Morgoth's Ring (5 page)

And the Noldor it was who achieved the invention of gems, which were not in the world before their coming; and the fairest of all gems were the Silmarils, and they are lost.]23

§36 But Manwë Súlimo, highest and holiest of the Valar, sat upon the borders of the West, forsaking not in his thought the Outer Lands. For his throne was set in majesty upon the pinnacle of Taniquetil, which was the highest of the mountains of the world, standing upon the margin of the Seas. Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the sea and could pierce the

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hidden caverns under the world, and their wings could bear them through the three regions of the firmament beyond the lights of heaven to the edge of Darkness. Thus they brought word to him of well nigh all that passed in Aman:24 yet some things were hidden even from the eyes of Manwë, for where Melkor sat in his dark thought impenetrable shadows lay. With Manwë dwelt Varda the most beautiful, whom the Noldor name Elbereth, Queen of the Valar; she it was who wrought the stars. And the children of Manwë and Varda are Fionwe Úrion their son, and Ilmarë their daughter;25 and these were the eldest of the children of the Valar. They dwelt with Manwë, and with them were a great host of fair spirits in great blessedness. Elves and Men revere Manwë most of all the Valar, for he has no thought for his own honour, and is not jealous of his power, but ruleth all to peace. [The Lindar he loved most of all the Elves, and of him they received song and poesy. For poesy is the delight of Manwë, and the song of words is his music.]26 Behold, the raiment of Manwë is blue, and blue is the fire of his eyes, and his sceptre is of sapphire which the Noldor wrought for him; and he is King of the world of gods and elves and men, and the chief defence against Melkor.

§37 But Ulmo was alone, and he abode not in Valinor, but dwelt from the beginning of Arda in the Outer Ocean, as he still does; and thence he governed the flowing of all waters, and the courses of all rivers, the replenishment of springs and the distilling of rain and dew throughout the world. In the deep places he gives thought to music great and terrible; and the echo thereof runs through all the veins of the Earth,27 and its joy is as the joy of a fountain in the sun whose springs are in the wells of unfathomed sorrow at the foundations of the world. The Teleri learned much of him, and for this reason their music has both sadness and enchantment. Salmar came with him, who made the conches of Ulmo; and Ossë and Uinen, to whom he gave control of the waves and of the inner seas; and many other spirits beside. And thus even under the darkness of Melkor life coursed still through many secret lodes, and the Earth did not die; and ever afterward to all who were lost in that darkness or wandered far from the light of the Valar the ear of Ulmo was open, nor has he ever forsaken Middle-earth, and whatsoever may since have befallen of ruin or change he has not ceased to take thought for it, nor will until the end.28

§38 After the departure of the Valar there was silence for an MORGOTH`S RING - AINULINDALË -
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age, and Ilúvatar sat alone in thought. Then Ilúvatar spake, and he said: 'Behold I love the world, and it is a mansion for Elves and Men.

But the Elves shall be the fairest of earthly creatures, and they shall have and shall conceive more beauty than all my children, and they shall have greater bliss in this world. But to Men I will give a new gift.'

§39 Therefore he willed that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to fashion their life, amid the powers and chances of the world, beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else. And of their operation everything should be, in shape and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest. Lo! even we, Elves, have found to our sorrow that Men have a strange power for good or ill, and for turning things aside from the purpose of Valar or of Elves; so that it is said among us that Fate is not master of the children of Men; yet are they blind, and their joy is small, which should be great.

§40 But Ilúvatar knew that Men, being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world, would stray often, and would not use their gift in harmony; and he said: 'These too, in their time, shall find that all they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work.' Yet the Elves say that Men are often a grief even unto Manwë, who knows most of the mind of Ilúvatar. For Men resemble Melkor most of all the Ainur, and yet he hath ever feared and hated them, even those who served him.29 It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and yet are not bound to it, and depart whither we know not. Whereas the Eldar remain until the end of days, and their love of the world is deeper, therefore, and more sorrowful. But they die not, till the world dies, unless they are slain or waste in grief - for to both these seeming deaths they are subject - nor 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 in their children. But the sons of Men die indeed, and leave the World; wherefore they are called the Guests, or the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar unto them, which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy. But Melkor hath cast his shadow upon it, and confounded it with darkness, and brought forth evil out of good, and fear out of hope. Yet it is said that they will join in the Second Music of the Ainur, whereas Ilúvatar has not revealed what he MORGOTH`S RING - AINULINDALË -
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purposes for Elves and Valar after the World's end; and Melkor has not discovered it.

NOTES

1 It was not until after the publication of
Sauron Defeated
that I remembered the existence of this reference to
The Drowning of Anadûnê
as 'a "Man's" version of the
Fall of Númenor
told from men's point of view', and the description of it as

'Round World': see IX.394-5, 406.

2 The first page of the third version of
The fall of Númenor
(IX.331) is headed 'The Last Tales', and the tale itself numbered `1`.

3 I have referred to this list before, in V.294 and 338. In the latter passage I took the

'revision' to be that of the
Quenta Silmarillion
; but since not all the names in the list occur in it the reference may be more general.

4
Pengoloð
: i.e. not
Pengolod
. See note 15.

5
Melkor
: i.e. not
Melko
; see V.338.

6 The names
Helkar
and
Ringil
were struck through at the time of writing; this was a shorthand, meaning '
Illuin
and
Ormal
replace
Helkar
and
Ringil
, which are rejected.' See note 16.

7 On Ælfwine in Tol Eressëa see my summary in IX.279-80.

8 Rúmil in
Ainulindalë
B (V.156).

9 See V.164 note 2.

10 There was no suggestion in the earlier versions that the Children of Ilúvatar entered the Music with the Third Theme.

11 Here and in §24 my father wrote
the Halls of Anar
, changing
Anar
to
Aman
later (cf. notes 13 and 24). On the use of these names see pp. 28, 44.

12 See V.164 note 9.

13
Kingdom of Arda
replaced
Kingdom of Anar
at the time of writing; cf. note 11.

14 Pengoloð refers to the time before the Flight of the Noldor.

15 These words were pencilled lightly on the manuscript. The name is clearly spelt
Pengolod
here and in the paragraph that follows, but
Pengoloð
in §30.

16 In the
Ambarkanta
the northern lamp was
Helka
r, the southern
Ringil
, see p. 7

and note 6, and IV.256.

17 In the
Quenta Silmarillion
§38 (V.222), repeating the words of the
Quenta
(IV.87), it was said that 'the first flowers that ever were east of the Mountains of the Gods' bloomed on the western shores of Tol Eressëa in the light of the Trees that came through the Pass of Kalakilya.

18 The name of the isle was first written Eccuilë, changed at once to MORGOTH`S RING - AINULINDALË -
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Eremar
, which was subsequently altered to
Almar
(
Almaren
in the list of alterations made in 1951, p. 7).

19 The concluding sentence of §31 concerning the dwelling of the Valar on 'the isle of Almar in a great lake' was an addition to the main body of the new text; hence the repetition here.

20 My father first wrote here: 'in the uttermost parts of Andúnë'.

21 The name
Pelóri
(
Valion
) first occurs here; it is found also (under
Aman
) in the list of alterations made in 1951 (p. 7).

22 My father first wrote here 'world', changing it at once to 'earth', which I have capitalised - as also at two other occurrences: capitalisation is inconsistent in
Ainulindalë
C, partly owing to the retention of passages from the original text B.

23 The square brackets enclosing this passage (developed from
Ainulindalë
B, V.162) probably imply its proposed exclusion.

24 The words
in Aman
were added later, at the same time as the change of
the Halls
of Anar
to
the Halls of Aman
in §§15, 24 (see note 11).

25 See V.165 note 20.

26 As note 23.

27
Ainulindalë
B has 'all the veins of the world': this was changed to 'of the Earth', I think simply to avoid repetition, since the sentence ends with 'the foundations of the world'.

28 From this point there is no indication on the manuscript of my father's intention, but in view of the next version D it seems clear that we are to continue with the concluding portion of the old B text (from 'After the departure of the Valar...', V.163). In D, however, there is an intervening passage (sec pp. 35-6) that makes the conclusion more integral with what precedes. - These final paragraphs (§§38-40) were left largely unchanged (though with significant alterations in §40) from the text of B, but I give it in full in order to provide a complete text at this point.

29 This was changed from the B version 'For Men resemble Melko most of all the Ainur, and yet have ever feared and hated him.'

Commentary on the Ainulindale text C

The revision C introduces a radical re-ordering of the original matter of the
Ainulindalë
, together with much that is new; and it is easiest to show this in the form of a table. This table is in no sense a synopsis of the content, but simply a scheme to show the structural interrelations.

B C

The playing of the Music

The playing of the Music

Discord of Melko, the Three Themes

Discord of Melkor, the Three Themes

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Declaration of Ilúvatar to the Ainur:
the
Declaration of Ilúvatar to the Ainur: 'I
Music has been given Being
; the things

will show forth the things that you

that Melko has introduced into the have played'

Design

The Ainur see the World made real

The Ainur see the World in vision; they

see the coming of the Children of

Ilúvatar

Elves and Men made by Ilúvatar alone;

the love of the Ainur for them

Desire of the Ainur for the World, and

the desire of Melkor to have dominion

in it

Joy of the Ainur in the elements of the Joy of the Ainur in the elements of the Earth

Earth

Ulmo's concern with waters, Manwë's Ulmo's concern with waters, Manwë's with the airs, Aulë's with the fabric of

with the airs, Aulë's with the fabric of

the Earth

the Earth

Desire of the Ainur for the World, and

the desire of Melko to have dominion

in it

Elves and Men made by Ilúvatar alone;

nature of the Children and their

relations with the Ainur

The vision of the World taken away;

unrest of the Ainur

Ilúvatar gives Being to the vision

Entry of the Ainur into the World

Entry of the Ainur into the World

Melko walked alone; Ulmo dwelt in the

Outer Ocean; Aulë in Valinor; Manwë

with Varda on Taniquetil. Relations

with the Teleri, Noldor, Lindar

The forms taken by the Valar, some

male, some female

The World unshaped; agelong labours of

the Valar

Strife between Melkor and the Valar;

withdrawal of Melkor from the Earth

The forms taken by the Valar, some

male, some female: 'I have seen

Yavanna'

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Melkor's return; first battle of the Valar

for the dominion of Arda; elemental

strife

End of the Ainulindalë of Rúmil told to

Ælfwine by Pengoloð

Words of Pengoloð

Question of Ælfwine and reply of

Pengoloð:

Coming of Tulkas and rout of Melkor

Building of the Lamps. Earth illumined;

arising of birds and beasts and flowers

Dwelling of the Valar on the island in

the great lake

Secret return of Melkor; blight and

monstrosity spread from his hidden

dwelling in the North; he cast down the

Lamps

Retreat of the Valar into the West and

foundation of Valinor

The Valar came with war against Melkor

but could not overcome him; Melkor

built Utumno

Melkor walked abroad in Middle-earth

The Valar came seldom to Middle-earth