The War of the Jewels (88 page)

I shall refer in this account to the paragraphs in The Silmarillion, numbering them for convenience of internal reference, and giving the opening words of each for ease of identification. It should be noted here that the Silmarillion text takes up emendations from both the top copy (B(i)) and carbon (B(ii)) of the typescript, and that in cases (which are numerous) where they differ in the rewriting of original passages the published text is often an amalgam of both.

The Title.

The manuscript A as written had no title; later my father pencilled on it Of Meglin, changing this to Of Isfin and Glindur. The typescript B

has the title (as typed) Of Maeglin, with the subtitle Sister-son of Turgon, King of Gondolin. At the head of the first page of B(i) my father wrote that the text is 'An enlarged version of the coming of Maeglin to Gondolin, to be inserted in FG in its place', and noted also that 'FG = Fall of Gondolin'. This can only be a reference to the abandoned Tale of Tuor (entitled Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin, but retitled Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin for inclusion in Unfinished Tales), which belongs to the same period as the manuscript A. Thus at this very late date my father was still holding to the hope of an entirely rewritten story of the Fall of Gondolin, of which so little had actually been done (and those parts some twenty years before).

The only evidence that he at any time considered the story of Maeglin as a possible component in the Quenta Silmarillion is the word Silmarillion with a query pencilled against the opening paragraphs of the manuscript; and this was struck out.

$1. Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, the White Lady of the Noldor...

Here, and throughout B(i), Isfin was changed to Arehel; and in the margin against the first occurrence my father wrote: This name is derived from the oldest (1916) version of FG. It is now quite unacceptable in form, unsuitable to the position and character of Turgon's sister, and also meaningless.

Presumably he meant that since no etymology of Isfin was feasible it was on that account unsuitable to be the name of Turgon's sister (cf.

II.344, where the original explanation of the name as 'snow-locks'

or 'exceeding-cunning' is given, and the present note is referred to).

Also written in the margin is '? Rodwen = High Virgin Noble' and

'Rodwen Los in Golodh..' (last letters illegible; the word 'Virgin' is also not perfectly clear).

At the top of the first page of the carbon B(ii) the notes on the name are different. Here my father wrote: 'Name Isfin must be changed throughout to Feiniel (= White Lady)'. Against this he wrote an X, and 'Change Isfin to Aredhel (Noble-elf)'. Whereas in B(i), as I have noted, Isfin was changed to Aredel throughout, in B(ii) Isfin was merely circled, except in two cases where it was replaced by Feiniel, and in one case where it was replaced by Ar-Feiniel. My father was correcting the top copy and the carbon independently but at (more or less) the same time, very probably because he had the one in one place and the other in another. In the published Silmarillion I combined them as Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, although there is no warrant for this; they were evidently competing names, and the notes at the head of the carbon copy cited above suggest that Aredel (Aredhel) was his final choice.

The name Nivrost was changed on both copies of B to Nevrost (not Nevrast, the usual later form).

In the manuscript A it was said of Isfin that she longed to 'hunt' in the forests, emended to 'walk' and thus appearing in B. With this cf.

the rider inserted into the passage in QS concerning the princes of the Noldor, where it is told that in Valinor Isfin 'loved much to ride on horse and to hunt in the forests, and there was often in the company of her kinsmen, the sons of Feanor'. Subsequently Isfin in this passage was changed to frith (see X.177, 182); this name is found in Quendi and Eldar (see p. 409 and note 34).

The published text uses 'you' forms throughout. In A 'thou' forms were used throughout, but in the passage ($5) in which the march-wardens of Doriath address Isfin the 'thou' forms were altered to the

'polite' plural. Noldor was changed to Noldor throughout B(i).

In A, the text begins with the date 316.

$4. And Turgon appointed three lords of his household...

On B(i) only, my father pencilled with reference to these opening words the names Glorfindel, Egalmoth, and Ecthelion, and also 'On etymologies of Egalmoth and Ecthelion see note'. This note is written on the same typescript page and its reverse, but is very hard to read: These names are also derived from primitive FG, but are well-sounding and have been in print. They are late popular forms of archaic AEgamloth, AEgthelion. Note amloth is said (where?) to be probably not S[indarin]. Q * ambalotse uprising-flower - referring to the flower or floreate device used as a crest fixed to point of a tall

... helmet. Name therefore = pointed helm-crest.

Ecthelion must be similarly from Aegthelion. Latter element is a derivative of V stel 'remain firm'. The form with prefix 'sundoma', estel, was used in Q and S for 'hope' - sc. a temper of mind, steady, fixed in purpose, and difficult to dissuade and unlikely to fall into despair or abandon its purpose. The unprefixed stel- gave [? S verb]

thel 'intend, mean, purpose, resolve, will'. So Q ? pelma 'a fixed idea,..., will.'

The illegible word in 'a tall... helmet' might possibly be 'archaic'. The word sundoma is an important term in the analysis of Quendian phonological structure. Very briefly indeed, the Quendian consonantal

'base' or sundo was characterised by a 'determinant vowel' or sundoma: thus the sundo KAT has a medial sundoma 'A', and TALAT

has the sundoma repeated. In derivative forms the sundoma might be placed before the first consonant, e.g. ATALAT; thus estel beside stel in this note.

On the words 'These names... have been in print' (referring to the Ruling Stewards of Gondor named Egalmoth and Ecthelion) see II.211-12 and footnote, where the present note is referred to; for my

[':::: remark there chat my father 'subsequently decided against naming Aredhel's escort' see p. 328.

$5. But when she came to the Ford of Brithiach...

'his kinsfolk of the house of Finarfin': B still has Finrod here, and the change to Finarfin was made on B(ii) only.

In A and B the march-wardens said to Isfin: 'The speediest way is by the East Road from Brithiach through eastern Brethil, and so along the north-march of this Kingdom, until you pass Esgalduin and Aros, and so come to the woods behind the Hill of Himring.' In B(ii) only,

'Esgalduin and Aros' was changed to 'the Bridge of Esgalduin and the Ford of Aros'.

In the published text 'the lands that lie behind the Hill of Himring'

seems to be a mere error for 'the woods...' which was not observed.

$6. Then Aredhel turned back...

A and B have 'the Eryd Gorgoroth', but on B(ii), and also on A at the same time, this was changed to 'the haunted valleys of the Gorgorath'; similarly A and B 'Dungorthin' > 'Nan Dungortheb' on A and B(ii).

The original form of this paragraph was not changed on B(i), but was rewritten on B(ii). This rewriting did not significantly change the sense, but added that the companions of 'Feiniel' (see under $1 above)

'had no choice but to follow her, for they were not permitted to restrain her by force', and that when they returned to Gondolin

'Turgon said to them: "At least I should be glad that three whom I trust and love were not led to death by the wilfulness of one."' These additions were not included in the published text.

$7. But Aredbel, having sought in vain for her companions...

Where the published text has 'she held on her way' the original text, preserved in B(i), has 'she held to the East Road'; in B(ii) this was emended to 'At last she found the East Road again'. In B(ii) the name Celon was at both occurrences in the paragraph circled for correction, and at the second the name Limhir was written above (see p. 337).

Of Isfin's coming to the land of Himlad (a name which first occurs in this story) the original text of A and B read:

... at that time they [Celegorm and Curufin] were from home, riding with Cranthir, east in Thargelion. But the folk of Celegorm welcomed her, and did all that she asked; and for a while she had great joy in the freedom of the woods. And ever she would ride further abroad, often alone, save it were for hounds that she led, seeking for new paths...

This was rewritten on B(i) to the form it has in the published text. In a first stage of the rewriting the phrase 'save it were for hounds that she led' was bracketed with the note: 'Omit unless the presence of dogs is afterwards of importance'; in the second stage it was omitted. Against the o of Thargelion my father wrote a (sc. Thargelian), with a query. In B(ii) the rewriting was different, retaining more of the original text, including the reference to hounds; Thargelion was changed here also to Thargelian, without a query (on the latter form see pp. 336 - 7).

$8. In that wood in ages past...

On B(i) my father wrote the following note in the margin of the typescript against the first occurrence in the story of the name Eol, which he bracketed:

Another name from prim[itive) FG - meaningless then and now. But it was not intended to have any meaning in Q[uenya] or S[indarin].

For Eol was said to be a 'Dark Elf', a term then applied to any Elves who had not been willing to leave Middle-earth - and were then (before the history and geography had been organized) imagined as wandering about, and often ill-disposed towards the 'Light-Elves'.

But it was also sometimes applied to Elves captured by Morgoth and enslaved and then released to do mischief among the Elves. I think this latter idea should be taken up. It would explain much about Eol and his smithcraft. (I think the name might stay. It isn't really absolutely necessary that names should be significant.) In the old tale of The Fall of Gondolin Eol was not in fact called 'the Dark Elf', although in the soon abandoned Lay of the Fall of Gondolin (III.146) he is called 'dark Eol', and it is said that 'the Dark Elves were his kindred that wander without home'. In the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.34) he was called 'the Dark Elf Eol', and so also in the Quenta (IV.136); in AB 1 (IV.301) he is 'Eol a Dark-elf', and in AB

2 (V.136) 'Eol the Dark-elf' - so also in all the entries in GA. I do not think that 'Dark-elves' had ever been used in the sense referred to in this note, that of 'darkened Elves', Elves ensnared and corrupted by Morgoth. The words 'I think this latter idea should be taken up. It would explain much about Eol and his smithcraft' were the basis for an abandoned sketch of Eol's history given below.

The original text had 'Of old he was of the kin of Thingol, but he loved him not, and when the Girdle of Melian was set about the Forest of Region he fled thence to Nan Elmoth.' In a passage of the 'Turins Saga' which was excluded in Unfinished Tales (p. 96 and note 12) because it had been used in The Silmarillion (pp. 201-2), it is told that Eol gave the sword Anglachel which he had made 'to Thingol as fee, which he begrudged, for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth'.

Against the words 'but he loved him not' my father wrote in the margin of the carbon copy, B(ii), Because Thingol was friendly with the Noldor before they left Middle-earth' (cf. X.172). On B(i) he emended the words 'he loved him not' to 'he was ill at ease in Doriath', and on an inserted page he roughed out a new story about Eol. This is in two versions, which are however largely identical. The first reads: but he was restless and ill at ease in Doriath, and when the Girdle of Melian was set about the Forest of Region where he dwelt he departed. It is thought (though no clear tale was known) that he was captured by orks and taken to Thangorodrim, and there became enslaved; but owing to his skills (which in that place were turned much to smithcraft and metalwork) he received some favour, and was freer than most slaves to move about, and so eventually he escaped and sought hiding in Nan Elmoth (maybe not without the knowledge of Morgoth, who used such 'escaped' slaves to work mischief among the Elves).

The second version begins: and when he heard that Melian would put a Girdle about Doriath that none could pass..... without the leave of the king or of Melian herself, he left the Forest of Region where he had dwelt and sought for a place to dwell. But since he did not love the Noldor he found it hard to find a place where he would be unmolested. It was believed afterwards (though no certain tale was known) that in his wandering he was captured [@ c. as in the first version]

This is possibly compatible with the story that Eol gave Anglachel to Thingol as fee to dwell in Nan Elmoth. It would be interesting to know why my father wished thus to change Eol's history - or rather, why he wished to attribute Eol's skill in metals to a time of slavery in Angband; but in any event he thought better of it, for in a scribbled note beside the two versions of the story he said that this would not do, being too repetitive of the later history of Maeglin, and that Eol's skill was derived from the Dwarves.

$9. Now the traffic of the Dwarves...

The opening of this paragraph read as follows in A: Now the traffic of the Dwarves followed two roads, the northern of which, going towards Himring, passed nigh Nan Elmoth, and there Eol would meet the Enfeng and hold converse with them. And, as their friendship grew, he would at times go and dwell as a guest in the deep mansions of Belegost.