The War of the Jewels (63 page)

So far did Quennar Onotimo compile this count and compute the years.

Here follows the continuation which Pengolod made in Eressea.

In the typescript text this was retained, but with this difference: 'Here end the Elder Days, with the new reckoning of Time, according to the Lore-masters of Valinor. But the Lore-masters of the Noldor give that name also to the years of the war with Morgoth...'

Quennar Onotimo appears in the Annals of Aman (see X.49), where he is cited as the source for the passage on the reckoning of time. This passage was marked for transference to The Tale of Years, and appears in manuscript pages (one of which is reproduced as the frontispiece to Vol.X, Morgoth's Ring) of a new opening of the work written in forms so splendid that it is not surprising that it did not proceed very far.

The authorship of the Annals underwent many changes. In the earliest Annals of Valinor (AV 1, IV.263) Pengolod is named as the author, and also of the Annals of Beleriand (AB 1), but the conception soon entered that Rumil was the author of the first part of AV and that the work was only completed by Pengolod: in AV 2 Rumil's part ends with the return to Valinor of those Noldor, led by Finrod (Finarfin), who did not continue the northward journey after the Doom of Mandos (see V.116, 123). In the first form of the opening of the Annals of Aman (X.48) it is said that they 'were written by Quennar i Onotimo, who learned much, and borrowed much also, from Rumil; but they were enlarged by Pengolod'. In the second version of the opening, however, Rumil alone is named: 'Here begin the Annals of Aman, which Rumil made'. In the fine manuscript pages of the opening of The Tale of Years referred to above there is no ascription of authorship (apart from the naming of Quennar Onotimo as the author of the passage on the reckoning of time).

A few points of content in this part remain to be mentioned. In the entry for 1125 (cf. X.83) the manuscript reads: 'The foremost of the Eldar reach Beleriand. They are filled with a great fear of the Sea and for long refuse to go further. Orome departs to Valinor to seek counsel.' This was not emended, but in the typescript this entry appears in its place: 'The foremost of the Eldar reach the coastlands of Middle-earth and that country which was after named Eglador.

Thereof Beleriand was the larger part.' This is apparently to be related to one of the entries Eglador added to the map: see p. 186, $14; but the concluding phrase is mysterious.

In this connection, the entry for the year 1150 reads thus in the manuscript: 'The Teleri of Olwe's host at length also depart over Sea.

The friends of Elwe remain behind: these are the Eglath, the Forsaken, or the Sindar (the Grey-elves).' The form Eglath is found in the annal for this year in AAm (X.85); but on the manuscript of The Tale of Years it was emended subsequently to Eglim, while in the typescript the form is Eglir: it seems that neither of these occur elsewhere (see pp. 365, 379).

Lastly, the entry for 1497 begins with the words 'Morgoth 'from a new stronghold at Angband assails the Grey-elves of Beleriand.' At this stage the story was still that Angband was built on the ruins of Utumno (see GA $35 and commentary, pp. 15, 111). My father pencilled on the typescript (referring to the interval since Morgoth's return from Valinor in 1495): 'Too small a time for Morgoth to build Angband', and also 'Time too small, should be 10 at least or 20 Valian Years'. This would have required substantial modification of the chronology; and it seems conceivable that this consideration was a factor in the emergence of the later story that Utumno and Angband were distinct fortresses in different regions, both built by Morgoth in ancient days (X.156, $12).

Of the latter or Beleriandic part of The Tale of Years there is little to say until the last entries are reached. The chronology agrees closely with that of the Grey Annals, including the revised stories of the origins of Gondolin and of Eol, and the brief entries (agreeing with GA in such names as Galion for Galdor and Glindur for Maeglin) add nothing to the major text. There is in fact only one point that need be noticed: in the entry for 495 my father added to the manuscript 'Tuor leaves Dorlomin, dwells a year at Falasquil.' The last five words were subsequently struck out. Falasquil was the name of the cove in the sea-coast where Tuor dwelt for a while in the tale of The Fall of Gondolin (II.152); and it was written also onto the map (see p. 181, $5). It seems quite likely that both these additions were made at the time when my father was writing the later Tale of Tuor, and had been rereading the old tale (as he clearly did, II.203); but Falasquil does not appear in the later Tuor.

Subsequent very cursory emendation of the typescript brought in the radically changed legend of the Coming of the Edain, revision of names to later forms, and additions to the story of Turin.

But from the point where the Grey Annals were abandoned The Tale of Years becomes a major source for the end of the Elder Days, and indeed in almost all respects the only source deriving from the time following the completion of The Lord of the Rings, woefully inadequate as it is. As the manuscript was originally made (in which condition I will distinguish it as 'A') the entries from 500 to the end, very brief, followed the first (pre-Lord of the Rings) version of The Tale of Years (see p. 342) closely: my father clearly had that in front of him, and did no more than make a fair copy with fuller entries, introducing virtually no new matter or dates not found in AB 2

(V.141 - 4). It will make things clearer, however, to give the text of the entries for those years as they were first written.

500. Birth of Earendil in Gondolin.

501. Making of the Naugla-mir. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves.

502. The Dwarves invade Doriath. Thingol is slain and his realm ended. Melian returns to Valinor. Beren destroys the Dwarf-host at Rath-loriel.

506. The Second Kin-slaying.

507. The Fall of Gondolin. Death of King Turgon.

508. The gathering of the remnants of the Elves at the Mouths of Sirion is begun.

524. Tuor and Idril depart over Sea.

525. The voyages of Earendil begun.

529. The Third and Last Kin-slaying.

533. Earendil comes to Valinor.

540. The last free Elves and remnants of the Fathers of Men are driven out of Beleriand and take refuge in the Isle of Balar.

547. The host of the Valar comes up out of the West. Fionwe son of Manwe lands in Beleriand with great power.

550-597. The last war of the Elder Days, and the Great Battle, is begun. In this war Beleriand is broken and destroyed.

Morgoth is at last utterly overcome, and Angband is un-roofed and unmade. Morgoth is bound, and the last two Silmarils are regained.

597. Maidros and Maglor, last surviving sons of Feanor, seize the Silmarils. Maidros perishes. The Silmarils are lost in fire and sea.

600. The Elves and the Fathers of Men depart from Middle-earth and pass over Sea.

Here ends the First Age of the Children of Iluvatar.

The only points of any significance in which this differs from what was said in AB 2 or the original version of The Tale of Years that accompanied it are the additions in the entry 540 of the statement that when 'the last free Elves' took refuge in the Isle of Balar they were accompanied by 'remnants of the Fathers of Men', and in the entry 600 that the Fathers of Men departed from Middle-earth with the Elves and passed over the Sea.

In the next stage, which I will call 'B', many corrections and interpolations and alterations of date were made to A; I give here the text in this form, so far as is necessary.

501. Return of Hurin.

502. After seven years' service Tuor weds Idril of Gondolin.

Making of the Naugla-mir. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves.

503. Birth of Earendil in Gondolin.

The Dwarves invade Doriath. Thingol is slain and his realm ended. Melian takes Nauglamir to Beren and Luthien and then returns to Valinor. Celegorm and Curufin destroy the Dwarf-host at Sarn-athrad in Rath-loriel; and are wroth to find the Silmaril not there. Dior goes to Doriath.

505. (Spring) Second death of Beren, and Luthien dies also. Dior Thingol's heir wears Silmaril [struck out: and returns to Doriath].

509 (Spring) Second Kinslaying. Last warning of Ulmo to Gondolin.

510. The fall of Gondolin at Midsummer. Death of King Turgon.

511. The gathering of the remnants of the Elves at the Mouths of Sirion is begun.

In the remaining entries some of the dates were altered but very few changes were made to the content; the text of A need not therefore be repeated.

533. The date of Earendil's coming to Valinor was changed several times, apparently > 536 > 540 > 542.

547. The coming of the host of the Valar was moved to 545.

550-597. The dates of 'the last war of the Elder Days' were changed to 545-587, and after the last words of the original entry the following was added: 'Ancalagon is cast down by Earendil and all save two of the Dragons are destroyed.'

597. This entry was changed to 587.

600. This final entry was changed to 590, and the following was added to it: 'Morgoth is thrust from Arda into the Outer Dark.'

'Here ends the First Age of the Children of Iluvatar' was changed to: 'Here end the Elder Days with the passing of Melkor, according to the reckoning of most lore-masters; here ends also the First Age...'

The hastily made alterations and additions to the entry 503 (502 in A) introduced major new turns into the story as it had been told in all the versions: the tale of The Nauglafring (II.238), the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.33), the Quenta (IV.134), and AB 2 (V.141). There it was Beren, after his return from the dead, who with his host of Elves ambushed the Dwarves at Sarn-athrad, and took from them the Nauglamir in which was set the Silmaril; now it becomes Celegorm and Curufin who fought the battle at Sarn-athrad - but the Silmaril was not there, because Melian had taken it from Menegroth to Beren and Luthien in Ossiriand. In the old tale, Gwendelin (Melian), coming to the Land of the Dead that Live after the battle, was wrathful when she saw Luthien wearing the Necklace of the Dwarves, since it was made of accursed gold, and the Silmaril itself was unhallowed from its having been set in Morgoth's crown; while in the Sketch (probably) and in the Quenta (explicitly) it was Melian who told Beren of the approach of the Dwarves coming from Doriath and enabled the ambush to be prepared (her warning afterwards, when the Necklace of the Dwarves had been recovered, against the Silmaril being retained).

The entrance of Celegorm and Curufin into the story seems to have arisen in the act of emending the text; for my father first added to the original entry ('Beren destroys the Dwarf-host at Rath-loriel') the words 'and is wounded in battle', referring to Beren (cf. the Tale, II.237: 'Beren got many hurts'). He then at once changed 'Beren destroys' to 'Celegorm and Curufin destroy' and 'is wounded in battle'

to 'are wroth to find the Silmaril not there'.

In the original entry in A 'at Rath-loriel' was just a slip for 'in'; but the replacement 'at Sarn-athrad in Rath-loriel' is strange, for Sarn-athrad was not a ford over that river (Ascar) but over Gelion, and so remained in the latest writing, though the name was changed (see p. 335).

In 505, the striking out of Dior's return to Doriath preceded its inclusion under 503. There has never been any mention of a further warning of Ulmo (509) since the coming of Tuor to Gondolin. On the addition in 545 - 587 concerning Ancalagon see V.329, $18; and with the reference to the end of the Elder Days 'according to the reckoning of most lore-masters' cf. p. 343.

The third stage was the striking out of the whole manuscript from the year 400 almost to the end, and its replacement by a new version ('C'), which I give here for the same period, from the return of Hurin from Angband: this is a clear text with some later changes to the dates (changes which largely return the dates to those in B).

501. Return of Hurin from captivity. He goes to Nargothrond and seizes the treasure of Glaurung.

502. Making of the Nauglamir. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves.

503. The Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod invade Doriath.

Thingol is slain, and his realm ended. The Dwarves carry off the Dragon-gold, but Melian escaped and carried off the Nauglamir and the Silmaril, and brought it to Beren and Luthien. Then she returned to Valinor; but Luthien wore the Silmaril. Now Curufin and Celegorm hearing of the sack of Menegroth ambushed the Dwarves at the fords of Ascar and defeated them; but the Dwarves cast the gold into the river, which was after named Rathloriel. Great was the chagrin of the Sons of Feanor to discover that the Silmaril was not with the Dwarves; but they dared not assail Luthien.

Dior goes to Doriath and endeavours to reestablish the realm.

504 [> 502]. Tuor wedded Idril Celebrindal Turgon's daughter of Gondolin.

505 [> 503]. Birth of Earendil Half-elven in Gondolin (Spring).

Here a messenger brought the Silmaril by night to Dior in Doriath, and he wore it; and by its power Doriath revived for a while. But it is believed that in this year Luthien and Beren passed away, for they were never heard of again on earth: mayhap the Silmaril hastened their end, for the flame of the beauty of Luthien as she wore it was too bright for mortal lands.