father returned to the original QS typescript, and wrote in a substantial new passage on the subject of the jewels of the Noldor; this was not entered on LQ 1 and so was 'lost', since he never rediscovered it, and the final typescript LQ 2 still retained the old text in which the Noldor 'contrived the fashioning of gems'. The new passage read (following the words 'all things that they knew or imagined.'): And in all crafts of hand they delighted also; and their masons built many towers tall and slender, and many halls and houses of marble. Thus it came to pass that, quarrying in the hills after stone, the Noldor first discovered gems, in which the Land of Aman was indeed surpassing rich, and they brought them forth in countless myriads of many kinds and hues; and they carved and fashioned them in shapes of bright beauty, and they filled all Elende with them, and the halls of the gods in Valinor were enriched. In fact, a closely similar change (including the phrase 'carved them in many forms of bright beauty') was made to AAm $79 (p. 92 with note 3 and p. 103). $$41-2 In Appendix F to The Lord of the Rings is found in the First Edition (published in October 1955): 'the Lady Galadriel of the royal house of Finrod, father of Felagund'; in the Second Edition (1966) this became 'the Lady Galadriel of the royal house of Finarphin and sister of Finrod Felagund'. Since as late as September 1954 (Letters no.150) my father was apologising to Allen and Unwin for not having as yet 'any copy to send in for the Appendices', it is clear that Finrod > Finarphin and Inglor > Finrod cannot have been entered on LQ 1 until after this time. On the typescript text of AAm (p. 128, $134) he noted that the names of the Sons of Feanor 'will be revised', and on the text he changed Cranthir to Caranthir, underlined the n of Celegorn, and struck out Damrod and Diriel without replacing them. LQ 2 has the altered names. I have suggested that the typescripts of AAm and LQ 2 belong to much the same time (perhaps about 1958): see pp. 141 - 2. It is characteristic of the textual puzzles that abound in my father's later work on The Silmarillion that the regular change of Lindar > Vanyar was undoubtedly made on LQ 1 in this chapter at the same time as these other changes of name; yet AAm has Vanyar as first written. It may be that a good deal of the correction to LQ 1 was actually carried out a long time after that text was typed. $41 The marriage of Finrod (= Finarphin) to Earwen Olwe's daughter is recorded under the Valian Year 1280 in AAm $85 (p. 93). - By a late change to LQ 2 Maglor > Maelor; Maelor occurs in the later Lay of Leithian, III.353. $42 The passage describing the White Lady of the Noldor was added on a slip to the original QS typescript, and this slip is a page from a used engagement calendar dated October 1951. At that stage her name was still Isfin. A rejected draft for this rider on the same slip began thus: She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brethren, for she awoke in Valinor [not upon Middle-earth )] after the making of the Silmarils, and even as the first shadow fell upon the Blessed Realm; and when she was grown to full stature... The words 'She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brethren, for she awoke in Valinor not upon Middle-earth' are not in accord with AAm, where Fingolfin their father was himself born in Aman ($81). The rider was not taken up into LQ 1 as typed, which still had the name Isfin, as in AAm (see p. 102 notes 8 and 9: the first birth-date for Isfin (1469) makes her born after the making of the Silmarils in 1450, but the second (1362) before). But later Isfin was changed to frith on LQ 1 (at the same time as the corrections of Finrod to Finarphin, etc.), and the same rider was attached on a slip, identical in wording to that attached to the old QS typescript, but with the name frith. This is presumably a case where a 'lost' change was recovered. In QS Angrod and Egnor were friends of the sons of Feanor, while Inglor and Orodreth were friends of the sons of Fingolfin, Fingon and Turgon. Now the association of Angrod and Egnor with the Feanorians (which led to their being allowed passage in the ships at the time of the crossing to Middle-earth, QS $73) was abandoned (as it was also in AAm, $135, pp. 113, 125), and all four of Finarphin's sons become the bosom friends of Fingon and Turgon. 'And these four' was changed to 'And these three' on LQ 1 when Orodreth was finally ejected entirely from the third generation of the Noldorin princes (see III.91, 246, and Unfinished Tales p. 255 note 20). Here Galadriel enters the Quenta tradition; for Galadriel in AAm see $$85, 135 and commentary. On one copy of LQ 2 my father noted: 'In High-elvish her name was Altarielle "Lady with garland of sunlight", galata-rig-elle = S[indarin] Galadriel. It was thus mere accident that her name resembled galad (Silvan galad tree ). Cf. the Appendix to The Silmarillion p. 360, entry kal-. $43 In this paragraph my father made two narrative changes that (like the passage concerning the jewels of the Noldor referred to under $40 above) were 'lost', since they were made to the QS typescript after LQ 1 had been copied from it. The first concerns the sentence 'For nigh on one hundred of the years of Valinor, which were each as ten of the years of the Sun that were after made' (the text of QS, preserved in LQ 1 and 2); here the following was substituted: For well-nigh one hundred of the years of our time (though that be but ten of the Years of the Valar) they dwelt in Tol Eressea. The reduction of the time during which the Teleri dwelt apart in Tol Eressea from 1000 to 100 years of the Sun was clearly made for linguistic reasons. A thousand years would introduce such changes as to make the tongues of the Noldor (a people in any case 'changeful in speech', $40) and the Teleri into different languages, which could not conceivably 'draw together' again ($45). In AAm ($$72, 75) the 'lost' reckoning of only 100 years of the Sun is present. On one copy of LQ 2 my father emended the original passage anew, and produced: 'They dwelt in Tol Eressea for nearly one hundred of the years of Valinor (which were each as ten of the later years of the Sun in Middle-earth).' Since this does not alter the sense in any way it must have been made to reduce the archaic element (cf. the passage given under $40 above). Thus the revision made to the QS typescript for reasons of likelihood in linguistic history was forgotten; on the other hand, the change on LQ 1 of 'tongues' to 'peoples' in 'the tongues of Tuna and of Alqualonde drew together in those days' was very probably made for the same reason, though resolving the difficulty in a different way. The second of the 'lost' emendations in this paragraph changed the story that it was Ulmo who taught the Teleri the craft of ship-building: Therefore Ulmo, submitting to the will of the Valar, sent unto them Osse their friend, and he, albeit in grief, taught them the craft of ship-building; and when their ships were built he brought to them as his farewell gift the strong-winged swans. In AAm $75 Ulmo as teacher was likewise corrected to Osse (p. 86 and note 8). This shift is an aspect of the changed story of the rooting of Tol Eressea to the sea-bottom; where in QS Osse submitted to Ulmo, Ulmo now submits to the will of the Valar. $44 Kalakiryan was corrected on one copy of LQ 2 to the Cala- ciryan, and the same change of spelling in $45. - It is at first sight puzzling that LQ 1 has Olwe' in $41 but Elwe in $$44 - 5, but the reason is simply that the correction in the latter two places was missed on the QS typescript. 6 OF THE SILMARILS AND THE DARKENING OF VALINOR. The textual history of this chapter is entirely different from that of any of the preceding ones. In the first stage of revision, only few and slight changes were made to the QS manuscript (the old QS typescript text having stopped at the end of the previous chapter), and these were taken up into LQ 1. But after LQ 1 had been made, my father returned to the old manuscript, and on the verso pages began a new version - rather oddly, paginating it on from the end of the QS typescript, and retaining the chapter number 4. This was clearly an element in the revision of 1951. At first this version is virtually continuous (as far as part way through $50), and if retaining the old text he wrote it out anew; but after this point he made use of the actual QS manuscript text, though emending it and interpolating it very heavily. At '... came into that region that is called Arvalin' ($55) the new work effectively ceases. My father scarcely touched LQ 1: he made a couple of changes on the first page of the typescript, including Lindar > Vanyar, but then stopped: a later occurrence of Lindar was left to stand. Here therefore LQ 1 ceases to be of use, and the text printed is the new text of the chapter written on the QS manuscript: it will be convenient to refer to this simply as 'LQ'. The new writing was itself emended and interpolated subsequently, in red ink; I give the text in its final form, but in a few cases where the distinction between earlier and later readings is of interest I record the earlier in notes following the text. The title given to the new version was Of the Silmarilli and the Darkening of Valinor, but this was changed to (apparently - the intention is not perfectly clear) Of Feanor and the Silmarilli, and the Darkening of Valinor. For the QS version (in which it is numbered Chapter 4) see V.227 - 31, There is no text of the chapter extant in the LQ 2 series. $46 From this time, when the Three Kindreds of the Eldar were gathered at last in Valinor, and Melkor was chained, began the Noontide of the Blessed Realm and its fullness of glory and bliss, long in tale of years, but in memory too brief. In those days the Eldar became full-grown in stature of body and of mind, and the Noldor advanced ever in skill and knowledge; and the long years were filled with their joyful labours, in which many new things fair and wonderful were devised. $46a Then it was that the Noldor first bethought them of letters, and Rumil of Tuna was the name of that lore-master who first made fitting signs for the recording of speech and song, some for graving upon metal or in stone, others for drawing with brush or with pen. $46b In that time was born in Eldamar in the house of the king, in Tirion upon the crown of Tuna, Feanor the eldest of the sons of Finwe, and the most beloved. Miriel was the name of his mother. Silver was her hair and dark were her eyes, but her hands were more skilled to fineness than any hands even of the Noldor. By her was the craft of needles devised; and were but one fragment of the broideries of Miriel to be seen in Middle- earth it would be held dearer than a king's realm, for the richness of her devices and the fire of their colours were as manifold and as bright as the glory of leaf and flower and wing in the fields of Yavanna. Therefore she was named Miriel Serende.* $46c And Feanor grew swiftly as if a secret fire were kindled within him. and he was tall and fair of face and masterful, and he became of all the Noldor the most subtle of heart and of mind, and the most skilled of hand. He it was that in his youth, bettering the work of Rumil, made those letters which bear his name, and which ever since the Eldar have used; yet this was the least of his works. For he it was that first of the Noldor discovered how gems greater and brighter than those of the Earth might be made with skill. And the first gems that Feanor devised were white and colourless, but being set under starlight they would blaze with blue and white fires brighter than Helluin. And other crystals he made, wherein things far away could be seen small but clear, as with the eyes of the Eagles of Manwe. Seldom were the hand and mind of Feanor at rest.(1) $47 Now at length the Noontide of Valinor drew to its close. For it came to pass that Melkor, as the Valar decreed, had dwelt for three ages in the duress of Mandos, alone. And when he had suffered that bondage, as the Valar had promised, he was brought again before them in conclave. He looked then upon the bliss and glory of the Valar, and malice was in his heart; he looked upon the fair Children of Iluvatar that sat at the feet of the gods, and hatred filled him; he looked upon the wealth of bright gems and lusted for them; but he hid his thoughts and postponed his vengeance. (* [footnote to the text] That is Byrde Miriel (the Broideress): quoth AElfwine.) $48 Before the gates of Valmar Melkor abased himself at the feet of Manwe and sued for pardon, promising that, if he might be made but the least of the free folk of Valinor, he would aid the Valar in all their deeds, and most of all in the healing of the many hurts that he had wrought and now would work no more. And Nienna aided his prayer, but Mandos was silent. Then Manwe granted him pardon; but the Valar would not yet suffer him to depart from their sight and vigilance. He was given, therefore, a humble dwelling within the gates of the city, and put on trial; and he was not permitted to go more than one league from Valmar, save by the leave of Manwe and with a guardian at his side. But fair-seeming were all the words and deeds of Melkor in that time, and both Valar and Eldar had much profit from his aid. Wherefore in a while he was allowed to go freely about the land, and it seemed to Manwe that his evil was cured. For he himself was free from the evil and could not comprehend it. and he knew that in the beginning. in the thought of Eru, Melkor had been even as he. Yet it is said that Ulmo's heart misgave him, and Tulkas clenched his hands whenever he saw Melkor, his foe, go by. For if Tulkas is slow to wrath, slow is he also to forget. $49 Most fair of all was Melkor to the Eldar, and he aided them in many works, if they would let him. The Vanyar, indeed, the people of Ingwe, held him in suspicion; for Ulmo had warned them, and they heeded his words. But the Noldor took delight in the many things of hidden knowledge that he could reveal to them, and some hearkened to words that it would have been better that they should never have heard. $49a It has been said indeed that Feanor learned much of Melkor in secret, but that doubtless is but one of the many lies of Melkor himself, envying the skill of Feanor and desiring to claim part in his deeds. For certain it is that, snared though he might be (as others) by the lies of Melkor, none of all the Eldalie ever hated Melkor more than Feanor son of Finwe, who first named him Morgoth. $49b And in that time there was done the deed most renowned of all the works of the Elvenfolk. For Feanor, being now come to his full might, was filled with a new thought, or maybe some shadow of foreknowledge came to him of the doom that should be; and he pondered how the Light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable. Then he began a long and marvellous labour; and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle craft, for he purposed now to make things more fair than any of the Eldar had yet made, whose beauty should last beyond the End. Three jewels he made, and named them Silmarils. A living fire burned within them that was blended of the Light of the Two Trees. Of their own radiance they shone, even in the dark of the deepest treasury; yet all lights that fell upon them, however faint, they received and returned again in marvellous hues to which their own inner fire gave a surpassing loveliness. No mortal flesh, nor flesh unclean, nor any thing of evil will could touch them, but it was scorched and withered; neither could they be hurt or broken by any strength in all the kingdom of Arda. These jewels the Elves prized beyond all their works, and Varda hallowed them, and Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea, and air, lay locked within them. And the heart of Feanor was fast bound to these things that he himself had made. $50* But the heart of Melkor also desired these fairest of jewels; and from that time with desire the malice of Melkor grew ever greater, though nought of it could be seen in the semblance that he wore, or in the fair form that he assumed after the manner of the Valar his brethren. And when he saw his chances he sowed a seed of lies and hints of evil among all who were open to his converse. Bitterly did the people of the Noldor atone for their folly in the days to come. Coming often among them he would speak ever words of greatest praise, sweet but poisoned honey; for amid all the fair words others were ever subtly woven. Visions he would conjure in their hearts of the mighty realms they might have ruled at their own will, in power and freedom in the East. And then he would whisper, to any that leaned towards him, that the gods had brought the Eldar to Valinor because of their jealousy, fearing that the beauty of the Quendi, and the makers' power that Iluvatar had bequeathed to them, would grow too great for the Valar to govern, as the Elves waxed and spread over the wide lands of the world. In those days, moreover, though the Valar knew indeed of the coming of Men that were to be,(2) the Elves knew yet nought of it; for the gods had not revealed it, and the time was not yet near. But Melkor spake to the Elves in secret of Mortal Men, (* The beginning of this paragraph corresponds in content to the end of QS $49.) though he knew little of the truth. Manwe alone knew aught clearly of the mind of Iluvatar concerning Men, and he has ever been their friend. Yet Melkor whispered that the gods kept the Eldar captive, so that Men coming should defraud them of the kingdoms of Middle-earth; for the weaker and short-lived race the Valar saw would be more easily swayed by them. Small truth was there in this, and little have the Valar ever prevailed to sway the wills or fates of Men, and least of all to good. But many of the Noldor believed, or half-believed, the evil words. [It is told, also, that at this time Melkor would speak to the Eldar of weapons and armour, and of the power that they give to him that is armed to defend his own (as he said). The Eldar had before possessed no weapons, and since the chaining of Melkor the armouries of the gods had been shut. But the Noldor now learned the fashioning of swords of tempered steel, and the making of bows and of arrows and of spears; and they made shields in those days and emblazoned them with devices of silver and gold and gems. Thus it was that the Noldor were armed in the days of their Flight. Thus too, as oft was seen, the evil of Melkor was turned against him; for the swords of the Gnomes did him more hurt than anything under the gods upon this earth. Yet they had little joy of Melkor's teaching; for all the sorrows of the Gnomes they wrought with their own swords, as later shall be seen. Quoth Pengolod.] $51 Thus, ere the gods were aware, the peace of Valinor was poisoned. The Noldor began to murmur against the Valar and their kindred; and many became filled with vanity, forget- ting all that the gods had given them and taught to them. Fiercest burned the flame in the eager heart of Feanor, and Melkor laughed in his secrecy; for to that mark above all had his lies been addressed, and Feanor he most hated, lusting all the while for the Silmarils. Yet never could he come nigh them; for though at great feasts Feanor would wear them, blazing upon his brow, at other times they were guarded close, locked in the deep hoards of Tuna. There were no thieves in Valinor, as yet; but Feanor loved the Silmarils with a greedy love, and he began to grudge the sight of them to all save to his sire and to his sons. $52 High princes were Feanor and Fingolfin, the elder sons of Finwe; but they grew proud and jealous each of his right, and his possessions. And lo! Melkor set new lies abroad, and whispers came to Feanor that Fingolfin and his sons, Fingon and Turgon, were plotting to usurp the leadership of Finwe and of the elder house of Feanor, and to supplant them by leave of the Valar - for the Valar were ill-pleased that the Silmarils lay in Tuna, and were not given to their keeping. Of these lies quarrels were born among the proud children of Finwe, and of these quarrels came the end of the high days of Valinor and the evening of its ancient glory; for Feanor spake words of rebellion against the Valar, crying aloud that he would depart from Valinor back to the world without, and deliver, as he said, the Gnomes from thraldom, if they would follow him. And when Fingolfin sought to restrain him Feanor drew his sword upon him.(3) For the lies of Melkor, though he knew not clearly their source, had taken root in the pride of his heart. $53 Then the Valar were wroth and dismayed, and (4) Feanor was summoned to answer in the Ring of Doom; and there the lies of Melkor were laid bare for all those to see who had the will. By the judgement of the gods Feanor was banished for twenty years (5) from Tuna, since he had disturbed its peace. But with him went Finwe his father, who loved him more than his other sons, and many other Gnomes also. Northward in Valinor, in the hills near to the halls of Mandos, they built a strong place and a treasury at Formenos;(6) and they gathered there a multitude of gems. But Fingolfin ruled the Noldor in Tuna; and thus Melkor's words seemed justified (though Feanor had wrought their fulfilment by his own deeds), and the bitterness that Melkor had sown endured, even though the lies were revealed, and long afterwards it lived still between the sons of Feanor and Fingolfin. $54 Straight from the midst of their council the Valar sent Tulkas to lay hands on Melkor and bring him again to judge- ment, but Melkor hid himself, and none could discover whither he had gone; and the shadows of all standing things seemed to grow longer and darker in that time. It is said that for two years (7) none saw Melkor, until he appeared privily to Feanor, feigning friendship with cunning argument, and urging him to his former thought of flight. But his cunning overreached his aim; for knowing that the jewels held the heart of Feanor in thrall, he said at the last: 'Here is a strong place and well guarded, but think not that the Silmarils will lie safe in any treasury within reach of the Valar!' Then the fires of the heart of Feanor were kindled, and his eyes blazed, and his sight burned through all the fair-semblance of Melkor to the dark depths of his mind, and perceived there his fierce lust for the Silmarils. Then hate overcame Feanor's fear, and he spoke shamefully to Melkor, saying: 'Get thee gone, gangrel! Thou jail-crow of Mandos!' And he shut the doors of his house upon the mightiest of all the dwellers in Ea, as though he were a beggar. And Melkor departed in shame, for he was himself in peril, and saw not his time yet for revenge; but his heart was black with anger. And Finwe was filled with dread, and sent messen- gers in haste to the Valar. $55 Now the gods were sitting in council before their gates, fearing the lengthening of the shadows, when the messenger came from Finwe, but ere Tulkas could set forth others came that brought tidings from Eldanor. For Melkor had fled through the Kalakirya, and from the hill of Tuna the Elves saw him pass in wrath as a thunder-cloud. Thus Melkor departed, and for a while the Trees shone again unshadowed, and still Valinor was fair; yet as a cloud far off that looms ever higher, borne upon a slow cold wind, a doubt now marred the mirth of all the dwellers in Aman, dreading they knew not what evil might yet come. And the Valar sought ever for news of Melkor, in vain. But he passed from Eldanor and (8) came into that region that is called Arvalin, which lies south of the Bay of Elende, and is a narrow land beneath the eastern feet of the Mountains of Aman. There the shadows were deepest and thickest in the World. In that land, secret and unknown, dwelt in spider's form Ungoliante, weaver of dark webs. It is not told whence she came; from the Outer Darkness, maybe, that lies in Ea beyond the walls of the World. In a ravine she lived, and spun her webs in a cleft of the mountains; for she sucked up light and shining things to spin them forth again in black nets of choking gloom and clinging fog. She hungered ever for more food. $56 Melkor met Ungoliante in Arvalin, and with her he plotted his revenge; but she demanded a great and terrible reward, ere she would dare the perils of Valinor and the power of the gods. Then, when Melkor had vowed to give all that she lusted for, she wove a great darkness about her for their protection, and black ropes she span, and cast from rocky peak to peak; and in this way she scaled at last the highest pinnacle of the mountains, far south of Taniquetil. In that region the vigilance of the Valar was less, because the wild woods of Orome lay in the south of Valinor, and the walls of the mountains looked there eastward upon the untrodden land and I empty seas; and the gods held guard rather against the North where of old Melkor had delved his fortress and deep throne. For $$57 - 9 see the end of the commentary on this chapter, p. 193. NOTES. 1. This passage concerning the gems devised by Feanor (following 'yet this was the least of his works') was a secondary addition (see p. 184). See the commentary on $46c. 2 From this point the virtually continuous newly written text changes to a heavily emended and interpolated treatment of the QS manuscript (p. 184). 3. 'drew his sword upon him' was changed from 'menaced him with his sword'. 4. 'Then the Valar were wroth and dismayed, and' was a secondary addition. 5. 'twenty years' was changed from 'ten years'. 6. 'at Formenos' was a secondary addition. 7. 'two years' was changed from 'a great while'. 8. From this point the new work on the chapter effectively ceases, and the few differences from QS belong to the earlier layer of emendation that was taken up into LQ 1; but I give the text to the end of $56 in order to take in the majority of these earlier changes. Commentary on Chapter 6, 'Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor'. A comparison will show that the new writing in LQ stands in close relation to the corresponding part of AAm. New elements in LQ appear also in AAm, such as Feanor's mother Miriel ($78, p. 92), the devising of letters by Rumil and Feanor ($$80, 83), or the placing of the making of the Silmarils after the release of Melkor (p. 104, $92). There are constant similarities of wording and many actual identities of phrase (notably in the encounter of Feanor with Melkor at Formenos, LQ $54, AAm $102). Can precedence be established between the two? It is scarcely possible to demonstrate it one way or the other, for individual details tell in both ways. Thus Feanor's word to Melkor, 'gangrel', was that first written in LQ, whereas in AAm it replaced 'beggarman'; but 'the Valar were wroth and dismayed' is an addition to LQ (note 4), whereas 'the Gods were wroth' in AAm ($99) was not. The change in LQ of 'ten years' to 'twenty years' as the term of Feanor's banishment from Tirion (note 5) is a change also in AAm ($99 and note 10), and the name Formenos is an addition in both. I think in fact that the two texts were closely contemporary. It will be seen that after the revision in LQ has come to an end AAm continues on (from $105) in the same larger and more expansive fashion obviously based structurally on the Quenta tradition: and it may be therefore that the LQ text petered out because the 'Annals' (scarcely 'Annals' any more) had become my father's preference. How he conceived the relation between the two at this time seems impossible to say. As I have said (p. 102), 'we see the annal form disappearing as a fully-fledged narrative emerges'; and the AAm narrative, while differing in every sentence from the Silmarillion version, is nonetheless very obviously 'the same'. Certainly too similar to it to be regarded as the representation of a separate tradition of learning and memory, or even of the work of a different 'loremaster'. There are only the most minor variations in the two narratives (for example, in LQ the messengers came to Valinor telling that Melkor had fled through the Kalakirya before Tulkas had set out in pursuit ($55), whereas in AAm the messengers came 'ere Orome and Tulkas had ridden far' ($104)); and there is constant echoing of vocabulary and phrasing. See further on this topic pp. 289 - 91. $46b Byrde Miriel (in the footnote to the text): cf. AAm $7S (p. 92), where Feanor's mother (in a replacement entry) is given, rather oddly, the Old English 'surname' Byrde, not Serende, in the text itself and without reference to AElfwine. $46c The passage in AAm $83 (p. 92 and note 5) concerning Feanor's study of the making of gems by skill was an addition, as was that in the present text (note 1 above); the idea is associated with the change from the devising of gems by the Noldor to their obtaining them from the ground of Aman (see LQ $40 and commentary). With the mention of the 'crystals ... wherein things far away could be seen small but clear' (not referred to in AAm) cf. Gandalf's words in The Two Towers (III.11): 'The palantiri came from beyond Westernesse, from Eldamar. The Noldor made them. Feanor himself, maybe, wrought them, in days so long ago that the time cannot be measured in years.' $49a Cf. AAm $123 (p. 108): 'Then Feanor rose up and cursed Melkor, naming him Morgoth'. In AAm Melkor is used throughout until the time when Feanor named him Morgoth (p. 123, $123); so also in the revision of QS the use of Morgoth before this point in the narrative was changed to Melkor. $49b The passage concerning the Silmarils corresponds in content to the latter part of QS $46; for, as in AAm, the making of the Silmarils now comes after the release of Melkor. $50 The passage on the arming of the Elves is no longer given as a footnote, and is moved to a different place from that in QS ($49); but it is enclosed within brackets and attributed to Pengolod. The text is at this point in any case extremely disordered, since it consists partly of new writing and partly of passages retained from the original QS text. The old note was largely written out afresh, though it was not greatly changed from the earlier form: the chief difference being that whereas it was said in QS that the Elves had previously possessed 'weapons of the chase, spears and bows and arrows' it is now told (as in AAm, p. 96, $97) that they had no weapons before this time. See further p. 281. $52 On Feanor's drawing his sword on Fingolfin see p. 104, $98. - It is curious that (despite $46b 'in Tirion upon the crown of Tuna') here 'the Silmarils lay in Tuna', and again in $53 Fingolfin ruled the Noldor ir Tuna'. The same is found in AAm (p. 90, $67), and much later (see p. 282). $55 The words 'in Ea', not found in LQ 1, belong with the later work on the QS manuscript as presented in the text given above (see note 8). On the words 'the Outer Darkness... that lies in Ea beyond the walls of the World' see pp. 62 - 4. $$51-9 In the last paragraphs of the chapter, not given in the text (p. 191), changes made to QS were: $57: Morgoth > Melkor, and at all subsequent occur- rences. $58: Tun > Tuna; the shores of Elvenhome > the shores of Eldamar; Silpion > Telperion; protected by fate omitted; With his black spear > Suddenly with his black spear; leaf and branch and root > root and leaf and bough; and at the end of the paragraph (after she swelled to monstrous form) was added: but still she was athirst. She drank therefore also of the vats of Varda, and drained them utterly. 559: their feet > the feet of the hunters; escaped the hunt > escaped them. I have noticed earlier (p.142) that much later (after the publication of The Lord of the Rings) my father turned to new narrative writing wit hin the body of the Quenta Silmarillion: beginning with Chapter 1, which became the Valaquenta, and then jumping to the present chapter, 6. A new story of ramifying implications, that of the death of Feanor's mother Miriel and Finwe's second marriage to Indis of the Vanyar, had now entered; but this further and final development is here postponed (see pp. 205 ff.). 7 OF THE FLIGHT OF THE NOLDOR. The textual history of this chapter is relatively simple (for the late rewriting just referred to, which extends some little way into it, see f pp. 292 ff.). The original chapter in QS (V.232 - 8, where it is numbered 5) was corrected, not very extensively, at the time of the 1951 revision, and as corrected was typed in the amanuensis text LQ 1. This received no corrections at all, but on the later amanuensis typescript LQ 2 my father made a few changes, mostly the regular alteration of names. In this case I do not give the revised text, but record individually the significant changes made to QS. Various small changes of wording are not mentioned, nor are regular name-changes as Melko > Melkor, Tun > Tuna or Tirion, Kor > Tuna, the pass of Kor > the pass of Kalakiryan, Elwe > Olwe'. In $69 western land > Westland and Helkarakse > Helkaraxe' (so spelt in AAm), in $70 strands of Elvenhome > strands of Eldanor, and in $71 Eruman > Araman (cf. AAm $125, pp. 108, 123). $60 At the first three occurrences 'Morgoth' > 'Melkor', and at the end of the paragraph, after 'the violence of Morgoth', was added: 'for such was his name from that day forth among the Gnomes'; thereafter 'Morgoth' was retained. At the foot of the page my father noted: 'In more ancient form Moringotto'. It was here that the story entered that Melkor received the name Morgoth at this time, though there was no suggestion yet that it was Feanor who gave it to him. That entered in AAm ($123) and in the contemporary rewriting of Chapter 6 (p. 186, $49a); no doubt at the same time my father struck out on the QS manuscript the addition just given and substituted: 'So Feanor called him in that hour: the Black Foe, and that name he bore among the Noldor ever after.' Morgoth was translated 'the Dark Enemy' in the AAm passage, but for some reason this was rejected (p. 120, note 2). The sentence in $60 'a thing before unseen that in the gathering night had seemed to be a spider of monstrous form' was changed to 'a thing before unseen for which no word was known, a vast shape of darkness black in the gathering night'; cf. AAm $122. The Valar are to be wholly ignorant of the nature of the aid that Melkor had summoned (cf. AAm $124), and the Darkness (or 'Unlight') of Ungoliante becomes a central idea of the legend. $62 The passage concerning the Orcs, from 'he brought into being the race of the Orcs' to the end of the paragraph, was rewritten as follows: he brought into being the race of the Orkor,* and they grew and multiplied in the bowels of the earth. These creatures Morgoth made in envy and mockery of the Elves. Therefore in form they were like unto the Children of Iluvatar, yet foul to look upon; for they were made in hatred, and with hatred they were filled. Their voices were as the clashing of stones, and they laughed not, save only at torment and cruel deeds. Clamhoth, the hosts of tumult, the Noldor called them. *[footnote to the text) In Cnomish speech this name is orch of one, yrch of many. Orcs we may name them, for in the ancient days they were strong and fell as demons; yet they were of other kind, a spawn of earth corrupted by the power of Morgoth, and they could be slain or destroyed by the valiant: quoth AElfwine. This is closely related to AAm $127, as that was first written (see pp. 120 - 1, notes 5 - 7, and commentary p. 123), and contains the same conjunction of two apparently different theories, that the Orcs were 'made' by Morgoth and that they were 'a spawn of earth' corrupted by him. My father then altered the passage by cutting out AElfwine's footnote to the word Orkor but adding a closely similar passage in the body of the text, thus: Glamhoth, the hosts of tumult, the Noldor called them. Orcs we may name them,* for in ancient days they were strong and fell as demons. Yet they were not of demon-kind, but a spawn of earth corrupted by Morgoth, and they could be slain or destroyed by the valiant with weapons of war. *[footnote to the text] Quoth AElfwine. This rearrangement is puzzling, for AElfwine's contribution can hardly be limited to the words 'Orcs we may name them' (see p. 124); but perhaps by placing the asterisk at this point my father meant to indicate that all that follows it was added by AElfwine. On the LQ typescript he changed it again, putting the whole passage from 'Orcs we may name them' into a footnote. On the QS manuscript he scribbled later, against the first part of the passage, concerning the making of the Orcs: 'Alter this. See Annals.' This refers to the change introduced into AAm whereby the Orcs had been bred from captured Quendi many ages before: see the commentary on AAm $127 (p. 123). $67 'masters of the enchanted light' > 'masters of the unsullied Light'; cf. AAm $133 'lords of the unsullied Light'. $68 'But of his own sons Inglor alone spake with him [Finrod]; Angrod and Egnor took the part of Feanor, and Orodreth stood aside' > 'But of his own children Inglor alone spoke in like manner; for Angrod and Egnor and Galadriel were with Fingon, whereas Orodreth stood aside and spoke not.' As AAm was first written the same account of the associations of the Noldorin princes was given, but it was changed immediately: see AAm $135 (pp. 112, 125), and p. 121, note 12. 'and with Fingolfin were Finrod and Inglor' > 'and with Fingolfin were Finrod and his house' $72 The whole of this paragraph was rewritten as follows: Then Finrod turned back, being filled with grief, and with bitterness 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 again. And 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, 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, though they had no part in that deed, 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 be. So the main host held on, and all too swiftly the evil that was foretold began its work. This is almost word for word the same as AAm $156, the only real difference being the mention here that Fingon and Turgon had no part in the kinslaying. That the rewriting of QS preceded the passage in AAm, however, is shown by the fact that Olwe' is here a later change from Elwe'. $73 'and they took with them only such as were faithful to their house, among whom were Angrod and Egnor' was left un- changed, through oversight, and survived into the typescript LQ 2. The association of Angrod and Egnor with the Feanorians (so that they were given passage to Middle-earth in the ships) had been abandoned in the rewritings of QS $$68, 72 given above. 'a great burning, terrible and bright' > 'a great burning, terrible and bright, at the place that was after called Losgar, at the outlet of the Firth of Drengist'. The same addition was made to AAm ($162, pp. 120, 127, and p. 122 note 20). 'Therefore led by Fingolfin, and Fingon, Turgon, and Inglor' > 'Therefore led by Fingolfin and his sons, and by Inglor and Galadriel the fair and valiant'; this is virtually the text of AAm ($163, p. 120). 'and came unto Beleriand at the rising of the sun' > 'and came unto Middle-earth at the rising of the Moon'; cf. AAm $163 (pp. 120, 127). Emendations made to one or other of the copies of the typescript LQ 2 give the later names or name-forms of certain of the Noldorin princes, as in Chapter 5 (pp. 177, 181, $$41 - 2): Finrod > Finarphin and Finarfin, Inglor > Finrod, Egnor > AEgnor (as emended in Chapter 5 spelt Aegnor). - In 'his ancient fortress, Utumno in the North' ($62) Utumno > Angband; this reflects the late story that both Utumno and Angband were built in the ancient days (see p. 156, $12) - and it was of course to the western fortress, Angband, that Melkor returned and which he rebuilt from its ruins. Against the passage in $68 'The greater part marched behind Fingolfin, who with his sons yielded to the general voice against their wisdom, because they would not desert their people' my father noted on a copy of LQ 2: 'also because of the promise made by Fingolfin (above)'. This refers to a passage in the final rewriting of the previous chapter (p. 287, $58c), where Fingolfin said to Feanor before Manwe: 'Thou shalt lead and I will follow.' The word 'above' means that the final text was in being and had been incorporated into the LQ 2 typescript. 8 OF THE SUN AND MOON AND THE HIDING OF VALINOR. The textual situation here is the simplest so far: we have the chapter in QS (V.239 - 43), and emendations made to QS in 1951, taken up into the typescript LQ 1, which was not emended subsequently. (A few lightly pencilled alterations were not incorporated in LQ 1, either because the typist could not interpret them or because they were entered on the manuscript subsequently.) As with Chapter 6 (p. 184) the later typescript LQ 2 is not extant. The history of this chapter in The Silmarillion therefore ends with the few changes made to QS in 1951; there is also the account in AAm $$164-81, which was itself closely derived from QS, with changes and omissions. In this case again I give the significant changes made to QS and not the whole text. Regular changes of name are ($79) Kalakilya > Kalakiryan, the mound of Kor > the mound of Tuna. 574 The passage beginning 'And Manwe bade Yavanna ...' was changed to a form almost identical with AAm $167 (p. 129): And 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 on alone in the shadows. Yet even as hope failed and her song faltered in the dark, lo! Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single golden fruit. $75 The passage giving the names of the Sun and Moon was changed to a form intermediate between QS and AAm $171: Isil the Sheen the gods of old named the Moon in Valinor, and Anar Fire-golden they named the Sun; but the Eldar named them also Rana the wayward, the giver of visions, and [Urin >] Naira, the heart of flame, that awakens and consumes. Thus Urin > Anar (with changed meaning, 'Fire-golden'), as in AAm, but this and Isil remain names given by the Gods, not by the Vanyar; Urin was at first changed about with Anar and made the Eldarin name of the Sun, but was then replaced by Naira (Vasa in AAm). Rana (replacing Rana) and Naira remain Eldarin names, whereas in AAm Rana and Vasa are Noldorin. 'The maiden chosen from among their own folk by the Valar' > 'The maiden whom the Valar chose from among the Maiar' (agreeing with AAm $172). Pencilled in the margin against Arien (above the original marginal gloss by AElfwine hyrned 'horned' to the name Tilion, V.240, footnote) is the unrecorded Old English word Daegbore ('Day-bearer', feminine,. In AAm ($172, marginal notes) the Old English words supplied by AElfwine are hyrned and daegred (daybreak, dawn). 'the pools lit by the flickering light of Silpion' > 'the pools of Este in Telperion's flickering beams' (agreeing with AAm $172). Silpion > Telperion subsequently (see p. 59, $5). $76 'Rana was first wrought' > 'Isil was first wrought' (as AAm $173). 'Melko' > 'Morgoth', because he is to be known as Morgoth from the point in the narrative where he is given that name (p. 194, $60). $77 'the prayers of Lorien and Nienna' > 'the prayers of Lorien and Este' (as AAm $175). 'Varda changed her design' > 'Varda changed her counsel' (as AAm $175). The entire passage beginning at 'is the hour of greatest light' and continuing to $79 'the Valar store the radiance of the Sun in many vessels' was put into the past tense (cf. AAm $$ 175 - 8). $78 Eruman > Aruman (not Araman). Since Eruman was changed to Araman in the revision made at this time to an earlier page in QS ($71) Aruman here is no doubt merely an incomplete alteration. $79 Rewriting of the passage in QS beginning 'That light lives now only in the Silmarils' removed at last the ancient idea of the 'rekindling' of 'the Elder Sun and Moon, which are the Trees' (for the history of this see II.285 - 6, IV.20, 49, 98), or at least restricted it to a foretelling of the recovery of the Silmarils; but the strange prophecy of Ulmo that this would only come to pass through the aid of Men was retained. To none of this is there anything corresponding in AAm. The changed passage reads: That light lives now only in the Silmarils; though there shall yet come a time, maybe, when they are found again and their fire released, and the ancient joy and glory return. Ulmo foretold to the Valar...' The sentence (not in AAm, $180) 'the fleet of the Teleri kept the shore' was changed to 'rebuilt with Osse's aid, the fleet of the Teleri kept the shore'. $80 'the Bay of Elvenhome' > 'The Bay of Eldanor'. It seems to me very probable that my father made these changes to QS before he wrote the section on the Sun and Moon in the Annals of Aman; in any case they were doubtless closely contemporary. (II) THE SECOND PHASE. An acute problem of presentation arose in the treatment of the late expanded version of Chapter 6 Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor (see pp. 142, 184 ff.), in that the first part of the new text was based on and developed in stages from a major independent disquisi- tion concerning the nature of the Eldar. Arising out of an account of their marriage laws and customs, this discussion extends into a lengthy analysis of the meaning of death, immortality and rebirth in respect of the Elves. I found that to give the late narrative text of Chapter 6 immediately following the text of the 'first phase' version, postponing the long and remarkable essay from which it derives, was extremely confusing; while to introduce the essay into the series of 'first phase' chapters made matters worse. For this reason I have divided this part of the book into two sections, and give here separately the late narrative versions of Chapters 1, 6, and a part of 7 together with the essay on the Eldar. To date these writings (and those given in Part Four) with any real precision seems impossible on the evidence that I know of, but such as there is points clearly in most cases to the late 1950s and not much later (for detailed discussion see p. 300). * THE VALAQUENTA. Of the final, enlarged form of the old Chapter 1, the Valaquenta (abbreviated Vq), there are two texts, both of them typescripts made by my father (Vq 1 and Vq 2). Vq 1 begins as a copy of LQ 2, but very soon diverges, and with the introduction of much new matter becomes in several parts entirely distinct. Though typewritten it is very much a draft text, confused and (at any rate as it exists now) incomplete. It was followed, I would think immediately, by the finished text Vq 2. Vq 1 is headed like the preceding versions, 'QUENTA SILMARIL- LION. Here begins the Silmarillion, or the History of the Silmarils. I. Of the Valar.' Vq 2, on the other hand, is headed 'VALAQUENTA. Here is the Account of the Valar and Maiar according to the Lore of the Eldar.' That the original first chapter of The Silmarillion had become a separate entity like the Ainulindale' is shown, apart from the new title, by the fact that to the final text (LQ 2) of the next chapter, Of Valinor and the Two Trees, a title-page (together with a page carrying the preamble, AEaelfwine's note, and the Translator's note) was attached, and the chapter numbered '1'. This title-page is virtually the same as that in the old QS typescript (see V.202), with the heading 'Eldanyare' and beneath 'Quenta Silmarillion', the division into three parts, and the forms Pennas Silevril, Yenie Valinoren, Inias Valannor (where however the old typescript was changed to Balannor), and Inias Beleriand. The fact that it was taken from the original 'Eldan- yare' text suggests that it really belonged to LQ 1 (whose title-page is missing, p. 143). It is true that it was typed at the same time as the rest of LQ 2, but I imagine that (having decided to separate off the Valaquenta) my father at this time gave the title-page of LQ 1 to the typist of LQ 2 to copy, after which it was mislaid and lost. It seems odd that he should have done this; at least one might have expected him to change the second element from The Annals of Valinor to The Annals of Aman. He did indeed make some pencilled emendations to it: Yenie Valinoren to Yenie Valinoreo (and beneath this Valinore Yenie), and Inias Valannor to Inias Dor-Rodyn. Essentially, Vq 1 was the innovating version, and Vq 2 refined stylistically on the new material, although in any given case it is possible that Vq 1 was as LQ 2 and that Vq 2 introduced the new text; however, I treat this detail as largely immaterial. In what follows I comment on notable features arising from a comparison between the Valaquenta and LQ (that is, the corrected text of LQ 1 given on pp. 144-7, referred to by the numbered paragraphs, together with the emendations made to its copy LQ 2 given on pp. 148 - 9). The text of the Valaquenta is found in the published Silmarillion (references are to the original hardback edition, 1977). Since a number of editorial changes were made to the text of the Valaquenta I notice certain points of substance in which they differ. $1 The words 'Let it be!' were not included in the Vq texts (see p. 148, $1). $2 Nearly all of this paragraph concerning the Maiar and the confusion with Elves (as emended in LQ 2) still survived in Vq 1, but was eliminated in Vq 2 (the first part of it reappearing, rewritten, at the beginning of the section 'Of the Maiar'). The end of the paragraph, concerning the making of the Children of Eru, was eliminated in Vq 2 and does not reappear. $3 Vq 1 as typed followed LQ exactly in the list of the 'chieftains of the Valar' (with Lorien as in LQ 2 for earlier Lorien), but a list of the seven queens (Valier) was also given: Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Vana, Vaire, Nessa, Uinen (agreeing with the table given on p. 151). In Vq 1 the nine 'chieftains' became by emendation seven: Melkor and Osse were removed (and Orome s place changed, so that he stands after Aule); this is the number and order of 'the Lords of the Valar' in Vq 2 and in the published work (p. 25). Also by emendation to Vq 1 the queens lose Uinen but gain Este, who is placed after Nienna, and Vana is set after Vaire; this again was the final form. These changes, both to Valar and Valier, were made also to the typescript of AAm (p. 69, $$1 - 2). The names Vana and Nienna are given thus in Vq 2. The sentence in LQ 'though they have other or altered names in the speech of the Sindar' was retained in Vq 1 with the addition of 'in Middle-earth', but changed in Vq Z to 'though they have other names in the speech of the Elves in Middle-earth.' $4 (Varda) The history of the phrase 'With Manwe dwells Varda' (The Silmarillion p. 26) is curious. QS $4 has 'With him dwells as wife Varda... -, by emendation to LQ 1 it became With him in Arda dwells as spouse Varda ...'; and in Vq it is 'With Manwe now dwells as spouse Varda...' In 1975, when the main work on the text of the published Silmarillion was done, being then much less clear than I have since become about certain dates and textual relations (and ignorant of the existence of some texts), I did not see that this 'now' could have any significance, and more- over it contributed to the problem of tense in the Valaquenta, which is discussed below; I therefore omitted it. It is however undoubtedly significant. In AAm it is said (p. 49, $3): 'Varda was Manwe s spouse from the beginning, in contrast to the later C 'union' of Yavanna and Aule 'in Ea' (on which see under $5 below). But the typescript text of AAm was emended (p. 69, $3) to 'Varda was Manwe's spouse from the beginning of Arda', which shows that some complex conception was present (though never definitively expressed) concerning the time of the 'union' of the great spirits. In the new, much extended passage concerning Varda, Vq 1 has 'She speaks seldom in words, save to Manwe', where Vq 2 followed by the published text (p. 26) has 'Manwe and Varda are seldom parted, and they remain in Valinor.' (Ulmo) The long new passage concerning Ulmo entered in Vq 1, which has some interesting differences from the final form: it is said that Ulmo 'had less need of the light of the Trees or of any resting-place', and that 'his counsels grew ever away from the mind of Manwe (whom nonetheless he obeyed)': cf. the Ainulin- dale (p. 13, $18), 'Manwe and Ulmo have from the beginning been allied, and in all things have served most faithfully the purpose of Iluvatar'. In both Vq texts his horns are called Falarombar, changed on the Vq 2 typescript to Ulumuri; cf. the original name of the horn of Orome, Rombaras (p. 35, $34), and the Etymologies, V.384, stem ROM. (Osse and Uinen) The passage concerning Osse and Uinen, much enlarged, now appears in the section 'Of the Maiar', since they have ceased to be numbered among the Valar (see under $3 above). $5 (Aule') In the words (referring to Melkor and Aule) 'Both, also, desired to make things of their own that should be new and unthought of by others' (The Silmarillion p. 27) there is very probably a reflection of the legend of Aule's making of the Dwarves. (Yavanna) Here again, as with Varda ($4 above), I wrongly changed the text concerning Yavanna S union with Aule. Both Vq texts have 'The spouse of Aule in Arda is Yavanna', and the words 'in Arda' are certainly significant (see V.120). 'Some there are who have seen her standing like a tree under heaven' recalls the later versions of the Ainulindale', where it is Pengolod himself who declares to AElfwine that he has so seen her 'long years agone, in the land of the Valar' (p. 15, $25). The name Kementari is found as a correction of Palurien in LQ 2, Chapter 2 (p. 157, $14). $6 (Mandos) The editorial change of 'northward' to 'westward' in 'Namo the elder dwells in Mandos, which is northward in Valinor' in the published text (p. 28) is a regrettable error, which I have explained in I.82. - It may be noted here that in the passage in $9 concerning Nienna the change of 'the halls of Mandos, which are nearer and yet more northward' (found from QS to LQ 2) to 'the halls of Mandos, which are near to her own' is not editorial, but is found in the Vq texts. $7 (Tulkas) The sentence 'He came last to Arda, to aid the Valar in the first battles with Melkor' only entered with Vq 2, but derives from the later Ainulindale ($31). $8 (Orome') In emendation to one copy only of LQ 2 the name Aldaron of Orome was lost (see p. 149, $8), and it does not appear in either text of Vq. It should not have been reintroduced into the published text (p. 29). The sentence (ibid.) 'by the Sindar Tauron' derives from LQ 2 and Vq 1, but was in fact changed in Vq 2 to 'Tauron he is called in Middle-earth'; cf. under $3 above, where 'Sindar' was also removed in Vq 2. The translation of Tauron should be 'the Lord of the Forests'. The name Nahar of Orome s horse first appears in AAm $31 (p. 70). - After the words 'for the pursuit of the evil creatures of Melkor' (The Silmarillion p. 29) the Vq texts have 'But the Valaroma is not blown, and Nahar runs no more upon the Middle-earth since the change of the world and the waning of the Elves, whom he loved.' This sentence goes back through the versions to QS (though the Valaroma does not appear in it till LQ 2 and Nahar not till Vq), and I regret its exclusion from The Silmarillion. $9 (Nienna) The account of Nienna appears at an earlier point in Vq (following the Feanturi, to whom she is now 'akin') than it had in previous versions. The words 'sister of the Feanturi' were changed editorially from Vq 'sister of Namo' (see p. 151, $9). At the end of the account of the Valar and Valier appears the name and conception of the Aratar, the High Ones of Arda, of whom there are eight after the removal of Melkor. This contrasts with the conception of 'the Seven Great Ones of the Realm of Arda' (p. 147, $10a), among whom Melkor is numbered, but not Orome, nor Mandos. $$10a,b Of the Maiar. The words in the published text (p. 30) concerning Eonwe, 'whose might in arms is surpassed by none in Arda', were an editorial addition, made in order to prepare for his leadership of the hosts of the West at the Great Battle (The Silmarillion pp. 251 - 2). For the end of the Elder Days there is scarcely any material from the period following The Lord of the Rings. (Melian) In LQ 2 Melian was said to be 'of the people of Yavanna'; see p. 147, $10b. (Olorin) At the end of the account of Olorin is scribbled on the typescript Vq 1: 'He was humble in the Land of the Blessed; and in Middle-earth he sought no renown. His triumph was in the uprising of the fallen, and his joy was in the renewal of hope.' This appears in Vq 2, but my father subsequently placed inverted commas round it. It was wrongly omitted from The Silmarillion (p. 31). Of the Enemies. In this almost entirely new section appears the conception that the Balrogs (Valaraukar) were powerful spirits from before the World; so also in AAm* (p. 79, $30) the Balrogs are described as the chief of 'the evil spirits that followed [Melkor], the Umaiar'. See further p. 165, $18. The Valaquenta texts end thus, and speak of the Marring of Arda, the underlying concern of many of the writings given subsequently in this book: Here ends The Valaquenta. If it has passed from the high and beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwe and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos. The Second Prophecy of Mandos (V.333) had now therefore de- finitively disappeared. This passage was used to form a conclusion to the published Silmarillion (p. 255). In my foreword to The Silmarillion I wrote that in the Valaquenta 'we have to assume that while it contains much that must go back to the earliest days of the Eldar in Valinor, it was remodelled in later times; and thus explain its continual shifting of tense and viewpoint, so that the divine powers seem now present and active in the world, now remote, a vanished order known only to memory.' The problem of tense in this work is certainly very difficult. Already in Q (IV.78 - 9) the shifting from past to present tense appears, where Osse and Uinen and Nienna are described in the present, in contrast to all the others, while Ulmo 'was' next in might to Manwe, but he 'dwells' alone in the Outer Seas. In QS (see V.208) the present tense is used, almost though not exclusively - but 'Tulkas had great love for Fionwe' early became 'has', and 'Orome was a mighty lord' became 'Orome is' in the 1951 revision. With the additions and alterations made in the course of that revision the variations continue. In LQ $10a, for instance, 'there are nine Valar', contrasting with the original passage in $3, 'The chieftains of the Valar were nine', which goes back through QS to Q; or in the passage about the Maiar in $10b 'Among them Eonwe... and Ilmare ... were the chief', but 'Many others there are' (altered from 'were'). The same mixture of present and past is found in AAm* (p. 65, $3). The situation remains the same in the Vq texts, and in preparing the Valaquenta for publication I altered (with misgiving and doubt) some of the tenses. The readings of the published work which were altered from those in Vq are: p. 25: 'The Lords of the Valar are seven; and the Valier... are seven also'; 'The names of the Lords in due order are'; 'the names of the Queens are' p. 26: 'Manwe is dearest to Iluvatar and understands most clearly his purposes'; 'he hated her, and feared her' p. 27: 'Ulmo loves both Elves and Men' p. 28: 'The Feanturi... are brethren' p. 30: 'it is otherwise in Aman'; 'Chief among the Maiar ... are Ilmare... and Eonwe' In all these cases, except 'he hated her, and feared her' on p. 26, the tense was changed from past to present. The change on p. 28 seems in any case mistaken (cf. p. 26, 'Manwe and Melkor were brethren in the thought of Iluvatar'); and to make any of them was probably a misjudgement. But the problem is real. A leading consideration in the preparation of the text was the achievement of coherence and consistency; and a fundamental problem was uncertainty as to the mode by which in my father's later thought the 'Lore of the Eldar' had been transmitted. But I now think that I attached too much import- ance to the aim of consistency, which may be present when not evident, and was too ready to deal with 'difficulties' simply by eliminating them. * THE EARLIEST VERSION OF THE STORY OF FINWE AND MIRIEL. The story of Finwe and Miriel, which would assume an extraordinary importance in my father's later work on The Silmarillion, began as a rider in manuscript to the 'first phase' revision of Chapter 6, Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor; it was inserted after the account of the marvellous skill of Miriel, called Serende 'the Broideress', mother of Feanor, at the end of LQ $46b (p. 185). I shall refer to this rider as 'FM 1' (i.e. the first text treating of the story of Finwe and Miriel in the Quenta Silmarillion). A curious feature of this text is the presence of marginal dates; and three late insertions to the Annals of Aman (p. 101, notes 1 and 4) are closely associated with it. The entry in AAm for the Valian Year 1179 (p. 92) gave the birth of Feanor in Tirion and his mother's name Byrde Miriel. Afterwards my father changed this date to 1169, and at the same time added these new annals: 1170 Miriel falls asleep and passes to Mandar. 1172 Doom of Manwe concerning the espousals of the Eldar. 1185 Finwe weds Indis of the Vanyar. In the present rider to LQ the dates, which were a good deal changed, are the same, or the same to within a year or two. It is obvious that the insertions to AAm and the rider to LQ are contemporary; and while my father probably only put in the dates in the latter as a guide to his thought (they are absent from the subsequent texts of Finwe' and Miriel), the fact that he did so seems a testimony to the closeness that the two 'modes' now had for him. The text FM 1 was subsequently emended in ball-point pen; the changed readings are shown in the text that now follows. It may be noted here that at the first three occurrences of the name my father wrote Mandar, changing it before the text was completed to Mandos. The inserted entry in AAm for the year 1170, cited above, also has Mandar. Thus even this very long-established name, going back to the earliest form of the legends, was still susceptible of change; but it was a passing movement and does not appear again. Now it is told that in the bearing of her son Miriel was consumed in spirit and body; and that after his birth she yearned for rest from the labour of living. And she said to Finwe: 'Never again shall I bear a child; for strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Feanaro.'* Then Manwe granted the prayer of Miriel. And she went to Lorien, and laid her down to sleep upon a bed of flowers [) beneath a silver tree]; and there her fair body remained unwithered in the keeping of the maidens of Este. But her spirit passed to rest in the halls of Mandos. Finwe's grief was great, and he gave to his son all the love that he had for Miriel; for Feanaro was like his mother in voice and countenance. Yet Finwe was not content, and he desired to have more children. He spoke, therefore, [> After some years, therefore, he spoke] to Manwe, saying: 'Lord, behold! I am bereaved; and alone among the Eldar I am without a wife, and must hope for no sons save one, and no daughter. Whereas Ingwe and Olwe beget many children in the bliss of Aman. Must I remain ever so? For I deem that Miriel will not return again ever from the house of Vaire.' Then Manwe considered the words of Finwe; and after a time he summoned all the counsellors of the Eldar, and in their hearing Mandos spoke this doom: 'This is the law of Iluvatar for you [> This is the way of life that Iluvatar hath ordained for you], his children, as you know well: the First-born shall take one spouse only and have no other in this life, while Arda endureth. But this law takes no account [) But herein no account is taken] of Death. This doom is therefore now made, by the right of lawgiving that Iluvatar committed to Manwe: that if the spirit of a spouse, husband or wife, forsaking the body, shall for any cause pass into the keeping of Mandos, then the living shall be permitted to take another spouse. But this can only be, if the former union be dissolved for ever. Therefore the one that is in the keeping of Mandos must there remain until the end of Arda, and shall not awake again or take bodily form. For none among the Quendi shall have two spouses at one time alive and awake. But since it is not to be thought that the living shall, by his or her will alone, confine the spirit of the other to Mandos, this disunion shall come to pass only by the consent of (* [footnote to the text] Thus she named her son: Spirit-of-Fire: and by that name he was known among the Eldar. [Feanaro is so spelt here, but Feanaro subsequently.] both. And after the giving of the consent ten years of the Valar shall pass ere Mandos confirms it. Within that time either party may revoke this consent; but when Mandos has confirmed it, and the living spouse has wedded another, it shall be irrevocable until the end of Arda. This is the doom of Namo in this matter.' It is said that Miriel answered Mandos saying: 'I came hither to escape from the body, and I do not desire ever to return to it'; and after ten years the doom of disunion was spoken. [Added: And Miriel has dwelt ever since in the house of Vaire, and it is her part to record there the histories of the kin of Finwe and all the deeds of the Noldor.] And in the years following [> But when three years more had passed] Finwe took as second spouse Indis of the Vanyar, of the kin [> sister] of Ingwe; and she bore five fair children of whom her two sons are most renowned in the histories of the Noldor. But her eldest child was a daughter, Findis, and she bore also two other daughters: Irime and Faniel [> Faniel and Irime]. The wedding of the father was not pleasing to Feanaro; and though the love between them was not lessened, Feanaro had no great love for Indis or her children, and as soon as he might he lived apart from them, being busy from early childhood upon the lore and craft in which he delighted, and he laboured at many tasks, being in all pursuits eager and swift. There is a direction here to return to LQ (at the beginning of $46c, p. 185) with the words 'For he grew swiftly...' LAWS AND CUSTOMS AMONG THE ELDAR. As I have explained (p. 199), I have found that the best method of presenting the material is to give at this point the long essay concerning the nature and customs of the Eldar, although of course it cannot be said to be a part of the Quenta Silmarillion. This work is extant in two versions, a completed manuscript ('A') and a revision of this in a typescript ('B') made by my father that was abandoned when somewhat less than halfway through. The two texts bear different titles, and since both are long I shall use an abbreviated form, Laws and Customs among the Eldar (in references later, simply Laws and Customs). From the existence of the two versions arises a difficulty of presentation frequently encountered in my father's work. The typescript B, so far as it goes, follows the manuscript A pretty closely for the most part - too closely to justify printing them both in full, even if space allowed. On the other hand there are many points in which B differs significantly from A. The options are therefore to give A in full with important divergences in B in textual notes, or to give B as far as it goes with A's divergences in notes, and then the remainder from A. Since B is a clearer and improved text I have decided on the latter course. It is not easy to say from what fictional perspective Laws and Customs among the Eldar was composed. There is a reference to the Elves who linger in Middle-earth 'in these after-days' (p. 223); on the other hand the writer speaks as if the customs of the Noldor were present and observable ('Among the Noldor it may be seen that the making of bread is done mostly by women', p. 214) - though this cannot be pressed. It is clear in any case that it is presented as the work, not of one of the Eldar, but of a Man: the observation about the variety of the names borne by the Eldar, 'which ... may to us seem bewildering' (p. 216; found in both texts, in different words) is decisive. AElfwine is indeed associated with the work, but in an extremely puzzling way. He does not appear at all in A as that was originally written; but among various corrections and alterations made in red ball-point pen (doubtless as a preliminary to the making of the typescript) my father wrote 'AElfwine's Preamble' in the margin against the opening of the text - without however marking where this 'preamble' ended. In B the first two paragraphs are marked 'AElfwine's Preamble' and placed within ornate brackets, and this very clearly belongs with the making of the typescript, although it is by no means obvious why the opening should be thus set apart; while later in B (p. 224) there is a long observation, set within similar brackets, that ends with the words 'So spoke AElfwine' - but this passage is absent in any form from A. There are no initial drafts or rough writings extant, and if none existed the manuscript text is remarkably clear and orderly, without much correction at the time of composition, though a good deal changed subsequently. It may be that it had been substantially composed, the product of long thought, before it was first written down; at the same time, my impression is that my father had not fully planned its structure when he began. This is suggested by the curious way in which the judgement of Mandos in the case of Finwe and Miriel precedes the actual story of what led to the judgement (pp. 225 - 6, 236-9); while after the account of Finwe's marriage to Indis there follows the Debate of the Valar, although that was held before 'the Statute of Finwe and Miriel' was promulgated. It is hard to believe that my father can have intended this rather confusing structure, and the view that the work evolved as he wrote seems borne out by the title in A: Of the marriage laws and customs of the Eldar, their children, and other matters touching thereon At the same time as the words 'AElfwine's Preamble' and other corrections in red ball-point pen were made to the manuscript (see above) he wrote in bold letters beneath the title: 'The Statute of Finwe and Miriel' - almost as if this was to be the new title of the work as a whole, although the original one was not struck out. The typescript B has the long title given at the beginning of the text below; the text in this version ends before the story of Finwe and Miriel and the Debate of the Valar is reached. Why my father abandoned it I cannot say; perhaps he was merely interrupted by some external cause, perhaps he was dissatisfied by its form. But all these questions are very secondary to the import of the work itself: a comprehensive (if sometimes obscure, and tantalising in its obscurity) declaration of his thought at that time on fundamental aspects of the nature of the Quendi, distinguishing them from Men: the power of the incarnate fea (spirit) in relation to the body; the 'consuming' of the body by the fea; the destiny of Elvish spirits, ordained by Eru, 'to dwell in Arda for all the life of Arda'; the meaning of death for such beings, and of existence after death; the nature of Elvish re-birth; and the consequences of the Marring of Arda by Melkor. There follows now the typescript version B so far as it goes. At the end of the text (pp. 228 ff.) are notes largely limited to the textual relations of the two versions; these are necessarily very selective, and do not record the very many changes of wording in B that modify or improve the expression without altering the sense of the original text in any important way. B itself was scarcely changed after it had been typed; but a pencilled note on the first page reads 'For hrondo read hroa', and this change was carried out in the greater part of the text. The word used in A for the body was hron, which became hrondo in the course of the writing of the manuscript. OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS AMONG THE ELDAR PERTAINING TO MARRIAGE AND OTHER MATTERS RELATED THERETO: TOGETHER WITH THE STATUTE OF FINWE AND MIRIEL AND THE DEBATE OF THE VALAR AT ITS MAKING. AElfwine's Preamble. [The Eldar grew in bodily form slower than Men, but in mind more swiftly. They learned to speak before they were one year old; and in the same time they learned to walk and to dance, for their wills came soon to the mastery of their bodies. Nonetheless there was less difference between the two Kindreds, Elves and Men, in early youth; and a man who watched elf-children at play might well have believed that they were the children of Men, of some fair and happy people. For in their early days elf-children delighted still in the world about them, and the fire of their spirit had not consumed them, and the burden of memory was still light upon them.(1) This same watcher might indeed have wondered at the small limbs and stature of these children, judging their age by their skill in words and grace in motion. For at the end of the third year mortal children began to outstrip the Elves, hastening on to a full stature while the Elves lingered in the first spring of childhood. Children of Men might reach their full height while Eldar of the same age were still in body like to mortals of no more than seven years.(2) Not until the fiftieth year did the Eldar attain the stature and shape in which their lives would after- wards endure, and for some a hundred years would pass before they were full-grown.] The Eldar wedded for the most part in their youth and soon after their fiftieth year. They had few children, but these were very dear to them. Their families, or houses, were held together by love and a deep feeling for kinship in mind and body; and the children needed little governing or teaching.(3) There were sel- dom more than four children in any house, and the number grew less as ages passed; but even in days of old, while the Eldar were still few and eager to increase their kind, Feanor was renowned as the father of seven sons, and the histories record none that surpassed him.(4) The Eldar wedded once only in life, and for love or at the least by free will upon either part. Even when in after days, as the histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them.(5) Marriage, save for rare ill chances or strange fates, was the natural course of life for all the Eldar. It took place in this way. Those who would afterwards become wedded might choose one another early in youth, even as children (and indeed this happened often in days of peace); but unless they desired soon to be married and were of fitting age, the betrothal awaited the judgement of the parents of either party. In due time the betrothal was announced at a meeting of the two houses concerned,(6) and the betrothed gave silver rings one to another. According to the laws of the Eldar this betrothal was bound then to stand for one year at least, and it often stood for longer. During this time it could be revoked by a public return of the rings, the rings then being molten and not again used for a betrothal. Such was the law; but the right of revoking was seldom used, for the Eldar do not err lightly in such choice. They are not easily deceived by their own kind; and their spirits being masters of their bodies, they are seldom swayed by the desires of the body only, but are by nature continent and steadfast. Nonetheless among the Eldar, even in Aman, the desire for marriage was not always fulfilled. Love was not always re- turned; and more than one might desire one other for spouse. Concerning this, the only cause by which sorrow entered the bliss of Aman, the Valar were in doubt. Some held that it came from the marring of Arda, and from the Shadow under which the Eldar awoke; for thence only (they said) comes grief or disorder. Some held that it came of love itself, and of the freedom of each fea, and was a mystery of the nature of the Children of Eru. After the betrothal it was the part of the betrothed to appoint the time of their wedding, when at least one year had passed. Then at a feast, again (7) shared by the two houses, the marriage was celebrated. At the end of the feast the betrothed stood forth, and the mother of the bride and the father of the bridegroom joined the hands of the pair and blessed them. For this blessing there was a solemn form, but no mortal has heard it; though the Eldar say that Varda was named in witness by the mother and Manwe by the father; and moreover that the name of Eru was spoken (as was seldom done at any other time). The betrothed then received back one from the other their silver rings (and treasured them); but they gave in exchange slender rings of gold, which were worn upon the index of the right hand. Among the Noldor also it was a custom that the bride's mother should give to the bridegroom a jewel upon a chain or collar; and the bridegroom's father should give a like gift to the bride. These gifts were sometimes given before the feast. (Thus the gift of Galadriel to Aragorn, since she was in place of Arwen's mother, was in part a bridal gift and earnest of the wedding that was later accomplished.) But these ceremonies were not rites necessary to marriage; they were only a gracious mode by which the love of the parents was manifested,(8) and the union was recognized which would join not only the betrothed but their two houses together. It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete. In happy days and times of peace it was held ungracious and contemptuous of kin to forgo the ceremonies, but it was at all times lawful for any of the Eldar, both being unwed, to marry thus of free consent one to another without ceremony or witness (save blessings exchanged and the naming of the Name); and the union so joined was alike indissoluble. In days of old, in times of trouble, in flight and exile and wandering, such marriages were often made.(9) As for the begetting and bearing of children: a year passes between the begetting and the birth of an elf-child, so that the days of both are the same or nearly so, and it is the day of begetting that is remembered year by year. For the most part these days come in the Spring. It might be thought that, since the Eldar do not (as Men deem) grow old in body, they may bring forth children at any time in the ages of their lives. But this is not so. For the Eldar do indeed grow older, even if slowly: the limit of their lives is the life of Arda, which though long beyond the reckoning of Men is not endless, and ages also. Moreover their body and spirit are not separated but coherent. As the weight of the years, with all their changes of desire and thought, gathers upon the spirit of the Eldar, so do the impulses and moods of their bodies change. This the Eldar mean when they speak of their spirits consuming them; and they say that ere Arda ends all the Eldalie on earth will have become as spirits invisible to mortal eyes, unless they will to be seen by some among Men into whose minds they may enter directly.(10) Also the Eldar say that in the begetting, and still more in the bearing of children, greater share and strength of their being, in mind and in body, goes forth than in the making of mortal children. For these reasons it came to pass that the Eldar brought forth few children; and also that their time of genera- tion was in their youth or earlier life, unless strange and hard fates befell them. But at whatever age they married, their children were born within a short space of years after their wedding.' For with regard to generation the power and the will ' Short as the Eldar reckoned time. In mortal count there was often a long interval between the wedding and the first child-birth, and even longer between child and child. are not among the Eldar distinguishable. Doubtless they would retain for many ages the power of generation, if the will and desire were not satisfied; but with the exercise of the power the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things.(11) The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy, and the 'days of the children', as they call them, remain in their memory as the most merry in life; but they have many other powers of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfil. Thus, although the wedded remain so for ever, they do not necessarily dwell or house together at all times; for without considering the chances and separations of evil days, wife and husband, albeit united, remain persons individual having each gifts of mind and body that differ. Yet it would seem to any of the Eldar a grievous thing if a wedded pair were sundered during the bearing of a child, or while the first years of its childhood lasted. For which reason the Eldar would beget children only in days of happiness and peace if they could. In all such things, not concerned with the bringing forth of children, the neri and nissi (12) (that is, the men and women) of the Eldar are equal - unless it be in this (as they themselves say) that for the nissi the making of things new is for the most part shown in the forming of their children, so that invention and change is otherwise mostly brought about by the neri. There are, how- ever, no matters which among the Eldar only a ner can think or do, or others with which only a nis is concerned. There are indeed some differences between the natural inclinations of neri and nissi, and other differences that have been established by custom (varying in place and in time, and in the several races of the Eldar). For instance, the arts of healing, and all that touches on the care of the body, are among all the Eldar most practised by the nissi; whereas it was the elven-men who bore arms at need. And the Eldar deemed that the dealing of death, even when lawful or under necessity, diminished the power of healing, and that the virtue of the nissi in this matter was due rather to their abstaining from hunting or war than to any special power that went with their womanhood. Indeed in dire straits or desperate defence, the nissi fought valiantly, and there was less difference in strength and speed between elven-men and elven-women that had not borne child than is seen among mortals. On the other hand many elven-men were great healers and skilled in the lore of living bodies, though such men abstained from hunting, and went not to war until the last need. As for other matters, we may speak of the customs of the Noldor (of whom most is known in Middle-earth). Among the Noldor it may be seen that the making of bread is done mostly by women; and the making of the lembas is by ancient law reserved to them. Yet the cooking and preparing of other food is generally a task and pleasure of men. The nissi are more often skilled in the tending of fields and gardens, in playing upon instruments of music, and in the spinning, weaving, fashioning, and adornment of all threads and cloths; and in matters of lore they love most the histories of the Eldar and of the houses of the Noldor; and all matters of kinship and descent are held by them in memory. But the neri are more skilled as smiths and wrights, as carvers of wood and stone, and as jewellers. It is they for the most part who compose musics and make the instruments, or devise new ones; they are the chief poets and students of languages and inventors of words. Many of them delight in forestry and in the lore of the wild, seeking the friendship of all things that grow or live there in freedom. But all these things, and other matters of labour and play, or of deeper knowledge concerning being and the life of the World, may at different times be pursued by any among the Noldor, be they neri or nissi. OF NAMING. This is the manner in which the naming of children was achieved among the Noldor. Soon after birth the child was named. It was the right of the father to devise this first name,(13) and he it was that announced it to the child's kindred upon either side. It was called, therefore, the father-name, and it stood first, if other names were afterwards added. It remained unaltered,* for it lay not in the choice of the child. But every child among the Noldor (in which point, maybe, they differed from the other Eldar) had also the right to name himself or herself. Now the first ceremony, the announcement of the father-name, was called the Essecarme or 'Name- making'. Later there was another ceremony called the Essecilme or 'Name-choosing'. This took place at no fixed date after the (* Save for such changes as might befall its spoken form in the passing of the long years; for (as is elsewhere told) even the tongues of the Eldar were subject to change.) Essecarme, but could not take place before the child was deemed ready and capable of lamatyave, as the Noldor called it: that is, of individual pleasure in the sounds and forms of words. The Noldor were of all the Eldar the swiftest in acquiring word- mastery; but even among them few before at least the seventh year had become fully aware of their own individual lamatyave, or had gained a complete mastery of the inherited language and its structure, so as to express this tyave skilfully within its limits. The Essecilme, therefore, the object of which was the expression of this personal characteristic,' usually took place at or about the end of the tenth year. In elder times the 'Chosen Name', or second name, was usually freshly devised, and though framed according to the structure of the language of the day, it often had no previous significance. In later ages, when there was a great abundance of names already in existence, it was more often selected from names that were known. But even so some modification of the old name might be made.(14) Now both these names, the father-name and the chosen name, were 'true names', not nicknames; but the father-name was public, and the chosen name was private, especially when used alone. Private, not secret. The chosen names were regarded by the Noldor as part of their personal property, like (say) their rings, cups, or knives, or other possessions which they could lend, or share with kindred and friends, but which could not be taken without leave. The use of the chosen name, except by members of the same house (parents, sisters, and brothers), was a token of closest intimacy and love, when permitted. It was, therefore, presumptuous or insulting to use it without permission.**(15) Since, however, the Eldar were by nature immortal within Arda, but were by no means changeless, after a time one might wish for a new name.+(16) He might then devise for himself a new chosen name. But this did not abrogate the former name, which (* This lamatyave was held a mark of individuality, and more important indeed than others, such as stature, colour, and features of face. (** This sentiment had thus nothing to do with 'magic' or with taboos, such as are found among Men.) (+ The Eldar hold that, apart from ill chances and the destruction of their bodies, they may in the course of their years each exercise and) remained part of the 'full title' of any Noldo: that is the sequence of all the names that had been acquired in the course of life.(17) These deliberate changes of chosen name were not frequent. 'There was another source of the variety of names borne by any one of the Eldar, which in the reading of their histories may to us seem bewildering. This was found in the Anessi: the given (or added) names. Of these the most important were the so-called 'mother-names'.(18) Mothers often gave to their children special names of their own choosing. The most notable of these were the 'names of insight', essi tercenye, or of 'foresight', apacenye. In the hour of birth, or on some other occasion of moment, the mother might give a name to her child, indicating some dominant feature of its nature as perceived by her, or some foresight of its special fate.' These names had authority, and were regarded as true names when solemnly given, and were public not private if placed (as was sometimes done) immedi- ately after the father-name. All other 'given names' were not true names, and indeed might not be recognized by the person to whom they were applied, unless they were actually adopted or self-given. Names, or nicknames, of this kind might be given by anyone, not necessarily by members of the same house or kin, in memory of some deed, or event, or in token of some marked feature of body or mind. They were seldom included in the 'full title', but when they were, because of their wide use and fame, they were set at the end in some form such as this: 'by some called Telcontar' (that is Strider); or 'sometimes known as Mormacil' (that is Blacksword). enjoy all the varied talents of their kind, whether of skill or of lore, though in different order and in different degrees. With such changes of 'mind-mood' or inwisti their lamatyaver might also change. But such changes or progressions were in fact seen most among the neri, for the nissi, even as they came sooner to maturity, remained then more steadfast and were less desirous of change. [According to the Eldar, the only 'character' of any person that was not subject to change was the difference of sex. For this they held to belong not only to the body (hrondo) [> (hroa)] but also to the mind (inno) [> (indo)] equally: that is, to the person as a whole. This person or individual they often called esse' (that is 'name'), but it was also called erde, or 'singularity'. Those who returned from Mandos, therefore, after the death of their first body, returned always to the same name and to the same sex as formerly.] The amilessi tercenye, or mother-names of insight, had a high position, and in general use sometimes replaced, both within the family and without, the father-name and chosen name, though the father-name (and the chosen among those of the Eldar that had the custom of the essecilme) remained ever the true or primary name, and a necessary part of any 'full title'. The 'names of insight' were more often given in the early days of the Eldar, and in that time they came more readily into public use, because it was then still the custom for the father-name of a son to be a modification of the father's name (as Finwe' I Curufinwe) or a patronymic (as Finwion 'son of Finwe'). The father-name of a daughter would likewise often be derived from the name of the mother. Renowned examples of these things are found in the early histories. Thus Finwe, first lord of the Noldor, first named his eldest son Finwion;(20) but later when his talent was revealed this was modified to Curufinwe.(21) But the name of insight which his mother Miriel gave to him in the hour of birth was Feanaro 'Spirit of Fire';* and by this name he became known to all, and he is so called in all the histories. (It is said that he also took this name as his chosen name, in honour of his mother, whom he never saw.)(22) Elwe, lord of the Teleri, became widely known by the anesse or given name Sindicollo 'Greycloak', and hence later, in the changed form of the Sindarin tongue, he was called Elu Thingol. Thingol indeed was the name most used for him by others, though Elu or Elu-thingol remained his right title in his own realm. OF DEATH AND THE SEVERANCE OF FEA AND HRONDO [> HROA].(23) It must be understood that what has yet been said concerning Eldarin marriage refers to its right course and nature in a world unmarred, or to the manners of those uncorrupted by the Shadow and to days of peace and order. But nothing, as has been said, utterly avoids the Shadow upon Arda or is wholly unmarred, so as to proceed unhindered upon its right courses. In the Elder Days, and in the ages before the Dominion of Men, there were times of great trouble and many griefs and evil (* Though the form Feanor which it took later in the speech of Beleriand is more often used. [> (later) Though the form Feanor, which is more often used, was a blend of Q[uenya] Feanaro and S[indarin] Faenor.]) chances; and Death (24) afflicted all the Eldar, as it did all other living things in Arda save the Valar only: for the visible form of the Valar proceeds from their own will and with regard to their true being is to be likened rather to the chosen raiment of Elves and Men than to their bodies. Now the Eldar are immortal within Arda according to their right nature. But if a fea (or spirit) indwells in and coheres with a hrondo [> hroa] (or bodily form) that is not of its own choice but ordained, and is made of the flesh or substance of Arda itself,(25) then the fortune of this union must be vulnerable by the evils that do hurt to Arda, even if that union be by nature and purpose permanent. For in spite of this union, which is of such a kind that according to unmarred nature no living person incarnate may be without a fea, nor without a hrondo [> hroa], yet fea and hrondo [> hroa] are not the same things; and though the fea cannot be broken or disintegrated by any violence from without, the hrondo [> hroa] can be hurt and may be utterly destroyed. If then the hrondo [> hroa] be destroyed, or so hurt that it ceases to have health, sooner or later it 'dies'. That is: it becomes painful for the fea to dwell in it, being neither a help to life and will nor a delight to use, so that the fea departs from it, and its function being at an end its coherence is unloosed, and it returns again to the general hron [> orma] of Arda.(26) Then the fea is, as it were, houseless, and it becomes invisible to bodily eyes (though clearly perceptible by direct awareness to other fear). This destruction of the hrondo [> hroa], causing death or the unhousing of the fea, was soon experienced by the immortal Eldar, when they awoke in the marred and overshadowed realm of Arda. Indeed in their earlier days death came more readily; for their bodies were then less different (27) from the bodies of Men, and the command of their spirits over their bodies less complete. This command was, nonetheless, at all times greater than it has ever been among Men. From their beginnings the chief difference between Elves and Men lay in the fate and nature of their spirits. The fear of the Elves were destined to dwell in Arda for all the life of Arda, and the death of the flesh did not abrogate that destiny. Their fear were tenacious therefore of life 'in the raiment of Arda', and far excelled the spirits of Men in power over that 'raiment', even from the first days (28) protecting their bodies from many ills and assaults (such as disease), and healing them swiftly of injuries, so that they recovered from wounds that would have proved fatal to Men. As ages passed the dominance of their fear ever increased, 'consuming' their bodies (as has been noted). The end of this process is their 'fading', as Men have called it; for the body becomes at last, as it were, a mere memory held by the fea; and that end has already been achieved in many regions of Middle- earth, so that the Elves are indeed deathless and may not be destroyed or changed.(30) Thus it is that the further we go back in the histories, the more often do we read of the death of the Elves of old; and in the days when the minds of the Eldalie were young and not yet fully awake death among them seemed to differ little from the death of Men. What then happened to the houseless fea? The answer to this question the Elves did not know by nature. In their beginning (so they report) they believed, or guessed, that they 'entered into Nothing', and ended like other living things that they knew, even as a tree that was felled and burned. Others guessed more darkly that they passed into 'the Realm of Night' and into the power of the 'Lord of Night'.(31) These opinions were plainly derived from the Shadow under which they awoke; and it was to deliver them from this shadow upon their minds, more even than from the dangers of Arda marred, that the Valar desired to bring them to the light of Aman. It was in Aman that they learned of Manwe that each fea was imperishable within the life of Arda, and that its fate was to inhabit Arda to its end. Those fear, therefore, that in the marring of Arda suffered unnaturally a divorce from their hrondor [> hroar] remained still in Arda and in Time. But in this state they were open to the direct instruction and command of the Valar. As soon as they were disbodied they were summoned to leave the places of their life and death and go to the 'Halls of Waiting': Mandos, in the realm of the Valar. If they obeyed this summons different opportunities lay before them.(32) The length of time that they dwelt in Waiting was partly at the will of Namo the Judge, lord of Mandos, partly at their own will. The happiest fortune, they deemed, was after the Waiting to be re-born, for so the evil and grief that they had suffered in the curtailment of their natural course might be redressed. OF RE-BIRTH AND OTHER DOOMS OF THOSE THAT GO TO MANDOS.(33) Now the Eldar hold that to each elf-child a new fea is given, not akin to the fear of the parents (save in belonging to the same order and nature); and this fea either did not exist before birth, or is the fea of one that is re-born. The new fea, and therefore in their beginning all fear, they believe to come direct from Eru and from beyond Ea. Therefore many of them hold that it cannot be asserted that the fate of the Elves is to be confined within Arda for ever and with it to cease. This last opinion they draw from their own thought, for the Valar, having had no part in the devising of the Children of Eru, do not know fully the purposes of Eru concerning them, nor the final ends that he prepares for them. But they did not reach these opinions at once or without dissent. In their youth, while their knowledge and experience were small and they had not yet received the instruction of the Valar (or had not yet fully understood it), many still held that in the creation of their kind Eru had committed this power to them: to beget children in all ways like to themselves, body and indwelling spirit; and that therefore the fea of a child came from its parents as did its hrondo.(34) Yet always some dissented, saying: 'Indeed a living person may resemble the parents and be perceived as a blending, in various degrees, of these two; but this resemblance is most reasonably related to the hrondo. It is strongest and clearest in early youth, while the body is dominant and most like the bodies of its parents.' (This is true of all elf-children.)(35) 'Where- as in all children, though in some it may be more marked and sooner apparent, there is a part of character not to be under- stood from parentage, to which it may indeed be quite contrary. This difference is most reasonably attributed to the fea, new and not akin to the parents; for it becomes clearer and stronger as life proceeds and the fea increases in mastery.' Later when the Elves became aware of re-birth this argument was added: 'If the fear of children were normally derived from the parents and akin to them, then re-birth would be unnatural and unjust. For it would deprive the second parents, without consent, of one half of their parentage, intruding into their kin a child half alien.' Nonetheless, the older opinion was not wholly void. For all the Eldar, being aware of it in themselves, spoke of the passing of much strength, both of mind and of body, into their children, in bearing and begetting. Therefore they hold that the fea, though unbegotten, draws nourishment from the parents before the birth of the child: directly from the fea of the mother while she bears and nourishes the hrondo, and mediately but equally from the father, whose fea is bound in union with the mother's and supports it. It was for this reason that all parents desired to dwell together during the year of bearing, and regarded separation at that time as a grief and injury, depriving the child of some part of its fathering. 'For,' said they, 'though the union of the fear of the wedded is not broken by distance of place, yet in creatures that live as spirits embodied fea communes with fea in full only when the bodies dwell together.' A houseless fea that chose or was permitted to return to life re-entered the incarnate world through child-birth. Only thus could it return.(*) For it is plain that the provision of a bodily house for a fea, and the union of fea with hrondo, was committed by Eru to the Children, to be achieved in the act of begetting. As for this re-birth, it was not an opinion, but known and certain. For the fea re-born became a child indeed, enjoying once more all the wonder and newness of childhood; but slowly, and only after it had acquired a knowledge of the world and mastery of itself, its memory would awake; until, when the re-born elf was full-grown, it recalled all its former life, and then the old life, and the 'waiting', and the new life became one ordered history and identity. This memory would thus hold a double joy of childhood, and also an experience and knowledge greater than the years of its body. In this way the violence or grief that the re-born had suffered was redressed and its being (* Save in rare and strange cases: that is, where the body that the fea had forsaken was whole, and remained still coherent and incorrupt. But this could seldom happen; for death unwilling could occur only when great violence was done to the body; and in death by will, such as at times befell because of utter weariness or great grief, the fea would not desire to return, until the body, deserted by the spirit, was dissolved. This happened swiftly in Middle-earth. In Aman only was there no decay. Thus Miriel was there rehoused in her own body, as is hereafter told.) was enriched. For the Re-born are twice nourished, and twice parented,* and have two memories of the joy of awaking and discovering the world of living and the splendour of Arda. Their life is, therefore, as if a year had two springs and though an untimely frost followed after the first, the second spring and all the summer after were fairer and more blessed. The Eldar say that more than one re-birth is seldom recorded. But the reasons for this they do not fully know. Maybe, it is so ordered by the will of Eru; while the Re-born (they say) are stronger, having greater mastery of their bodies and being more patient of griefs. But many, doubtless, that have twice died do not wish to return.(36) Re-birth is not the only fate of the houseless fear. The Shadow upon Arda caused not only misfortune and injury to the body. It could corrupt the mind; and those among the Eldar who were darkened in spirit did unnatural deeds, and were capable of hatred and malice. Not all who died suffered innocently. Moreover, some fear in grief or weariness gave up hope, and turning away from life relinquished their bodies, even though these might have been healed or were indeed unhurt.+(37) Few of these latter desired to be re-born, not at least until they had been long in 'waiting'; some never returned. Of the others, the wrong-doers, many were held long in 'waiting', and some were not permitted to take up their lives again. For there was, for all the fear of the Dead, a time of Waiting, in which, howsoever they had died, they were corrected, instructed, strengthened, or comforted, according to their needs or deserts. If they would consent to this. But the fea in its nakedness is obdurate, and remains long in the bondage of its memory and old purposes (especially if these were evil). Those who were healed could be re-born, if they desired it: (* In some cases a fea re-born might have the same parents again. For instance, if its first body had died in early youth. But this did not often happen; neither did a fea necessarily re-enter its own former kin, for often a great length of time passed before it wished or was permitted to return.) (+ Though the griefs might be great and wholly unmerited, and death (or rather the abandonment of life) might be, therefore, understand- able and innocent, it was held that the refusal to return to life, after repose in Mandos, was a fault, showing a weakness or lack of courage in the fea.) none are re-born or sent back into life unwilling. The others remained, by desire or command, fear unbodied, and they could only observe the unfolding of the Tale of Arda from afar, having no effect therein. For it was a doom of Mandos that only those who took up life again might operate in Arda, or commune with the fear of the Living, even with those that had once been dear to them.(38) Concerning the fate of other elves, especially of the Dark- elves who refused the summons to Aman, the Eldar know little. The Re-born report that in Mandos there are many elves, and among them many of the Alamanyar,(39) but that there is in the Halls of Waiting little mingling or communing of kind with kind, or indeed of any one fea with another. For the houseless fea is solitary by nature, and turns only towards those with whom, maybe, it formed strong bonds of love in life. The fea is single, and in the last impregnable. It cannot be brought to Mandos. It is summoned; and the summons pro- ceeds from just authority, and is imperative; yet it may be refused. Among those who refused the summons (or rather invitation) of the Valar to Aman in the first years of the Elves, refusal of the summons to Mandos and the Halls of Waiting is, the Eldar say, frequent. It was less frequent, however, in ancient days, while Morgoth was in Arda, or his servant Sauron after him; for then the fea unbodied would flee in terror of the Shadow to any refuge - unless it were already committed to the Darkness and passed then into its dominion. In like manner even of the Eldar some who had become corrupted refused the summons, and then had little power to resist the counter- summons of Morgoth. But it would seem that in these after-days more and more of the Elves, be they of the Eldalie in origin or be they of other kinds, who linger in Middle-earth now refuse the summons of Mandos, and wander houseless in the world,* unwilling to leave it (40) and unable to inhabit it, haunting trees or springs or hidden places that once they knew. Not all of these are kindly or (* For only those who willingly go to Mandos may be re-born. Re-birth is a grace, and comes of the power that Eru committed to the Valar for the ruling of Arda and the redress of its marring. It does not lie in the power of any fea in itself. Only those return whom, after Mandos has spoken the doom of release, Manwe and Varda bless.) unstained by the Shadow. Indeed the refusal of the summons is in itself a sign of taint. It is therefore a foolish and perilous thing, besides being a wrong deed forbidden justly by the appointed Rulers of Arda, if the Living seek to commune with the Unbodied, though the houseless may desire it, especially the most unworthy among them. For the Unbodied, wandering in the world, are those who at the least have refused the door of life and remain in regret and self-pity. Some are filled with bitterness, grievance, and envy. Some were enslaved by the Dark Lord and do his work still, though he himself is gone. They will not speak truth or wisdom. To call on them is folly. To attempt to master them and to make them servants of one own's will is wickedness. Such practices are of Morgoth; and the necromancers are of the host of Sauron his servant. Some say that the Houseless desire bodies, though they are not willing to seek them lawfully by submission to the judge- ment of Mandos. The wicked among them will take bodies, if they can, unlawfully. The peril of communing with them is, therefore, not only the peril of being deluded by fantasies or lies: there is peril also of destruction. For one of the hungry Houseless, if it is admitted to the friendship of the Living, may seek to eject the fea from its body; and in the contest for mastery the body may be gravely injured, even if it he not wrested from its rightful habitant. Or the Houseless may plead for shelter, and if it is admitted, then it will seek to enslave its host and use both his will and his body for its own purposes. It is said that Sauron did these things, and taught his followers how to achieve them. [Thus it may be seen that those who in latter days hold that the Elves are dangerous to Men and that it is folly or wickedness to seek converse with them do not speak without reason. For how, it may be asked, shall a mortal distinguish the kinds? On the one hand, the Houseless, rebels at least against the Rulers, and maybe even deeper under the Shadow; on the other, the Lingerers, whose bodily forms may no longer be seen by us mortals, or seen only dimly and fitfully. Yet the answer is not in truth difficult. Evil is not one thing among Elves and another among Men. Those who give evil counsel, or speak against the Rulers (or if they dare, against the One), are evil, and should be shunned whether bodied or unbodied. Moreover, the Lingerers are not houseless, though they may seem to be. They do not desire bodies, neither do they seek shelter, nor strive for mastery over body or mind. Indeed they do not seek converse with Men at all, save maybe rarely, either for the doing of some good, or because they perceive in a Man's spirit some love of things ancient and fair. Then they may reveal to him their forms (through his mind working outwardly, maybe), and he will behold them in their beauty. Of such he may have no fear, though he may feel awe of them. For the Houseless have no forms to reveal, and even if it were within their power (as some Men say) to counterfeit elvish forms, deluding the minds of Men with fantasies, such visions would be marred by the evil of their intent. For the hearts of true Men uprise in joy to behold the true likenesses of the First-born, their elder kindred; and this joy nothing evil can counterfeit. So spoke AElfwine.](41) OF THE SEVERANCE OF MARRIAGE. Much has now been said concerning death and re-birth among the Elves. It may be asked: of what effect were these upon their marriage? Since death and the sundering of spirit and body was one of the griefs of Arda Marred, it came inevitably to pass that death at times came between two that were wedded. Then the Eldar were in doubt, since this was an evil unnatural. Permanent marriage was in accordance with elvish nature, and they never had need of any law to teach this or to enforce it; hut if a 'permanent' marriage was in fact broken, as when one of the partners was slain, then they did not know what should he done or thought. In this matter they turned to Manwe for counsel, and, as is recorded in the case of Finwe, Lord of the Noldor, Manwe delivered his ruling through the mouth of Namo Mandos, the Judge. 'Marriage of the Eldar,' he said, 'is by and for the Living, and for the duration of life. Since the Elves are by nature permanent in life within Arda, so also is their unmarred marriage. But if their life is interrupted or ended, then their marriage must be likewise. Now marriage is chiefly of the body, hut it is nonethe- less not of the body only but of the spirit and body together, for it begins and endures in the will of the fea. Therefore when one of the partners of a marriage dies the marriage is not yet ended, but is in abeyance. For those that were joined are now sundered; but their union remains still a union of will. 'How then can a marriage be ended and the union be dissolved? For unless this be done, there can be no second marriage. By the law of the nature of the Elves, the neri and the nissi being equal, there can be union only of one with one.(42) Plainly an end can be made only by the ending of the will; and this must proceed from the Dead, or be by doom. By the ending of the will, when the Dead are not willing ever to return to life in the body; by doom, when they are not permitted to return. For a union that is for the life of Arda is ended, if it cannot be resumed within the life of Arda. 'We say that the ending of will must proceed from the Dead, for the Living may not for their own purposes compel the Dead to remain thus, nor deny to them re-birth, if they desire it. And it must be clearly understood that this will of the Dead not to return, when it has been solemnly declared and is ratified by Mandos, shall then become a doom: the Dead will not be permitted ever to return to the life of the body.' The Eldar then asked: 'How shall the will or doom be known?' It was answered: 'Only by recourse to Manwe and by the pronouncement of Namo. In this matter it shall not be lawful for any of the Eldar to judge his own case. For who among the Living can discern the thoughts of the Dead, or presume the dooms of Mandos?' Upon this pronouncement of Mandos, which is called the 'Doom of Finwe and Miriel'(43) for reasons to be told, there are many commentaries that record the explanation of points arising from its consideration, some given by the Valar, some later reasoned by the Eldar. Of these the more important are here added. 1. It was asked: 'What is meant by the saying that marriage is chiefly of the body, and yet is both of spirit and body?' It was answered: 'Marriage is chiefly of the body, for it is achieved by bodily union, and its first operation is the begetting of the bodies of children, even though it endures beyond this and has other operations. And the union of bodies in marriage is unique, and no other union resembles it. Whereas the union of fear in marriage differs from other unions of love and friendship not so much in kind as in its closeness and permanence, which are derived partly from the bodies in their union and in their dwelling together. 'Nonetheless marriage concerns also the fear. For the fear of the Elves are of their nature male and female, and not their hrondor (44) only. And the beginning of marriage is in the affinity of the fear, and in the love arising therefrom. And this love includes in it, from its first awakening, the desire for marriage, and is therefore like to but not in all ways the same as other motions of love and friendship, even those between Elves of male and female nature who do not have this inclination. It is therefore true to say that, though achieved by and in the body, marriage proceeds from the fea and resides ultimately in its will. For which reason it cannot be ended, as has been declared, while that will remains.' 2. It was asked: 'If the Dead return to the Living, are the sundered spouses still wedded? And how may that be, if marriage is chiefly of the body, whereas the body of one part of the union is destroyed? Must the sundered be again married, if they wish? Or whether they wish it or no?' It was answered: 'It has been said that marriage resides ultimately in the will of the fear. Also the identity of person resides wholly in the fea,(45) and the re-born is the same person as the one who died. It is the purpose of the grace of re-birth that the unnatural breach in the continuity of life should be re- dressed; and none of the Dead will be permitted to be re-born until and unless they desire to take up their former life and continue it. Indeed they cannot escape it, for the re-born soon recover full memory of all their past. 'If then marriage is not ended while the Dead are in the Halls of Waiting, in hope or purpose to return, but is only in aheyance, how then shall it be ended, when the fea is again in the land of the living? 'But herein there is indeed a difficulty, that reveals to us that death is a thing unnatural. It may be amended, but it cannot, while Arda lasts, be wholly undone or made as if it had not been. What shall come to pass as the Eldar grow older cannot be wholly foreseen. But perceiving their nature, as we now do, we hold that the love of the Here the typescript version B breaks off, with much of the content of the essay as declared in the title unfulfilled (see p. 209). The text ends at the foot of a page, but I think it virtually certain that this was where my father abandoned it. NOTES l. In A the opening paragraph ended: 'the fire of their spirit had not consumed them, nor their minds turned inwards', subsequently changed to the text of B. 2. Added here later in A: 'Yet the Elf-child would have more knowledge and skill.' This was not taken up in B. 3. A: 'They had few children, but these were dear to them beyond any number more than seven', with 'seldom' written later above all else that they possessed. (Though no Elf would speak of 3 possessing children; he would say: "three children have been added unto me", or "are with me", or "are in my house"; for their families were held together...' (the brackets being closed at the words 'or teaching'). 4. A: '... while the Eldar were still few, and eager to increase their kind, before the weight of years lay on them, there is no record of 'no'. 5. For this paragraph A has: The Eldar wedded once for all. Many, as the histories reveal, could become estranged from good, for nothing can wholly escape from the evil shadow that lies upon Arda. Some fell into pride, and self-will, and could be guilty of deeds of malice, enmity, greed and jealousy. But among all these evils there is no record of any among the Elves that took another's spouse by force; for this was wholly against their nature, and one so forced would have rejected bodily life and passed to Mandos. Guile or trickery in this matter was scarcely possible (even if it could be thought that any Elf would purpose to use it); for the Eldar can read at once in the eyes and voice of another whether they be wed or unwed. 6. The original reading in A was 'at a [feast >] repast shared by the two "houses" concerned', changed later to 'at a meeting' as in B. See note 7. 7. The word 'again' in 'again shared by the two houses' depends on the original reading in A given in note 6. 8. A: 'and were only a gracious recognition of the change of state'. 9. Added here in A, probably very much later: '[Thus Beren and Tinuviel could lawfully have wedded, but for Beren's oath to Thingol.]' 10. This paragraph ends in A: 'This the Eldar mean when they speak of their spirits consuming them; and they say that ere Arda ends all the Elf-folk will have become spirits no less than those in Mandos, invisible to mortal eyes, unless they will to be seen.' The words 'no less than those in Mandos' stood in B as typed, but were heavily struck out. 11. For the passage in B 'For with regard to generation ...' A has: 'For, whether the Eldar retain their power of generation (as is likely if we speak of days of old when all the Eldalie were young) or in time lose it (as some say those that remain on Earth have now lost it), at all times they lose the desire and will with the exercise of that power.' 12. For neri and nissi in B (see the Etymologies in Vol. V, entries NER, NIS) A has quendor and quender, changed later to quendur and quendir. For the singulars ner and nis occurring subsequently A has quendo and quende, changed to quendu and quendi. The substance of this passage concerning the difference in characteris- tic activity among men and women of the Eldar is essentially the same in A, but no reference is made to the Noldor. 13. It is said in A that it was the right of the father, not to 'devise' the first name, but to 'announce' it, and this is followed by a note: 'Though the name was often the mother's choice. But it was held to be the right of the father to devise the name of [the first son >] his sons, if he would, and of the mother to devise the name of [the first daughter >] her daughters. But in any case the father proclaimed the name.' To the words 'This name was thus called the "father-name" or first name' was added later in A: 'It always had a meaning and was made of known words.' 14. At this point there is a footnote in B (deriving closely from A) which was later struck through: It will be observed in the histories how seldom the same name recurs for different persons. This is because, both in Essecarme and in Essecilme, there was usually an attempt to mark individuality; and names were regarded as the property of those who first bore them. 15. The footnote here reads thus in A: This feeling had nothing to do with 'magic' or taboo. The Eldar did indeed believe in a special relation between a name of a person and his life and individuality; but this concerned both first and second name (alone or together), which they might conceal from enemies. 16. The latter part of the footnote here, which I have enclosed in square brackets, is found typed on a separate page belonging with the B typescript, but with no direction for its insertion (see note 37). It is found however in closely similar words in the A version of the footnote, following 'their lamatyave might also change' (A does not have the conclusion of the note in B, 'But such changes or progressions...'). In the A version of the note the Elvish word of which 'mind-mood' is a translation was first written ingil-[?weidi, very uncertain], changed to inwaldi, and later to inwisti, as in E. In A the Elvish word for the body is rhon (changed later to hrondo, the word used in B), and for the mind m, indo (the latter changed later to inno, whereas B has inno > indo). 17. A has a different account here: 'They might then devise a new "Chosen Name", but this replaced the former, and became the Second Name. Identity was preserved by the permanence for all formal and legal purposes of the First Name or father's name.' 18. A has: 'this was the Anessi, the given names, or "nick-names"' (with reference to the original meaning of nick-name, changed from (an) eke-name, meaning an additional or added name). 19. The passage following this in A reads thus: Later, when the character and gifts of the child were revealed, as it grew, she might also give a similar name to it (or modify its father-name). But this latter branch of 'mother-names' differed in authority only rather than in kind from general given or nick-names. These were given to persons by anyone (not necessarily even members of their 'house' or kin), in memory of some deed, or event, or some striking peculiarity. Though these names had no authority and were not 'true names', they often became widely known and used, and were sometimes recognized by the persons themselves and their families. The 'mother-names of insight' had an intermediate position. They had parental authority and the authority of maternal terken [added: insight], and were often used instead of either father-name or chosen name, or might replace them both - replaced them, that is, in actual usage. The 'true' or primary Esse of any person remained the father-name. The 'names of insight', though at no time frequent, were more frequent in the early days of the Eldar... 20. In A it is said that 'Finwe originally named his eldest son Finwe'. 21. Curufinwe: the name has been met in the rejected addition to AAm where appear my father's first thoughts on the story of Feanor's birth (when his mother was named Indis): see p. 87 note 3. 22. A has here a passage that was omitted in B: Finwe then named his second son (by another mother, Indis) also Finwe', modifying it later to Nolofinwe. But the mother- name which Indis gave to him was Ingoldo, signifying that he was partly of both the Ingar (people of Ingwe), her own kin, and of the Noldor. By this name he also became generally known; though after the rule of the Noldor was committed to him by Manwe (in the place of his elder brother and his father) he took the name of Finwe, and was in fact usually called Ingoldo-finwe. Similarly the third son was Arafinwe and also Ingalaure (because he had the golden hair of his mother's kin). As in the name Noldor throughout the later texts, Nolofinwe is written with a tilde over the N. - On this passage see further p. 265 note 10. 23. In A there is no subtitle here, but before 'It must be under- stood...' there stands the following: In what has been said concerning names it will be noted that for Finwe, first lord of the Noldor, two wives are named: Miriel and Indis; though it was said that the marriage of the Eldar is permanent and indissoluble. 24. After 'and Death' there followed in B 'in its Elvish mode', derived from A; but this was rejected as soon as typed. 25. A: 'and is made also as it were of the hron (or flesh and substance) of Arda'; cf. rhon 'body', note 16. The word hron was left unchanged in A here (see note 26); subsequently where B has hrondo (> hroa) A has hron, hron, and hron (> hrondo), until later in the text hrondo appears in A as first written (note 34). 26. The words 'and it returns again to the general hron of Arda' were added to the A-text at the same time as other occurrences of hron were changed to hrondo (note 25); thus hron here in B (subse- quently > orma) represents a distinction between hron (of the 'body' of Arda) and hrondo. At a later point in the A manuscript there is the following hastily pencilled note, which was struck through: V's-ron 'flesh, substance, matter'. Q. hron, hrom- 'matter', the substance of Arda, hence hrondo 'physical body, "the flesh"'. 27. B as typed had 'little different', as does A, but 'little' was at once changed to 'less'. 28. Where 8 has 'even from the first days' A has 'even at first'. 29. 'as has been noted' (not said in A): the previous references are on pp. 210 ('AElfwine's Preamble') and 212. 30. In A the first part of this paragraph reads: As ages passed their spirits became more dominant, and 'consumed' their bodies - the end of this process (now achieved), they said, was that the body should become as it were a mere memory of the spirit - though it never became changeable like raiment. 31. A: 'Others guessed that they passed into the realm of Dark and the power of the Dark Lord (as they called him).' 32. A: '(The fear of the Eldar, with rare exceptions, at once obeyed that summons.) After that different opportunities lay before them.' 33. There is no subtitle here in A. 34. Here and subsequently hrondo (not hron) appears in the A-text as written (see notes 25 and 44). Purely coincidentally, as it seems, here and subsequently hrondo was not changed to hroa in B. 35. This bracketed statement derives from an addition made to A: 'This is true of all Elf-children, whatever may be the case with Men, in whom the body is ever more dominant.' 36. This paragraph is absent from A. 37. This footnote is not in the B-text, but is found typed separately on the same page as the passage referred to in note 16, and like that passage without direction for its insertion. It derives fairly closely from a footnote found at this point in A; this however ends: '... was held a fault or weakness, needing correction or cure if that could be achieved.' 38. From 'The others remained' to the end of the paragraph the A-text as first written read thus: Others, freed from desire of life and of doing, yet not from operations of the mind in observing or reflexion, might remain as spirits, fear unbodied, and yet be permitted to go forth from Mandos, and to return thither or not, as they would. As ages passed, the numbers of these increased, the Eldar say. With the minds of the Living they can commune, if the Living remember them or open their minds to receive them. This the Eldar call 'communing with the fear (or the Unliving)', and in the latter days it has become easier and more frequent. But they could only observe what passed or was done as the Tale of Arda unfolded. They could The passage was struck out when this point was reached and replaced by the text that stands here in B. Cf. the subsequent passage (p. 224), found both in A and in B: 'It is therefore a foolish and perilous thing, besides being a wrong deed forbidden justly by the appointed Rulers of Arda, if the Living seek to commune with the Unbodied...' 39. On Alamanyar see pp. 170 - 1. 40. A sets the opening of this paragraph in the past tense: 'But in after days more and more of the Elves that lingered in Middle-earth refused the summons of Mandos, and wandered houseless in the world, unwilling to leave it...' 41. This paragraph, attributed to AElfwine and bracketed in the same way as is the opening 'Preamble', is absent from A, which continues on from 'These things it is said that Sauron did, and taught his chief followers how to achieve them' as follows: In this account the lives and customs of the Eldar have been considered mainly in their natural courses in days untroubled, and in accordance with their true nature unmarred. But, as has been said, the Eldar did not escape the Shadow upon Arda, that caused both misfortunes and misdeeds to afflict them. This was replaced by the sentence beginning 'Now much has been said concerning death and rebirth among the Eldar ...' as in B, but without the subtitle 'Of the Severance of Marriage'. 42. This sentence is absent from A, and so there appear here no equivalents of the words neri and nissi in B (see note 12). 43. A has 'the "Statute of Finwe and Miriel"', as in the title of the B-text. 44. A had here hroni, changed to hrondor: see note 34. 45. From here to the point where it breaks off B diverges altogether from A, and I take up the presentation of the A-text in full from the beginning of this second response. I give now the remainder of the work from the original manuscript A, taking it up shortly before the point where the typescript B breaks off (see note 45 above). Alterations and additions are mostly noted as such. In A the actual tale of Finwe, Miriel, and Indis reappears (pp. 236 - 9); it is easily shown that this version followed FM 1 (the rider to LQ chapter 6, Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor, pp. 205 - 7), but I think at no long interval: the manuscript style of the two texts is notably similar. It was answered: It has been said that marriage resides ultimately in the will of the fea. Also the identity of person resides in the fea; and the Dead that return [struck out: will] in time recover full memory of the past; what is more, though the body is more than raiment and the change of body [will not be of no effect >] will certainly have effect upon the reborn, the fea is the master, and the reborn will come to resemble their former self so closely that all who knew them before Death will recognize them, soonest and most readily the former spouse. Nonetheless, since marriage is also of the body and one body has perished, they must be married again, if they will. For they will have returned, as it were, to that state in their former life when by the motions of their fear they desired to be married. There will be no question of desiring this or not desiring it. For by the steadfastness of the fear of the Eldar uncorrupted they will desire it; and none of the Dead will be permitted by Mandos to be reborn, until and unless they desire to take up life again in continuity with their past. For it is the purpose of the time in Waiting in Mandos that the unnatural breach in the continuity of the life of the Eldar should be healed, though it cannot be undone or made of no effect in Arda. It follows, therefore, also that the Dead will be reborn in such place and time that the meeting and recognition of the sundered shall surely come to pass, and there shall be no hindrance to their marriage. Upon this the Eldar comment: 'By this is meant that the Reborn Spouse will not appear among the close kindred of the Living Spouse, and in fact the Reborn appear as a rule amongst their own former kin, unless in the chances of Arda things have so changed that the meeting of the sundered would thus be unlikely. [Added: For the first purpose of the fea that seeks rebirth is to find its spouse, and children, if it had these in life.] The Reborn that were unwedded always return to their own kin.' For the marriages of the Eldar do not take place between 'close kin'. This again is a matter in which they needed no law or instruction, but acted by nature, though they gave reasons for it later, declaring that it was due to the nature of bodies and the processes of generation; but also to the nature of fear. 'For,' they said, 'fear are also akin, and the motions of love between them, as say between a brother and sister, are not of the same kind as those that make the beginning of marriage.' By 'close kin' for this purpose was meant members of one 'house', especially sisters and brothers. None of the Eldar married those in direct line of descent, nor children of the same parents, nor the sister or brother of either of their parents; nor did they wed 'half-sisters' or 'half-brothers'. Since as has been shown only in the rarest events did the Eldar have second spouses, half-sister or half-brother had for them a special meaning: they used these terms when both of the parents of one child were related to both of the parents of another, as when two brothers married two sisters of another family, or a sister and a brother of one house married a brother and sister of another: things which often occurred. Otherwise 'first cousins', as we should say, might marry, but seldom did so, or desired to do so, unless one of the parents of each were far-sundered in kin. Hardly otherwise shall it be when both spouses are slain or die: they will marry again in due time after rebirth, unless they desire to remain together in Mandos. It was asked: Why must the Dead remain in Mandos for ever, if the fea consents to the ending of its marriage? And what is this Doom of which Mandos speaks? It was answered: The reasons are to be found in what has been said already. Marriage is for life, and cannot, therefore, be ended, save by the interruption of death without return. While there is hope or purpose of return it is not ended, and the Living cannot therefore marry again. If the Living is permitted to marry again, then by doom Mandos will not permit the Dead to return. For, as has been declared, one reborn is the same person as before death and returns to take up and continue his or her former life. But if the former spouse were re-married, this would not be possible, and great grief and doubt would afflict all three parties. To speak of the dooms of Mandos: these are of three kinds. He utters the decisions of Manwe, or of the Valar in conclave, which become binding upon all, even the Valar, when they are so declared: for which reason a time passes between the decision and the doom. In similar manner he utters the decisions and purposes of others who are under his jurisdiction, who are the Dead, in grave matters that affect justice and the right order of Arda; and when so spoken these decisions become 'laws' also, though pertaining only to particular persons or cases, and Mandos will not permit them to be revoked or broken: for which reason again a time must pass between decision and doom.* And lastly there are the dooms of Mandos that proceed from Mandos himself, as judge in matters that belong to his office as ordained from the beginning. He is the judge of right and of wrong, and of innocence or guilt (and all the degrees and mingling of these) in the mischances and misdeeds that come to pass in Arda. All those who come to Mandos are judged with regard to innocence or guilt, in the matter of their death and in all other deeds and purposes of their lives in the body; and Mandos appoints to each the manner and the length of their time of Waiting according to this judgement. But his dooms in such matters are not uttered in haste; and even the most guilty are long tested, whether they may be healed or corrected, before any final doom is given (such as never to return again among the Living). Therefore it was said: 'Who among the Living can presume the dooms of Mandos?' Upon this the Eldar comment: 'Innocence or guilt in the matter of death is spoken of, because to be in any way culpable in incurring this evil (whether by forcing others to slay one in their defence against unjust violence, or by foolhardiness or the making good of rash vaunts, or by slaying oneself or wilfully withdrawing the fea from the body) is held a fault. Or at the least, the withdrawal from life is held a good reason, unless the will of the fea be changed, for the fea to remain among the Dead and not to return. As for guilt in other matters little is known of the dealings of Mandos with the Dead. For several reasons: Because those who have done great evil (who are few) do not return. Because those who have been under the correction of Mandos will not speak of it, and indeed, being healed, remember little of it; for they have returned to their natural courses, (* In the case of a decision never to return to life by a fea of the Dead, the least time of interval appointed by Mandos was ten Valian years. During this period the decision could be revoked.) and the unnatural and perverted is no longer in the continuity of their lives. Because also, as has been said, though all that die are summoned to Mandos, it is within the power of the fear of the Elves to refuse the summons, and doubtless many of the most unhappy, or most corrupted spirits (especially those of the Dark-elves) do refuse, and so come to worse evil, or at best wander unhoused and unhealed, without hope of return. Not so do they escape judgement for ever; for Eru abideth and is over all. This judgement is known as the 'Statute of Finwe and Miriel', for theirs was the first case, and it was on behalf of Finwe that Manwe's counsel was sought in this matter. Now Finwe, first Lord of the Noldor, had to wife Miriel who was called the Serinde, because of her surpassing skill in weaving and sewing, and their love was great for one another. But in the bearing of her first son Miriel was consumed in spirit and body, so that wellnigh all strength seemed to have passed from her. This son was Curufinwe, most renowned of all the Noldor as Feanaro (or Feanor),(1) Spirit-of-fire, the name which Miriel gave to him at birth; he was mighty in body and in all the skills of the body, and supreme among the Eldar in eagerness and strength and subtlety of mind. But Miriel said to Finwe: 'Never again shall I bear child; for strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Feanaro.' Then Finwe was greatly grieved, for the Noldor were in the youth of their days and dwelt in the bliss of the Noontide of Aman, but were still few in number, and he desired to bring forth many children into that bliss. He said, therefore: 'Surely there is healing in Aman? Here all weariness can find rest.' Therefore Finwe sought the counsel of Manwe, and Manwe delivered Miriel to the care of Irmo in Lorien.(2) At their parting (for a little while as he deemed) Finwe was sad, for it seemed a thing unhappy that the mother should depart and miss the beginning at least of the childhood days of her son. 'Unhappy it is indeed,' said Miriel, 'and I would weep if I were not so weary. But hold me blameless in this, and in aught that may come after. Rest now I must. Farewell, dear lord.' No clearer than this did she speak, but in her heart she yearned not only for sleep and rest, but for release from the labour of living. She went then to Lorien and laid her down to sleep beneath a silver tree, but though she seemed to sleep indeed her spirit departed from her body and passed in silence to the halls of Mandos; and the i I maidens of Este tended her fair body so that it remained unwithered, yet she did not return. Finwe's grief was great, and he went often to the gardens of Lorien and sitting beneath the silver willows beside the body of his wife he called her by her names. But it was of no avail, and he alone in all the Blessed Realm was bereaved and sorrowful. After a while he went to Lorien no more, for it did but increase his grief. All his love he gave to his son; for Feanaro was like his mother in voice and countenance, and Finwe was to him both father and mother, and there was a double bond of love upon their hearts. Yet Finwe was not content, being young and eager, and desiring to have more children to bring mirth into his house. [He spoke, therefore, to Manwe >] When, therefore, ten years had passed, he spoke to Manwe, saying: 'Lord, behold! I am bereaved and solitary. Alone among the Eldar I have no wife, and must hope for no sons save one, and no daughter. Must I remain ever thus? [For I believe not that Miriel will return again >] For my heart warns me that Miriel will not return again from the house of Vaire while Arda lasts. Is there not healing of grief in Aman?' Then Manwe took pity upon Finwe, and he considered his plea, and when Mandos had spoken his doom as has been recorded,(3) Manwe called Finwe to him, and said: 'Thou hast heard the doom that has been declared. If Miriel, thy wife, will not return and releases thee, your union (4) is dissolved, and thou hast leave to take another wife.' It is said that Miriel answered Mandos, saying: 'I came hither to escape from the body, and I do not desire ever to return to it. My life is gone out into Feanaro, my son. This gift I have given to him whom I loved, and I can give no more. Beyond Arda this may be healed, but not within it.' Then Mandos adjudged her innocent, deeming that she had died under a necessity too great for her to withstand. Therefore her choice was permitted, and she was left in peace; and after ten years the doom of disunion was spoken. [In the year following >) And after three years more Finwe took as second spouse Indis the fair; and she was in all ways unlike Miriel. She was not of the Noldor, but of the Vanyar, [of the kin >) sister of Ingwe; and she was golden-haired, and tall, and exceedingly swift of foot. She laboured not with her hands, but sang and made music, and there was ever light and mirth about her while the bliss of Aman endured. She loved Finwe dearly, for her heart had turned to him long before, while the people of Ingwe dwelt still with the Noldor in Tuna.(5) In those days she had looked upon the Lord of the Noldor, dark-haired and white-browed, eager of face and thoughtful-eyed, and he seemed to her fairest and noblest among the Eldar, and his voice and mastery of words delighted her. Therefore she remained unwedded, when her people departed to Valinor, and she walked often alone in the fields and friths of the Valar, [turning her thought to things that grow untended >] filling them with music. But it came to pass that Ingwe, hearing of the strange grief of Finwe, and desiring to lift up his heart and withdraw him from vain mourning in Lorien, sent messages bidding him to leave Tuna for a while and the reminders of his loss, and to come and dwell in the light of the Trees. This message Finwe did not answer, until after the doom of Mandos was spoken; but then deeming that he must seek to build his life anew and that the bidding of Ingwe was wise, he arose and went to the house of Ingwe upon the west of Mount Oiolosse. His coming was unlooked for, but welcome; and when Indis saw Finwe climbing the paths of the mountain (and the light of Laurelin was behind him as a glory) without forethought she sang suddenly in great joy, and her voice went up as the song of a lirulin in the sky.(6) And when Finwe heard that song falling from above he looked up and saw Indis in the golden light, and he knew in that moment that she loved him and had long done so. Then his heart turned at last to her, and he believed that this chance, as it seemed, had been granted for the comfort of them both. 'Behold!' he said. 'There is indeed healing of grief in Aman!' In this way came to pass ere long the wedding of Finwe and Indis, sister of Ingwe. In Indis was proved true indeed the saying that 'the loss of one may be the gain of another.' But this also she found true: 'the house remembers the builder, though others may dwell in it after.' For Finwe loved her well, and was glad, and she bore him children in whom he rejoiced,*(7) yet the shadow of Miriel did not depart from his heart, and Feanaro had the chief share of his thought. The wedding of his father was not pleasing to Feanaro, and though it did not lessen his (* Five children she bore, three daughters and two sons, in this order: Findis, Nolofinwe, Faniel, Arafinwe, and Irime. Concerning the naming of the sons we have spoken above.) love for his father, he had little love for Indis or her children, least of all for his half-brethren. As soon as he might (and he was wellnigh fullgrown ere Nolofinwe was born) he left his father's house and lived apart from them, giving all his heart and thought to the pursuit of lore and the practice of crafts. In those unhappy things which afterward came to pass and in which Feanaro was a leader, many saw the effects of this breach in the house of Finwe, judging that if Finwe had endured his loss and been content with the fathering of his mighty son, the courses of Feanaro would have been otherwise, and much sorrow and evil would never have been. Thus it is that the cases in which remarriage of the Eldar can take place are rare, but rarer still are those who do this, even when it is permissible. For the sorrow and strife in the house of Finwe is graven in the memory of the Eldar. [It is recorded by the Eldar that the Valar found this matter of Finwe strange, and debated much concerning it. For Finwe they could not accuse of any guilt, and the Statute that had been made for Finwe and Miriel was just and reasonable. Yet it was clear that many evils would have been avoided, [if either Miriel had been less faint, or Finwe more patient >] if it had not been made, or at least had not been used. This passage was later replaced as follows:] It is recorded by the Eldar that the Valar debated long the case of Finwe and Miriel, after the Statute was made, but not yet declared. For they perceived that this was a grave matter, and a portent, in that Miriel had died even in Aman, and had brought sorrow to the Blessed Realm, things which they before had believed could not come to pass. Also, though the Statute seemed just, some feared that it would not heal the death of grief, but perpetuate it. And Manwe spoke to the Valar, saying: 'In this matter ye must not forget that you deal with Arda Marred - out of which ye brought the Eldar. Neither must ye forget that in Arda Marred Justice is not Healing. Healing cometh only by suffering and patience, and maketh no demand, not even for Justice. Justice worketh only within the bonds of things as they are, accepting the marring of Arda, and therefore though Justice is itself good and desireth no further evil, it can but perpetuate the evil that was, and doth not prevent it from the bearing of fruit in sorrow. Thus the Statute was just, but it accepted Death and the severance of Finwe and Miriel, a thing unnatural in Arda Unmarred, and therefore with reference to Arda Unmarred it was unnatural and fraught with Death. The liberty that it gave was a lower road that, if it led not still downwards, could not again ascend. But Healing must retain ever the thought of Arda Unmarred, and if it cannot ascend, must abide in patience. This is Hope which, I deem, is before all else the virtue most fair in the Children of Eru, [but cannot be commanded to come when needed: patience must often long await it.]'(8) Then Aule, friend of the Noldor [added: and lover of Feanor], spake. 'But did this matter indeed arise out of Arda Marred?' he asked. 'For it seemeth to me that it arose from the bearing of Feanaro. Now Finwe and all the Noldor that followed him were never in heart or thought swayed by [Morgoth >] Melkor, the Marrer; how then did this strange thing come to pass, even in Aman the Unshadowed? That the bearing of a child should lay such a weariness upon the mother that she desired life no longer. This child is the greatest in gifts that hath arisen or shall arise among the Eldar. But the Eldar are the first Children of Eru, and belong to him directly. Therefore the greatness of the child must proceed from his will directly, and be intended for the good of the Eldar and of all Arda. What then of the cost of the birth? Must it not be thought that the greatness and the cost come not from Arda, Marred or Unmarred, but from beyond Arda? For this we know to be true, and as the ages pass it shall often be manifest (in small matters and in great) that all the Tale of Arda was not in the Great Theme, and that things shall come to pass in that Tale which cannot be foreseen, for they are new and are not begotten by the past that preceded them.'(9) [Added: Thus Aule spake being unwilling to believe that any taint of the Shadow lay upon Feanor, or upon any of the Noldor. He had been the most eager to summon them to Valinor.](10) But Ulmo answered: 'Nonetheless Miriel died. [And is not death for the Eldar an evil, that is a thing unnatural in Arda Unmarred, which must proceed therefore from the marring? Or if the death of Miriel doth not so, but cometh from beyond Arda, how shall death that is unnatural and evil be known from that which is a new thing and hath no reason in the past, unless the latter cause neither sorrow nor doubt? But the death of Miriel has brought both into Aman. This passage was later replaced as follows:] And death is for the Eldar an evil, that is a thing unnatural in Arda Unmarred, which must proceed there- fore from the marring. For if the death of Miriel was otherwise, and came from beyond Arda (as a new thing having no cause in the past) it would not bring grief or doubt. For Eru is Lord of All, and moveth all the devices of his creatures, even the malice of the Marrer, in his final purposes, but he doth not of his prime motion impose grief upon them. But the death of Miriel has brought sorrow to Aman. / The coming of Feanaro must proceed certainly from the will of Eru; but I hold that the marring of his birth comes of the Shadow, and is a portent of evils to come. For the greatest are the most potent also for evil. Have a care, my brethren, thinking not that the Shadow is gone for ever, though it is beaten down. Doth it not dwell even now in Aman, though you deem the bonds to be unbreakable?' [For Ulmo had dissented >] Thus Ulmo spake, who had dissented from the counsels of the Valar, when they brought Melkor the Marrer to Mandos after his defeat.(11) [Added: Also he loved the Elves (and Men afterwards), but otherwise than Aule, believing that they should be left free, however perilous that might seem. Thus afterwards it was seen, that though he loved Feanor and all the Noldor more coolly, he had more mercy for their errors and misdeeds.] Then Yavanna spoke, and though she was the spouse of Aule she leaned rather to Ulmo. 'My lord Aule errs,' she said, 'in that he speaks of Finwe and Miriel as being free in heart and thought from the Shadow, as if that proved that naught that befell them could come from the Shadow or from the marring of Arda. But even as the Children are not as we (who came from beyond Arda wholly and in all our being) but are both spirit and body, and that body is of Arda and by Arda was nourished: so the Shadow worketh not only upon spirits, but has marred the very hron of Arda, and all Middle-earth is perverted by the evil of Melkor, who has wrought in it as mightily as any one among us here. Therefore none of those who awoke in Middle-earth, and there dwelt before they came hither, have come here wholly free. The failing of the strength of the body of Miriel may then be ascribed, with some reason, to the evil of Arda Marred, and her death be a thing unnatural. And that this should appear in Aman seemeth to me as to Ulmo a sign to be heeded.'(12) Then Nienna spoke, who came to Valmar seldom, but sat now upon the left hand of Manwe. 'In the use of Justice there must be Pity, which is the consideration of the singleness of each that cometh under Justice. Which of you Valar, in your wisdom, will blame these Children, Finwe and Miriel? For the Children are both strong and without might. Mandos you hold to be the strongest of all that are in Arda, being the least moved, and therefore you have dared to commit even the Marrer himself to his keeping. Yet I say to you that each fea of the Children is as strong as he; for it hath the strength of its singleness impreg- nable (which cometh to it from Eru as to us): in its nakedness it is obdurate beyond all power that ye have to move it if it will not. Yet the Children are not mighty: in life they are little, and can effect little; and they are young, and they know Time only. Their minds are as the hands of their babes, little in grasp, and even that grasp is yet unfilled. How shall they perceive the [?end] of deeds, or forgo the desires which arise from their very nature, the indwelling of the spirit in [the] body which is their right condition? Have ye known the weariness of Miriel, or felt the bereavement of Finwe? 'Miriel, I deem, died by necessity of body, in suffering [for] which she was blameless or indeed to be praised, and yet was not given power to resist it: the cost of so great a child-bearing. And herein I think that Aule perceiveth a part of the truth. The severance of the fea was in Miriel a thing special. Death is indeed death and within the Great Theme cometh from the Marrer and is grievous; but Eru in this death had a purpose of immediate good, and it need not have borne any bitter fruit; whereas Death that comes from the Marrer only is intended for evil, and its healing must await in Hope only, even until the End. But Finwe not understanding death (as how should he?) called Miriel, and she did not return, and he was bereaved, and his natural life and expectation was impaired. Justly he cried: "Is there not healing in Aman?" That cry could not be unheeded, and what could be done we have done. Wherefore should this be grudged?' But Ulmo answered her saying: 'Nay! Though I do not condemn, yet still I will judge. Herein I perceive not only the direct will of Eru, but fault in his creatures. Not guilt, yet a failing from the highest which is the Hope of which the King hath spoken. And I doubt not that the taking of the higher road, an ascent that though hard was not impossible, was part of that purpose of immediate good of which Nienna speaketh.(13) For the fea of Miriel may have departed by necessity, but it departed in the will not to return. Therein was her fault, for this will was not under compulsion irresistible; it was a failure in hope by the fea, acceptance of the weariness and weakness of the body, as a thing beyond healing, and which therefore was not healed. But this resolve entailed not only abandoning her own life, but also the desertion of her spouse, and the marring of his. The justification which she urged is insufficient; for by the gift of a child however great, nor indeed by the gift of many children, the union of marriage is not ended, having further purpose. For one thing, Feanaro will be deprived of the mother's part in his nurture. Moreover, if she would return she need bear no more, unless by the renewal of rebirth her weariness were healed. 'Thus Finwe was aggrieved and claimed justice. But when he called her and she did not return, in only a few years he fell into despair. Herein lay his fault, and failing in Hope. But also he founded his claim mainly upon his desire for children, consider- ing his own self and his loss more than the griefs that had befallen his wife: that was a failing in full love. 'The fear of the Eldar, as Nienna hath said, cannot be broken or forced,* and the motion of their will cannot therefore be predicted with certainty. Yet it seemeth to me that there was hope still that after repose in Mandos the fea of Miriel should return of itself to its nature, which is to desire to inhabit a body. This strange event should issue, rather than in dissolving their union, in the use by Finwe of the patience of full love, and the learning of Hope; and in the return of Miriel, wider in mind, and renewed in body. Thus together they might foster their great son with joined love, and his right nurture be assured. But the fea of Miriel hath not been lett in peace, and by importuning its will hath been hardened; and in that resolve it must remain without change while Arda lasteth, if the Statute is declared. Thus the impatience of Finwe will close the door of life upon the fea of his spouse. This is the greater fault. For it is more unnatural that one of the Eldar should remain for ever as fea without body than that one should remain alive wedded but bereaved. A trial was imposed upon Finwe (not by Miriel only), and he hath asked for justice, and relief.' (* By this is meant primarily the fear naked and unhoused. Living, the fear can be deluded; and they can be dominated by fear (of one of great power such as Melkor) and so enslaved. But these things are wicked and tyrannous and are done by Melkor alone among the Valar. They beget only hatred and loathing in the enslaved (which is the sign of inmost and ultimate dissent). To no good purpose can such means be used, for they render all purposes evil.) 'Nay!' said Vaire suddenly. 'The fea of Miriel is with me. I know it well, for it is small. But it is strong; proud and obdurate. It is of that sort who having said: this I will do, make their words a doom irrevocable unto themselves. She will not return to life, or to Finwe, even if he waiteth until the ageing of the world. Of this he is aware, I deem, as his words show. For he did not found his claim on his desire for children only, but he said to the King: my heart warns me that Miriel will not return while Arda lasts. Of what sort the knowledge or belief may be that he would thus express, and whence it came to him, 1 know not. But fea perceiveth fea and knoweth the disposition of the other, in marriage especially, in ways that we cannot fully understand. We cannot probe all the mystery of the nature of the Children. But if we are to speak of Justice, then Finwe's belief must be taken into account; and if, as I judge, it is well-founded, not a fantasy of his own inconstancy, but against his will and desire, we must otherwise assess the faults of these two. When one of the Queens of the Valar, Varda or Yavanna, or even I, departeth for ever from Arda, and leaveth her spouse, will he or nill he,(14) then let that spouse judge Finwe, if he will, remembering that Finwe cannot follow Miriel without doing wrong to his nature, nor without forsaking the duty and bond of his fatherhood.' When Vaire had spoken, the Valar sat long in silence, until at length Manwe spoke again. 'There is reason and wisdom in all that has been said. Truly, in the matter of the Children we approach mysteries, and the key to their full understanding was not given to us. In part the Children are indeed one, or maybe the chief, of those "new things" of which Aule hath spoken.* Yet they came into Arda Marred, and were destined to do so, and to endure the Marring, even though they came in their beginning from beyond Ea. For these "new things", manifesting the finger of Iluvatar, as we say: they may have no past in Arda and be unpredictable before they appear, yet they have there- after future operations which may be predicted, according to wisdom and knowledge, since they become at once part of Ea, and part of the past of all thar followeth. We may say, therefore, that the Elves are destined to know "death" in their mode, being (* Meaning that though they appeared in the Great Theme, they were introduced by Eru himself, not mediated by any of the Ainur; and even so they were not fully revealed to the Ainur.) sent into a world which contains "death", and having a form for which "death" is possible. For though by their prime nature, unmarred, they rightly dwell as spirit and body coherent, yet these are two things, not the same, and their severance (which is "death") is a possibility inherent in their union. 'Aule and Nienna err, I deem; for what each saith in different words meaneth this much: that Death which cometh from the Marrer may be one thing, and Death as an instrument of Eru be another thing and discernible: the one being of malice, and therefore only evil and inevitably grievous; the other, being of benevolence, intending particular and immediate good, and therefore not evil, and either not grievous or easily and swiftly to be healed. For the evil and the grief of death are in the mere severance and breach of nature, which is alike in both (or death is not their name); and both occur only in Arda Marred, and accord with its processes. 'Therefore I deem that Ulmo is to be followed rather, holding that Eru need not and would not desire as a special instrument of his benevolence a thing that is evil. Wherefore, indeed, should he intrude death as a "new thing" into a world that suffereth it already? Nonetheless, Eru is Lord of All, and will use as instru- ments of his final purposes, which are good, whatsoever any of his creatures, great or small, do or devise, in his despite or in his service. But we must hold that it is his will that those of the Eldar who serve him should not be cast down by griefs or evils that they encounter in Arda Marred; but should ascend to a strength and wisdom that they would not otherwise have achieved: that the Children of Eru should grow to be daughters and sons. 'For Arda Unmarred hath two aspects or senses. The first is the Unmarred that they discern in the Marred, if their eyes are not dimmed, and yearn for, as we yearn for the Will of Eru: this is the ground upon which Hope is built. The second is the Unmarred that shall be: that is, to speak according to Time in which they have their being, the Arda Healed, which shall be greater and more fair than the first, because of the Marring: this is the Hope that sustaineth. It cometh not only from the yearning for the Will of Iluvatar the Begetter (which by itself may lead those within Time to no more than regret), but also from trust in Eru the Lord everlasting, that he is good, and that his works shall all end in good. This the Marrer hath denied, and in this denial is the root of evil, and its end is in despair. 'Therefore, notwithstanding the words of Vaire, I abide by that which I said first. For though she speaketh not without knowledge, she uttereth opinion and not certainty. The Valar have not and must not presume certainty with regard to the wills of the Children. Nor, even were they certain in this one case concerning the fea of Miriel, would that unmake the union of love that once was between her and her spouse, or render void the judgement that constancy to it would in Finwe be a better and fairer course, more in accord with Arda Unmarred, or with the will of Eru in permitting this thing to befall him. The Statute openeth the liberty of a lower road, and accepting death, countenanceth death, and cannot heal it. If that liberty is used, the evil of the death of Miriel will continue to have power, and will bear fruit in sorrow. 'But this matter I now commit to Namo the Judge. Let him speak last! ' Then Namo Mandos spoke, saying: 'All that I have heard I have considered again; though naught pertinent to judgement hath been brought forward that was not already considered in the making of the Statute. Let the Statute stand, for it is just. 'It is our part to rule Arda, and to counsel the Children, or to command them in things committed to our authority. Therefore it is our task to deal with Arda Marred, and to declare what is just within it. We may indeed in counsel point to the higher road, but we cannot compel any free creature to walk upon it. That leadeth to tyranny, which disfigureth good and maketh it seem hateful. 'Healing by final Hope, as Manwe hath spoken of it, is a law which one can give to oneself only; of others justice alone can be demanded. A ruler who discerning justice refuseth to it the sanction of law, demanding abnegation of rights and self- sacrifice, will not drive his subjects to these virtues, virtuous only if free, but by unnaturally making justice unlawful, will drive them rather to rebellion against all law. Not by such means will Arda be healed. 'It is right, therefore, that this just Statute should be pro- claimed, and those that use it shall be blameless, whatsoever followeth after. Thus shall the Tale of the Eldar, within the Tale of Arda, be fashioned. 'Hearken now, O Valar! To me foretelling * is granted no less (* By which was meant prophecy concerning things which neither reason upon evidence, nor (for the Valar) knowledge of the Great.) than doom, and I will proclaim now to you things both near and far. Behold! Indis the fair shall be made glad and fruitful, who might else have been solitary. For not in death only hath the Shadow entered into Aman with the coming of the Children destined to suffer; there are other sorrows, even if they be less. Long she hath loved Finwe, in patience and without bitterness. Aule nameth Feanor the greatest of the Eldar, and in potency that is true. But I say unto you that the children of Indis shall also be great, and the Tale of Arda more glorious because of their coming. And from them shall spring things so fair that no tears shall dim their beauty; in whose being the Valar, and the Kindreds both of Elves and of Men that are to come shall all have part, and in whose deeds they shall rejoice. So that, long hence when all that here is, and seemeth yet fair and impreg- nable, shall nonetheless have faded and passed away, the Light of Aman shall not wholly cease among the free peoples of Arda until the End. 'When he that shall be called Earendil setteth foot upon the shores of Aman, ye shall remember my words. In that hour ye will not say that the Statute of Justice hath borne fruit only in death; and the griefs that shall come ye shall weigh in the balance, and they shall not seem too heavy compared with the rising of the light when Valinor groweth dim.' 'So be it!' said Manwe.(15) Therefore the Statute was proclaimed, and the meeting of Indis and Finwe took place, as has been told. But after a while Nienna came to Manwe, and she said: 'Lord of Aman, it is now made clear that the death of Miriel was an evil of Arda Marred, for with the coming hither of the Eldar the Shadow hath found an entrance even into Aman. Nonetheless Aman remaineth the Realm of the Valar, wherein thy will is paramount. Though the death of severance may find out the Eldar in thy realm, yet one thing cometh not to it, and shall not:* and that is deforming and decay. Behold then! The body of Miriel lieth unmarred, even as a fair house that awaiteth its mistress, who hath gone upon a journey. In this at least, Theme, could discover or swiftly perceive. Only rarely and in great matters was Mandos moved to prophecy. (* Yet after the slaying of the Trees it did so while Melkor remained there; and the body of Finwe, slain by Melkor, was withered and passed into dust, even as the Trees themselves had withered.) therefore, her death differeth from death in Middle-earth: that for the houseless fea a fair body is still ready, and rebirth is not the only gate by which it may return to life, if thou wilt grant her leave and give her thy blessing. Moreover the body has lain long now in repose in the peace of Lorien; and must not the rulers of Arda have respect even to bodies and all fair forms? Why should it lie idle and untenanted, when doubtless it would not now afflict the fea with weariness, but rejoice it with hope of doing? ' But this Mandos forbade. 'Nay,' said he, 'if Miriel were rehoused, she would be again among the Living, and Finwe would have two spouses alive in Aman. Thus would the Statute be contravened, and my Doom set at naught. And injury would be done also to Indis, who used the liberty of the Statute, but would now by its breach be deprived, for Finwe would desire to return to his former spouse.' But Nienna said to Mandos: 'Nay! Let Miriel have the joy of her body and of the use of its skills in which she delighted, and dwell not for ever remembering only her brief life before, and its ending in weariness! Can she not be removed from the Halls of Waiting, and taken into the service of Vaire? If she cometh never thence, nor seeketh to walk among the Living, why shouldst thou hold the Doom set at naught, or fear for griefs that might arise? Pity must have a part in Justice.' But Mandos was unmoved. And the body of Miriel lay at rest in Lorien, until the escape of Melkor the Marrer and the Darkening of Valinor. In that evil time Finwe was slain by the Marrer himself, and his body was burned as by lightning stroke and was destroyed. Then Miriel and Finwe met again in Mandos, and lo! Miriel was glad of the meeting, and her sadness was lightened; and the will in which she had been set was released. And when she learned of Finwe all that had befallen since her departure (for she had given no heed to it, nor asked tidings, until then) she was greatly moved; and she said to Finwe in her thought: 'I erred in leaving thee and our son, or at the least in not soon returning after brief repose; for had I done so he might have grown wiser. But the children of Indis shall redress his errors and therefore I am glad that they should have being, and Indis hath my love. How should I bear grudge against one who received what I rejected and cherished what I abandoned. Would that I might set all the Tale of our people and of thee and thy children in a tapestry of many colours, as a memorial brighter than memory! For though I am cut off now from the world, and I accept that Doom as just, I would still watch and record all that befalls those dear to me, and their offspring also. [Added: I feel again the call of my body and its skills.]' And Finwe said to Vaire: 'Dost thou hear the prayer and desire of Miriel? Why will Mandos refuse this redress of her griefs, that her being may not be void and without avail? Behold! I instead will abide with Mandos for ever, and so make amends. For surely, if I remain unhoused, and forgo life in Arda, then his Doom will be inviolate.' 'So thou may deem,' answered Vaire; 'yet Mandos is stern, and he will not readily permit a vow to be revoked. Also he will consider not only Miriel and thee, but Indis and thy children, whom thou seemest to forget, pitying now Miriel only.' 'Thou art unjust to me in thy thought,' said Finwe. 'It is unlawful to have two wives, but one may love two women, each differently, and without diminishing one love by another. Love of Indis did not drive out love of Miriel; so now pity for Miriel doth not lessen my heart's care for Indis. But Indis parted from me without death. I had not seen her for many years, and when the Marrer smote me I was alone. She hath dear children to comfort her, and her love, I deem, is now most for Ingoldo.(16) His father she may miss; but not the father of Feanaro! But above all her heart now yearns for the halls of Ingwe and the peace of the Vanyar, far from the strife of the Noldor. Little comfort should I bring her, if I returned; and the lordship of the Noldor hath passed to my sons.'(17) But when Mandos was approached he said to Finwe: 'It is well that thou desirest not to return, for this I should have forbidden, until the present griefs are long passed. But it is better still that thou hast made this offer, to deprive thyself, of thy free will, and out of pity for another. This is a counsel of healing, out of which good may grow.' Therefore when Nienna came to him and renewed her prayer for Miriel, he consented, accepting the abnegation of Finwe as her ransom. Then the fe'a of Miriel was released and came before Manwe and received his blessing; and she went then to Lorien and re-entered her body, and awoke again, as one that cometh out of a deep sleep; and she arose and her body was refreshed. But after she had stood in the twilight of Lorien a long while in thought, remembering her former life, and all the tidings that she had learned, her heart was still sad, and she had no desire to return to her own people. Therefore she went to the doors of the House of Vaire and prayed to be admitted; and this prayer was granted, although in that House none of the Living dwelt nor have others ever entered it in the body.(18) But Miriel was accepted by Vaire and became her chief handmaid; and all tidings of the Noldor down the years from their beginning were brought to her, and she wove them in webs historial, so fair and skilled that they seemed to live, imperishable, shining with a light of many hues fairer than are known in Middle-earth. This labour Finwe is at times permitted to look upon. And still she is at work, though her name has been changed. For now she is named Firiel,* which to the Eldar signifies 'She that died',(19) and also 'She that sighed'. As fair as the webs of Firiel is praise that is given seldom even to works of the Eldar. * For before the passing of Miriel the Eldar of Valinor had no word for 'dying' in this manner, though they had words for being destroyed (in body) or being slain. But fire' meant to 'expire', as of one sighing or releasing a deep breath; and at the passing of Miriel she had sighed a great sigh, and then lay still; and those who stood by said firie, 'she hath breathed forth'. This word the Eldar afterwards used of the death of Men. But though this sigh they take to be a symbol of release, and the ceasing of the body's life, the Eldar do not confound the breath of the body with the spirit. This they call, as hath been seen, fea or faire', of which the ancient significance seems to be rather 'radiance'. For though the fea in itself is not visible to bodily eyes, it is in light that the Eldar find the most fitting symbol in bodily terms of the indwelling spirit, 'the light of the house' or coacalina as they also name it. And those in whom the fea is strong and untainted, they say, appear even to mortal eyes to shine at times translucent (albeit faintly), as though a lamp burned within. At the end of the manuscript of Laws and Customs among the Eldar are several pages of roughly written 'Notes', and I append here a portion of this material. (i) This debate of the Valar not wholly feigned. For the Eldar were permitted to attend all conclaves, and many did so (especially those that so deeply concerned them, their fate, and their place in Arda, as did this matter). Reference is made to things that had not at that time happened (is it ..... prophecy?), but that is partly due to later commentators. For the 'Statute of Finwe and Miriel' was among the documents of lore most deeply studied and pondered. And as has been seen many questions and answers arising were appended. [?Thus] questions were also asked concerning the fate and death of Men. All [?read Also] concerning other 'speaking', and therefore 'reasonable', kinds: Ents, Dwarves, Trolls, Orcs - and the speaking of beasts such as Huan, or the Great Eagles. Later my father commented against the beginning of this note that the Eldar would not be present at this debate ('certainly not Finwe!'), and that the Yalar would have informed the loremasters of the Eldar concerning it. (ii) [The] 'Fate of Men' was also later discussed by the Eldar, when they had met Men and knew them. But they had little evidence, and therefore did not know or assert, but 'supposed' or 'guessed'. One such supposition was that Elves and Men will become one people. Another is that some Men, if they desire it, will be permitted to join the Elves in New Arda, or to visit them there - though it will not be the home of Men. The most widely held supposition is that the fate of Men is wholly different, and that they will not be concerned with Arda at all. At the end of this note my father wrote subsequently: 'But see full treatment of this later in Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth.' This work constitutes Part Four in this book. (iii) Fate of 'Immortal' Elves: ? to inhabit New Arda (or Arda Healed). Probably not, in a physical sense. Since what is meant by 'The Tale of Arda' seems to be this. The World and its Time appears to begin and end simply because it is bounded, neither infinite nor eternal. Its finite 'story' when complete will be, like a work of art, beautiful and good (as a whole), and from outside, sc. not in Time or its Time, it can be contemplated with wonder and delight - especially by those who have taken part in its 'Tale'. Only in that sense will Elves (or Men) inhabit Arda Complete. But New Arda' or Arda Unmarred (Healed) would imply a continuance, beyond the End (or Completion). Of that nothing can be surmised. Unless it be this. Since the Elves (and Men) were made for Arda, the satisfaction of their nature will require Arda (without the malice of the Marrer): therefore before the Ending the Marring will be wholly undone or healed (or absorbed into good, beauty, and joy). In that region of Time and Place the Elves will dwell as their home, but not be confined to it. But no blessed spirits from what is still to us the future can intrude into our own periods of Time. For to contemplate the Tale of Arda the Blessed must (in spirit or whole being) leave the Time of Arda. But others use another analogy, saying that there will indeed be a New Arda, rebuilt from the beginning without Malice, and that the Elves will take part in this from the beginning. It will be in Ea, say they - for they hold that all Creation of any sort must be in Ea, proceeding from Eru in the same way, and therefore being of the same Order. They do not believe in contemporaneous non-contiguous worlds except as an amusing fantasy of the mind. They are (say they) either altogether unknowable, even as to whether they are or are not, or else if there are any intersections (however rare) they are only provinces of one Ea. At the head of the page on which this note stands my father wrote: 'But see Athrabeth': see (ii) above. NOTES. [These notes refer to the part of the text of Laws and Customs among the Eldar given from the manuscript A, pp. 233 ff.] 1. The spelling Feanaro is found also in the first text of the tale, FM 1 (see p. 206, footnote). The name is variously written subsequently in A (Feanaro, Feanaro, Feanaro). 2. For the form Lorien with short vowel see p. 56 note 2 and p. 148, $3. 3. For the doom of Mandos (the 'Statute of Finwe and Miriel') in this work see pp. 225 - 6. In FM 1 the doom, in its earliest expression, is given at this point in the story (pp. 206 - 7). 4. your union: your is plural, and not inconsistent with thy, thee, thou in the same sentence. 5. in Tuna: see p. 193, $52, and p. 282. 6. My father first wrote 'an aimenel' (> aimenal), but changed it immediately to 'a lirulin', writing 'lark' in the margin. 7. The reference in the footnote here is to the passage in A (omitted in B) which is given in note 22 on p. 230. As in that passage the name Nolofinwe' is written with a tilde over the N. The order of the names of the daughters of Finwe and Indis are as in the emended text of FM 1, p. 207. See further p. 262 and note 10. 8. The brackets are in the original. 9. Cf. the Ainulindale $13 (p. 11): Yet some things there are that [the Ainur] cannot see ...; for to none but himself has Iluvatar revealed all that he has in store, and in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not spring from the past.' 10. It is not told elsewhere that Aule was the most eager among the Valar that the Elves should be summoned to Valinor. Cf. what is said earlier in Laws and Customs (p. 219, found in both texts, but not elsewhere) concerning the motive of the Valar in bringing the Elves to Aman. 11. As with the reference to Aule mentioned in note 10, it is not told elsewhere that Ulmo dissented from the decision of the Valar to bring Melkor to Mandos. Cf. the passage in the first text of the Valaquenta, lost in the final form: '[Ulmo's] counsels grew ever away from the mind of Manwe' (p. 202). 12. At this point there originally followed: 'Then when others had spoken Manwe answered: 'There is reason in all that hath been said...' Manwe's speech was apparently abandoned after a few lines, and the speeches of Nienna, Ulmo, and Vaire introduced; after which Manwe's speech reappears (p. 244). 13. This sentence ('And I doubt not...') was subsequently placed in brackets. 14. nill is the old negative verb 'will not': thus 'will he or nill he' means 'whether he wills it or wills it not' (surviving as willy- nilly). 15. The text stops here, not at the foot of a page. It takes up again on a new sheet, in a rougher script that continues to the end of the work; but my father paginated this further text continuously with the preceding. 16. Ingoldo: the mother-name of Fingolfin (p. 230 note 22). 17. In the account of the marriage of Finwe and Indis in the present work (p. 238) there is no mention of this estrangement, or at least separation. In the final work on Chapter 6 of the Quenta Silmarillion, however, it is implied that Indis did not depart with Finwe to Formenos, because it is told that Feanor's wife Nerdanel would not go with him into banishment and 'asked leave to abide with Indis' (p. 279, $53d). 18. On Miriel's entry into the House of Vaire see p. 263 note 9. 19. Firiel: see the Etymologies in Vol.V, p. 381, stem PHIR. * LATER VERSIONS OF THE STORY OF FINWE AND MIRIEL IN THE QUENTA SILMARILLION. The next version of the story was a short typescript derived closely for the most part from that in Laws and Customs among the Eldar (pp. 236 - 9)., it is entitled Of Finwe and Miriel, and begins: Finwe, first lord of the Noldor, had to wife Miriel, who was called the Serinde...' (cf. p. 236). There is no indication that it was intended to stand in the text of the Quenta Silmarillion, but there can scarcely be any question that my father did so intend it; I will refer to it therefore as 'FM 2'. The most important divergence in FM 2 from the text in Laws and Customs is at the words (p. 237): 'Then Manwe took pity upon Finwe, and he considered his plea, and when Mandos had spoken his doom as has been recorded, Manwe called Finwe to him...' For the purpose of the inclusion of the story in the narrative of the Quenta Silmarillion the judgement of Mandos had obviously to be given at this point (as it had been in the original version, FM 1, p. 206); and in FM 2 the judgement was preceded by a reference to the Debate of the Valar and some indication of the nature of their concern. The word 'Statute' is used here in a wider and a narrower sense: as a name for the record made by the Eldar of all matters relevant to the judgement of Mandos, as well as the title of the actual judgement. Then Manwe was moved with pity for Finwe, and he considered his plea. But because this seemed to him a great matter and not lightly to be judged, he summoned the Valar in Council. Of the long debate that they held the Elves wrote a record, for their chieftains were permitted to be present.(1) This was called 'The Statute of Finwe and Miriel' and was preserved among the chief of their books of law; for in the debate, before the Statute was at last established by the doom of Namo Mandos, many matters concerning the Eldar, their fate in Arda, their death and re-birth and the nature of their marriage, were examined and judged. And the Valar were greatly concerned to see that all their labour for the guarding of Valinor was of no avail, to keep out evil and the shadow of Melkor, if any thing, living or unliving, was brought thither out of Middle-earth and left free or unguarded; and they perceived at last how great was the power of Melkor in Arda, in the making of which as it was * (* Arda Hastaina, or 'Arda Marred', as they named it. For Arda, or in full Arda Alahasta, the 'Unmarred', they named the thought which they had, each severally, or as a Council under Manwe, of that Arda in) which Melkor had no part. his part was such that all things, save in Aman alone, had an inclination to evil and to perversion from their right forms and courses. Wherefore those whose being began in Arda, and who moreover were by nature a union of spirit and body, drawing the sustenance of the latter from Arda Marred, must ever be, in some degree, liable to grief, to do or to suffer things unnatural; and though dwelling in Aman might be a guard against this evil, it was not a full cure, unless in long ages. And with this thought a shadow passed over the hearts of the Valar, even in the noon-tide of the Blessed Realm, presage of the sorrows which the Children should bring into the world. Now this was the doom of Namo in this case, and in all cases where a marriage of the Eldar might be sundered by the death of one only of the partners. 'Marriage among the Eldar is by and for the Living...' The doom of Mandos in FM 2 differs from the form in Laws and Customs (pp. 225 - 6) only in detail of expression and not at all in substance, except for some expansion at the very end. '... For it must be clearly understood that, when this will not to return has been solemnly declared and ratified by Mandos, then the living partner may take another spouse lawfully. For it is contrary to the nature of the Eldar to live unwedded, and the Dead may not compel the Living to remain solitary against their will. If therefore the Living take another partner, the will of the Dead shall not be revoked, but shall be a doom of Mandos. For he will permit none of the Eldar to walk alive in the body who has two spouses living also.' This in brief was the Doom of Mandos, that was after called the Statute of Finwe and Miriel. And when Mandos had spoken as the Mouth of Manwe, the Eldar that heard him asked: 'How shall the will or doom be known?'; and it was answered: 'Only by recourse to Manwe and the pronouncement of Mandos. In this matter it shall not be lawful for any of the Eldar to judge his own case. For who among the Living can discover the thoughts of the Dead or presume the judgements of Mandos?' Then Manwe called Finwe to him... Other divergences from the text of Laws and Customs in FM 2 were taken up into the final text (FM 4), which is given in full on pp. 256 ff., and need not be set out here, or if lost from the final text are given in the notes to it. FM 2 was followed by a further typescript, 'FM 3', made on a different machine (see p. 300). This is expressly a chapter of the Quenta Silmarillion, with the title as typed Of Feanor and the Darkening of Valinor, changed later to Of Finwe and Miriel. This version was a good deal reduced by omissions, and my father evidently found it unsatisfactory, for he went on to make a further and much more substantial version, 'FM 4', with which the textual history of the story of Finwe and Miriel comes to an end. It is clear that when making FM 3 and FM 4 he had the preceding texts in front of him, and that he selected variously from them as he sought to achieve a satisfactory form. To set out all the detail of this development would take much space but serve little purpose, since very little was in fact omitted from the final, 're-expanded' text FM 4; and I give this text here in full. FM 4 has a general heading Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor, with a subtitle Of Finwe and Miriel (the typescript then continues with further 'sub-chapters', to which however my father subsequently gave numbers as chapters in their own right: see p. 299). The paragraph numbers provided for reference do not relate to any numbers previously used, since after the opening the text is entirely different; for the 'LQ' (1951) version of the opening of the chapter see pp. 184 - 5, $$46, 46a - b. OF THE SILMARILS AND THE DARKENING OF VALINOR. OF FINWE AND MIRIEL. $1 Now the three kindreds of the Eldar were gathered at last in Valinor, and Melkor was chained. This was the Noontide of the Blessed Realm, the fullness of its glory and bliss, long in tale of years, but in memory too brief. In those days the Eldar became full-grown in stature of body and of mind, and the Noldor advanced ever in skill and knowledge; and the long years were filled with their joyful labours, in which many new things fair and wonderful were devised. It was in this time that the Noldor first made letters, and Rumil of Tuna was the name of the lore-master who first achieved fitting signs for the recording of speech and song, some for graving upon metal or in stone, others for drawing with brush or with pen. $2 It came to pass that in Eldamar, in the house of the King in Tirion, there was born the eldest of the sons of Finwe, and the most beloved, Kurufinwe was his name, but by his mother he was called Feanor,* Spirit of Fire, by which title he is remem- bered in all the tales of the Noldor. $3 Miriel was the name of his mother. Her hair was like silver; and she was slender as a white flower in the grass. Soft and sweet was her voice, and she sang as she worked, like rippling water, in music without words. For her hands were more skilled to make things fine and delicate than any other hands even among the Noldor. By her the craft of needles was devised; and if but one fragment of the broideries of Miriel were seen in Middle-earth it would be held dearer than a king's realm; for the richness of her devices and the fire of their colours were as manifold and as bright as the wealth of leaf and flower and wing in the fields of Yavanna. Therefore she was called Serinde.+ $4 The love of Finwe and Miriel was great and full of joy, for it began in the Blessed Realm and in days of mirth. But in the bearing of her son she was consumed in spirit and body, so that almost all strength seemed to have passed from her; and when she had named him (2) she said to Finwe: 'Never again shall I bear a child, for strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Feanor.' $5 Finwe was greatly grieved, for the Noldor were in the youth of their days, but were still few in number, and he desired to bring forth many children into the bliss of Aman. He said therefore: 'Surely there is healing in Aman? Here all weariness can find rest.' $6 But when Miriel still languished, Finwe sought the counsel of Manwe, and Manwe delivered her to the care of Irmo in Lorien.(3) At their parting (for a little while as he thought) Finwe was sad, for it seemed an unhappy chance that the mother should depart and miss the beginning at least of the childhood days of her son. $7 'Unhappy it is indeed,' said Miriel, 'and I would weep, if I were not so weary. But hold me blameless in this, and in all that may come after. Rest now I must. Farewell, dear lord!' $8 She spoke no clearer than this at that time, but in her heart she yearned not only for sleep and rest but release from (* [footnote to the text] Feanaro in the form of the speech of those days.) (+ [footnote to the text] Miriel Serinde: that is Byrde Miriel (Miriel the Broideress): quoth AElfwine.) the labour of living. She went then to Lorien and laid her down to sleep beneath a silver tree; but though she seemed to sleep, her spirit indeed departed from her body and passed in silence to the keeping of Mandos, and abode in the house of Vaire.(4) The maidens of Este tended her fair body so that it remained unwithered, but she did not return. $9 Finwe lived in sorrow; and he went often to the gardens of Lorien, and sitting beneath the silver willows beside the body of his wife he called her by her names. But it was of no avail, and Finwe alone in all the Blessed Realm was bereaved of joy. After a while he went to Lorien no more, for it increased his grief to see the fair form of Miriel that would not hear his call. All his love he gave now to his son; for Feanor in childhood was like his mother in voice and countenance, and Finwe was to him both father and mother and there was a double bond of love upon them. $10 Yet Finwe was not content, being young and eager; and he still desired to have more children to bring mirth into his house. When, therefore, twelve years had passed he went again to Manwe. 'My Lord,' he said, 'behold! I am bereaved. Alone among the Eldar I have no wife, and must hope for no sons save one, and for no daughter. Whereas Ingwe and Olwe beget many children in the bliss of Aman. Must I remain ever so? For my heart warns me that Miriel will not return again ever from the house of Vaire.' $11 Then Manwe was moved with pity for Finwe; but because this seemed to him a great matter, and the coming of death (albeit of free will) into the Blessed Realm a grave portent not lightly to be judged, he summoned the Valar in Council, and bade the chieftains and loremasters of the Eldar also to be present. Of the long debate of the Valar the Eldar wrote a record. This they called Namna Finwe Miriello, the Statute of Finwe and Miriel,(5) and it was preserved among the books of their Law; for in the debate many matters concerning the Eldar, their fate in Arda, and their death and re-birth, were examined and judged. For the Valar were greatly concerned to see that their labour for the guarding of Valinor was unavailing, if any thing, living or unliving, was brought thither out of Middle- earth, and they perceived now more clearly how great was the hurt that Melkor of old had done to the substance of Arda, so that all those who were incarnate and drew the sustenance of their bodies from Arda Marred, must ever be liable to grief, to do or to suffer things unnatural in Arda Unmarred. And this marring could not now be wholly undone, not even by Melkor repentant; for power had gone forth from him and could not be recalled, but would continue to work according to the will that had set it in motion. And with this thought a shadow passed over the hearts of the Valar, presage of the sorrows which the Children should bring into the world. $12 But when all was said, Manwe commanded Mandos to speak and announce his judgement. Then Mandos stood upon the Doom-hill and said: 'It is the way of Life that Iluvatar hath ordained for you, his children, as ye know well, that the life of the Quendi shall not end until the end of Arda; and that they shall take each one spouse only and have no other in their life, while Arda endureth. But herein no account is taken of Death, which cometh from the marring of Arda. This doom is, therefore, now made by the right of lawgiving that Iluvatar committed to Manwe. When the spirit of a spouse, husband or wife, shall for any cause pass into the keeping of Mandos, then the living may be permitted lawfully to take another spouse, if the former union be dissolved for ever. $13 'How shall a marriage be ended for ever? By the will of the Dead, or by the doom of Mandos. By the will of the Dead, if they refuse ever to return to the life of the body; by the doom of Mandos, if he will not permit them to return. For a union that was for the life of Arda is ended, if it cannot be resumed within the life of Arda. $14 'We say "by the will of the Dead", for it would be unjust that the Living should for their own purposes confine the Dead in Mandos, denying to them all hope of return. It is also unjust that the Dead by refusal of life should compel the Living to remain solitary until the End; and therefore we have declared that in such case the Living may take another spouse. But understand well that if this be done, then the refusal of life by the Dead shall be irrevocable, and they shall never again return to life in the body. For none among the Quendi shall have two spouses at one time awake and alive. 'This is the doom of Namo Mandos in this matter.' $15 When Mandos had spoken thus, the Eldar who were present asked'. 'How then shall the will or the doom be known?' It was answered: 'Only by recourse to Manwe, and by the pronouncement of Mandos. For who among the Living can discover the will of the Dead, or presume the judgements of Mandos?' $16 Then Manwe called Finwe to him, and said: 'Thou hast heard the doom that has been declared. If Miriel, thy wife, will not return, your (6) marriage is ended, and thou hast leave to take another wife. But this is permission, not counsel. For the severance cometh from the marring of Arda; and those who accept this permission accept the marring, whereas the bereaved who remain steadfast belong in spirit and will to Arda Unmar- red. This is a grave matter upon which the fate of many may depend. Be not in haste!' $17 Finwe answered: 'I am in no haste, My Lord, and my heart has no desire, save the hope that when this doom is made clear to Miriel, she may yet relent and set a term to my bereavement.' $18 Vaire with whom Miriel dwelt made known to her the doom,(7) and spoke also of the sorrow of Finwe. But Miriel answered: 'I came hither to escape from the body, and I do not desire ever to return to it, My life has gone out into Feanor, my son. That gift I have given to him whom I loved. I can give no more. Beyond Arda this may be healed, but not within it.' $19 Then Vaire said to Mandos: 'The spirit of Miriel hath dwelt with me, and I know it. It is small, but it is strong and obdurate: one of those who having said this will I do make their words a law irrevocable unto themselves. Unless constrained, she will not return to life or to Finwe, not though he should wait until the ageing of the world.'(8) $20 But Mandos said: It is not lawful for the Valar to constrain the Dead to return'; and he summoned the spirit of Miriel to appear before him. 'Thy will must rule in this matter, spirit of Miriel, once wife of Finwe,' he said. 'In Mandos thou shalt abide. But take heed! Thou art of the Quendi, and even if thou refuse the body, thou must remain in Arda and within the time of its history. The Eldar are not as the Valar. Their spirits are less strong to stand than thou deemest. Do not wonder, then, if thy will should change in time, and this doom which thou takest upon thyself become grievous to thee. Yea, and to many others!' $21 But the spirit of Miriel remained silent. Mandos there- fore accepted her choice, and she went then to the Halls of Waiting appointed to the Eldar and was left in peace.*(9) Nonetheless Mandos declared that a space of twelve years should pass between the declaration of the will of the Dead and the pronouncement of the doom of disunion. $22 During that time Feanor dwelt in the care of his father. Soon he began to show forth the skills in hand and mind of both Finwe and Miriel. As he grew from childhood he became ever more like Finwe in stature and countenance, but in mood he resembled Miriel rather. His will was strong and determined, and he pursued all his purposes both eagerly and steadfastly. Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force. $23 It came to pass that after three years more Finwe took as second wife Indis the fair. She was in all ways unlike Miriel. She was not of the Noldor but of the Vanyar, being the sister of Ingwe; and she was golden-haired and tall and exceedingly swift of foot. She did not labour with her hands, but made music and wove words into song; and there was ever light and mirth about her while the bliss of Aman lasted. $24 She loved Finwe dearly; for her heart had turned to him long before, while the Vanyar still dwelt with the Noldor in Tuna. In those days she had looked upon the Lord of the Noldor, and he seemed to her fairest and noblest of the Eldar, dark-haired and white of brow, eager of face but with eyes full of thought; and his voice and mastery of words delighted her. Therefore she remained unwedded when her people removed to Valinor, and she walked often alone in the friths and fields of the Valar, filling them with music. $25 Now Ingwe, hearing of the strange grief of Finwe, and desiring to lift up his heart and withdraw him from vain mourning in Lorien, had sent messages bidding him to leave Tuna for a while, and to come and dwell for a season in the full light of the Trees. Finwe thanked him but did not go, while there was yet hope that Miriel would return. But when the doom of Mandos was spoken, it came into his heart that he must seek to build his life anew. 'Maybe, there is healing in the light of Laurelin and hope in the blossom of Telperion,' he said. 'I will take the counsel of Ingwe.' (* [footnote to the text] But it is said that after a time she was permitted to return to the house of Vaire, and there it was her part to record in web and broidery all the histories of the Kin of Finwe and the deeds of the Noldor.) $26 Therefore one day, when Feanor was far abroad walk- ing in the mountains in the strength of his youth, Finwe arose and went forth from Tuna alone, and he passed through the Kalakiryan, and went towards the house of Ingwe upon the west slopes of Oiolosse. His coming was unheralded and un- foreseen; and when Indis saw Finwe climbing the paths of the Mountain, and the light of Laurelin was behind him as a glory, without forethought she sang suddenly in great joy, and her voice went up as a song of the lirulin * in the sky. Then Finwe heard that song falling from above, and he looked up and saw Indis in the golden light, and he knew in that moment that she loved him and had long done so. Then his heart turned at last to her; and he believed that this chance, as it seemed, had been granted for the comfort of them both. 'Behold!' he said. 'There is indeed healing of grief in Aman!' $27 In one year from their meeting upon the Mountain Finwe, King of the Noldor, wedded Indis, sister of Ingwe; and the Vanyar and Noldor for the most part rejoiced. In Indis was first proved true the saying: The loss of one may be the gain of another; but this saying also she found true: The house remembers the builder, though others may dwell in it after. For Finwe loved her dearly, and was glad again; and she bore him five children whom he loved;+(10) yet the shadow of Miriel did not depart from the house of Finwe, nor from his heart; and of all whom he loved Feanor had ever the chief share of his thought. $28 The wedding of the father was not pleasing to Feanor; and though it did not lessen the love between them, Feanor had no great love for Indis or her children. As soon as he might he lived apart from them, exploring the land of Aman, or busying himself with the lore and the crafts in which he delighted. In those unhappy things which later came to pass, and in which Feanor was the leader, many saw the effect of this breach in the house of Finwe, judging that if Finwe had endured his loss and had been content with the fathering of his mighty son, the courses of Feanor would have been otherwise, and great sorrow and evil might have been prevented. Yet the children of Indis (* [footnote to the text] The lark.) (+ [footnote to the text] Findis, Fingolfin, Finvain, [Finarphin >] Finarfin and Faniel: three daughters, and two sons (Fingolfin and Finarfin).) were great and glorious, and their children also; and if they had not lived, the history of the Eldar would have been the poorer." NOTES. 1. See Note (i) following Laws and Customs and my father's comment on it, pp. 250 - 1. 2. In FM 2 it is said, following Laws and Customs p. 236, that Miriel gave the name Feanaro to her son 'at birth', and at this point a long footnote is added on the subject of name-giving: According to the custom of the Eldar. In addition to their 'true names', which were their father-name and their chosen name, they often received other or 'added names'. Of these the most important were the mother-names. Mothers often gave to their children special names of their own choosing, the most notable of which were 'names of insight'. In the hour of birth, or on some other occasion of moment, a mother might give to her child a name that referred to dominant features of its nature as she perceived it, or that came of foresight and referred to its special fate. Names of this kind might become more widely used than the father-name (which was often only the name of the father repeated or modified); and if the child adopted a mother-name as a 'chosen name', then it became also a 'true name'. Curufinwe took Feanaro as his chosen name. Feanor is the form that this name took in the later speech of the Exiled Noldor. This represents an extreme compression of the section on Naming in Laws and Customs, pp. 214 ff. 3. Lorien was still the form in Laws and Customs and in the texts FM 2 and FM 3; in the present text FM 4 my father typed Lorien, but then altered it back to Lorien. 4. and abode in the house of Vaire': these words first appear in the present text; see note 9. 5. On the application of the term 'Statute' here see p. 254. 6. See p. 252, note 4. 7. FM 2 as typed had here, expanding the passage in Laws and Customs, p. 237: 'But Mandos summoned Miriel, and made known to her the Doom ...' This was later emended to read: 'Vaire, with whom Miriel dwelt, made known to her the Doom...' 8. These words of Vaire's are derived from her intervention in the Debate of the Valar in Laws and Customs, p. 244. 9. The footnote at this point is derived from Laws and Customs (pp. 249 - 50), although Miriel's entry into the house of Vaire stands there at the end of a long account recording the coming of Finwe to the halls of Mandos, his renunciation of re-birth, and the re-entry of the fea of Miriel into her body that still lay in Lorien. In FM 2 there is no mention of Miriel after the words 'she went then to the Halls of Waiting appointed to the Eldar and was left in peace.' In FM 3 the text at this point is very compressed, and reads (in place of FM 4 $$18 - 23, all of which is present in FM 2 apart from the present footnote): ... 'I came hither to escape from the body, and I will not return to it'; and after ten years had passed the doom of disunion was spoken. And Miriel has dwelt ever since in the house of Vaire, and it is her part to record there the histories of the Kin of Finwe and all the deeds of the Noldor. It came to pass that after three more years Finwe took as second wife Indis the Fair... These texts are thus altogether inconsistent on the subject of the ultimate fate of Miriel. In particular the references to the House of Vaire are confusing. It was told in AAm (p. 49, $3) that 'Vaire the Weaver dwells with Mandos', and the same is implied in QS $6 (V.205, retained almost unchanged in the Valaquenta): 'Vaire the weaver is his wife, who weaves all things that have been in time in her storied webs, and the halls of Mandos... are clothed therewith.' In Laws and Customs (p. 236) the spirit of Miriel departed from her body in Lorien 'and passed in silence to the halls of Mandos', and Finwe said to Manwe 'my heart warns me that Miriel will not return again from the house of Vaire'; in the debate of the Valar before the proclamation of the 'Statute' Vaire said that 'the fea of Miriel is with me' (p. 244). But afterwards Nienna asked of Mandos that Miriel should be 'removed from the Halls of Waiting, and taken into the service of Vaire' (p. 248); this was refused, and when Finwe was slain their fear encountered each other 'in Mandos'. Thereafter the fea of Miriel was 'released', and re-united with her body 'she went to the doors of the House of Vaire and prayed to be admitted; and this prayer was granted, although in that House none of the Living dwelt nor have others ever entered it in the body.' Thus within the same text 'the house of Vaire' is both equated with 'the halls of Mandos' and distinguished from them. In FM 4 ($8) the spirit of Miriel 'passed in silence to the keeping of Mandos, and abode in the house of Vaire' (see note 4 above); and in $18 'Vaire with whom Miriel dwelt made known to her the doom.' After Miriel's refusal of return 'she went then to the Halls of Waiting appointed to the Eldar and was left in peace' ($21), but (according to the footnote to this paragraph) 'after a time she was permitted to return to the house of Vaire.' Thus in this final text it seems certain that Vaire in some sense dwelt apart. Very curiously, my father subsequently bracketed the footnote and wrote against it 'Omit', commenting beside it: 'Alter this. What happened when Finwe came to Mandos?' Yet he had already answered this question very fully in Laws and Customs, where indeed it was the very fact of the coming of Finwe to the halls of Mandos that led to the release of Miriel and her admission to the house of Vaire. 10. In FM 2 the footnote on the names of the children of Indis read thus: Three daughters and two sons, in this order: Findis, Nolofinwe, Faniel, Arafinwe, and frime. The mother-name of Nolofinwe was Ingoldo, signifying that he came of both the kin of the Ingar and of the Noldor. The mother-name of Arafinwe was Ingalaure, for he had the golden hair of his mother's people, and that endured in his line afterwards. This was derived from a passage in the A-text of Laws and Customs (p. 230 note 22) which was omitted in B; in that however the daughters were not mentioned. The name Irime (for later Finvain) goes back to the original text FM 1 (p. 207). In the note in FM 3 the names are as in FM 4, but those of the sons are spelt Fingolphin and Finarphin, and this comment is added: 'These names are given in the forms of the later tongue in Middle-earth (save Findis and Faniel who did not leave Valinor).' In a very late essay (1968 or later; referred to in IV.174) my father said that the mother-name of Finrod Felagund was Ingoldo, but he gave to it a wholly different significance. The term Ingar ('people of Ingwe') occurring in Laws and Customs text A (p. 230 note 22) and here, has not been found before. 11. FM 2 ends differently after 'might have been prevented': Thus it is that the cases in which the Eldar can marry again or desire to do so are rare; and rarer still are those who do this even when it is lawful; for the sorrow and strife in the house of Finwe are graven in the memory of the Noldor Elves. This derives from Laws and Customs, p. 239. In FM 3 the conclusion is as in FM 4, but after 'and great sorrow and evil might have been prevented it continues: But this judgement was but a guess. Certain it is that the children of Indis were great and glorious ...' The later ending derives in its thought from the prophecy of Mandos in Laws and Customs (p. 247) at the final proclamation of the 'Statute of Finwe and Miriel'. A note on certain conceptions in the story of Finwe and Miriel The nature of Elvish 'immortality' and 'death' had been stated very long before in The Book of Lost Tales (1.76): Thither [i.e. to Mandos] in after days fared the Elves of all the clans who were by illhap slain with weapons or did die of grief for those that were slain - and only so might the Eldar die, and then it was only for a while. There Mandos spake their doom, and there they waited in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until such time as he appointed when they might again be born into their children, and go forth to laugh and sing again. And in the original Music of the Ainur (1.59) it is said of the Elves that 'dying they are reborn in their children, so that their number minishes not, nor grows.' In the Quenta (IV.100, deriving from the 'Sketch of the Mythology', IV.21) the idea of rebirth is qualified: Immortal were the Elves, and their wisdom waxed and grew from age to age, and no sickness or pestilence brought them death. But they could be slain with weapons in those days, even by mortal Men, and some waned and wasted with sorrow till they faded from the earth. Slain or fading their spirits went back to the halls of Mandos to wait a thousand years, or the pleasure of Mandos according to their deserts, before they were recalled to free life in Valinor, or were reborn, it is said, into their own children. In QS the corresponding passage ($85, V.246) was much enlarged: Immortal were the Elves, and their wisdom waxed from age to age, and no sickness nor pestilence brought death to them. Yet their bodies were of the stuff of earth and could be destroyed, and in those days they were more like to the bodies of Men, and to the earth, since they had not so long been inhabited by the fire of the spirit, which consumeth them from within in the courses of time. Therefore they could perish in the tumults of the world, and stone and water had power over them, and they could be slain with weapons in those days, even by mortal Men. And outside Valinor they tasted bitter grief, and some wasted and waned with sorrow, until they faded from the earth. Such was the measure of their mortality foretold in the Doom of Mandos spoken in Eruman. But if they were slain or wasted with grief, they died not from the earth, and their spirits went back to the halls of Mandos, and there waited, days or years, even a thousand, according to the will of Mandos and their deserts. Thence they are recalled at length to freedom, either as spirits, taking form according to their own thought, as the lesser folk of the divine race; or else, it is said, they are at times re-born into their own children, and the ancient wisdom of their race does not perish or grow less. At the end of the Ainulindale it is said (I cite the final text D, p. 37, but the passage goes back almost unchanged to the pre-Lord of the Rings version, V.163): For the Eldar die not till the world dies, unless they are slain or waste in grief (and to both these seeming deaths they are subject); neither does age subdue their strength, unless one grow weary of ten thousand centuries; and dying they are gathered in the halls of Mandos in Valinor, whence often they return and are reborn among their children. And in the Doom of the Noldor as it appears in AAm ($154, p. 117) it was declared: 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. The meaning of this, I feel sure, is: It is contrary indeed to the 'right nature' of the Elves that they should die, but nonetheless death may come to them. The testimony of all these passages (and others not cited), early and late, is that Elvish 'death' (or 'seeming death', in the words of the Ainulindale') was always a possible fate, deriving from their nature as incarnate beings. But there is a constant threat of ambiguity imposed by the words that must be used. The Elves cannot 'die' in the sense that Men 'die', since Men (by the Gift of Iluvatar) depart from the 'world' never to return, whereas the Elves cannot depart from it so long as it lasts. In the legend of Beren and Luthien Mandos offered her a choice: and the doom that she chose was that the destiny decreed by her nature should be changed. 'So it was that alone of the Eldalie she has died indeed, and left the world long ago' (The Silmarillion p. 187). But the Elves can nonetheless suffer the severance of spirit from body, which is 'death'. Thus it may be said that the essential distinction between the (possible) death of Elves and the (inevitable) death of Men is a difference of destiny after death. See V.304; and cf. Laws and Customs, p. 218: 'From their beginnings the chief difference between Elves and Men lay in the fate and nature of their spirits. The fear of the Elves were destined to dwell in Arda for all the life of Arda, and the death of the flesh did not abrogate that destiny.' In a draft for a letter written in October 1958 (see p. 300) my father discussed the meaning of the 'immortality' of the Elves (Letters no. 212): In this mythical 'prehistory' immortality, strictly longevity co- extensive with the life of Arda, was part of the given nature of the Elves; beyond the End nothing was revealed. Mortality, that is a short life-span having no relation to the life of Arda, is spoken of as the given nature of Men... In the Elvish legends there is record of a strange case of an Elf (Miriel mother of Feanor) that tried to die, which had disastrous results, leading to the 'Fall' of the High-elves. The Elves were not subject to disease, but they could be 'slain': that is their bodies could be destroyed, or mutilated so as to be unfit to sustain life. But this did not lead naturally to 'death': they were rehabilitated and reborn and eventually recovered memory of all their past: they remained 'identical'. But Miriel wished to abandon being, and refused rebirth. 'But Miriel wished to abandon being': this is a dark saying. There is nothing in any of the accounts to suggest that she desired annihilation, the ending of her existence in any form. In Laws and Customs (p. 222) my father wrote that 'some fear in grief or weariness gave up hope, and turning away from life relinquished their bodies, even though these might have been healed or were indeed unhurt. Few of these... desired to be re-born, not at least until they had been long in "waiting"; some never returned.' This surely accords with what is told of the death of Miriel. It seems, at any rate, that when my father said here that Miriel 'tried to die' he meant that she sought a 'true death': not a 'seeming death', but a departure for ever out of Arda. Yet this could not be: for death in this sense was contrary to 'the given nature of the Elves', appointed by Iluvatar; and indeed, in Of Finwe' and Miriel ($20) Mandos spoke to the fea of Miriel, saying: 'In Mandos thou shalt abide. But take heed! Thou art of the Quendi, and even if thou refuse the body, thou must remain in Arda and within the time of its history.' But the 'seeming death' to which the Elves are subject had never yet appeared in Aman in all the long years since the Vanyar and the Noldor came to Eldamar. In the Annals of Aman, written before the story of Miriel had arisen, Feanor spoke before the Valar after the Death of the Trees ($$120 - 1, p. 107): '... 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.' 'Not the first,' quoth Mandos, but they understood not his word... Mandos knew that Morgoth had murdered Finwe at Formenos, 'and spilled the first blood of the Children of Iluvatar' ($122). Against the words of Mandos my father afterwards noted on the AAm typescript (p. 127, $120): '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', and on the text itself he changed Feanor's 'I shall die' to 'I shall be slain'. It might seem that a dis- tinction is made here between 'dying' and 'being slain', but I do not think that this is the case. What is meant is simply that Miriel was the first to die, and Finwe was the second to die - but the first to be slain. After the story of Miriel had entered Feanor could no longer say 'I shall die: first of all the Children of Eru'; my father therefore, wishing to retain the pregnant words of Mandos 'Not the first', altered Feanor's to 'I shall be slain'. Much later, this passage in AAm was used again in the new work on the Quenta Silmarillion (see p. 293), taking this form: '... and I shall be slain, first of all the Children of Eru.' 'Not the first,' quoth Mandos, but they did not understand his words, thinking that he spoke of Miriel. The meaning here seems to be that those who heard the words of Mandos (speaking of the murder of Finwe as yet unknown to them) thought that he spoke of Miriel, because she was the only one of the Eldar whom they knew to have died; but since Miriel had not been slain 'they did not understand his words'. Even so, it cannot be supposed that Finwe was the first to be slain of the Children of Eru; cf. my father's note on the AAm typescript 'This no longer fits even the Eldar of Valinor, and the passage in Laws and Customs, p. 218: This destruction of the hroa, causing death or the unhousing of the fea, was soon experienced by the immortal Eldar, when they awoke in the marred and overshadowed realm of Arda.' It is made plain in Laws and Customs and in the new 'sub-chapter' of the Quenta Silmarillion that the primary significance of the death of Miriel is that it was the first appearance of Death in Aman; and the debate was concerned with this unlooked-for event, and its implica- tions for the laws that governed the life of deathless Aman. In Laws and Customs (p. 241) Yavanna declared that 'the Shadow ... has marred the very hron of Arda, and all Middle-earth is perverted by the evil of Melkor ... Therefore none of those who awoke in Middle-earth, and there dwelt before they came hither, have come here wholly free. The failing of the strength of the body of Miriel may then be ascribed, with some reason, to the evil of Arda Marred, and her death be a thing unnatural.' In FM 2 (p. 254) this thought, represented as a new perception on the part of the Valar, takes this form: And the Valar were greatly concerned to see that all their labour for the guarding of Valinor was of no avail, to keep out evil and the shadow of Melkor, if any thing, living or unliving, was brought thither out of Middle-earth and left free or unguarded; and they perceived at last how great was the power of Melkor in Arda, in the making of which as it was his part was such that all things, save in Aman alone, had an inclination to evil and to perversion from their right forms and courses. Wherefore those whose being began in Arda, and who moreover were by nature a union of spirit and body, drawing the sustenance of the latter from Arda Marred, must ever be, in some degree, liable to grief, to do or to suffer things unnatural; and though dwelling in Aman might be a guard against this evil, it was not a full cure, unless in long ages. This was largely retained in the final text FM 4 (p. 258, $11), though without the references to Aman; and Mandos expressly declared that Death (i.e. of the Firstborn) is a consequence of the Marring of Arda ($12). In the draft letter of 1958 cited above in reference to the death of Miriel my father continued: I suppose a difference between this Myth and what may be perhaps called Christian mythology is this. In the latter the Fall of Man is subsequent to and a consequence (though not a necessary l consequence) of the 'Fall of the Angels': a rebellion of created free-will at a higher level than Man; but it is not clearly held (and in many versions is not held at all) that this affected the 'World' in its nature: evil was brought in from outside, by Satan. In this Myth the rebellion of created free-will precedes creation of the World (Ea); Ea has in it, subcreatively introduced, evil, rebellious, discordant elements of its own nature already when the Let it Be was spoken. The Fall or corruption, therefore, of all things in it and all inhabitants of it, was a possibility if not inevitable. In Of Finwe' and Miriel all this is presented as a new perception, or at least as a greatly sharpened perception, by the Valar; and 'with this thought a shadow passed over the hearts of the Valar, presage of the sorrows which the Children should bring into the world.' One might wonder that it needed the death of Miriel to bring the Powers of Arda to this perception. One might wonder also how it should be that even in Aman none of the Eldar were drowned in the sea or missed their footing in the mountains and fell from a great height. This latter consideration is indeed countered to some degree by what is told of the corporeal nature of the Elves. Their bodies are described as closely analogous to those of mortal Men, but against this is to be set the following passage from Laws and Customs (p. 218): The fear of the Elves were destined to dwell in Arda for all the life of Arda, and the death of the flesh did not abrogate that destiny. Their fear were tenacious therefore of life 'in the raiment of Arda', and far excelled the spirits of Men in power over that 'raiment', even from the first days protecting their bodies from many ills and assaults (such as disease), and healing them swiftly of injuries, so that they recovered from wounds that would have proved fatal to Men. This, however, while diminishing the physical vulnerability of the Elves as compared with Men, does not alter the fact that the actual destruction of such bodies by violence is an inherent possibility in the nature of Arda: 'though the fea cannot be broken or disintegrated by any violence from without, the hroa can be hurt and may be utterly destroyed' (ibid.). Very explicit are the words of Manwe in his final address to the Valar before the proclamation of the Statute (p. 244): [The Elves] came into Arda Marred, and were destined to do so, and to endure the Marring, even though they came in their beginning from beyond Ea.... We may say, therefore, that the Elves are destined to know 'death' in their mode, being sent into a world which contains 'death', and having a form for which 'death' is possible. For though by their prime nature, unmarred, they rightly dwell as spirit and body coherent, yet these are two things, not the same, and their severance (which is 'death') is a possibility inherent in their union. But it is made plain that while, on the one hand, this possibility of 'death' for the Elves was a consequence of the Marring of Arda by Melkor, on the other hand the death of Miriel so gravely disquieted the Valar because it was the first that had taken place in Aman. Is it to be supposed, then, that until this time the Valar had been deluded, believing falsely that the incarnate Elves, by the fact of their dwelling in Aman, were protected from all possibility of the severance of spirit and body, in any of the ways that such severance might come about in Middle-earth - believing indeed that the Marring of Arda and the possibility of death for the incarnate had effect only east of the Great Sea, and only now discovering the falsity of this belief when Miriel died? (See the passage from 'text VII' on p. 400.) The 'immortality' of the Elves (co-extensive with the 'life' of Arda), their deaths and rebirths, were deep-laid and fundamental elements in my father's conception. At this time he was subjecting these ideas to an elaborate analysis, and extending that analysis to the ideas of 'death- less Aman' and the significance of Melkor in the perversion of Creation as it had been expounded to the Ainur by Iluvatar in the Beginning. This analysis is, in part, presented as a debate among the Valar themselves, in which they reach new perceptions concerning the nature of Arda; but the theoretical discussion of moral and natural laws is given an immediate dimension from its arising out of the strange story of the griefs of Finwe and Miriel. That story was retained in the published Silmarillion, but with no intimation of its implications for the Rulers of Arda and the loremasters of the Elves. In these writings is seen my father's preoccupation in the years following the publication of The Lord of the Rings with the philo- sophical aspects of the mythology and its systemisation. Of the deliberations of the Gods the sages of the Eldar preserved a record among the books of their law. How far away from these grave Doctors seems the 'horned moon' that rode over AElfwine's ship off the coasts of the Lonely Isle (11.321), as 'the long night of Faerie held on'! AElfwine is still present as communicator and commentator; but there have been great changes in Elfinesse. * OF FEANOR AND THE UNCHAINING OF MELKOR. The previous 'sub-chapter' Of Finwe' and Miriel has reached only, in terms of the earlier Chapter 6, to the end of $46b (p. 185). For the next section there are only two late texts, continuing straight on in the typescripts that I have called FM 3 and FM 4 (pp. 255 - 6): from this point it is convenient to call them 'A' and 'B'. A, though a finished text, is in effect a draft for the second typescript (B) that clearly followed it immediately, and need not be further considered beyond noting that it does not contain the new passage about Feanor's wife, and that the title is Of Feanor and the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor: this text makes no further subdivisions. In this section my father did not greatly alter (except by the addition concerning Feanor's wife) the text of LQ, $$46c - 48, and the changes can be recorded without giving the whole text again. Very minor differences are not mentioned. $46c The only difference here from LQ is that Feanor's hair is said to have been 'raven-dark'. But at the end of the paragraph, after 'Seldom were the hand and mind of Feanor at rest', the following passage was added: While still in early youth Feanor wedded Nerdanel, a maiden of the Noldor; at which many wondered, for she was not among the fairest of her people. But she was strong, and free of mind, and filled with the desire of knowledge. In her youth she loved to wander far from the dwellings of the Noldor, either beside the long shores of the Sea or in the hills; and thus she and Feanor had met and were companions in many journeys. Her father, Mahtan, was a great smith, and among those of the Noldor most dear to the heart of Aule. Of Mahtan Nerdanel learned much of crafts that women of the Noldor seldom used: the making of things of metal and stone. She made images, some of the Valar in their forms visible, and many others of men and women of the Eldar, and these were so like that their friends, if they knew not her art, would speak to them; but many things she wrought also of her own thought in shapes strong and strange but beautiful. She also was firm of will, but she was slower and more patient than Feanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them. When in company with others she would often sit still listening to their words, and watching their gestures and the movements of their faces. Her mood she bequeathed in part to some of her sons, but not to all. Seven sons she bore to Feanor, and it is not recorded in the histories of old that any others of the Eldar had so many children. With her wisdom at first she restrained Feanor when the fire of his heart burned too hot; but his later deeds grieved her and they became estranged. Now even while Feanor and the craftsmen of the Noldor wrought with delight, foreseeing no end to their labours, and while the sons of Indis grew to manhood, the Noontide of Valinor was drawing to its close. The text then continues as in LQ $47 (p. 185). - The name Nerdanel of Feanor's wife was an emendation: the original name as typed was Istarnie. $47 LQ 'at the feet of the gods' becomes 'at the feet of the Mighty'. $48 'and most of all in the healing of the many hurts that he had done to the world. His prayer Nienna aided, but the others were silent.' From LQ 'Wherefore in a while he was allowed to go freely about the land' the text was changed: Therefore after a time Manwe gave him leave to go freely about the land. The evil that Melkor had wrought of old in wrath and malice was beyond full healing [cf. p. 259, $11], but his aid, if he would truly give it, would do more than aught else to amend the world. For Melkor was in his beginning the greatest of the Powers, and Manwe believed that if he were repentant he would regain in great part his first might and wisdom. On this path he judged that Melkor was now set, and would persevere if he were treated without grudge. Jealousy and rancour Manwe was slow to perceive, for he knew them not in himself; and he did not understand that all love had departed from the mind of Melkor for ever. Ulmo, it is said, was not deceived; and Tulkas clenched his hands whenever he saw Melkor his foe go by, for if Tulkas is slow to wrath, he is slow also to forget. But they obeyed the ruling of Manwe; for those who will defend authority against rebellion must not themselves rebel. * OF THE SILMARILS AND THE UNREST OF THE NOLDOR. This chapter-heading is present only in the second of the two late typescripts (B), and it was there written in subsequently. The first of the texts (A) was still fairly close to LQ $$49 - 54; though many changes were introduced they are for the most part of slight if any narrative significance. Here again it was effectively a draft for the second text and need not be further considered. The second text, however, was much altered and expanded in the latter part of the 'sub-chapter'. $49 Most fair of all was Melkor's countenance to the Eldar, and he aided them in many works, if they would let him. The Vanyar indeed held him in suspicion, for they dwelt in the light of the Trees and were content; and to the Teleri he gave little heed, deeming them of little worth, tools too weak for his designs. But the Noldor took delight in the hidden knowledge that he could reveal to them; and some hearkened to words that it would have been better for them never to have heard. $49a In after days Melkor indeed declared that Feanor had learned much art from him in secret; but that was only one of the many lies of Melkor, envying the skill of Feanor and desiring to claim part in his works. For none of the Eldalie ever hated Melkor more than Feanor son of Finwe, and though he was snared in the webs of Melkor's malice against the Valar, he held no converse with him in person, and he took no counsel from him. Indeed he sought the counsel of none that dwelt in Aman, great or small, save only and for a little while of Nerdanel the wise, his wife. $49b In that time, but before Melkor was given his freedom within the land of Aman, those things were wrought that afterwards were the most renowned of all the works of the Elvenfolk. For Feanor, being now come to his full might, was filled with a new thought, or maybe some shadow of foreboding came to him of the doom that drew near; and he pondered how the Light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable. Then he began a long and secret labour, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle craft, for the making of jewels more marvellous than any that had yet been devised, whose beauty should last beyond the End. Three jewels he made, and named them the Silmarils. A living fire burned within them that was blended of the Light of the Two Trees. Of their own radiance they shone, even in the dark of the deepest treasury; yet all lights that fell upon them, however faint, they received and returned again in marvellous hues to which their own inner fire gave a surpassing loveliness. No mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will could touch them, but it was scorched and withered; neither could they be broken by any strength within the Kingdom of Arda. The Silmarils the Eldar prized beyond all other treasures in Aman or upon Earth; and Varda hallowed them, and Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea, and air, lay locked within them. The heart of Feanor was fast bound to these things that he himself had made. $50 Then Melkor lusted also for the Silmarils; and from that time inflamed by this desire the malice of his heart grew greater, though naught of it could yet be seen in the semblance that he wore, or in the fair form that he assumed, after the manner of the Valar, his brethren. Therefore, whenever he saw his chances, he began to sow a seed of falsehood and hints of evil among all who were open to his converse. But he did this with cunning, so that few who heard these lies ever took them from his own lips: they passed from friend to friend, as secrets the knowledge of which proves the teller wise; and in the telling they grew and spread, like weeds running up rank in shady places. Bitterly the people of the Noldor atoned for the folly of their open ears in days to come. When he saw that many leaned towards him, Melkor would often walk among them, speaking ever words of greatest praise, sweet but poisoned honey; for amid all the fair words others were woven, so subtly that many who heard them believed in recollection that they arose from their own thought. Visions he would conjure up in their hearts of the mighty realms that they could have ruled at their own will in power and freedom in the East; and then whispers went abroad that the Valar had brought the Eldar to Aman because of their jealousy, fearing that the beauty of the Quendi and the makers' power that Iluvatar had bequeathed to them would grow too great for the Valar to govern, as the Elvenfolk waxed and spread over the wide lands of the world. In those days, moreover, though the Valar knew indeed of the coming of Men that were to be, the Elves as yet knew naught of it; for Manwe had not revealed it to them, and the time was not yet near. But Melkor spoke to them in secret of Mortal Men, seeing how the silence of the Valar might be twisted to evil. Little he knew yet concerning Men, for engrossed with his own thought in the Music he had paid small heed to the Second Theme of Iluvatar; but now the whisper went among the Elves that Manwe held them captive, so that Men might come and supplant them in the dominions of the Middle-earth. For the Valar saw that this weaker and short-lived race would be more easily swayed by them. Alas! little have the Valar ever prevailed to sway the wills of Men; but many of the Noldor believed, or half believed, these evil words. $51 Thus ere the Valar were aware, the peace of Valinor was poisoned. The Noldor began to murmur against them and all their kindred; and many became filled with vanity, forgetting how much of what they had and knew came to them in gift from the Valar. Fiercest burned the new flame of desire for freedom and wider realms in the eager heart of Feanor; and Melkor laughed in his secrecy, for to that mark his lies had been addressed, hating Feanor above all, and lusting ever for the Silmarils. But these he was not suffered to approach. For though at great feasts Feanor would wear them blazing upon his brow, at other times they were guarded close, locked in the deep chambers of his hoard in Tuna. There were no thieves in Valinor as yet; but Feanor began to love the Silmarils with a greedy love, and grudged the sight of them to all, save to his father or to his sons. Seldom he remembered now that the light with which they were lit was not his own. $52 High princes were Feanor and Fingolfin, the elder sons of Finwe, honoured by all in Aman; but now they grew proud and jealous each of his rights and his possessions. And lo! Melkor then set new lies abroad, and whispers came to Feanor that Fingolfin and his sons were plotting to usurp the leadership of Finwe and of the elder line of Feanor, and to supplant them by the leave of the Valar: for the Valar were ill pleased that the Silmarils lay in Tuna and were not given to their keeping. But to Fingolfin and Finarfin it was said: 'Beware! Small love has the proud son of Miriel ever had for the children of Indis. Now he has become great, and he has his father in his hand. It will not be long before he drives you forth from Tuna!' $52a It is told also that when Melkor saw that these lies were smouldering he began to speak, first to the sons of Feanor, and at other times to the sons of Indis, concerning weapons and armour, and of the power that they give to him that has them to defend his own (as he said). Now the Quendi had possessed weapons in Middle-earth, but not of their own devising. They had been made by Aule and sent as gifts by the hand of Orome, when it became known to the Valar that the Quendi were beset by prowling evils that had discovered the places of their dwelling beside Cuivienen; and more were sent later for the defence of the Eldar upon the Great March to the shores of the Sea. But all these were long unused, and lay in hoard as memorials of old days half-forgotten; and since the chaining of Melkor the armouries of the Valar also had been shut. $52b But now the lords of the Noldor took out their swords and spears and sharpened them, re-strung their bows and filled their quivers with arrows. And they made shields in those days and emblazoned them with devices of silver and gold and gems. These only they wore abroad, and of other weapons they did not speak, for each believed that he alone had received the warning. But when Feanor got wind of what was being done, he made for himself a secret forge, of which not even Melkor was aware; and there he wrought fell swords of tempered steel for himself and for his seven sons, and tall helms with plumes of red. Bitterly Mahtan rued the day when he had taught to the husband of Nerdanel, his daughter, all the lore of metal work that he learned of Aule. $52c Thus with lies and evil whisperings and false counsel Melkor kindled the hearts of the Noldor to strife; and of their quarrels came at length the end of the high days of Valinor and the evening of its ancient glory. For Feanor now began openly to speak words of rebellion against the Valar, crying aloud that he would depart from Valinor back to the world without, and would deliver the Noldor from thraldom (as he said), if they would follow him. $52d Then there was great unrest in Tuna, and Finwe was troubled, and he summoned all his lords to council. But Fingolfin hastened to his halls and stood before him, saying: 'King and father, wilt thou not restrain the pride of our brother, Curufinwe, who is called the Spirit of Fire, all too truly? By what right does he speak for all our people, as were he king? Thou it was who long ago spoke before the Quendi, bidding them accept the guesting of the Mighty in Aman. Thou it was that led the Noldor upon the long road through the perilous Earth to the light of Eldanor. If this does not now repent thee, two sons at least thou hast to honour thy words!' $52e But even as he spoke, suddenly Feanor appeared, and he strode into the chamber tall and threatening. A fire of anger was in his eyes, and he was fully armed: his high helm upon his head, and at his side a mighty sword. 'So it is, even as I guessed,' he said: 'my half-brother would be before me with my father, in this as in all other matters. He would not wait for the council, where all words would be heard by all, and answered. He would speak against me in secret. This I will not brook!' he cried, turning upon Fingolfin. 'Get thee gone, and take thy due place!' Then as a flash of flame he drew his sword. 'Get thee gone and dare my wrath no longer!' $52f Then Fingolfin bowed before Finwe, and without word or glance at Feanor he went from the chamber. But Feanor followed him, and at the door of the king's house he stayed him. The point of his bright sword he set against Fingolfin's breast. 'See, half-brother!' he said. 'This is sharper than thy tongue. Try but once more to usurp my place and the love of my father, and maybe it will rid the Noldor of a would-be master of thralls.' $52g These words were heard by many, for the house of Finwe was in the great square beneath the Mindon, and many people were gathered there. But Fingolfin again made no answer, and passing through the throng in silence he went to seek Finarfin his brother. $52h The unrest of the Noldor was not indeed hidden from the Valar; but its seed had been sown in the dark; and therefore, since Feanor first spoke openly against the Valar, they deemed that he was the mover of discontent, being eminent in self-will and arrogance, though all the Noldor had become proud. It was, maybe, the nature of the Children that as they grew they should become wilful, and should desire to escape from tutel- age, remembering it with little gratitude. Therefore Manwe was grieved, but he watched and said no word. The Valar had brought the Eldar to their land freely, to dwell or to depart; and though they might judge departure to be folly, it would not be lawful to restrain them from it, if wise counsel did not suffice. $53 But now the deeds of Feanor could not be passed over, and the Valar were wroth; and dismayed also, perceiving that more was at work than the wilfulness of youth. Therefore Manwe summoned Feanor to appear before the Valar to answer for all his words and deeds, and he was brought to the gates of Valmar. Thither also were summoned all others who had any part in the matter, or any knowledge thereof, or any grievance of their own to declare. $53a Then Mandos set Feanor before him in the Ring of Doom and bade him answer to all that was asked of him. Great must be the power and will of any who would lie to Mandos, or even refuse his questioning. But Feanor had no thought of it. He was so besotted with the lies of Melkor that had taken root in his proud heart (though he did not yet clearly perceive their source) that he judged himself justified in all points, and other judgement he scorned. $53b But when all was said, and all the testimonies were spoken, and words and deeds were brought out of the dark into the light, then at last the root was laid bare: the malice of Melkor was revealed, and his lies and half-lies made plain for all to recognize who had the will to see. Straightway Tulkas was sent from the council to lay hands on Melkor and bring him again to judgement. But Feanor was not held wholly guiltless in himself. For he had forged secret swords, and had drawn one in anger unjustified, threatening the life of his kinsman. $53c Therefore Mandos said to him: 'Thou speakest of thraldom. If thraldom it be, thou canst not escape it. For Manwe is King of Arda, and not of Aman only. And this deed was unlawful, whether in Aman or not in Aman. Though more insolent in Aman, for it is a hallowed land. Therefore this doom is now made: for twelve years thou shalt leave Tuna where this threat was uttered. In that time take counsel with thyself, and remember who and what thou art. But after that time this matter shall be set in peace and held redressed, if others will release thee.' $53d Then Fingolfin rose and said: 'I will release my brother.' But Feanor spoke no word in answer; and when he had stood silent before the Valar for a while, he turned and left the council and departed from Valmar. At once he returned to Tuna, and before the term of seven days that was set, he gathered his goods and his treasures and left the city and went far away. With him went his sons, and Finwe his father, who would not be parted from him, in fault or guiltless, and some others also of the Noldor. But Nerdanel would not go with him, and she asked leave to abide with Indis, whom she had ever esteemed, though this had been little to the liking of Feanor. Northward in Valinor, in the hills near to the halls of Mandos, Feanor and his sons made a strong place and a treasury at Formenos, and they laid in hoard a multitude of gems, and weapons also: they did not put aside the swords that Feanor had made. But Fingolfin now ruled the Noldor in Tuna; and thus the very words of Melkor seemed to be fulfilled (though it was Feanor who had by his own deeds brought this thing to pass); and the bitterness that Melkor had sown endured, even though his lies had been made manifest. Long afterward it lived still between Feanor and the sons of Indis. $54 Worse now befell. In vain Tulkas sought for Melkor. For Melkor, knowing that his devices were revealed, hid himself and passed from place to place as a cloud in the hills. And though none could discover whither he had gone, it seemed that the light of Valinor was dimmed, and the shadows of all standing things grew longer and darker in that time. It is said that for two years no one in Valinor saw Melkor again, nor heard any rumour of him, until suddenly he sought out Feanor. Secretly he came to Formenos, in guise as a traveller that seeks for lodging; and he spoke with Feanor before his door. Friendship he feigned with cunning argument, urging him to his former thought of flight from the trammels of the Valar. 'Behold the truth of all that I have spoken, and how thou art banished unjustly,' he said. 'But if the heart of Feanor is still undaunted, as it was in Tuna, then I will aid him and bring him far from this narrow land. For am I not Vala also? Yea, and more than those who sit here in pride. I have ever been a friend of the Noldor, knowing their worth: the most skilled and the most valiant of all the folk of Arda.' Now Feanor's heart was still bitter at his humiliation before Mandos, and for a moment he paused and looked at Melkor in silence, wondering if indeed he might trust him so far at least as to aid his escape. But Melkor's cunning overreached his aim, and seeing Feanor hesitate, and knowing that the Silmarils held his heart in thrall, he said at the last: 'Here is a strong place well guarded, but think not that the Silmarils will lie safe in any treasury within the realm of the Valar!' Then the fires of' the heart of Feanor were kindled, and his eyes blazed; and his sight burned through all the fair-semblance of Melkor to the dark depths of his mind, perceiving there his fierce lust for the Silmarils. Then hate overcame Feanor's fear, and he spoke shamefully to Melkor, saying: 'Get thee from my gate, gangrel! Thou jail-crow of Mandos!' And he shut the door of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Ea. Then Melkor departed in shame, for he was himself in peril, and he saw not his time yet for revenge; but his heart was black with anger. And Finwe was filled with great dread, and in haste he sent messengers to Manwe in Valmar. Commentary. In the first part of this 'sub-chapter' Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor the story as it was told in LQ (pp. 184 ff.) was scarcely changed even in detail, despite the many changes of wording intro- duced in this last version - except in the matter of the weapons of the Eldar ($$52a,b). In QS, where the matter first entered (V.228, note by pengolod to $49), it was said that 'the Elves had before possessed only weapons of the chase, spears and bows and arrows', but that now, under the influence of Melkor, the Noldor 'learned the fashioning of swords of tempered steel, and the making of mail' and shields. This was rewritten in LQ $50 (p. 188), still as an observation made by Pengolod, to read that the Elves had originally possessed no weapons, and that now they learned the making of all kinds of arms, swords, spears, bows and arrows. Similarly in AAm $97 (p. 96): 'Melkor spoke to the Eldar concerning weapons, which they had not before possessed or known'; but my father afterwards noted on the typescript of AAm (p. 106, $97): 'No! They must have had weapons on the Great Journey.' Feeling a need to explain how the Quendi survived 'amid the deceits of the starlit dusk', and concluding that they must have been armed in Middle-earth, he adopted the (to my mind) somewhat mechanical narrative device introduced here ($52a). Explanations in such a world may prompt unneeded reflections. The passage of Orome on his horse Nahar from Aman to Middle-earth is never described, nor (I would say) need it be, nor should it be; the movements of the great Valar (and indeed of the lesser divine, as Melian) are a mystery that we do not seek to penetrate. They are from beyond Arda and do not derive from it. In the (very old) story of the transportation of the three original Elvish 'ambassadors' from Kuivienen to Valinor we might wonder with more right, perhaps, how they journeyed, for the Elves, whatever their powers, are Children of Earth, and must live and move in the physical world of Arda. My father never said any more about that; and we may suppose, if we will, that they passed over the Grinding Ice, borne upon Nahar.* But that he perceived a need to respond, at a certain level, to speculation of this kind is apparent from this story of Orome's bringing to the Eldar a great store of weapons made in Valinor - for the store must have been great to be useful in the protection of such a host. In the latter part of the new version the story is greatly developed, and yet not in such a way as to contradict the earlier versions - which can be read as a synopsis of the latest. It may indeed be that the story (* Cf. the story referred to in the old 'Sketch of the Mythology', that 'Luthien went even over the Grinding Ice, aided by the power of her divine mother, Melian, to Mandos' halls' (IV.25, 55). of Feanor's fierce encounter with Fingolfin in the house of Finwe was present to my father's mind already when he wrote LQ (end of $52), though he did not actually recount it till much later. It is worth remarking that in writing the new version he also had an eye to AAm; thus in $54 he took up the words of Melkor to Feanor at Formenos in AAm $101 (p. 97) - though removing the sentence 'And think not that the Silmarils lie safe in any treasury within the realm of the gods' from its place in AAm and using it as it was used in LQ, the sudden clue for Feanor of Melkor's true intention. There remain a few isolated points. In both texts of the last version occurs the phrase in $49b: 'The Silmarils the Eldar prized beyond all other treasures in Aman or upon Earth'. This usage goes back a long way (see the Index to Vol.IV, entries Earth and World), unsuitable as it may seem to the world in which Aman was physically approachable across the Sea. But the Earth is Middle-earth: it is not the equivalent of Arda; cf. also $52d: 'Thou it was that led the Noldor upon the long road through the perilous Earth to the light of Eldanor.' It is also curious that Tuna is now used at every occurrence, not Tirion; see p. 90, $67, and p. 193, $52. In $50 it is said of Melkor that 'Little he knew yet concerning Men, for engrossed with his own thought in the Music he had paid small heed to the Second Theme of Iluvatar'. Compare the Ainulindale' (both the C and D texts) $13: the Children of Iluvatar 'came with the Third Theme', and $24: Manwe 'was the chief instrument of the second Theme that Iluvatar had raised up against the discord of Melkor.' See further p. 358 note 10. The names Fingolfin and Finarfin are thus spelt in B, but in A Fingolphin and Finarphin (see p. 265 note 10). In the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings (1966) Finarphin was spelt thus, later changed on my suggestion to Finarfin (Appendix F, Of the Elves). OF THE DARKENING OF VALINOR. The first of the two late typescripts (A) comes to an end after a few lines of this next 'sub-chapter', in which LQ $55 was followed virtually word for word; and it ends at exactly the same point as does the LQ rewriting of QS (see p. 190 and note 8). For the next part of the narrative, therefore, we have on the one hand the text of QS ($$55 - 9), with the very few revisions that had been made to it in the revision of 1951, and on the other the much later and very greatly expanded version that follows here, extant throughout almost all its length only in the one typescript B. There is also a single typescript page, intermediate between A and B, which extends a short way further than does A; and much extremely rough working for the chapter in its late form which is for the most part scarcely legible. Much of this final version of the story of Melkor and Ungoliante and the destruction of the Trees stands in such close relationship to AAm that it would be possible, for some sections of the text, to be content with reference to AAm and notes of the differences; nonethe- less I give the text in full, for these reasons. First, because despite the closeness to AAm there is also a major transformation of the legend; and second, because the relation between the two traditions, The Silmarillion and the Annals, here takes a new turn, and this is important for the understanding of the nature of the published Silmarillion, and its justification. It would be less easy to follow these interesting developments if part of the text appeared only in notes referring to another text. $55 Now the Valar were sitting in council before the gates of Valmar, fearing the lengthening of the shadows, when the messengers came from Finwe. At once Orome and Tulkas sprang up, but even as they set out in pursuit other messengers brought tidings from Eldanor. Melkor had fled through the Kalakiryan, and from the hill of Tuna the Elves had seen him pass in wrath as a thunder-cloud. 'Then,' said they, 'he turned northward, and our kinsfolk in Alqualonde report that his Shadow went by their haven towards Araman.' Thus Melkor departed from Valinor, and for a while the Two Trees shone again unshadowed and the land was filled with light; yet as a cloud far off that looms ever higher, borne upon a slow cold wind, a doubt now marred the joy of all the dwellers in Aman, dreading they knew not what evil that yet might come. $55a When Manwe heard of the ways that Melkor had taken, it seemed plain to him that Melkor purposed to escape to his old strongholds in the North of Middle-earth, as was indeed his most likely course. Though there was little hope in this, Orome and Tulkas with many of their folk went with all speed northward, seeking to overtake him if they might; but they found no trace or rumour of him beyond the shores of the Teleri, and in the unpeopled wastes that draw near to the Ice they could hear no tidings even from the birds. Therefore at length they returned, but the watch was redoubled along all the northern fences of Aman. $55b This indeed Melkor had expected; but he had other things to do before he would return to Middle-earth, and ere the pursuit set out, indeed ere the messengers came to Valmar, he had turned back and in great secrecy passed away far to the South. For Melkor was yet as one of the Valar, and he could still (though with pain) change his form, or walk unclad, as could his brethren; though that power he was soon to lose for ever. $55c Thus unseen he came at last to the region that once was called Avathar,* beneath the eastern feet of the Pelori; a narrow land it had become, eaten away by the Sea, and was long forsaken. There the shadows were deepest and thickest in the world. In Avathar, secret and unknown save to Melkor, dwelt Ungoliante, and she had taken spider's form, and was a weaver of dark webs. It is not known whence she came, though among the Eldar it was said that in ages long before she had descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, when Melkor first looked down in envy upon the light in the kingdom of Manwe. But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust, taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness. To the South she had fled, and so had escaped the assaults of the Valar and the hunters of Orome, for their vigilance had ever been to the North, and the South was long unheeded. Thence she had crept towards the light of the Blessed Realm; for she hungered for light and hated it. $55d In a ravine she lived and wove her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. All light she sucked up and spun it forth in dark nets of gloom. But now she was famished, and in great torment; for all living things had fled far away, and her own webs shut out from her all light that could come to her dwelling, whether through passes in the walls of Aman, or from the heavens above. Yet she had no longer the strength or will to depart. $56 Now Melkor sought for her, and he put on again the form that he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno: a dark Lord, tall and terrible. In that form he remained ever after. And when Ungoliante saw him coming she was afraid, knowing his hatred for all who tried to escape from him. She shrank into her deepest lair, and tried to shroud herself in new shadow; but such darkness as in her famine she could weave was no defence against the eyes of Melkor, Lord of Utumno and Angband. $56a 'Come forth!' he said. 'Thrice fool: to leave me first, to dwell here languishing within reach of feasts untold, and now to shun me, Giver of Gifts, thy only hope! Come forth and see! I have brought thee an earnest of greater bounty to follow.' But (* [footnote to the text] The Shadows (in ancient Quenya).) Ungoliante made no answer, and retreated deeper into the cloven rock. Then Melkor was angered, for he was in haste, having reckoned his times to a nicety. 'Come out!' he cried. 'I have need of thee and will not be denied. Either thou wilt serve me, or I will bury thee here and under black stone thou shalt wither into naught.' Then suddenly he held up in his hands two shining gems. They were green, and in that lightless place they reflected the dreadful light of his eyes, as if some ravening beast had come hunting there. Thus the great Thief set his lure for the lesser. $56b Slowly Ungoliante came forth; but as she drew near Melkor withheld the lure. 'Nay, nay,' he said. 'I do not bring thee these Elvish sweets in love or in pity; they are to strengthen thee, when thou hast agreed to do my bidding.' 'What is your bidding, Master?' she said, and her eyes gloated upon the gems. $56c There in the black shadows, beyond the sight even of Manwe in his highest halls, Melkor with Ungoliante plotted his revenge. But when Ungoliante understood his purpose, she was torn between great lust and great fear. She would not dare the perils of Aman, or the power of the dreadful Lords, without a great reward; for she feared the eyes of Manwe and Varda more even than the wrath of Melkor. Therefore Melkor said to her: 'Do as I bid, and if thou art still hungry when we meet again, then, I vow, I will give to thee whatsoever thy lust may demand. Yea, with both hands!' Lightly he made this vow (as he ever did), thinking little of its fulfilment, and he laughed in his heart; for if she achieved his design, he would have no need, he thought, to appease her, or any one else in Arda, great or small. $56d 'Come then!' he said. 'Here is the earnest!' And he delivered the gems to her, not only the first two but many others that he had stolen in Valinor. Then swiftly Ungoliante began to grow again and to find new strength. A cloak of darkness she wove about herself: an unlight, in which things seemed to be no more, and which eyes could not pierce, for it was void. Then slowly she wrought her webs: rope by rope from cleft to cleft, from jutting rock to pinnacle of stone, ever climbing upwards, crawling and clinging, until at last she achieved the very summit of Mount Hyarmentir, the highest mountain in that region of the world, far south of great Taniquetil. There the Valar were not vigilant; for west of the Pelori was an empty land in twilight, until northward one came to the tall fences of the woods of Orome; and eastward the mountains looked out, save for forgotten Avathar, only upon the dim waters of the pathless Sea. $57 But now upon the mountain-top dark Ungoliante lay. For a while she rested, and with eyes faint from labour she saw the glimmer of the stars in the dome of Varda and the radiance of Valmar far away. Slowly her eyes wakened and took fire, and her lust increased until it overcame her fear. She began in stealth to creep down into the Blessed Realm. $57a Still in the dark depths Melkor stood, gnawing his mind, between evil hope and doubt; but when he had stood, revolving his chances, as long as his urgency allowed, he turned away and went down to the shore. There he cursed the Sea, saying: 'Slime of Ulmo! I will conquer thee yet, shrivel thee to a stinking ooze. Yea, ere long Ulmo and Osse shall wither, and Uinen crawl as a mud-worm at my feet!' With that suddenly he passed from Avathar and went to do his will. $58 [see AAm $$109 - 10] Now it was a time of festival, as Melkor knew well. In Aman all tides and seasons were at the will of the Valar, and there was no winter of death; but even as it was the delight of the Valar to clothe themselves in the forms of the Children of Iluvatar,* so also they would eat and drink and gather the fruits of Yavanna, and share the bounty of the Earth which under Eru they had made. Therefore Yavanna set times for the flowering and the ripening of all growing things in Valinor: upspringing, blooming, and seed-time. And after the l coming of the First-born Children, the Eldar, at these times they made feasts, at which all the dwellers in Aman would assemble in mirth. The greatest of the feasts was at the first gathering of fruits, and this was held upon Taniquetil; for Manwe decreed that at this time all should join in the praise of Eru Iluvatar, and the peoples of Valinor, Valar, Maiar, and Eldar, poured forth their joy in music and song. $58a This day had now come once more, and Manwe prepared a feast greater than any that had been held since the entry of the Eldar into Aman. For though the escape of Melkor portended toils and sorrows to come, and indeed none could tell what further hurts would be done to Arda, ere he could be subdued again, at this time Manwe desired to unite all his people once more in joy, healing all that was amiss, and (* [footnote to the text] As is told in the Ainulindale'. [The same reference to the Ainulindale ($25) is made in AAm $109.]) strengthening them with the blessing of Eru to hold ever in heart the hope of Arda Unmarred. He bade all come who would, but the Noldor above all; for he hoped that there they would put aside the griefs that lay between their lords, and forget utterly the lies of their Enemy. Therefore he sent a messenger to Formenos, saying: 'Feanor son of Finwe, come and do not deny my bidding! In my love thou remainest and wilt be honoured in my hall.' $58b [see AAm $111] There came the Vanyar, and there came the Noldor of Tuna, and the Maiar were gathered together, and the Valar were arrayed in their beauty and majesty; and they sang before Manwe and Varda in the halls of Taniquetil, or played and danced upon the green slopes of the Mountain that looked west to the Trees. In that day the streets of Valmar were empty, and the stairs of Tuna were silent, and all the land lay sleeping in peace. 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 King of Arda, or to the shadow that had fallen upon Valinor; for it had not touched them, as yet. $58c [see AAm $112] One thing only marred the hope of Manwe. Feanor came indeed, for he read the message of Manwe as a command; but Finwe would not come and remained in Formenos, and with him were the sons of Feanor. For said Finwe: 'While the ban lasts upon Feanor, my son, that he may not go to Tuna, I hold myself unkinged, and I will not meet my people.' And Feanor did not come 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 the Valar and the Eldar, and left them in Formenos, locked in a chamber of iron. Nonetheless he met Fingolfin before the throne of Manwe, and was reconciled in word. For Fingolfin held forth his hand, saying: 'As I promised, I do now. I release thee, and remember no grievance.' Then Feanor took his hand in silence; but Fingolfin said: 'Half-brother in blood, full brother in heart I will be. Thou shalt lead and I will follow. May no new grief divide us!' 'I hear thee,' said Feanor. 'So be it!' But they did not know then the full meaning that their words would bear. $58d [see AAm $113] It is told that even as Feanor and Fingolfin stood before Manwe, there came the Mingling of the Lights, and both Trees were shining, and the silent city of Valmar was filled with a radiance of silver and gold. And in that very hour Ungoliante came hastening over the fields of Valinor. Hunger and thirst now drove her. No longer she crept but ran, as the shadow of a black cloud upon the wind fleets over the sun- lit earth. Now she came to the Green Mound of the Corolaire, and her Unlight rose up even to the roots of the Trees. Then with her black beak she pierced their rind, wounded them deep; and their juices gushed forth and she drank them up. But when no more flowed she set her mouth to the wounds, and sucked them dry, and the poison of Death that was in her went into their tissues and withered them, root, branch, and leaf, and they died. And still Ungoliante thirsted; and she went to the great Wells of Varda and drained them dry. And as she drank, she belched forth vast vapours, and in their midst she swelled to a shape more huge and hideous than even her most lustful dream had hoped ever to achieve. At last, knowing that the time was short, she hastened away, north, to the tryst that Melkor had made with her, and did not mean to keep. $58e Outside he had lurked, until the failing of the Light announced that Ungoliante had done her work. Then through the Kalakiryan, now only a dim ravine in walls of shadow, he came striding back, Lord of Utumno, a black shape of hate, visiting the places of his humiliation with revenge. All the land fell swiftly through grey twilight into night as Melkor stood within the Ring of Doom and cursed it; and he defiled the judgement seat of Manwe and threw down the thrones of the Valar. $58f Then he went on to his second mark, which he had kept secret in his mind; but Ungoliante was aware of him, and turning swiftly she overtook him on his road. Aghast indeed was Melkor to see her, monstrous, grown to a lust and power that he could not master without aid. He could not contend with her, even if time allowed; and he could not escape. She took him into her Unlight, and they went on together to the one place in the land of the Valar that he would have hidden from her. $59 [see AAm $114] So the great Darkness came upon Valinor. Of the deeds of that time much is told in the Aldude- nie * that Elemmire of the Vanyar made and is known to all the Eldar. Yet no song or tale could contain all the grief and terror (* [footnote to the text] The Lament for the Two Trees.) that then came upon the Blessed Realm. The Light went out; but the Darkness that followed was more than loss. In that hour the dwellers in Aman knew the Unlight, and it seemed not lack, but a thing with being of its own, that made by malice out of Light had the power to pierce the eye, to enter heart and mind and strangle the very will. $59a [see AAm $115] Varda looked down from the Holy Mountain, and she beheld the Shadow soaring up in sudden towers of gloom. Valmar was blotted out, and all the land foundered in a deep sea of night. Soon Taniquetil stood alone, a last island in a drowned world. 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. $59b [see AAm $116] Then Manwe went up to his high seat upon the mountain-top, and he looked out, and his eyes pierced through the night, until they saw within the dark a Darkness which they could not penetrate, huge but far away, moving now northward with great speed; and he knew that Melkor had come and gone. Then the Valar began their pursuit; and soon 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 when the riding of the wrath of the Valar came up with the Cloud of Ungoliante all were blinded and dismayed, and the host was scattered, and they went this way and that, they knew not whither. In vain Orome wound his horn, for the Valaroma was choked and gave no sound. 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 Cloud had passed, it was too late. Melkor had gone whither he would, and his vengeance was achieved. Commentary. Leaving for a moment the remarkable narrative shift in this 'sub- chapter' Of the Darkening of Valinor, the new version introduces many elements lacking in the old story: among the most important being the origin of Ungoliante; the account of the festival in Valinor, with the 'investing' of the Valar in the form of the Children of Iluvatar and their partaking of the physical celebration of the harvest; Manwe's purpose to achieve concord among the Noldor; Finwe's refusal to leave Formenos while Feanor was banished from Tirion; and the reconciliation of Feanor with Fingolfin before Manwe's throne. But all these are present in the Annals of Aman, and largely in the same words. My father, very obviously, had AAm in front of him; as has been seen (pp. 191 - 2), LQ and AAm were very close in the earlier part of the now replaced Chapter 6, and while LQ ceases at the point where Melkor goes to Arvalin AAm does not, but continues on ($$105 - 16) in the same larger fashion, expanding the old story while retaining the structure of the Quenta tradition. Now, however, in this final version of the Quenta, my father returned to the Annals and used them for the further expansion of the other - increasingly hard to differentiate - 'tradition'. Schematically: QS (pre-The Lord of the Rings) Chapter 6 Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor (Slight preliminary revision in 1951) Major rewriting of QS Annals of Aman on the old manuscript $$78-104 continuing to $$105-16 in 1951 (as far as Melkor's (as far as Melkor's (to Melkor's escape coming to Arvalin) coming to Arvalin) from the hunt) Final version in the Quenta Silmarillion That in the pre-The Lord of the Rings period the Annals of Valinor and the Annals of Beleriand constituted distinct entities, forming with the Quenta Silmarillion a tripartite work, is very clear (see IV.284); and a list of the constituent parts of the Matter of Middle-earth associated with the long letter to Milton Waldman (see p. 3) shows that this was still the case, in theory at least, in 1951. Yet we have seen how close the versions did in fact become in the course of the 1951 revision; and now, in the last phase of his work on the actual narratives, when (as I have suggested, p. 142) my father was envisaging a 're-expansion' of the whole, a new conception of The Silmarillion, a new and much fuller mode of narrative, he derived entire passages from the Annals with scarcely any significant change. I have said (p. 192) that AAm and the rewriting (LQ) of the first part of Chapter 6, as I think clearly contemporary, are too similar in every aspect, if continually different in actual wording, to be regarded as the product of a separate tradition of learning and memory, or even as the product of two different 'loremasters'; but the relation of this last version of the Silmarillion tradition to AAm on which it draws seems to show that my father had now ceased to regard them as different works. It may be, though I have no other evidence for it, that if he had continued this last version he would have 'cannibalised' the Annals wherever he chose to, regarding the latter now as no more than a constituent draft text for the sole work that was to emerge: The Silmarillion. To turn now to the major departure from the old legend - which goes back to the original tale of The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor (I.152 - 3): Melkor was not present at the destruction of the Trees. When Ungoliante climbs Mount Hyarmentir he stays for a while beside her lair; goes down then to the shores of Avathar and curses the Sea; lurks outside the Pelori until the great darkness falls; then hastens through the pass to Valmar to desecrate the Ring of Doom. Why was this done? Not, surely, to bring in the casting down by Melkor of the thrones of the Valar - for this could have been achieved without altering the story, or at any rate without altering it so radically. The reason for the change, I think, was that my father found it unacceptable that Melkor should have risked allowing Ungoliante to come anywhere near the Silmarils. In the new story, Melkor's plan was to wait until she had destroyed the Trees and then go alone in the darkness to Formenos. The tryst 'that Melkor had made with her, and did not mean to keep' ($58d) was not at Formenos - that being 'his second mark, which he had kept secret in his mind' ($58f); that is why it is said that Ungoliante 'turned swiftly' and overtook him. Then 'they went on together to the one place in the land of the Valar that he would have hidden from her.' Other features of this text are discussed under individual para- graphs. $$55, 55b There now appears the story that after Melkor was seen from the hill of Tuna passing through the Kalakiryan he turned northwards up the coast into Araman; but this was a feint, and he turned back southwards in secret and came into Avathar to find Ungoliante. (I suggested (I.157), perhaps too positively, that the germ of this northward movement on the part of Melkor is to be found in the old Tale (I.145), where Melko originally 'purposed to get to northward over the passes nigh to Mandos', but thought better of it. There is indeed no trace of the idea in any intervening version; but features apparently long lost do undoubtedly emerge again.) $55a 'Melkor purposed to escape to his old strongholds in the North of Middle-earth': i.e. Utumno and Angband. See p. 156, $12. $55c Here first appears the name Avathar, and the ancient name Arvalin at last disappears. In the short intermediate typescript referred to on p. 282 the name is not Avathar but Vastuman (typed over Arvalin). Vastuman is not translated. $56d Hyarmentir replaces Hyarantar of AAm $107. $57 'The glimmer of the stars in the dome of Varda': on the Dome of Varda see pp. 385 - 8. $58d Corolaire: see AAm $122 (pp. 107, 127). - The Wells of Varda: see p. 157, $17. $59 The Aldudenie of Elemmire is named also in AAm $114 (Elemire; later Elemmire, p. 106). Entirely new are the statements that Melkor 'could still (though with pain) change his form, or walk unclad', but that at the time of his meeting with Ungoliante he appeared as the Dark Lord of Utumno, and never again changed from that appearance afterwards ($$55b, 56). He is now explicitly the Master of Ungoliante ($$56a, b); cf. AAm $106: 'It may well be that... she was in the beginning one of those that he had corrupted to his service.' The narrative is greatly expanded by the account of his persuasion of Ungoliante and his luring of her by gems stolen in Valinor - giving her strength also to dare the deed: for the great spider was weak through famine of light ($55d). THE LATER DEVELOPMENT OF CHAPTER 7. The late typescript B follows straight on from 'Melkor had gone whither he would, and his vengeance was achieved' at the end of the 'sub-chapter' Of the Darkening of Valinor (p. 289), with no more than a space, but my father afterwards wrote in a heading [Of] The Rape of the Silmarils; further on there is a typed heading Of the Thieves' Quarrel. As in the preceding 'sub-chapter', the end of which corresponds to the end of the former Chapter 6 (QS Chapter 4), he again turned to the Annals of Aman, and in this case he adopted substantial parts of the older text so closely that the new is almost an exact copy, with only a word or two changed here and there (on the implications of his thus amalgamating the two 'traditions' see pp. 289 - 91). But he also introduced a new element into the narrative: the attack by Melkor on Formenos reported by Maedros (as his name is here spelt: in a late emendation to LQ Chapter 5 Maedhros, p. 177, $41). Only now do the sons of Feanor play a part in this story: see p. 123, $122. I do not give the text in the sections where it becomes scarcely distinct from that of AAm. The paragraph numbers here begin a new series, since they cannot be usefully related to those of QS. OF THE RAPE OF THE SILMARILS. $1 When the Trees should have flowered for yet one more day, but time was blind and unmeasured, the Valar returned to the Ring of Doom. They sat upon the ground, for their thrones were defiled, and they were in dark raiment of grief. About them was a great concourse of folk, hardly to be seen; for it was night. But the stars of Varda now glimmered overhead, and the air was clean. The winds of Manwe had driven the vapours of death far away and rolled back the shadows of the Sea. Now Yavanna arose and stood upon the Green Mound, but it was bare and black. She laid her hands upon the Trees, but they were dead and dark; and each branch that she touched broke and fell lifeless at her feet. Then the voices of all the host were lifted in lamentation; and 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. $$2-3 For Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying ... These paragraphs, in which the demand is made upon Feanor that the light of the Silmarils be released for the saving of the Trees, are almost identical to AAm $$118 - 19 (p. 107), with only a very few changes of no significance, as Feanor answered no word: Feanor made no answer'. $$4-5 But Feanor spoke then, and cried bitterly... These para- graphs are virtually identical to AAm $$120 - 1, except at the end of $120 and the beginning of $121. In AAm Feanor declared that he would be the first to die 'of all the Children of Eru', but on the typescript of AAm, after the emergence of the story of Miriel, my father corrected 'I shall die' to 'I shall be slain', and this change was taken up here. The form of the passage in the new version has been given and discussed on pp. 268 - 9. $6 'Thou hast spoken,' said Mandos. Then again there was silence, and thought was stilled. But after a while Nienna arose, and she went up onto the Mound; and she cast back her grey hood, and her eyes shone like stars in the rain, for her tears were poured out, and she washed away the defilements of Ungoliante. And when she had wept she sang slowly, mourning for the bitterness of the world and all hurts of the Marring of Arda. $7 But even as she mourned, there was heard the sound of feet hastening in the night. Then through the throng came the sons of Feanor, flying from the North, and they bore new tidings of evil. Maedros spoke for them. 'Blood and darkness!' he cried. 'Finwe the king is slain, and the Silmarils are gone!' Then Feanor fell upon his face and lay as one dead, until the full tale was told. $8 'My lord,' said Maedros to Manwe, 'it was the day of festival, but the king was heavy with grief at the departure of my father, a foreboding was on him. He would not go from the house. We were irked by the idleness and silence of the day, and we went riding towards the Green Hills. Our faces were northward, but suddenly we were aware that all was growing dim. The Light was failing. In dread we turned and rode back in haste, seeing great shadows rise up before us. But even as we drew near to Formenos the darkness came upon us; and in the midst was a blackness like a cloud that enveloped the house of Feanor. $9 'We heard the sound of great blows struck. Out of the cloud we saw a sudden flame of fire. And then there was one piercing cry. But when we urged on our horses they reared and cast us to the ground, and they fled away wild. We lay upon our faces without strength; for suddenly the cloud came on, and for a while we were blind. But it passed us by and moved away north at great speed. Melkor was there, we do not doubt. But not he alone! Some other power was with him, some huge evil: even as it passed it robbed us of all wit and will. $10 'Darkness and blood! When we could move again we came to the house. There we found the king slain at the door. His head was crushed as with a great mace of iron. We found no others: all had fled, and he had stood alone, defiant. That is plain; for his sword lay beside him, twisted and untempered as if by lightning-stroke. All the house was broken and ravaged. Naught is left. The treasuries are empty. The chamber of iron is torn apart. The Silmarils are taken!' $11 [see AAm $123] Then suddenly Feanor rose, and lifting up his hand before Manwe he cursed Melkor, naming him Morgoth, the Black Foe of the world.* And he cursed also the summons of Manwe and the hour in which he came to Taniquetil, thinking in the madness of his grief that had he been at Formenos, his strength would have availed more than to be slain also, as Morgoth had purposed. Then with a cry he ran from the Ring of Doom and fled into the night, distraught; 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? (* [footnote to the text] By that name only was he known to the Eldar ever after. (In the ancient form used by Feanor it was Moring- otho.) [Cf. the note added in LQ to QS $60 (p. 194), where the ancient form is Moringotto.]) $12 [see AAm $124] After him Maedros and his brethren went in haste, dismayed, for they had not known that he was present when Maedros spoke; and now they feared that he might slay himself. All those who saw Feanor's anguish grieved for him and forgave all his bitterness. But his loss was not his alone. Yavanna wept even as Nienna, in dread lest the Darkness should now swallow the last rays of the Light of Valinor 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 beyond Arda. The Silmarils had passed away, and all one it may seem whether Feanor had said yea or nay to Yavanna. Yet, had he said yea at the first, and so cleansed his heart ere the dreadful tidings came, his after-deeds would have been other than they proved. But now the doom of the Noldor drew near. OF THE THIEVES' QUARREL. $13 Meanwhile, it is told, Morgoth escaping from the pursuit of the Valar came to the wastes of Araman. This land lay northward between the Mountains of the Pelori and the Great Sea, as Avathar lay to the south. But Araman was a wider land, and between the shores and the mountains were long and dreary plains without hindrance to passage, but bleak, and ever colder as the Ice drew nearer. $14 Through this dim land Morgoth and Ungoliant passed in haste, and so through the great mists of Oiomure came to the Helkaraxe, where the strait between Araman and Middle-earth was filled with grinding ice; and they crossed over and came back at last to the North of the Outer World. Together they went on, for Morgoth could not elude Ungoliant, and her cloud was still about him, and all her eyes were upon him. But when they had come to that region that was after called Lammoth, north of the Firth of Drengist, Morgoth grew more hopeful, for they were drawing near to the ruins of Angband where his great western stronghold had been. But Ungoliant perceived his mood and guessed that he would soon try to escape and defraud her, if he could. Therefore she stayed him, and demanded that he should now fulfill his promise. $15 'Black-heart!' she said (calling him 'Master' no longer). 'I have done your bidding. But I hunger still.' 'What wouldst thou have more?' said Morgoth. 'All the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that. I am its Lord.' 'Not so much,' said she. 'But there was a great treasury, of which you said naught to me, and would have said naught even now, if I had not watched you. I will have all that. Yea, with both hands you shall give it!' 'Thou hast had the half already,' said Morgoth. For when she was with him (against his will) at the sack of Formenos, he had let her feast awhile upon the gems of Feanor, so that she should not come to the chamber of iron. 'I hunger,' she said. 'I will have the other half!' Then perforce Morgoth surrendered to her the gems that he bore with him, one by one and grudgingly; and she devoured them, and their beauty perished from the world. Then her strength was renewed, but her lust unsated. 'With one hand you give,' she said, 'with the left only. Open your right hand!' $16 In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silmarils that he had taken from the chamber of iron; and though they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to burn him, and his hand was clenched in pain. But he would not open it. 'Nay!' he said. 'These things thou shalt not have, nor see. I name them unto myself for ever. Thou hast had already more than thy due. For with my power that I put into thee thy work was accomp- lished. I need thee no more. Go, filth! Gnaw thy lust in some hole far away, or I will put a fire in thy maw that shall burn thee for ever! ' $17 But Ungoliant was not daunted. She had grown great, and he less by the power that had gone out of him. Now she rose against him, and her cloud closed about him, and she cast upon him a hideous web of clinging thongs to strangle him. Then Morgoth sent forth a terrible cry that echoed in the mountains. Therefore that region was called Lammoth,* for the echoes of his voice dwelt there ever after, so that any who cried aloud in that land awoke them, and all the waste between the hills and the sea was filled with a clamour as of voices in anguish. $18 But the cry of Morgoth in that hour was the greatest and most dreadful that was ever heard in the northern world: the mountains shook, and the earth trembled, and rocks were (* [footnote to the text] The Great Echo.) riven asunder. Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, the Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their lord. Swiftly they arose, and they passed with winged speed over Hithlum, and they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire. $19 Then Ungoliant quailed, and she turned to flight, belching black vapours to cover her; but the Balrogs pursued her with whips of flame into the Mountains of Shadow,* until Morgoth recalled them. Then her webs were shorn asunder, and Morgoth was released, and he returned to Angband. $20 But Ungoliant went into Beleriand, and there dwelt for a time beneath the Eryd Orgoroth [> Gorgoroth], in the dark valley that was after called Nan Dungorthebf + because of the horror that she bred there. But when she had healed her hurts as best she could, and had spawned there a foul brood, she passed away. For there were other evil creatures of spider-form that had dwelt there since the days of the delving of Angband; and she mated with them and devoured them. But whither she went after no tale tells. It is said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last. $21 Thus ended the Thieves' Quarrel; and the fear of Yavanna that the Silmarils would be swallowed up and fall into nothingness did not come to pass. But they remained in the power of Morgoth. The new version ends here in the typescript; but among the pages of very rough draft material there is the following abandoned passage that continues the narrative for a short distance: Now Morgoth, having achieved his malice against Valinor, and escaped from bondage, gathered again all his servants that he could find; and through all the North ran the news that he had returned. From near and far, from the ruins of Utumno, and from deep dales and shadows under the mountains and from all dark and hidden places they crept back to him. Then swiftly they began to delve anew the vast vaults of Angband and to uplift its pillared halls of stone amid smoke and fire, and above them were reared the reeking towers of Thangorodrim. (* [footnote to the text] Eryd Wethrin on the borders of Beleriand.) (+ [footnote to the text] The Valley of Dreadful Death.) the Sun was first made after the death of the Trees (described in a chapter omitted).' The significance of this will appear in Part Five. Note on Dating. It is convenient to collect here the evidence, such as it is, bearing on the date of this late rewriting, and the texts associated with it. I have mentioned that in a letter of December 1957 my father told Rayner Unwin that it was his intention to 'get copies made of all copyable material', with a view to 'remoulding' The Silmarillion; and I have suggested that the amanuensis typescript LQ 2 of The Silmaril- lion and that of the Annals of Aman, which were made on the same typewriter and probably belong to the same time, may therefore be tentatively ascribed to about 1958 (see pp. 141 - 2). If this dating is accepted for the moment, then the annals inserted into the manuscript of AAm concerning the death of Miriel, the 'Doom of Manwe concerning the espousals of the Eldar', and the marriage of Finwe to Indis must have preceded 1958 or belong to that year, since they appear in the typescript of AAm as typed (p. 101 notes 1 and 4, p. 127, $120); while the rider FM 1 to LQ concerning Finwe and Miriel is certainly contemporary with the AAm insertions (p. 205). The story of Finwe and Miriel in the manuscript (A) of Laws and Customs among the Eldar certainly followed FM 1, but the two texts were probably close in time (p. 233). It is thus notable that in the letter written by my father in October 1958 (see pp. 267, 270) this story and its implications were in the forefront of his mind. The second text of the story of Finwe and Miriel (FM 2, p. 254) intended for inclusion in The Silmarillion very probably preceded the typescript (B) of Laws and Customs among the Eldar, since this latter was typed on a new typewriter with a rather distinctive typeface. Also typed on this machine were the Valaquenta and the texts of the late rewriting of Chapter 6( - 7). The first letter of my father's that I know of to be typed on the new typewriter is dated January 1959. There is no actual proof of date in any of this, of course, but taken together it points clearly, I think, to the late 1950s as the time when the story of Finwe and Miriel arose and Laws and Customs among the Eldar was written. Further evidence is provided by the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (see pp. 304, 360).