The War of the Jewels (21 page)

$31. The passage corresponding to this in GA 1 is very much briefer: Of the long years of peace that followed after the coming of Denethor there is no tale, save only that Orome would come at whiles to the land, or pass over the mountains, and the sound of his horn came over the leagues of the starlight...

(concluding as in GA 2). But the passage in GA 2 concerning Dairon and his runes is largely derived from a later passage in GA 1 (absent in GA 2), for which see p. 20.

The word Cirth first appears here, though as a later addition to the manuscript (perhaps at the time when my father was preparing Appendix E to The Lord of the Rings). It is said in the footnote to the paragraph that Dairon contrived his runes 'ere the building of Menegroth' (begun in 1300, according to GA); so also in GA 1

'Dairon ... had devised his Runes already by V.Y.1300'. An annal added to the typescript of AAm (X.106, $85) has '1300 Daeron, loremaster of Thingol, contrives the Runes.' For an earlier view of the origin of the Runes of Dairon (an invention of 'the Danian Elves of Ossiriand', elaborated in Doriath) see The Treason of Isengard pp. 453-5; there the name 'Alphabet of Dairon' is ascribed simply to the fact of 'the preservation in this script of some fragments of the songs of Dairon, the ill-fated minstrel of King Thingol of Doriath, in the works on the ancient Beleriandic languages by Pengolod the Wise of Gondolin'. See also my father's later statement concerning the Alphabet of Daeron at the beginning of Appendix E (II) to The Lord of the Rings.

$33. On the great cry of Morgoth see X.109, 296. Where GA 2 has

'few knew what it foreboded' GA 1 has 'few (save Melian and Thingol) knew what it foreboded'.

$34. So also in AAm ($126) and in the late Quenta Silmarillion text

'Of the Thieves' Quarrel' (X.297) Ungoliante after her rout by the Balrogs went down into Beleriand and dwelt in Nan Dungorthin (Nan Dungortheb); but it is not said in those texts that the power of Melian prevented her entry into the Forest of Neldoreth. In both it is said that that valley was so named because of the horror that she bred there, but the statement here that the Mountains of Terror came to be so called after that time is not found elsewhere. That Ungoliante departed into the South of the world is said also in AAm, but in 'Of the Thieves' Quarrel' (X.297) 'whither she went after no tale tells'.

$35. The stage of development in the tradition of Morgoth's fortress is that of QS and AAm, in which Angband was built on the ruins of Utumno (see X.156, $12). - In GA 1 the name Thangorodrim is translated 'the Tyrannous Towers'; cf. the later translation 'the Mountains of Oppression' (X.298).

$$36 ff. This is the first full account of 'the First Battle of Beleriand'

(a term previously applied to the Battle-under-Stars, which now becomes the Second Battle). In the pre-Lord of the Rings texts the first assault of the Orcs on Beleriand had been briefly described; thus in the second version (AV 2) of the Annals of Valinor it was said (V.114):

Thingol with his ally Denithor of Ossiriand for a long while held back the Orcs from the South. But at length Denithor son of Dan was slain, and Thingol made his deep mansions in Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, and Melian wove magic of the Valar about the land of Doriath; and most of the Elves of Beleriand withdrew within its protection, save some that lingered about the western havens, Brithombar and Eglorest beside the Great Sea, and the Green-elves of Ossiriand who dwelt still behind the rivers of the East...

In QS $115 the account ran thus:

Of old the lord of Ossiriand was Denethor, friend of Thingol; but he was slain in battle when he marched to the aid of Thingol against Melko, in the days when the Orcs were first made and broke the starlit peace of Beleriand. Thereafter Doriath was fenced with enchantment, and many of the folk of Denethor removed to Doriath and mingled with the Elves of Thingol; but those that remained in Ossiriand had no king, and lived in the protection of their rivers.

$36. Between Menegroth and Thangorodrim on the second Silmarillion map (as drawn: not in my reproduction, V.409) the length is 14 cm, and the scale is stated to be 50 miles to 3-2 cm. (the length of the sides of the squares); the distance was therefore 218 75 miles, or just under 73 leagues (for my father's later interpretation of the scale in inches, not centimetres, see p. 332, but the difference has no significance here). The distance given here of 150 leagues (450

miles) from Menegroth to Angband's gate, more than doubling that shown on the second map, seems to imply a great extension of the northern plain. The geography of the far North is discussed in V.270-2; but since it is impossible to say how my father came to conceive it I discreetly omitted all indication of the Iron Mountains '

and Thangorodrim from the map drawn for the published Silmarillion.

$38. GA 1 has here:

Therefore he called on Denethor [struck out: and on the Enfengs]

and the First Battle was fought in the Wars of Beleriand. And the Orcs in the east were routed and slain aheaps, and as they fled before the Elves they were waylaid by the axes of the Enfengs that issued from Mount Dolmed: few returned to the North.

In GA 2 'Region over Aros' refers to that part of the Forest of Region between the rivers Aros and Celon (see p. 183, square F 10).

The implication of the sentence seems clearly to be that these Elves owed allegiance to Denethor; and this does not seem to be consistent with what is said in $39, that after the First Battle many of the Green-elves of Ossiriand 'went north and entered the guarded realm of Thingol and were merged with his folk'. Against this sentence in the typescript of GA my father wrote in the margin

'Orgol' and 'of the Guest-elves in Arthorien', marking these with carets to indicate that something should be said of them. In Unfinished Tales, p. 77, occurs the following passage: Saeros... was of the Nandor, being one of those who took refuge in Doriath after the fall of their lord Denethor upon Amon Ereb, in the first battle of Beleriand. These Elves dwelt for the most part in Arthorien, between Aros and Celon in the east of Doriath, wandering at times over Celon into the wild lands beyond; and they were no friends to the Edain since their passage through Ossiriand and settlement in Estolad.

This was largely derived from an isolated note, very rapidly written and not at all points intelligible, among the Narn papers, but somewhat reduced. It is remarked in this note that 'the Nandor had turned away, never seen the Sea or even Osse, and had become virtually Avari. They had also picked up various Avari before they came back west to Ossiriand.' Of those Nandor who took refuge in Doriath after the fall of Denethor it is said: 'In the event they did not mingle happily with the Teleri of Doriath, and so dwelt mostly in the small land Eglamar, Arthorien under their own chief. Some of them were "darkhearted", though this did not necessarily appear, except under strain or provocation.' 'The chief of the "Guest-elves", as they were called, was given a permanent place in Thingol's council'; and Saeros (in this note called in fact Orgoph or Orgol) was 'the son of the chief of the Guest-elves, and had been for a long time resident in Menegroth'.

I think it very probable that my father wrote 'Orgol' and 'of the Guest-elves in Arthorien' on the typescript of GA as the same time as he wrote this note.

Arthorien was entered on the second map (p. 183, square F 10).

The application of the name Eglamar to Arthorien in this note is puzzling (see p. 189, $57).

The intervention of the Dwarves has not been referred to previously.

$40. The words 'unless one should come with a power greater than that of Melian the Maia' replaced at the time of writing 'unless haply some power greater than theirs should assail them'. -

Eglador: my father pencilled this name under Doriath on the second map (see p. 186, $14).

$41. At the end of this paragraph the Annals of Aman cease to record the events in the Grey Annals, and comparison is with QS (V.248

ff.), together with the conclusion of AV 2 (V.117 ff.) and with AB 2

(V.125 ff.). In this commentary I do not generally refer to later developments in the Quenta Silmarillion tradition.

$44. For Eryd-wethrin, the valour of the Noldor, and Dagor-nuin-Giliath GA 1 has Erydwethion, the valour of the Gnomes, and Dagor-nui-Ngiliath (as in QS $88, marginal note).

This is the first occurrence of Ardgalen in the texts as here presented, replacing Bladorion as the original name of the great northern plain before its devastation. It is notable that Ardgalen 'the green region' is expressly stated to have been the name at this time before the rising of the Sun; cf. the change made long before to the passage in Q describing the Battle-under-Stars (when the battle was fought on the plain itself, not in Mithrim): 'yet young and green (it stretched to the feet of the tall mountains)' > 'yet dark beneath the stars' (IV.101, 103).

The Orc-hosts that passed southwards down the Vale of Sirion are not of course mentioned in previous accounts of the Battle-under-Stars. The attack on the Noldor in Mithrim is now taken up into a larger assault out of Angband, and the victory of the Noldor brought into relation with the newly-developed conception of the beleaguered Sindar.

In the account of the destruction of the western Orc-host by Celegorn is the first appearance of the Fen of Serech: this was first named in an addition to the second map the Fen of Rivil, subsequently changed to the Fen of Serech (p. 181, $3). Rivil was the stream that rising at Rivil's Well on Dorthonion made the fen at its inflowing into Sirion.

$45. In AV 2 (V.117) and QS ($88) the Balrogs were in the rearguard of Morgoth's host, and it was they who turned to bay. - Of the rescue of Feanor GA 1 (following QS) has only: 'But his sons coming up with force rescued their father, and bore him back to Mithrim' (see under $46).

$46. The story of Feanor's dying sight of Thangorodrim and his cursing of the name of Morgoth first appeared in Q (IV.101), where the Battle-under-Stars was fought on the plain of Bladorion (Ardgalen). In AV 1 and AV 2 (IV.268, V.117) the battle was fought in Mithrim, and Feanor was mortally wounded when he advanced too far upon the plain, but he was brought back to Mithrim and died there; his sight of Thangorodrim and curse upon Morgoth do not appear. In QS ($88) my father combined the accounts: Feanor died in Mithrim, but it is also told that he 'saw afar the peaks of Thangorodrim' as he died, and 'cursed the name of Morgoth thrice'; GA 1 follows this story (see under $45 above). It must have been the consideration that from Mithrim Thangorodrim was not visible on account of the heights of Eryd-wethrin that led to the story in GA 2

that Feanor caused his sons to halt as they began the climb above Eithel Sirion, and that he died in that place.

$47. The initial misapprehension among the Grey-elves concerning the return of the Noldor is a wholly new element in the narrative, as is also the cold view taken by Thingol, seeing in it a threat to his own dominion. In the old versions his coolness does not appear until his refusal to attend the Feast of Reuniting (Mereth Aderthad) in the year 20 of the Sun, and arises rather from his insight into what the future might bring, Thingol came not himself, and he would not open his kingdom, nor remove its girdle of enchantment; for wise with the wisdom of Melian he trusted not that the restraint of Morgoth would last for ever' (QS $99, and very similarly in AB 2, V.126).

$49. The date 1497 is repeated from $36. - The Balrogs that constituted the force that Morgoth sent to the parley in QS ($89 and commentary) have disappeared.

$52. As in AAm $$157-8, 163 the form Endar ('Middle-earth') is clear, but here as there the typist put Endor (see X.126, $157).

$53. The paragraph opens in the manuscript with a large pointing hand.

$$54-5. In this passage, while there are echoes of the earlier texts, the writing is largely new, and there are new elements, notably the cry of Maidros on Thangorodrim.

$54. The story of Morgoth's assault on Tilion is told in AAm $179, where however it took place after both Sun and Moon were launched into the heavens. It is told in AAm that 'Tilion was the victor: as he ever yet hath been, though still the pursuing darkness overtakes him at whiles', evidently a reference to the eclipses of the Moon.

$57. On the placing of Hildorien see AV 2 (V.120, note 13) and QS

$82. and commentary; also pp. 173-4. On the name Atani see X.7, 39.

$$58-60. While this annal for the second year of the Sun is obviously closely related to and in large part derived from QS $$92 - 3, it contains new elements, as the more explicit portrayal of Fingolfin's anger against the Feanorians, and also the repentance of many of the latter for the burning of the ships at Losgar.

$61. The reference to the Quenta is to the much fuller account of the rescue of Maidros in QS $$94-7. In AAm ($160) it is told that Maidros was 'on a time a friend of Fingon ere Morgoth's lies came between', and ($162) that he alone stood aside at the burning of the ships. - The spelling Maidros: at earlier occurrences in GA the name is spelt Maidros, and Maidros appears again in the following line; while in the draft text referred to on p. 29 the form is mostly Maidros (cf. the later form Maedhros, X.177, adopted in the published Silmarillion, beside Maedros X.293, 295).