The War of the Jewels (15 page)

$240. Huor fell pierced with a venomed arrow in the eye, and all the valiant men of Hador were slain about him in a heap, and the Orcs hewed their heads and piled them as a mound of gold; for the sun was shining on the [fourth >] sixth and last I day of the battle and their yellow locks shone amid the blood. Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield and wielded his axe two-handed; and it is sung that in that last stand he himself slew an hundred of the Orcs. But they took him alive at last, by the command of Morgoth, who thought thus to do him more evil than by death. Therefore his servants grappled him with their hands, which clung still to him though he hewed off their arms; and ever their numbers were renewed until at the last he fell buried beneath them. Then binding him they dragged him to Angband with mockery.

Thus ended the Nirnaeth Arnediad, and the sun sank red over Hithlum, and there came a great storm on the winds of the West.

$241. Great indeed now was the triumph of Morgoth; and his design was accomplished in a manner after his own heart; for Men took the lives of Men, and betrayed the Eldar, and fear and hatred were aroused among those that should have been united against him. From that day indeed began the estrange-ment of Elves from Men, save only from those of the Three Houses of Beor, Hador, and Haleth, and their children.

$242. The March of Maidros was no more. The fell sons of Feanor were broken and wandered far away in the woods as leaves before the wind. The Gorge of Aglon was filled with Orcs, and the Hill of Himring was garrisoned by soldiers of Angband; the pass of Sirion was pierced and Tol-sirion retaken and its dread towers rebuilt. All the gates of Beleriand were in the power of Morgoth. The realm of Fingon was no more

[struck out: for few ever of the host of Hithlum, Elves or Men, came ever back over the mountains to their land]. To Hithlum came back never one of Fingon's host, nor any of the Men of Hador, nor any tidings of the battle and the fate of their lords.

$243. Doriath indeed remained, and Nargothrond was hidden, and Cirdan held the Havens; but Morgoth gave small heed to them as yet, either for he knew little of them, or because their hour was not yet come in the deep purposes of his malice.

But one thought troubled him 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, [struck out: and from of old he hated him, scarce less than Feanor, and feared him more. For never in Valinor would Turgon greet him, being a friend of Ulmo and of Tulkas; and moreover, ere yet darkness overwhelmed him and the blindness of malice, he looked upon Turgon and knew that from him should come, in some time that doom held, the end of all hope.] 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.

$244. Therefore Hurin was brought before Morgoth, and defied him; and he was chained and set in torment. But Morgoth who would ever work first with lies and treachery, if they might avail, came to him where he lay in pain, and offered him freedom, and power and wealth as one of his great captains, if he would take service in his armies and lead a host against Turgon, or even if he would but reveal where that king had his stronghold. For he had learned that Hurin knew the secret counsels of Turgon. But again Hurin the Steadfast mocked him.

$245. Then Morgoth restrained his wrath and spoke of Hurin's wife and son now helpless in Hithlum [written above later: Dorlomin], and at his mercy to do what he would with them.

$246. 'They know not the secrets of Turgon,' said Hurin.

'But an they did, thou shouldst not come at Turgon so; for they are of the houses of Hador and Beor, and we sell not our troth for any price of profit or pain.'

$247. Then Morgoth cursed Hurin and Morwen and their offspring and set a doom upon them of sorrow and darkness; and taking Hurin from prison he set him in a chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim. There he could see afar the land of Hithlum westward and the lands of Beleriand southward. There Morgoth standing beside him cursed him again, and set his power upon him so that he could not stray from that place, nor die, unless Morgoth released him.

$248. 'Sit now there!' said Morgoth. 'Look upon the lands where the uttermost woe shall come upon those whom thou hast delivered unto me. Yea, verily! Doubt not the power of Melkor, Master of the fates of Arda! And with my eyes shalt thou see it, [struck out: and nought shall be hidden from thee, and all that befalls those thou holdest dear shall swiftly be told to thee] and with my ears shalt thou hear all tidings, and nought shall be hidden from thee!'

$249. And even so it came to pass; but it is not said that Hurin asked ever of Morgoth either mercy ar death, for himself or for any of his kin.

$250. Now the Orcs in token of the great triumph of Angband gathered with great labour all the bodies of their enemies that were slain, and all their harness and weapons, and they piled them, Elves and Men, in a great hill in the midst of the Anfauglith. [Haud-na-D(engin) > Haud-i-Nengin later >]

Haud-ina-Nengin was the name of that mound, and it was like unto a hill. But thither alone in all the desert the grass came, and grew again long and green, and thereafter no Orc dared tread upon the earth beneath which the swords of the Noldor crumbled into rust.

$251. Rian wife of Huor hearing no tidings of her lord went forth into the wild, and there gave birth to Tuor her son; and he was taken to foster by [the Dark-elves later >] Annael of the Grey-elves of Mithrim. But Rian went to [Haud-i-Nengin later > Haud-na-nDengin >] Haud-in-nDengin and laid her there and died. And in Brethil Glorwendil, Hador's daughter, died of grief. But Morwen wife of Hurin abode in Hithlum, for she was with child.

$252. Morgoth now broke his pledges to the Easterlings that had served him, and denied to them the rich lands of Beleriand which they coveted, and he sent away these evil folk into Hithlum, and there commanded them to dwell. And little though they now loved their new king, yet they despised the remnant of the folk of Hador (the aged and the women and the children for the most part), and they oppressed them, and took their lands and goods, and wedded their women by force, and enslaved their children. And those of the Grey-elves that had dwelt there fled into the mountains, or were taken to the mines of the North and laboured there as thralls.

$253. Therefore Morwen unwilling that Turin her son, being then seven years old, should become a slave, sent him forth with two aged servants, and bade them find if they could a way to Doriath, and there beg fostering for the son of Hurin, and kinsman of Beren (for her father was his cousin).

473.

$254. In the [added:] first/beginning of this year was born to Morwen Elfsheen a maid-child, daughter of Hurin; and she was named Nienor, which is Mourning. And at about this time Turin came through great perils to Doriath and was there received by Thingol, who took him to his own fostering, as he were king's son, in memory of Hurin. For Thingol's mood was now changed towards the houses of the Elf-friends.

$255. In this year Morgoth having rested his strength, and given heed to his own hurts and great losses, renewed the assault upon Beleriand, which now lay open to him; and the orcs and wolves passed far into the lands, even as far as the borders of Ossiriand upon one side, and Nan Tathren upon the other, and none were safe in field or wild.

$256. Many now fled to the Havens and took refuge behind Cirdan's walls, and the mariner folk passed up and down the coast and harried the enemy with swift landings. Therefore the first assault of Morgoth was against Cirdan; and ere the winter was come he sent great strength over Hithlum and Nivrost, and they came down the Rivers Brithon and Nenning, and ravaged all the Falas, and besieged the walls of Brithombar and Eglarest.

Smiths and miners and masters of fire they brought with them, and set up great engines, and though they were stoutly resisted they broke the walls at last. Then the Havens were laid in ruin, and the Tower of Ingildon cast down, and all Cirdan's folk slain or enthralled, save those that went aboard and escaped by sea

[added:] and some few that fled north to Mithrim.

$257. Then Cirdan took his remnant by ship, and they sailed to the Isle of Balar, [struck out: and mingled with Turgon's outpost there,] and made a refuge for all that could come thither. For they kept also a foothold at the mouths of Sirion, and there many light swift ships lay hid in the creeks and waters where the reeds were dense as a forest. [And seven ships at Turgon's asking Cirdan sent out into the West, but they never returned. >] And when Turgon heard of this he sent again his messengers to Sirion's Mouths, and besought the aid of Cirdan the Shipwright. And at his bidding Cirdan let build seven swift ships, and they sailed out into the West, and were never heard of again - save one and the last. Now the captain of this ship was Voronwe, and he toiled in the sea for many years, until returning at last in despair his ship foundered in a great storm within sight of land, and he alone survived, for Ulmo saved him from the wrath of Osse, and the waves bore him up and cast him ashore in Nivrost./

481.

$258. Turin waxed fair and strong and wise in Doriath, but was marked with sorrow. In this his sixteenth year he went forth to battle on the marches of Doriath, and became the companion in arms of Beleg the Bowman. [Later pencilled addition:] Turin donned the Dragon-helm of Galion.

484.

$259. Here Turin was a guest at Menegroth in honour for his deeds of valour. But he came from the wild, and was un-kempt and his gear and garments were wayworn. And Orgof taunted him, and the people of Hithlum, and in his wrath he smote Orgof with a cup and slew him at the king's board. Then fearing the anger of Thingol he fled, and became an outlaw in the woods, and gathered a desperate band, of Elves and of Men

[struck out: beyond the Girdle of Melian].

487.

$260. Here Turin's band captured Beleg and bound him; but Turin returning released him, and they renewed their friendship. And Turin learned of the king's pardon, but would not go back to Menegroth, and remained upon the marches. And since no foe yet could pass the Girdle of Melian, and he desired only to take vengeance on the Orcs, he made a lair in the woods between Sirion and Mindeb in the country of Dimbar.

The following passage was rewritten several times and it is not possible to be perfectly certain of the detail of development at each stage. As first written it seems to have read: $261. Here Tuor son of Huor, being now fifteen years of age, came to Hithlum seeking his kin, but they were no more, for Morwen and Nienor had been carried away to Mithrim and none remembered them.

This seems to have been cancelled as soon as written, and a second form probably reads thus:

$262. Here Tuor son of Huor, being now fifteen years of age, came to Hithlum seeking his kin, but he found them not. For though the Elves that fostered him knew indeed their names, they knew not where they dwelt of old, or dwelt now in the change of the land. But Morwen and Nienor alone remained, and they dwelt still in Dor Lomin; therefore Tuor searched in Hithlum in vain, and the Easterlings seized him and enslaved him. But he escaped and became an outlaw in the wild lands about Lake Mithrim.

In the final form of the passage the date 488 was added: 488.

$263. Here Tuor son of Huor, being now sixteen years of age, seeking to escape from Dorlomin, was made captive and enslaved by Lorgan chief of the Easterlings; and he endured thraldom for [seven years immediately >] three years, ere he escaped and became an outlaw in the hills of Mithrim.

[Struck out: 488]

$264. Here Haldir Orodreth's son of Nargothrond was trapped and hung on a tree by Orcs. Thereafter the Elves of Nargothrond were yet more wary and secret, and would not suffer even Elves to stray in their lands.

489.

$265. In this year Gwindor Guilin's son escaped from Angband. Blodren Ban's son was an Easterling, and being taken by Morgoth, and tormented because he was one of the faithful that withstood Uldor, entered the service of Morgoth and was released, and sent in search of Turin. And he entered the hidden company in Dimbar, and served Turin manfully for two years.

But seeing now his chance he betrayed the refuge of Beleg and Turin to the Orcs, as his errand was. Thus it was surrounded and taken, and Turin was captured alive and carried towards Angband; but Beleg was left for dead among the slain. Blodren was slain by a chance arrow in the dark. [Pencilled against this annal: What happened to the Dragon-helm?]