The War of the Jewels (76 page)

'Dwarrowvault' was made immediately. Hadhodrond was adopted in The Silmarillion.

22. Cf. Appendix F to The Lord of the Rings, p. 409: 'The lesser kinds were called, especially by the Uruk-hai, snaga "slave".'

23. Feanor held that, in spite of the usual mode of spelling, vowels were each independent tengwi or word-building elements.

24. On one copy only a later pencilled correction changed *SAR to

*SYAR.

25. At the head of the page is a pencilled note on one copy only:

'Change Pengolodh to Thingodhel'.

26. For the word equessi see p. 392. Both in that passage and in the present one the word was typed Equeri and then corrected.

27. For the old conception in the Lhammas of the 1930s, according to which the origin of all Elvish speech was in the language of the Valar (communicated to the Elves by Orome), see V.168, 192-3.

28. In The Road Goes Ever On, p. 61, the name miruvore (occurring in Namarie) is said to be of Valarin origin.

29. Cf. Note 2 on the Commentary on the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (X.337), where it is said that 'Physically Arda was what we should call the Solar System', and that in Elvish traditions 'the principal part of Arda was the Earth (Imbar "the Habitation") ...

so that loosely used Arda often seems to mean the Earth'. For Ambar see the references given in X.359, note 12.

30. Cf. AAm $164 (X.129): without voices in silence [the gods] may hold council one with another', and the passage cited from The Return of the King in my note on that passage (X.135).

31. Cf. the late QS chapter Of the Coming of Men into the West, p. 217: 'Felagund discovered ... that he could read in the minds of Men such thoughts as they wished to reveal in speech, so that their words were easily interpreted.'

32. Noegyth Nibin was a correction of the name typed, Nibinn..g, probably Nibinnoeg (see p. 187, $26). The notes being interspersed in the text, this note was written before the passage on p. 388 was reached.

33. It is curious that - as in the original text of Maeglin, where he was

'of the kin of Thingol' - in my father's very late work on the story Eol becomes again 'one of the Eldar' (p. 328), though consumed with hatred of the Noldor; whereas here he is a Mornedhel (one of the Avari), and moreover of the aboriginal Second Clan.

34. The name frith is found as a correction (made after the publication of The Lord of the Rings) of the old name Isfin in QS $42

(X.177). When my father worked on the Maeglin story c.1970 he appears to have forgotten frith, for his notes at that time express dissatisfaction with the 'meaningless' name Isfin as if it had never been replaced (pp. 317 - 18).

35. Saeros' insulting of Turin by calling his mother Morwen Morben was a development in the story (see QS $39, V.321, and Unfinished Tales p. 80) that could only arise, of course, with the emergence of the words Calben and Morben.

36. Neither the interpretation of Mithrim as the name of a people (for the old etymology see V.383 - 4, stem RINGI) nor this explanation of the name Sindar have been met before.

37. 'General Phonology': my father was not here referring to any specific, completed work.

APPENDIX.

The legend of the Awaking of the Quendi

(Cuivienyarna).

It is said in Quendi and Eldar, p. 380:

According to the legend, preserved in almost identical form among both the Elves of Aman and the Sindar, the Three Clans were in the beginning derived from the three Elf-fathers: Imin, Tata, and Enel (sc. One, Two, Three), and those whom each chose to join his following. So they had at first simply the names Minyar 'Firsts', Tatyar 'Seconds', and Nelyar 'Thirds'. These numbered, out of the original 144 Elves that first awoke, 14, 56, and 74; and these proportions were approximately maintained until the Separation.

A form of this legend is found in a single typescript with carbon copy.

On one copy my father wrote (and similarly but mare briefly on the other): 'Actually written (in style and simple notions) to be a surviving Elvish "fairytale" or child s tale, mingled with counting-lore . Corrections to either copy are taken up in the text that follows.

While their first bodies were being made from the 'flesh of Arda'

the Quendi slept 'in the womb of the Earth', beneath the green sward, and awoke when they were full-grown. But the First Elves (also called the Unbegotten, or the Eru-begotten) did not all wake together. Eru had so ordained that each should lie beside his or her 'destined spouse'. But three Elves awoke first of all, and they were elf-men, for elf-men are more strong in body and more eager and adventurous in strange places. These three Elf-fathers are named in the ancient tales Imin, Tata, and Enel.

They awoke in that order, but with little time between each; and from them, say the Eldar, the words for one, two, and three were made: the oldest of all numerals.*

Imin, Tata and Enel awoke before their spouses, and the first thing that they saw was the stars, for they woke in the early twilight before dawn. And the next thing they saw was their destined spouses lying asleep on the green sward beside them.

Then they were so enamoured of their beauty that their desire for speech was immediately quickened and they began to 'think of words' to speak and sing in. And being impatient they could not wait but woke up their spouses. Thus, the Eldar say, the first thing that each elf-woman saw was her spouse, and her love for him was her first love; and her love and reverence for the wonders of Arda came later.

Now after a time, when they had dwelt together a little, and had devised many words, Imin and Iminye, Tata and Tatie, Enel and Enelye walked together, and left the green dell of their waking, and they came soon to another larger dell and found there six pairs of Quendi, and the stars were again shining in the morrow-dim and the elf-men were just waking.

Then Imin claimed to be the eldest and to have the right of (* [footnote to the text] The Eldarin words referred to are Min, Atta (or Tata), Nel. The reverse is probably historical. The Three had no names until they had developed language, and were given (or took) names after they had devised numerals (or at least the first twelve).) first choice; and he said: 'I choose these twelve to be my companions.' And the elf-men woke their spouses, and when the eighteen Elves had dwelt together a little and had learned many words and devised more, they walked on together, and soon in another even deeper and wider hollow they found nine pairs of Quendi, and the elf-men had just waked in the starlight.

Then Tata claimed the right of second choice, and he said: 'I choose these eighteen to be my companions.' Then again the elf-men woke their spouses, and they dwelt and spoke together, and devised many new sounds and longer words; and then the thirty-six walked abroad together, until they came to a grove of birches by a stream, and there they found twelve pairs of Quendi, and the elf-men likewise were just standing up, and looking at the stars through the birch boughs.

Then Enel claimed the right of third choice, and he said: 'I choose these twenty-four to be my companions.' Again the elf-men woke their spouses; and for many days the sixty Elves dwelt by the stream, and soon they began to make verse and song to the music of the water.

At length they all set out together again. But Imin noticed that each time they had found more Quendi than before, and he thought to himself: 'I have only twelve companions (although I am the eldest); I will take a later choice.' Soon they came to a sweet-smelling firwood on a hill-side, and there they found eighteen pairs of Quendi, and all were still sleeping. It was still night and clouds were in the sky. But before dawn a wind came, and roused the elf-men, and they woke and were amazed at the stars; for all the clouds were blown away and the stars were bright from east to west. And for a long time the eighteen new Quendi took no heed of the others, but looked at the lights of Menel. But when at last they turned their eyes back to earth they beheld their spouses and woke them to look at the stars, crying to them elen, elen! And so the stars got their name.

Now Imin said: 'I will not choose again yet'; and Tata, therefore, chose these thirty-six to be his companions; and they were tall and dark-haired and strong like fir-trees, and from them most of the Noldor later were sprung.

And the ninety-six Quendi now spoke together, and the newly-waked devised many new and beautiful words, and many cunning artifices of speech; and they laughed, and danced upon the hill-side, until at last they desired to find more companions.

Then they all set out again together, until they came to a lake dark in the twilight; and there was a great cliff about it upon the east-side, and a waterfall came down from the height, and the stars glittered on the foam. But the elf-men were already bathing in the waterfall, and they had waked their spouses. There were twenty-four pairs; but as yet they had no formed speech, though they sang sweetly and their voices echoed in the stone, mingling with the rush of the falls.

But again Imin withheld his choice, thinking 'next time it will be a great company . Therefore Enel said, I have the choice, and I choose these forty-eight to be my companions.' And the hundred and forty-four Quendi dwelt long together by the lake, until they all became of one mind and speech, and were glad.

At length Imin said: 'It is time now that we should go on and seek more companions.' But most of the others were content. So Imin and Iminye and their twelve companions set out, and they walked long by day and by twilight in the country about the lake, near which all the Quendi had awakened - for which reason it is called Cuivienen. But they never found any more companions, for the tale of the First Elves was complete.

And so it was that the Quendi ever after reckoned in twelves, and that 144 was for long their highest number, so that in none of their later tongues was there any common name for a greater number. And so also it came about that the 'Companions of Imin' or the Eldest Company (of whom came the Vanyar) were nonetheless only fourteen in all, and the smallest company; and the 'Companions of Tata' (of whom came the Noldor) were fifty-six in all; but the 'Companions of Enel' although the Youngest Company were the largest; from them came the Teleri (or Lindar), and they were in the beginning seventy-four in all.

Now the Quendi loved all of Arda that they had yet seen, and green things that grew and the sun of summer were their delight; but nonetheless they were ever moved most in heart by the Stars, and the hours of twilight in clear weather, at 'morrow-dim' and at 'even-dim', were the times of their greatest joy. For in those hours in the spring of the year they had first awakened to life in Arda. But the Lindar, above all the other Quendi, from their beginning were most in love with water, and sang before they could speak.

It seems that my father had resolved (at least for the purpose of this

'fairy-tale') the problem of the name 'Star-folk' of the Elves (see late night under skies of unclouded stars, and the stars were their earliest memory.

In Quendi and Eldar (p. 382) my father wrote of 'the lake and waterfall of Cuivienen', and this is explained in the Cuivienyarna:

'they came to a lake dark in the twilight; and there was a great cliff about it upon the east-side, and a waterfall came down from the height, and the stars glittered on the foam.' Through so many years he was returning to Gilfanon's Tale in The Book of Lost Tales (1.232): Now the places about Koivie-neni the Waters of Awakening are rugged and full of mighty rocks, and the stream that feeds that water falls therein down a deep cleft... a pale and slender thread, but the issue of the dark lake was beneath the earth into many endless caverns falling ever more deeply into the bosom of the world.

PART THREE.

THE WANDERINGS

OF

HURIN

AND OTHER WRITINGS

NOT FORMING PART

OF THE

QUENTA SILMARILLION.

I

THE WANDERINGS OF HURIN.

In The Wanderings of Hurin ('WH') it is not convenient to use the device of numbered paragraphs, and commentary (pp. 298 ff.) is here related to numbered notes in the text.

The earliest account of Hurin after his release by Morgoth is found in the Tale of Turambar (II.112 - 15, 135-6), leading to that in the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.32) and in Q (IV.132); see also AB 1 and AB 2 (IV.306, V.141). It is not necessary to say anything about these here, since in none of them is there any suggestion that Hurin returned to Hithlum (or went to Brethil) before he came to Nargothrond.

I have described (p. 103) how the manuscript of the Grey Annals (GA) ends with strange abruptness at the foot of a page, and said that

'it always seemed to me strange that my father should have abandoned the Grey Annals where he did, without at least writing the inscription that was carved on the stone'. At some later time (see ibid.) he entered roughly on the manuscript the inscription on the stone, and the words of conclusion to the tale, derived from the last part of the Narn (NE).