The War of the Jewels (56 page)

From here onwards the draft manuscript becomes chaotic. The pencilled text, in part illegible, continues, interspersed here and there with later passages written in ink, to the end of the story, but the 'layers' are so confused that a coherent development can scarcely be deduced. It seems, however, that at this stage the story of the siege and burning of the Hall of the Chieftains had not entered. The rout of Harathor and his supporters from the Moot-ring seems to have been followed at once by Manthor's reproaches to Hurin - a defence of the conduct of the Men of Brethil towards Turin, and a denial that Harathor could have .

known anything of the coming of Morwen, which in turn leads at once to the expedition to Cabed Naeramarth and the burial of Morwen. In his words to Hurin Manthor declares himself to be now 'the last of the Haladin', but there seems to be no indication of the fate of Harathor. See further note 53.

A new draft text, very roughly written but coherent, takes up at the opening of Hurin's speech to the assembly (p. 290): this was the text from which the final form was closely derived.

52. In NE (Unfinished Tales p. 136) it was 'five leagues at the least'

from Ephel Brandir to Nen Girith; in an earlier draft of that passage it was seven leagues (commentary on GA $$329-32, p.

158).

53. The end of the original draft manuscript (see note 51) is partly illegible, but after the burial of Morwen 'they return and see red fire. The Obel is burning as the rebels assault the... But as they make their way an arrow comes out of the wood and Manthor falls.' This suggests that the burning of the Hall of the Chieftains originally followed the burial of Morwen, and that when that burning became a central event in the story the red glow in the sky seen from Nen Girith was retained as the sign of a further eruption of rioting on the following day. This is supported by the conclusion of the second draft manuscript, given in note 54 (at end); but the matter is very uncertain.

54. The end of the original draft manuscript (see notes 51, 53) after the death of Manthor, pencilled over by my father to make it clearer but with a gap where there is a word, or words, that he could not interpret, reads thus: þ

A few men fearing the end of Brethil and desiring to flee further from Morgoth - having no homes or lands of their own - are willing to go with Hurin. They depart - and fall in [sic] But now Hurin seems to pick up strength and youth - vengeance seems to have heartened him, and he [ ] and walks now strongly. They pass into the woods and gather the last fugitives of the wood-men (the kin of the folk of Brethil).

Asgorn they choose for captain, but he treats Hurin as lord, and does as he will[s]. Whither shall we go? They must

[? know] a place of refuge. They go towards Nargothrond.

Another, isolated page gives this version of the end: For a while he stood there grim and silent. But Manthor looked back and saw red light far away. 'I must return,' he said. The party begins to go back wearily towards Obel Halad.

An arrow slays Manthor. - The voice of Faranc [see note 31]

cries: 'Third time thriven. At least you shall not sit in the Chair you coveted.' They give chase but he escapes in the dark.

The Moot Ring has been 'unhallowed'. The confederation breaks up. Men go each to their own homesteads. Hurin must depart. He gathers a few men who despair now of defending Brethil from the growing strength of Morgoth [and] wish to fly south. At the Taiglin crossing they fall in with Asgon, who has heard rumour of the wild deeds in Brethil, and of Hurin's coming, and are now venturing back into the land to seek him.

Asgon greets him - and is glad that Harathor has been punished. Angered that no one had told Hurin of their coming.

They go on and gather fugitive 'wood-men'. They elect Asgon captain but he ever defers to Hurin. Whither to go?

Hurin elects to go to Nargothrond. Why?

The references to 'wood-men' ('kin of the folk of Brethil') in these passages are no doubt to the men who dwelt in the woodland south of the Taeglin, described in the Narn (Unfinished Tales p. 85, and thereafter called 'the Woodmen'):

There before the Nirnaeth many Men had dwelt in scattered homesteads; they were of Haleth's folk for the most part, but owned no lord, and they lived both by hunting and by husbandry, keeping swine in the mast-lands, and tilling clear-ings in the forest which were fenced from the wild. But most were now destroyed, or had fled into Brethil, and all that region lay under the fear of Orcs, and of outlaws.

These hasty sketches of Hurin's immediate movements after leaving Brethil agree with what is said in the plot-synopsis (p. 258): 'Hurin finds Asgon again and gathers other men and goes towards Nargothrond'. The question 'Why?' of his decision to go there reappears from the final addition to the end of the Grey Annals (p. 255), which probably did not long precede the writing of The Wanderings of Hurin.

The second draft manuscript (see note 51, at end) continues on from the point where the typescript text ends, though with a line drawn across the page beneath the words 'he went down alone towards the Haud-en-Elleth'. I give this partly illegible conclusion from the death of Manthor.

... and plucked out the arrow, and gave a great cry, and lay still.

Then they wept, and they took him up, and prepared to bear him back, and they took no more heed of Hurin. But he stood silent, and turned soon away; the sun was gone down into cloud and the light failed, and he went down alone towards the Haud-en-Elleth.

[Thus befell the ruin of Brethil. For >] Now it is said that I those who ... with Hardang were not all caught, and others came in hearing the news, and there was fighting in the Obel, and a great burning, until all was well nigh destroyed [see note 53]. But when the madness [written above: wrath] of men had cooled they made peace, and some said: 'What hath bewitched us? Surely Hurin begot all this evil, and Hardang and Avranc were more wise. They would have kept him out if they could.'

So they chose Avranc to be their chief, since none of the House of Haleth were left, but [?? he wielded no] such authority and reverence as the Chieftains before, and the Folk of Brethil fell back again to be more like their kinsmen in the [?open] woods

- each minding his own houselands and little ... and their ...

was loosened.

But some misliked this and would not serve under Avranc and made ready to depart, and they joined Hurin.

55. The following brief writing on the subject of Manthor is another

'discussion' like the text 'C' (pp. 266-7) and no doubt belongs to much the same time. Here as there the name is Harathor, but I suggested (p. 269) that he must have been on the point of receiving a new name, and on the same page as the present passage appear the workings leading to the name Hardang.

The page begins with a draft for the last words of Hurin and Manthor at Nen Girith, closely similar to the ending both in the second draft manuscript (on which see note 51, at end) and in the final typescript (pp. 296-7). I believe that the present form was the first, and that my father set it down experimentally, as it were, and then proceeded to explain and justify it, as follows (the many contractions of words and names are expanded): I think it would be good to make Manthor a less merely 'good'

character. For so his extremely zealous and cunning espousal of Hurin's cause would better be explained. Certainly he has a great natural concern for 'courtesy' - sc. civilized behaviour and mercy, and he would have been angry at the treatment of Hurin whoever he was. But (a) he was proud of his kinship with the House of Hador; (b) he had desired the Wardenship -

and many had wanted to elect him. He was of the senior line, but by a daughter (Hiril). But though so far descent had been by eldest son, it had been laid down by Haleth (and Haldar her brother) that daughters and their descendants were to be eligible for election. The descendants of Hundar: Hundad, Harathor had not been men of mark or gallantry.

So plainly Manthor was also using the coming of Hurin to further his ambition - or rather, the shadow of Hurin fell on him, and awoke the ambition (dormant). Note: Manthor never raises the matter of Hurin's errand, or (as was fairly plain) that Hurin came with ill-will, especially towards the rulers of Brethil and the 'anti-Turin' party.

Mention should be made in the tale of Turin (dwelling in Brethil and death) - a propos of Hunthor? - of Manthor and the friendship of his branch for Turin and reverence for the House of Hador.

There was some ill-feeling between the branches: on the one side akin to the House of Hador (via Gloredel and via Hareth and Hiril) and [on the other] the line of Hundar.

This enlarges and defines some of the things said in the last paragraph of the discussion in the text 'C' (p. 267), where the friendship for Turin among the descendants of Hiril, and pride in their kinship with the House of Hador, were referred to, and the idea that Manthor 'desired the Wardenship' referred to as a possibility.

An isolated slip, headed Names, has the following notes: The Haladin name of people directly descended from Haldar Haleth's brother (by male or female line), a family or

'nothlir' from which the Chieftains or Halbars of Brethil were chosen by the Folk.

For halad sg. 'chieftain'..... halbar.

The Chieftain after Brandir was Hardang.

His evil-counsellor friend to be Daruin.

Dorlas > Darlas

Dar = mastery, lordship

bor = stone. The Stone in the Ring was the halabor. The Standing Stone was the Talbor.

The word halbar 'chieftain', to be substituted for halad, appears in a note pencilled on the genealogical table of the Haladin, where also the name Haldar was apparently altered to Halbar: see p. 238. The name Talbor of the Standing Stone appears also in an addition to the Narn plot-synopsis (p. 257), but the stone in the Moot-ring is named Angbor 'Doom-rock' in additions to the typescript text of WH (see p. 283). These new names, and Darlas for Dorlas, Daruin for Avranc, must represent a further group of substitutions subsequent to the final text of WH, although it is odd in that case that Hardang should be included.

Following these notes on the same slip of paper are notes on the name Taeglin; these were struck out, but virtually the same notes in more finished form are found on another slip: Taeglin(d) better Taeglind

* taika (V taya mark, line, limit > tayak) maere, boundary, limit, boundary line.

linde 'singer / singing', name (or element in names) of many rivers of quick course that make a rippling sound.

mure is an Old English word of the same meaning. - It seems that the form chosen for the published Silmarillion should have been Taeglin rather than Teiglin (see p. 228, $28).

56. Some interesting remarks of my father's concerning The Wanderings of Hurin are found on the back of one of the slips on which Professor Clyde Kilby wrote comments and criticisms of the work:

The criticisms seem to me largely mistaken - no doubt because this is a fragment of a great saga, e.g. Thingol and Melian are mentioned as objects of Morgoth's malice, because Hurin's next exploit will be to bring ruin to Doriath. The outlaws are not a 'device', but already accounted for - and play a part in the story of Turin when he came to Dor Lomin. Hurin does pick them up again and they are the nucleus of the force with which he goes to Nargothrond and slays Mim and seizes the gold of the dragon.

As for 'too little action,' 'too much speech', I have re-read this quite impersonally after many years when I had practically forgotten it - the speeches are bitter and pungent and in .

themselves exciting. I thought the whole business from the entry of Hurin not only moving but very exciting.

The reference to Thingol and Melian arose from Professor Kilby's taking exception to their only being mentioned in one place (p. 259). The response that his remarks (written, I believe, in 1966) elicited is particularly interesting in that they show that the story of Hurin's seizing the treasure of Nargothrond was still fully in being, although my father never even approached it again.

Very striking is his phrase, 'Hurin's next exploit will be to bring ruin to Doriath'.

57. On the amanuensis typescript my father pencilled, beneath The Wanderings of Hurin: 'I The Shadow Falls on Brethil'. At the beginning of his discussion of the story in text C (p. 266) he said of Asgorn and his men that 'their coming to Brethil is needed to

"cast the shadow" by arousing fear and hatred in the heart of Harathor.' It may be therefore that the subheading The Shadow Falls on Brethil was intended to refer only to the first part of the story of Hurin in Brethil. On the other hand, he introduced no .

other sub-headings into the body of the text, and it seems equally possible that he meant this as the title of the whole story, 'II' to be the next stage of Hurin's 'wanderings', Hurin in Nargothrond.

II.

AELFWINE AND DIRHAVAL.

In Unfinished Tales (p. 146) I referred to the existence of an 'introductory note' to the Narn i Chin Hurin, found in different forms, and I gave a very condensed and selective account of the content. The two versions are in fact more distinct than this suggests, and here I print them both in full. One of them is a clear manuscript written with almost no hesitations or alterations (whether at the time or-later): this, which I will call 'A', clearly preceded the other, and I give it first. The numbered notes will be found on p. 315.