ADDITIONAL NOTES
Ainur
The name Ainur, translated ‘the Holy Ones’, derives from my father’s myth of the Creation of the World. He set down the original conception, according to a letter of 1964 (from which I have cited a passage ), when at Oxford he was ‘employed on the staff of the then still incomplete great Dictionary’ from 1918–20. ‘In Oxford’, the letter continues, ‘I wrote a cosmogonical myth, “The Music of the Ainur”, defining the relation of The One, the transcendental Creator, to the Valar, the “Powers”, the angelical First-created, and their part in ordering and carrying out the Primeval Design.’
It may seem an excessive departure from the tale of the Fall of Gondolin to his myth of the Creation of the World, but I hope it will soon be apparent why I have made it.
The central conception of the ‘cosmogonical myth’ is declared in the title: The Music of the Ainur. It was not until the 1930s that my father composed a further version, the Ainulindalë (The Music of the Ainur), in substance closely following the original text. It is from this version that I have taken the quotations in the very brief account that follows.
The Creator is Eru, the One, also and more frequently named Ilúvatar, meaning ‘the Father of All’, of the Universe. It is told in this work that before all else Eru made the Ainur ‘that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before Time. And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music. And they sang before him, each one alone, while the rest hearkened.’ This was the beginning of the Music of the Ainur: for Ilúvatar summoned them all, and he declared to them a mighty theme, of which they must make in harmony together ‘a Great Music’.
When Ilúvatar brought this great music to an end he made it known to the Ainur that he being the Lord of All had transformed all that they had sung and played: he had caused them to be: to have shape and reality, as had the Ainur themselves. He led them then out into the darkness.
But when they came into the midmost Void they beheld a sight of surpassing beauty, where before had been emptiness. And Ilúvatar said: ‘Behold your music! For of my will it has taken shape, and even now the history of the world is beginning.’
I conclude this account with a passage of great significance in this book. There is speech between Ilúvatar and Ulmo concerning the realm of the Lord of Waters. Then follows:
And even as Ilúvatar spoke to Ulmo, the Ainur beheld the unfolding of the world, and the beginning of that history which Ilúvatar had propounded to them as a theme of song. Because of their memory of the speech of Ilúvatar, and the knowledge that each has of the music which he played, the Ainur know much of what is to come, and few things are unforeseen by them.
If we set this passage beside the foresight of Ulmo concerning Eärendel, which I have characterised (p.230) as ‘miraculous’, it seems that Ulmo was looking very far back in time to know for a certainty what the near future was portending.
There remains a further aspect of the Ainur to notice. To quote the Ainulindalë once more, it is told that
Even as they gazed, many became enamoured of the beauty of the world and engrossed in the history which came there to being, and there was unrest among them. Thus it came to pass that some abode still with Ilúvatar beyond the world … But others, and among them were many of the wisest and fairest of the Ainur, craved leave of Ilúvatar to enter into the world and dwell there, and put on the form and raiment of Time …
Then those that wished descended, and entered into the world. But this condition Ilúvatar made, that their power should thenceforth be contained and bounded by the world, and fail with it; and his purpose with them afterward Ilúvatar has not revealed.
Thus the Ainur came into the world, whom we call the Valar, or the Powers, and they dwelt in many places: in the firmament, or in the deeps of the sea, or upon Earth, or in Valinor upon the borders of Earth. And the four greatest were Melko and Manwë and Ulmo and Aulë.
This is followed by the portrait of Ulmo that is given in The Music of the Ainur (p.234).
It follows from the foregoing that the term Ainur, singular Ainu, may be used in the place of Valar, Vala now and again: so for example ‘but the Ainur put it into his heart’, p.40.
I must add finally that in this sketch of the Music of the Ainur I have deliberately omitted a major strand in the story of the Creation: the huge and destructive part played by Melko/Morgoth.
Húrin and Gondolin
This story is found in the relatively late text which my father called the Grey Annals (see ). It tells that Húrin and his brother Huor (the father of Tuor) ‘went both to battle with the Orcs, even Huor, for he would not be restrained, though he was but thirteen years of age. And being with a company that was cut off from the rest, they were pursued to the ford of Brithiach; and there they would have been taken or slain, but for the power of Ulmo, which was still strong in Sirion. Therefore a mist arose from the river and hid them from their enemies, and they escaped into Dimbar, and wandered in the hills beneath the sheer walls of the Crissaegrim. There Thorondor espied them, and sent two Eagles that took them and bore them up and brought them beyond the mountains to the secret vale of Tumladen and the hidden city of Gondolin, which no man else yet had seen.’
King Turgon welcomed them, for Ulmo had counselled him to deal kindly with the house of Hador whence help should come at need. They dwelt in Gondor a year, and it is said that at this time Húrin learned something of the counsels and purposes of Turgon; for he had great liking for them, and wished to keep them in Gondolin. But they desired to return to their own kin, and share in the wars and griefs that now beset them. Turgon yielded to their wish and he said: ‘By the way that you came you have leave to depart, if Thorondor is willing. I grieve at this parting, yet in a little while, as the Eldar account it, we may meet again.’
The story ends with the hostile words of Maeglin, who greatly opposed the king’s generosity towards them. ‘The law is become less stern than aforetime,’ he said, ‘or else no choice would be given you but to abide here to your life’s end.’ To this Húrin replied that if Maeglin did not trust them, they would take oaths; and they swore never to reveal the counsels of Turgon and to keep secret all that they had seen in his realm.
Years later Tuor would say to Voronwë, as they stood beside the sea at Vinyamar (p.171): ‘But as for my right to seek Turgon: I am Tuor son of Huor and kin to Húrin, whose names Turgon will not forget.’
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Húrin was taken alive in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Morgoth offered him his freedom, or else power as the greatest of Morgoth’s captains, ‘if he would but reveal where Turgon had his stronghold’. This proposal Húrin refused to Morgoth’s face with the utmost boldness and scorn. Then Morgoth set him in a high place of Thangorodrim, to sit there upon a chair of stone; and he said to Húrin that seeing with the eyes of Morgoth he should look out upon the evil fates of those he loved and nothing would escape him. Húrin endured this for twenty-eight years. At the end of that time Morgoth released him. He feigned that he was moved by pity for an enemy utterly defeated, but he lied. He had further evil purpose; and Húrin knew that Morgoth was without pity. But he took his freedom. In the extension of the Grey Annals in which this story is told, ‘The Wanderings of Húrin’, he came at length to the Echoriath, the Encircling Mountains of Gondolin. But he could find no way further, and he stood at last in despair ‘before the stern silence of the mountains … He stood at last upon a great stone, and spreading wide his arms, looking towards Gondolin, he called in a great voice: “Turgon! Húrin calls you. O Turgon, will you not hear in your hidden halls?” But there was no answer, and all that he heard was wind in the dry grasses … Yet there were ears that had heard the words that Húrin spoke, and eyes that marked well his gestures; and report of all came soon to the Dark Throne in the North. Then Morgoth smiled, and knew now clearly in what region Turgon dwelt, though because of the Eagles no spy of his could yet come within sight of the land behind the encircling mountains.’
So here again we meet my father’s shifting perception of how Morgoth discovered where the Hidden Kingdom lay (see –). The story in the present text is clearly at odds with the passage in the Quenta Noldorinwa (p.140), where the treachery of Maeglin, taken prisoner by the Orcs, is told in this clear form: ‘he purchased his life and freedom by revealing unto Morgoth the place of Gondolin and the ways whereby it might be found and assailed. Great indeed was the joy of Morgoth …’
The story was in fact, I think, now taking a further step in the light of the end of the passage given above, where Húrin’s cries revealed the place of Gondolin ‘to the joy of Morgoth’. This is seen from what my father added at this point in the manuscript:
Later when captured and Maeglin wished to buy his release with treachery, Morgoth must answer laughing, saying: ‘Stale news will buy nothing. I know this already, I am not easily blinded!’ So Maeglin was obliged to offer more – to undermine resistance in Gondolin.
Iron Mountains
At first sight it appeared from early texts that Hisilómë (Hithlum) was a region distinct from the later Hithlum, since it was placed beyond the Iron Mountains. I concluded however that what was involved was simply a change of names, and this is certainly the truth of the matter. It is told elsewhere in the Lost Tales that after the escape of Melko from his imprisonment in Valinor he made for himself ‘new dwellings in that region of the North where stand the Iron Mountains very high and terrible to see’; and also that Angband lay beneath the roots of the northernmost fortresses of the Iron Mountains: those mountains were so named from ‘the Hells of Iron’ beneath them.
The explanation is that the name ‘Mountains of Iron’ was originally applied to the range later called ‘Shadowy Mountains’ or ‘Mountains of Shadow’, Ered Wethrin. (It might be that while these mountains were regarded as a continuous range, the southern extension, the southern and eastern walls of Hithlum, came to be distinguished in name from the terrible northern peaks above Angband, the mightiest of them being Thangorodrim.)
Unhappily I failed to alter the List of Names in the entry Hisilómë in Beren and Lúthien, which states that that region owes its name to ‘the scanty sun which peeps over the Iron Mountains to the east and south of it.’ At p.43 in the present text I have replaced ‘Iron’ by ‘Shadowy’.
Nirnaeth Arnoediad: The Battle of Unnumbered Tears
It is said in the Quenta Noldorinwa:
Now it must be told that Maidros, son of Fëanor, perceived that Morgoth was not unassailable after the deeds of Huan and Lúthien and the breaking of the towers of Thû [Tol Sirion, Isle of Werewolves; later > Sauron’s tower], but that he would destroy them all, one by one, if they did not form again a league and council. This was the Union of Maidros and wisely planned.
The gigantic battle that ensued was the most disastrous in the history of the wars of Beleriand. References to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad abound in the texts, for Elves and Men were utterly defeated and the ruin of the Noldor was achieved. Fingon, king of the Noldor, a son of Fingolfin and brother of Turgon was slain, and his realm was no more. But a very notable event, early in the battle, was the intervention of Turgon, breaking the leaguer of Gondolin: this event is told thus in the Grey Annals (on which see The Evolution of the Story ):
To the joy and wonder of all there was a sounding of great trumpets, and there marched up to war a host unlooked for. This was the army of Turgon that issued from Gondolin, ten thousand strong, with bright mail and long swords, and they were stationed southwards guarding the passes of Sirion.
There is also in the Grey Annals a very noteworthy passage on the subject of Turgon and Morgoth.
But one thought troubled Morgoth deeply, and marred his triumph; Turgon had escaped the net, whom he most desired to take. For Turgon came of the great house of Fingolfin, and was now by right King of all the Noldor, and Morgoth feared and hated most the house of Fingolfin, because they had scorned him in Valinor, and had the friendship of Ulmo, and because of the wounds that Fingolfin gave him in battle. Moreover of old his eye had lighted on Turgon, and a dark shadow fell on his heart, foreboding that, in some time that lay yet hidden in doom, from Turgon ruin should come to him.
The Origins of Eärendel
The text that follows here is derived from a lengthy letter written by my father in 1967 on the subject of his construction of names within his history and his adoption of names exterior to his history.
He remarked at the outset that the name Eärendil (the later form) was very plainly derived from the Old English word Éarendel – a word that he felt to be of peculiar beauty in that language. ‘Also’ (he continued) ‘its form strongly suggests that it is in origin a proper name and not a common noun.’ From related forms in other languages he thought it certain that it belonged to astronomical myth, and was the name of a star or star-group.
‘To my mind’, he wrote, ‘the Old English uses seem plainly to indicate that it was a star presaging the dawn (at any rate in English tradition): that is what we call Venus: the morning star as it may be seen shining brilliantly in the dawn, before the actual rising of the Sun. That is at any rate how I took it. Before 1914 I wrote a “poem” upon Eärendel who launched his ship like a bright spark from the havens of the Sun. I adopted him into my mythology – in which he became a prime figure as a mariner, eventually as a herald star, and a sign of hope to men. Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima “hail Eärendel brightest of Stars” is derived at long remove from Éala Éarendel engla beorhtast.’
It was indeed a long remove. These Old English words are taken from the poem Crist, which reads at this point Éala! Éarendel engla beorhtast ofer middangeard monnum sended. But, extraordinary as it seems at first sight, in the Elvish words Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima cited by my father in this letter he was referring to a passage in the chapter Shelob’s Lair in The Lord of the Rings. As Shelob approached Sam and Frodo in the darkness Sam cried out ‘The Lady’s gift! The star-glass! A light to you in dark places, she said it was to be. The star-glass!’ In amazement at his forgetfulness ‘slowly Frodo’s hand went to his bosom, and slowly he held aloft the Phial of Galadriel’ … ‘The darkness receded from it, until it seemed to shine in the centre of a globe of airy crystal, and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire.
‘Frodo gazed in wonder at this marvellous gift that he had so long carried, not guessing its full worth and potency. Seldom had he remembered it on the road, until they came to Morgul Vale, and never had he used it for fear of its revealing light. Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima! he cried, and knew not what he had spoken; for it seemed that another voice spoke through his, clear, untroubled by the foul air of the pit.’
In the letter of 1967 my father went on to say that ‘the name could not be adopted just like that: it had to be accommodated to the Elvish linguistic situation, at the same time as a place for this person was made in legend. From this, far back in the history of “Elvish”, which was beginning, after many tentative starts in boyhood, to take definite shape at the time of the name’s adoption, arose eventually the Common Elvish stem AYAR “sea”, primarily applied to the Great Sea of the West and the verbal element (N)DIL, meaning “to love, be devoted to”. Eärendil became a character in the earliest written (1916–17) of the major legends … Tuor had been visited by Ulmo one of the greatest Valar, the lord of seas and waters, and sent by him to Gondolin. The visitation had set in Tuor’s heart an insatiable sea-longing, hence the choice of name for his son, to whom this longing was transmitted.’
The Prophecy of Mandos
In the extract from the Sketch of the Mythology given in the Prologue it is told (p.32) that as the Noldoli sailed from Valinor in their rebellion against the Valar Mandos sent an emissary, who speaking from a high cliff as they sailed by warned them to return, and when they refused he spoke the Prophecy of Mandos concerning their fate in afterdays. I give here a passage that gives an account of it. The text is the first version of The Annals of Valinor – the last version being the Grey Annals (see The Evolution of the Story . This earliest version belongs to the same period as the Quenta Noldorinwa.
They [the departing Noldoli] came to a place where a high rock stands above the shores, and there stood either Mandos or his messenger and spoke the Doom of Mandos. For the kin-slaying he cursed the house of Fëanor, and to a less degree all who followed them, or shared in their emprise, unless they would return to abide the doom and pardon of the Valar. But if they would not, then should evil fortune and disaster befall them, and ever from treachery of kin towards kin; and their oath should turn against them; and a measure of mortality should visit them, that they should be lightly slain with weapons, or torments, or sorrow, and in the end fade and wane before the younger race. And much else he foretold darkly that after befell, warning them that the Valar would fence Valinor against their return.
But Fëanor hardened his heart and held on, and so also but reluctantly did Fingolfin’s folk, feeling the constraint of their kindred and fearing for the doom of the Gods (for not all of Fingolfin’s house had been guiltless of the kin-slaying).
See also the words of Ulmo to Tuor at Vinyamar, LV .
The Three Kindreds of the Elves in The Hobbit
In The Hobbit, not far from the end of Chapter 8, Flies and Spiders, occurs this passage.
The feasting people were Wood-elves, of course … They differed from the High Elves of the West, and were more dangerous and less wise. For most of them (together with their scattered relations in the hills and mountains) were descended from the ancient tribes that never went to Faerie in the West. There the Light-elves and the Deep-elves and the Sea-elves went and lived for ages, and grew fairer and wiser and more learned, and invented their magic and their cunning craft in the making of beautiful and marvellous things, before some came back into the Wide World.
These last words refer to the rebellious Noldor who left Valinor and in Middle-earth became known as the Exiles.