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·The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, or the First Age of Tolkien's World. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves. Within them were imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth. Thereafter the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils; but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, guarded in the fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth and their war, hopeless despite their heroism, against the great Enemy. Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulındale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabéthi recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age and of the Rings of Power tells of the great cvents at the end of the Third Age, which are narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

·also by J. R. R. Tolkien
1
THE HOBBIT
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
2 THE TWO TOWERS
3 THE RETURN OF THE KING
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM BOMBADIL
FARMER GILES OF HAM
TREE AND LEAF
SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
PEARL AND SIR ORFEO
with Donald Swanız
THE ROAD GOES EVER ON

·THE SILMARILLION

·p2 pzbz bos kubp cý dr misery is popcp í matinn
mbet mp bis ins lus basis for og bagy be GÉDzjés:
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
QUENTA SILMARILLION
(The History of the Silmarils)
together with
AINULINDALË
(The Music of the Ainur)
+
and
VALAQUENTA
(Account of the Valar)
To which is appended
AKALLABÊTH
(The Downfall of Númenor)
and
OF THE RINGS OF POWER
AND THE THIRD AGE
Page Proporn bo prismbc a mamin p p XGp6j
yras pon po bráp cos nos dá ml posao p.min ripa

·by plan mo langpcy do misegi peep mørinh
నా ur imad hyperating a mes:
The Silmarillion
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
Edited by Christopher Tolkien
London
UNWIN PAPERBACKS
Boston
Sydney
Blúč impaper les poimhcha mumis prxGpój be
vrás be presin pa bo bíp cõ ñ dá bol på To je min ripa

·First published in Great Britain by George Allen & Unwin 1977 First published in Unwin Paperbacks 1979 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention All rights are reserved Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any nieans, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner Enquiries should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address • UNWIN® PAPERBACKS 40 Museum Street, London WCIA ILU British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel The silmarillion 1. Title II. Tolkien, Christopher 823' 9'1F PR6032 032S/ 78-40783 ISBN 0-04-823153-3 Typeset in 10 on 11 point Times and printed in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd, London, Reading and Fakenham ·Foreword The Silmarillion, now published four years after the death of its author, is an account of the Elder Days, or the First Age of the World. In The Lord of the Rings were narrated the great events at the end of the Third Age; but the tales of The Silmarillion are legends deriving from a much deeper past, when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middlecarthi, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils. Not only, however, does The Sılmanllion relate the cvents of a far earlier time than those of The Lord of the Rings; it is also, in all the essentials of its conception, far the earlier work. Indeed, although it was not then called The Silmarillion, it was already in being half a century ago; and in battered notebooks extending back to 1917 can still be read the earliest versions, often hastily pencilled, of the central stories of the mythology. But it was never published (though some indication of its content could be gleaned from The Lord of the Rings), and throughout my father's long life he never abandoned it, nor ceased even in his last years to work on it. In all that time The Silmarillion, considered simply as a large narrative structure, underwent relatively little radical change; it became long ago a fixed tradition, and background to later writings But it was far indeed from being a fixed text, and did not remain unchanged even in certain fundamental ideas concerning the nature of the world it portrays; while the same legends came to be retold in longer and shorter forms, and in different styles. As the years passed the changes and variants, both in detail and in larger perspectives, became so complex, so pervasive, and so many-layered that a final and definitive version seemed unattainable. Moreover the old Jegends (old now not only in their derivation from the remote First Age, but also in terms of my father's life) bccamc the vehicle and depository of his profoundest reflections. In his later writing mythology and poetry sank down ·8 The Silmai illion behind lus thcological and philosophical preoccupations: from which arosc incompatibilities of tonc. On my father's death it fell to me to try to bring the work into publishiable form. It became clear to me that to attcmp! to present, within the covers of a single book, the diversity of the materials - to show The Silmarillion as in truth a continuing and evolving creation extending over morc than half a century - would in fact lead only to confusion and the submerging of what is essential I set myself thcrcforc to work out a single text. selecting and arranging in such a way as seemed to me to produce the most coherent and internally self-consistent narrative In this work the concluding chapters (from the death of Túrin Turambar) introduced peculiar difficulties, in that they had remained unchanged for many years, and were in some respects in scrious disharmony with morc developed conceptions in other parts of the book A complete consistency (cither within the compass of The Silmarillion itself or between The Silmarillion and other published writings of my father's) is not to be looked for, and could only be achieved, if at all, at heavy and nccdless cost. Moreover, my father came to conceive The Silmarillion as a compilation, a compendious narrative, made long afterwards from sources of great diversity (poems, and annals, and oral tales) that had survived in agelong tradıtion; and this conception has indeed its parallel in the actual history of the book, for a great deal of carlicr prosc and poetry does underlie it, and it is to some extent a compendium in fact and not only in theory To this may be ascribed the varying speed of the narrative and fullness of detail in different parts, the contrast (for example) of the precise recollections of place and motive in the legend of Túrin Turambar beside the high and remote account of the end of the First Age, when Thangorodrim was broken and Morgoth overthrown; and also some differences of tone and portrayal, some obscurities, and, here and there, somc lack of cohesion In the case of the Valaquenta, for instance, we have to assume that while it contains much that must go back to the earliest days of the Eldar in Valınor, it was re- ·Foreivord 9 modelled in later times; and thus explain its continual shifting of tense and viewpoint, so that the divine powers seem now piesent and active in the would, now remote, a vanished order known only to memory. The book, though entitled as it must be The Sılmai illioni, contains not only the Quenta Silmarillion, or Silmarillion proper, but also four other short works. The Ainulindalë and Valaquenta, which are given at the beginning, are indeed closely associated with The Silmarillion; but the Akallabeth and Of the Rings of Power, which appear at the end, are (it must be emphasised) wholly separate and independent. They are included according to my father's explicit intention, and by their inclusion the entire history is set forth from the Music of the Ainur in which the world began to the passing of the Ringbearers from the Havens of Mithlond at the end of the Third Age. The number of names that occur in the book is very large, and I have provided a full index; but the number of persons (Elves and Men) who play an important part in the narrative of the First Age is very much smaller, and all of these will be found in the genealogical tables. In addition I have provided a table setting out the rather complex naming of the different Elvish peoples; a note on the pronunciation of Elvish names, and a list of some of the chief elements found in these names; and a map It may be noted that the great mountain range in the east, Ered Luin or Ered Lindon, the Blue Mountains, appears in the extreme west of the map in The Lord of the Rings. In the body of the book there is a smaller map: the intention of this is to make clear at a glance where lay the kingdoms of the Elves after the return of the Noldor to Middle-earth. I have not burdened the book further with any sort of commentary or annotation. There is indeed a wealth of unpublished writing by my father concerning the Three Ages, narrative, linguistic, historical, and philosophical, and I hope that it will prove possible to publish some of this at a later date In the difficult and doubtful task of preparing the text of thic book I was very greatly assisted by Guy Kay, who worked with me in 1974-1975. Cluistopher Tolkiciz

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·2 Contents Foreword page 7 13 AINULINDALË 25 VALAQUENTA Quenta Silmarillion 1 Of the Beginning of Days 39 2 Of Aule and Yavanna 49 3 Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor 54 4 Of Thingol and Melian 64 5 Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië 66 6 Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor 73 7 of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor 78 8 of the Darkening of Valinor 85 9 Of the Flight of the Noldor 91 10 Of the Sindar 107 11 Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor 115 12 Of Men 122 13 Or the Return of the Noldor 125 14 Of Beleriand and its Realms 140 15 Of the Noldor in Beleriand 149 16 Of Maeglin 157 17 Of the Coming of Men into the West 168 18 Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin 180 19 Of Beren and Lúthien 194 20 of the Fifth Battle: Nirgaeth Arnoediad 226 21 OF Túrin Turambar 238 22 Of the Ruin of Doriath 27-1 23 Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin 287 24 Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath 296

·12 The Silmarillion
AKALLABETH
page 309
OF THE RINGS OF POWER AND THE THIRD
AGE
341
Tables
Genealogies
I The House of Finwe
II The Descendants of Olwe and Elwė
III The House of Beor
IV and y The House of Hador and The People
of Haleth
The Sundering of the Elles
Note on Pronunciation
375
Index of Names
377
Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin names
427

·AINULINDALË

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·AINULINDALË The Music of the Ainur There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made. And he spoke to them, propounding to them themes of music; and they sang before him, and he was glad. But for a long while they sang only each alone, or but few together, while the rest hearkened; for each comprehended only that part of the mind of Ilúvatar from which he came, and in the understanding of their brethren they grew but slowly. Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony. And it came to pass that Ilúvatar called together all the Ainur and declared to them a mighty theme, unfolding to them things greater and more wonderful than he had yet revealed; and the glory of its beginning and the splendour of its end amazed the Ainur, so that they bowed before Ilúvatar and were silent. Then Ilúvatar said to them: 'Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will But I will sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great beauty has been wakened into song Then the voices of the Ainur, like unto harps and lutes, and pipes and trumpets, and viols and organs, and like unto countless choirs singing with words, began to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony that passed beyond hearing into the depths and into the heights, $ ·16 The Silmarillion and the places of the dwelling of Ilúvatar were filled to overflowing, and the music and the cchio of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void. Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music, though it has been said that a greater still shall be made before Ilúvatar by the choirs of the Ainur and the Children of Júvatar after the end of days. Then the themes of Ilúvalar shall be played aright, and take Being in the moment of their utterancc, for all shall then understand fully his intent in their part, and cach shall know the comprehension of each, and Ilúvatar shall give to their thoughts the secret fire, being well plcased But now Ilúvatar sat and hcarkened, and for a grcal while it seemed good to him, for in the music there were no flaws But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Ilúvatar; for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself. To Melkor among the Ainur had been given the grcatcst gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a sharc in all the gifts of his brethren He had gone often alone into the void places seeking the Imperishable Flame; for desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own, and it seemed to him that Ilúvatar took no thought for the Void, and he was impatient of its emptiness Yet he found not the Fire, for it is with Ilúvatar. But being alone he had begun to conceive thoughts of his own unlike those of his brethren Some of these thoughts he now wove into his music, and straightway discord arose about him, and many that sang nigh him grew despondent, and their thought was disturbed and their music faltered; but some began to attune their music to his rather than to the thought which they had at first. Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard before foundered in a sea of turbulent sound. But Ilúvatar sat and hearkened until it seemed that about his throne there was a raging storm, as of dark waters that made war one upon another in an endless wrath that would not be assuaged. Then Ilúvatar arose, and thic Ainur perccived that he ·Ainulindale 17 smiled; and he lifted up his left hand, and a new theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike to the former theme, and it gathered power and had new beauty. But the discord of Melkor rose in uproar and contended with it, and again there was a war of sound more violent than before, untıl many of the Ainur were dismayed and sang no longer, and Melkor had the mastery. Then again Ilúvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that his countenance was stern; and he lifted up his right hand, and behold! a third theme grew amid the confusion, and it was unlike the others For it seemed at first soft and sweet, a mere rippling of gentle sounds in delicate melodies; but it could not be quenched, and it took to itself power and profundity. And it seemed at last that there were two musics progressing at one time before the seat of Ilúvatar, and they were utterly at variance. The one was-deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came. The other had now achieved a unity of its own; but it was loud, and yain, and endlessly repeated, and it had little harmony, but rather a clamorous unison as of many trumpets braying upon a few notes. And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern In the midst of this strife, whereat the halls of Ilúvatar shook and a tremor ran out into the silences yet unmoved, Ilúvatar arosc a third time, and his face was terrible to bchold. Then he raised up both his hands, and in one chord, deeper than the Abyss, higher than the Fırmament, piercing as the light of the eye of Ilúvatar, the Music ceased. Then Ilúvatar spoke, and he said: 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Ilúvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uitermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the ·18 The Silmarillion devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined' Then the Ainur were afraid, and they did not yet comprchend the words that were said to them; and Melkor was filled with shame, of which came secret anger. But Ilúvatar arose in splendour, and he went forth from the fair regions that he had made for the Ainur; and the Ainur followed him But when they were come into the Void, Ilúvatar said to them: “Behold your Music And he showed to them a vision, giving to them sight where before was only hearing; and they saw a new World made visible before them, and it was globed amid the Void, and it was sustained therein, but was not of it. And as they looked and wondered this World began to unfold its lustory, and it seemed to them that it lived and grew And when the Ainur had gazed for a while and were silent, Ilúvatar said again. "Behold your Music! This is your minstrelsy, and each of you shall find containcd herein, amid the design that I set before you, all those things which it may seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.' And many other things Ilúvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time, and because of their memory of his words, and the knowledge that each has of the music that he himself made, the Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them Yet some things there are that they cannot see, neither alone nor taking counsel together; for to none but humself has Ilúvatar revealed all that he has in store, and in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not proceed from the past And so it was that as this vision of the World was played before them, the Ainur saw that it contained things which they had not thought. And they saw with amazement the coming of the Children of Ilúvatar, and the habitation that was prepared for them; and they perceived that they themselves in the labour of their music had been busy with the preparation of this dwelling, and yet knew not that it had any purpose beyond its own ·Ainulindale 19 beauty. For the Children of Ilúvatar were conceived by him alone, and they came with the third theme, and were not in the theme which Ilúvatar propounded at the beginning, and none of the Ainur had part in their making Therefore when they beheld them, the more did they love them, being things other than themselves, strange and free, wherein they saw the mind of Ilúvatar reflected anew, and learned yet a little more of his wisdom, which otherwise had been hidden even from the Ainur. Now the Children of Ilúvatar are Elves and Men, the Firstborn and the Followers. And amid all the splendours of the World, its vast halls and spaces, and its wheeling fires, Ilúvatar chose a place for their habitation in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the innumerable stars And this habitation might seem a little thing to those who consider only the majesty of the Ainur, and not their terrible sharpness; as who should take the whole field of Arda for the foundation of a pillar and so raise it until the cone of its summit were more bitter than a needle; or who consider only the immeasurable vastness of the World, which still the Ainur are shaping, and not the minute precision to which they shape all things therein But when the Ainur had bcheld this habitation in a vision and had seen the Children of Jlúvatar arise therein, then many of the most mighty among them bent all their thought and their desire towards that place And of these Melkor was the chief, even as he was in the beginning the greatest of thc Ainur who took part in the Music. And he feigned, even to himself at first, that he desired to go thither and order all things for the good of the Children of Ilúvatar, controlling the turmoils of the heat and the cold that had come to pass through him. But he dcsired rather to subdue to his will both Elves and Men, envying the gifts with which Ilúvatar promised to endow them; and he wished himself to have subjects and servants, and to bc called Lord, and to be a master over other wills. But the other Ainur looked upon this habitation set within the vast spaces of the World, which the Elves call Arda, the Earth; and their hearts rejoiced in light, and their eyes beholding many colours were filled with gladness; but ·20 The Silmarillion because of the roaring of the sea they felt a great unquict. And they observed the winds and the air, and the matters of which Arda was made, of iron and stone and silver and gold and many substances but of all these water thcy most grcatly praised. And it is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance else that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen. Now to water had that Ainu whom the Elvcs call Ulmo turned his thought, and of all most decply was lie instructed by Ilúvatar in music But of the airs and winds Manwe most had pondered, who is the noblest of the Ainur. Of the fabric of Earth had Aule thought, to whom Ilúvatar had given skill and knowledge scare less than to Melkor, but the dclight and pride of Aule is in the deed of making, and in the thing made, and neither in possession nor in lus own mas. tery, wherefore he gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new work. And Ilúvatar spoke to Ulmo, and said: "Seest thou not how here in this little realm in the Decps of Time Melkor hath made war upon thy province? He hath bethought lum of bitter cold immoderate, and yet hath not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of thy clear pools. Behold the snow, and the cunning work of frost! Melkor hath deviscd heats and fire without restraint, and hath not dried up thy desire nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather the hcight and glory of the clouds, and the everchanging mists; and listen to the fall of rain upon the Earth! And in these clouds thou art drawn nearer to Manwc, thy friend, whom thou lovest' Then Ulmo answered: ‘Truly, Water is become now fairer than my heart imagined, neither had my secrct thought conceived the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the falling of the rain I will seek Manwe, that he and I may make melodies for ever to thy delight" And Manwo and Ulmo have from the beginning been allied, and in all things have served most faithfully the purpose of Ilúvatar.

·1 Amulindale 21 But even as Ulmo spoke, and while the Ainur were yet gazıng upon this vision, it was taken away and hidden from their sight; and it seemed to them that in that moment they perceived a new thing, Darkness, which they had not known before except in thought. But they had become enamoured of the beauty of the vision and engrossed in the unfolding of the World which came there to being, and their minds were filled with it; for the history was incomplete and the circles of time not full-wrought when the vision was taken away. And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn; wherefore, though the Music is over all, the Valar have not seen as with sight the Later Ages or the ending of the World. Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Ilúvatar called to them, and said, 'I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Ea! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it.' And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame; and they knew that this was no vision only, but that Ilúvatar had made a new thing: Ea, the World that Is. Thus it came to pass that of the Ainur some abode still with Ilúvatar beyond the confines of the World; but others, and among them many of the greatest and most fair, took the leave of Ilúvatar and descended into it But this condition Ilúvatar made, or it is the necessity of their love, that their power should thenceforward bc contained and bounded in the World, to be within it for ever, until it is complete so that they are its life and it is theirs. And therefore they are named the Valar, the Powers of the World But when the Valar entered into Es they were at first astounded and at a loss, for it was as if naught was yet made which they had seen in vision, and all was but on point to begin and yet unshaped, and it was dark. For the Great Music had been but the growth and flowering of thought in ·22 The Silmarillion the Timeless Halls, and the Vision only a foreshowing; but now they had entered in at the beginning of Time, and the Valar perceived that the World had been but foreshadowed and foresung, and they must achieve it so began their grcat labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, untıl in the Deeps of Timc and in the midst of the vast halls of Ea there came to be that hour and that place where was made thc habitation of the Cluldren of Ilúvatar. And in this work the chief part was taken by Manwe and Aule and Ulmo; but Melkor too was there from the first, and he meddled in all that was done, turning It if he might to his own desires and purposes; and he kindled great fires When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other Valar 'This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!' But Manwe was the brother of Melkor in the mind of Ilúvatar, and he was the cluef instrument of the second theme that Ilúvatar had raised up against the discord of Melkor; and he called unto himself many spirits both greater and less, and they came down into the fields of Arda and aided Manwe, lest Melkor should hinder the fulfilment of their labour for ever, and Earth should wither ere it flowered. And Manwe said unto Melkor: ‘This kingdom thou shalt not take for thine own, wrongfully, for many others have laboured here no less than thou' And there was strife bctween Melkor and the other Valar; and for that time Melkor withdrew and departed to other regions and did there what he would; but he did not put the desire of the Kingdom of Arda from his heart Now the Valar took to themselves shape and hue; and because they were drawn into the World by love of the Children of Ilúvatar, for whom they hoped, they took shapc after that manner which they had beheld in the Vision of Ilúvatar, save only in majesty and splendour, Morcover their shape comes of their knowledge of the visible World, rather than of the World itself, and they need it not, savo only as we use raiment, and yet we may be naked and suffer no loss of our being. Therefore the Valar may walk, if they ·- Ainulindalë 23 will, unclad, and then even the Eldar cannot clearly perceive them, though they be present. But when they desire to clothe themselves the Valar take upon them forms some as of male and some as of female; for that difference of temper they had even from their beginning, and it is but bodied forth in the choice of each, not made by the choice, even as with us male and female may be shown by the raiment but is not made thereby. But the shapes wherein the Great Ones array themselves are not at all times like to the shapes of the kings and queens of the Children of Ilúvatar; for at times they may clothe themselves in their own thought, made visible in forms of majesty and dread. And the Valar drew unto them many companions, some less, some well nigh as great as themselves, and they laboured together in the ordering of the Earth and the curbing of its tumults. Then Melkor saw what was done, and that the Valar walked on Earth as powers visible, clad in the raiment of the World, and were lovely and glorious to see, and blissful, and that the Earth was becoming as a garden for their delight, for its turmoils were subdued. His envy grew then the greater within him; and he also took visible form, but because of his mood and the malice that burned in him that form was dark and terrible. And he descended upon Arda in power and majesty greater than any other of the Valar, as a mountain that wades in the sea and has its head above the clouds and is clad in ice and crowned with smoke and fire; and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold. Thus began the first battle of the Valar with Melkor for the dominion of Arda; and of those tumults the Elves know but little For what has here been declared is come from the Valar themselves, with whom the Eldaliè spoke in the land of Valinor, and by whom they were instructed; but little would the Valar ever tell of the wars before the coming of the Elves. Yet it is told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth and to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn; and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor ·24 The Silmarillion threw them down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it. And yet their labour was not all in vain; and though nowhere and in no work was their will and purpose wholly fulfilled, and all things werc in huc and shape other than the Valar had at first intended, slowly nonetheless the Earth was fashioned and made firm. And thus was the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar cstab. lished at the last in the Deeps of Time and amidst the innumerable stars ·VALAQUENTA

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·VALAQUENTA Account of the Valar and Maiar according to the lore of the Eldar In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Ilúvatar, made the Ainur of his thought; and they made a great Music before him. In this Music the World was begun; for Ilúvatar made visible the song of the Ainur, and they beheld it as a light in the darkness And many among them became enamoured of its beauty, and of its lustory which they saw beginning and unfolding as in a vision. Therefore Ilúvatar gave to their vision Being, and set it amid the Void, and the Secret Fire was sent to burn at the heart of the World; and it was called Ea. Then those of the Ainur who desired it arose and entered into the World at the beginning of Time; and it was their task to achieve it, and by their labours to fulfil the vision which they had seen. Long they laboured in the regions of Ea, which are vast beyond the thought of Elves and Men, until in the time appointed was made Arda, the Kingdom of Earth. Then they put on the raiment of Earth and descended into it, and dwelt therein. Of the Valar The Great among these spirits the Elves name the Valar, the Powers of Arda, and Men have often called them gods. The Lords of the Valar are seven; and the Valier, the Queens of the Valar, are seven also. These were their names in the Elvish tongue as it was spoken in Valinor, though they have other names in the speech of the Elves in Middlecarth, and their names among Men are manifold. The names of the Lords in due order are: Manwe, Ulmo, Aulė, Orome, Vſandos, Lórien, and Tulkas; and the names of the Queens ·28 The Silmarillion are Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Este, Vairc, Vána, and Nessa. Melkor is counted no longer among the Valar, and his name is not spoken upon Earth. Manwe and Melkor were brethren in the thought of Dúvatar The mightiest of thosc Ainur who came into the World was in his beginning Melkor; but Manwe is dearest to Ilúvatar and understands most clearly his purposes He was appointed to be, in the fullness of time, the first of all Kings: lord of the realm of Arda and ruler of all that dwell therein. In Arda his delight is in the winds and the clouds, and in all the regions of the air, from the heights to the depths, from the utmost borders of the Veil of Arda to the breezes that blow in the grass Súlimo he is surnamed, Lord of the Breath of Arda All swift birds, strong of wing, hc loves, and they come and go at his bidding With Manwe dwells Varda, Lady of the Stars, who knows all the regions of Ea Too great is her beauty to be declared in the words of Men or of Elves; for the light of Ilúvatar lives still in her face In light is her power and her joy. Out of the deeps of Ea she came to the aid of Manwc; for Mclkor she knew from before the making of the Music and rejected him, and he hated her, and feared her more than all others whom Eru made. Manwe and Varda are seldom parted, and they remain in Valinor. Their halls are above the everlasting snow, upon Oiolosse, the uttermost tower of Taniquetil, tallest of all the mountains upon Earth. When Manwe there ascends his throne and looks forth, if Varda is beside him, he sees further than all other cyes, through mist, and through darkness, and over the leagues of the sca And if Manwe is with her, Varda hears more clearly than all other ears the sound of voices that cry from east to west, from the hills and the valleys, and from the dark places that Melkor has made upon Earth Of all the Great Ones who dwell in this world the Elves hold Varda most in reverence and love Elbereth they name her, and they call upon her name out of the shadows of Middle-earth, and uplift it in song at the rising of the stars Ulmo is the Lord of Waters He is alone He dwells no- 1 ·33 Valaquenta 29 where long, but moves as he will in all the deep waters about the Earth or under the Earth. He is next in might to Manwe, and before Valinor was made he was closest to him in friendship; but thereafter he went seldom to the councils of the Valar, unless great matters were in debate. For he kept all Arda in thought, and he has no need of any resting-place Moreover he does not love to walk upon land, and will seldom clothe himself in a body after the manner of his peers. If the Children of Eru beheld him they were filled with a great dread; for the arising of the King of the Sea was terrible, as a mounting wave that strides to the land, with dark helm foam-crested and raiment of mail shimmering from silver down into shadows of green. The trumpets of Manwë are loud, but Ulmo's voice is deep as the deeps of the ocean which he only has seen. Nonetheless Ulmo loves both Elves and Men, and never abandoned them, not even when they lay under the wrath of the Valar. At times he will come unseen to the shores of Middle-earth, or pass far inland up firths of the sea, and there make music upon his great horns, the Ulumúri, that are wrought of white shell; and those to whom that music comes hear it ever after in their hearts, and longing for the sca never leaves them again. But mostly Ulmo speaks to those who dwell in Middle-earth with voices that are heard only as the music of water. For all seas, lakes, rivers, founlains and springs are in his government; so that the Elves say that the spirit of Ulmo runs in all the veins of the world. Thus news comes to Ulmo, even in the deeps, of all the needs and griefs of Arda, which otherwise would be hidden from Manwë. Aulè has might little less than Ulmo. His lordship is over all the substances of which Arda is made. In the beginning he wrought much in fellowship with Manwe and Ulmo; and the fashioning of all lands was his labour. He is a smith and a master of all crafts, and he delights in works of skill, howcyer small, as much as in the mighty building of old. His are the gems that lie deep in the Earth and the gold that is fair in the hand, no less than the walls of the mountains and the basins of the sea. The Noldor learned most of him, and he ·30 The Silmarillion was ever their friend Melkor was jealous of him, for Aulc was most like himself in thoughtand in powers; and there was long strife between them, in which Melkor ever marred or undid the works of Aule, and Aule grew weary in repairing the tumults and disorders of Melkor. Both, also, desired to make things of their own that should be ncw and unthought of by others, and delighted in the praise of their skull. But Aulé remained faithful to Eru and submitted all that he did to his will; and he did not envy thic works of others, but sought and gave counsel. Whercas Melkor spent his spirit in envy and hate, until at last he could make nothing save in mockery of the thought of others, and all their works he destroyed if he could The spouse of Aule is Yavanna, the Giver of Fruits. She is the lover of all things that grow in the earth, and all their countless forms she holds in her mind, from the trees likc towers in forests long ago to the moss upon stones or the small and secret things in the mould. In reverence Yavanna is next to Varda among the Queens of the Valar. In the form of a woman she is tall, and robed in green, but at times she takes other shapes. Some there are who have seen her standing like a tree under heaven, crowned with the Sun; and from all its branches there spilled a golden dew upon the barren carth, and it grew green with corn; but the roots of the tree were in the waters of Ulmo, and the winds of Manwe spoke in its leaves. Kementári, Queen of the Earth, she is surnamed in the Eldarin tonguc. The Feanturi, masters of spirits, are brethren, and they are called most often Mandos and Lórien Yet these are rightly the names of the places of their dwelling, and their true names are Námo and Irmo. · Námo the elder dwells in Mandos, which is westward in Valinor. He is the keeper of the Houses of the Dead, and the summoner of the spirits of the slain He forgets nothing; and he knows all things that shall be, save only those that lic still in the freedom of Ilúvatar. He is the Doomsman of the Valar, but he pronounces his dooms and his judgements only at the bidding of Manwė. Vairė the Weaver is his spouse, who weaves all things that have ever been in Time ·Valaquenta 31 into her storied webs, and the halls of Mandos that ever widen as the ages pass are clothed with them. Irmo the younger is the master of visions and dreams. In Lórien are his gardens in the land of the Valar, and they are the fairest of all places in the world, filled with many spirits. Este the gentle, healer of hurts and of weariness, is his spouse Grey is her raiment; and rest is her gift. She walks not by day, but sleeps upon an island in the tree-shadowed lake of Lorellin. From the fountains of Irmo and Este all those who dwell in Valinor draw refreshment; and often the Valar come themselves to Lórien and there find repose and easing of the burden of Arda. Mightier than Este is Nienna, sister of the Feanturi; she dwells alone. She is acquainted with grieſ, and mourns for cvery wound that Arda has suffered in the marring of Melkor. So great was her sorrow, as the Music unfolded, that her song turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not weep for herself; and those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in hope. Her halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; and she comes seldom to the city of Valımar where all is glad. She goes rather to the halls of Mandos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom. The windows of her house look outward from the walls of the world. Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkas, who is surnamed Astaldo, the Valiant. He came last to Arda, lo aid the Valar in the first battles with Melkor. He delights in Wrestling and in contests of strength; and he rides no steed, for he can outrun all things that go on feet, and he is tireless His hair and beard are golden, and his flesh ruddy; his weapons are his hands. He has little heed for either the past or the future, and is of no avail as a counsellor, but is a hardy friend. His spouse is Nessa, the sister of Orome, and she also is lithe and fleetfooted. Deer she loves, and they follow her train whenever she goes in the wild; but she can outrun them, swift as an arrow with the wind in her hair. In ·32 The Silmarillion dancing she delights, and she dances in Valimar on lawns of never-fading green. Orome is a mighty lord. If he is less strong than Tulkas, he is more dreadful in anger; whereas Tulkas laughs cver, in sport or in war, and cven in the face of Melkor he laughed in battles before the Elves were born. Orome loved the lands of Middle-earth, and he left them unwillingly and came last to Valinor; and often of old he passed back cast over the mountains and returned with his host to the hills and the plains. He is a hunter of monsters and fell beasts, and he delights in horses and in hounds; and all trees hc loves, for which reason he is called Aldaron, and by the Sındar Tauron, the Lord of Forests Nahar is the name of his horse, white in the sun, and shining silver at night. The Valaróma is the name of his great horn, the sound of which is like the upgoing of the Sun in scarlct, or the sheer lightning cleaving the clouds. Above all the horns of his host it was heard in the woods that Yavanna brought forth in Valinor; for there Orome would train his folk and his bcasts for the pursuit of the evil creatures of Melkor. The spouse of Orome is Vána, the Ever-young; she is the younger sister of Yavanna All flowers spring as shc passes and open if she glances upon them; and all birds sing at her coming These are the names of the Valar and the Valier, and here is told in brief their likenesses, such as the Eldar beheld them in Aman. But fair and noble as were the forms in which they were manifest to the Children of Ilúvatar, they were but a veil upon their beauty and their power. And if little is here said of all that the Eldar once knew, that is as nothing compared with their truc being, which goes back into regions and ages far beyond our thought Among them Nine were of chief power and reverence, but one is removed from their number, and Eight remain, the Aratar, the High Ones of Arda Manwe and Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna and Aule, Mandos, Nienna, and Orome. Though Manwe is their King and holds their allegiance under Eru, in majesty they are peers, surpassing beyond compare all others, whether of ·Valaquenta 33 the Valar and the Maiar, or of any other order that Ilúvatar has sent into Ea. Of the Maiar With the Valar came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree. These are the Maiar, people of the Valar, and their servants and helpers. Their number is not known to the Elves, and few have names in any of the tongues of the Children of Ilúvatar; for though it is otherwise in Aman, in Middle-earth the Maiar have seldom appeared in form visible to Elves and Men. Chief among the Maiar of Valinor whose names are remembered in the histories of the Elder Days are Ilmare, the handmaid of Varda, and Eönwe, the banner-bearer and herald of Manwë, whose might in arms is surpassed by none in Arda. But of all the Maiar Ossë and Uinen are best known to the Children of Ilúvatar. Ossë is a vassal of Ulmo, and he is master of the seas that wash the shores of Middle-earth. He does not go in the deeps, but loves the coasts and the isles, and rejoices in the winds of Manwe; for in storm he delights, and laughs amid the roaring of the waves. His spouse is Uinen, the Lady of the Seas, whose hair lies spread through all waters under sky. All creatures she loves that live in the salt streams, and all weeds that grow there; to her mariners cry, for she can lay calm upon the waves, restraining the wildness of Osse. The Númenoreans lived long in her protection, and held her in reverence equal to the Valar. Melkor hated the Sea, for he could not subdue it. It is said that in the making of Arda he endeavoured to draw Osse to his allegiance, promising to him all the realm and power of Ulmo, if he would serve him. So it was that long ago there arose great tumults in the sea that wrought ruin to the lands. But Uinen, at the prayer of Aule, restrained Osse and brought him before Ulmo; and he was pardoned and returned to his allegiance, to which he has remained ·34 The Silmarillion faithful. For the most part; for the delight in violence has never wholly departed from him, and at times he will rage in his wilfulness without any command from Ulmo his lord. Therefore those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships may love him, but they do not trust him. Melian was the name of a Maia who served both Vána and Este; she dwelt long in Lórien, tending the trccs that flower in the gardens of Irmo, erc she came to Middle-earth. Nightingales sang about her wherever she went. Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin. He too dwelt in Lórien, but his ways took him often to the house of Nicnna, and of her he learned pity and patience. Of Melian much is told in the Quenta Silmarillion. But of Olórin that tale does not speak; for though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in form as onc of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and took pity on their sorrows, and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of darkness. Of the Enemies Last of all is set the name of Melkor, He who arises in Might. But that name he has forfeited; and the Noldor, who among the Elves suffered most from his malice, will not utter it, and they name him Morgoth, the Dark Enemy of the World Great might was given to him by Ilúvatar, and he was coeval with Manwe. In the powers and knowledge of all the other Valar he had part, but he turned them to evil purposes, and squandered his strength in violence and tyranny. For he coveted Arda and all that was in it, desiring the kingship of Manwe and dominion over the realms of his peers From splendour he fell through arrogance to contempt for all things save himself, a spirit wasteful and pitiless. Understanding he turned to subtlety in perverting to his own ·Valaquenta 35 will-all that he would use, until he became a liar without shame. He began with the desire of Light; but when he could not possess it for himself alone, he descended through fire and wrath into a great burning, down into Darkness. And darkness he used most in his evil works upon Arda, and filled it with fear for all living things. Yet so great was the power of his uprising that in ages forgotten he contended with Manwe and all the Valar, and through long years in Arda held dominion over most of the lands of the Earth. But he was not alone. For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror. Among those of his servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called Sauron, or Gorthaur the Cruel. In his beginning he was of the Maiar of Aule, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people. In all the deeds of Melkor the Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part, and was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself. But in after years he rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the Void. HERE ENDS THE VALAQUENTA

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·QUENTA SILMARILLION
The History of the
Silmarils

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·3 Chapter 1 Of the Beginning of Days It is told among the wise that the First War began before Arda was full-shaped, and ere yet there was anything that grew or walked upon earth; and for long Melkor had the upper hand But in the midst of the war a spirit of great strength and hardihood came to the aid of the Valar, hearing in the far heaven that there was battle in the Little Kingdom; and Arda was filled with the sound of his laughter. So came Tulkas the Strong, whose anger passes like a mighty wind, scattering cloud and darkness before it; and Melkor fled before his wrath and his laughter, and forsook Arda, and there was peace for a long age. And Tulkas remained and became one of the Valar of the Kingdom of Arda; but Melkor brooded in the outer darkness, and his hate was given to Tulkas for ever after. In that time the Valar brought order to the seas and the lands and the mountains, and Yavanna planted at last the seeds that she had long devised. And since, when the fires were subdued or buried beneath the primeval hills, there was need of light, Aule at the prayer of Yavanna wrought two mighty lamps for the lighting of the Middle-earth which he had built amid the encircling seas. Then Varda filled the lamps and Manwé hallowed them, and the Valar set them upon high pillars, more lofty far than are any mountains of the later days. One lamp they raised near to the north of Middle-earth, and it was named Illuin; and the other was raised in the south, and it was named Ormal; and the light of the Lamps of the Valar flowed out over the Earth, so that all was lit as it were in a changeless day. Then the seeds that Yavanna had sown began swiftly to sprout and to burgeon, and there arose a multitude of growing things great and small, mosses and grasses and ·40 The Silmarillion great ferns, and trees whose tops were crowned with cloud as they were living mountains, but whose fect were wrapped in a green twilight. And beasts camc forth and dwelt in thic grassy plains, or in the rivers and the lakes, or walked in the shadows of the woods As yet no flower had bloomcd nor any bird had sung, for these things waited still their time in the bosom of Yavanna; but wcalth there was of her imagining, and nowhere more rich than in the midmost parts of the Earth, where the light of both the Lamps met and blended. And there upon the Isle of Almaren in the Great Lake was the first dwelling of the Valar when all things were young, and new-made green was yet a marvel in the eyes of the makers; and they were long content, Now it came to pass that while the Valar rested from their labours, and watched the growth and unfolding of the things that they had devised and begun, Manye ordained a great feast; and the Valar and all their host came at his bidding. But Aule and Tulkas were weary; for the craft of Aulc and the strength of Tulkas had been at the service of all without ceasing in the days of their labour. And Melkor knew of all that was done, for even then he had sccrct friends and spies among the Maiar whom he had converted to his cause, and far off in the darkness he was filled with hatred, being jealous of the work of his peers, whom he dcsired to make subject to himself. Therefore he gathered to himself spirits out of the halls of Ea that he had perverted to his service, and he deemed himself strong. And seeing now his time he drew near again to Arda, and looked down upon it, and the beauty of the Earth in its Spring filled him the more with hate Now therefore the Valar were gathered upon Almaren, fearing no evil, and because of the light of Illuin they did not perceive the shadow in the north that was cast from afar by Melkor; for he was grown dark as the Night of the Void. And it is sung that in that feast of the Spring of Arda Tulkas espoused Nessa the sister of Orome, and she danced before the Valar upon the green grass of Almaren. Then Tulkas slept, being weary and content, and Melkor deemed that his hour had come. And he passed therefore ·Of the Beginning of Days 41 over the Walls of the Night with his host, and came to Middle-earth far in the north; and the Valar were not aware of him. Now Melkor began the delving and building of a vast fortress, deep under Earth, beneath dark mountains where the beams of Illuin were cold and dim That stronghold was named Utumno. And though the Valar knew naught of it as yet, nonetheless the evil of Melkor and the blight of his hatred flowed out thence, and the Spring of Arda was marred. Green things fell sick and rotted, and rivers were choked with weeds and slime, and fens were made, rank and poisonous, the breeding place of flies; and forests grew dark and perilous, the haunts of fear; and beasts became monsters of horn and ivory and dyed the earth with blood. Then the Valar knew indeed that Melkor was at work again, and they sought for his hiding place. But Melkor, trusting in the strength of Utumno and the might of his servants, came forth suddenly to war, and struck the first blow, ere the Valar were prepared; and he assailed the lights of Illuin and Ormal, and cast down their pillars and broke their lamps. In the overthrow of the mighty pillars lands were broken and seas arose in tumult; and when the lamps were spilled destroying flame was poured out over the Earth. And the shape of Arda and the symmetry of its waters and its lands was marred in that time, so that the first designs of the Valar were never after restored, In the confusion and the darkness Melkor escaped. though fear fell upon him; for above the roaring of the seas he heard the voice of Manwe as a mighty wind, and the earth trembled beneath the feet of Tulkas. But he came to Utumno ere Tulkas could overtake him; and there he lay hid. And the Valar could not at that time overcome him, for the greater part of their strength was needed to restrain the tumults of the Earth, and to save from ruin all that could be saved of their labour; and afterwards they feared to rend the Earth again, until they knew where the Children of Ilúvatar were dwelling, who were yet to come in a time that was hidden from the Valar.

·42 The Silmarillon Thus ended the Spring of Arda The dwelling of the Valar upon Almaren was utterly destroyed, and they had no abiding place upon the face of the Earth. Therefore they departed from Middle-earth and went to the Land of Aman, the westernmost of all lands upon the borders of the world; for its west shores looked upon the Outcr Sca, that is called by the Elves Ekkaia, encircling the Kingdom of Arda. How wide is that sea none know but the Valar; and bcyond it arc the Walls of the Night. But the cast shores of Aman were the uttermost end of Belcgacr, the Great Sea of the West, and since Melkor was returned to Middle-carth and they could not yet overcome him, the Valar fortified their dwelling, and upon the shores of the sea they raised thc Pclóri, the Mountains of Aman, highest upon Earth. And above all the mountains of the Pelóri was that height upon whose summit Manwe set his throne Taniquclil the Elves name that holy mountain, and Ololosse Everlasting Whiteness, and Elerrína Crowned with Stars, and many names beside, but the Sındar spoke of it in their later tongue as Amon Uilos From their halls upon Taniquetil Manwe and Varda could look out across the Earth even into the furthest East. Behind the walls of the Pelóri the Valar established their domain in that region which is called Valinor; and there were their houses, their gardens, and their towers In that guarded land the Valar gathered grcat store of light and all the fairest things that were saved from the ruin, and many others yet fairer they made anew, and Valinor became morc beautiful even than Middle-earth in the Spring of Arda; and it was blessed, for the Deathless dwelt there, and there naught faded nor withered, neither was there any stain upon flower or leaf in that land, nor any corruption or sickness in anything that lived; for the very stones and waters were hallowed And when Valınor was full-wrought and the mansions of the Valar were established, in the midst of the plain beyond the mountains they built their city, Valmar of many bells. Before its western gate there was a green mound, Ezellohar, that is named also Corollaire; and Yavanna hallowed it, ·Of the Beginning of Days 43 and she sat there long upon the green grass and sang a song of power, in which was set all her thought of things that grow in the earth. But Nienna thought in silence, and watered the mould with tears. In that time the Valar were gathered together to hear the song of Yavanna, and they sat silent upon their thrones of council in the Mahanaxar, the Ring of Doom near to the golden gates of Valmar; and Yavanna Kementári sang before them and they watched. And as they watched, upon the mound there came forth two slender shoots; and silence was over all the world in that hour, nor was there any other sound save the chanting of Yavanna. Under her song the saplings grew and becamc fair and tall, and came to flower; and thus there awoke in the world the Two Trees of Valinor. Of all things which Yavanna made they have most renown, and about their fate all the tales of the Elder Days are woven. The one had leaves of dark green that beneath were as shining silver, and from each of his countless flowers a dew of silver light was ever falling, and the earth beneath was dappled with the shadows of his fluttering leaves. The other bore leaves of a young green like the new-opened beech; their edges were of glittering gold Flowers swung upon her branches in clusters of yellow flame, formed each to a glowing horn that spilled a golden rain upon the ground; and from the blossom of that tree there came forth warmth and a great light. Telperion the one was called in Valinor, and Sulpion, and Ninquelótė, and many other names; but Laurelin the other was, and Malinalda, and Culúrien, and many names in song beside. In seven hours the glory of each tree waxed to full and waned again to naught; and each awoke once more to life an hour before the other ceased to shine Thus in Valinor twice every day there came a gentle hour of softer light when both trees were faint and their gold and silver beams were mingled. Telperion was the elder of the trees and came first to full stature and to bloom; and that first hour in which he shone, the white glimmer of a silver dawn, the Valar reckoned not into the tale of hours, but named it the Opening Hour, and counted from it the ages of their reign in ·44 The Silmarillion Valinor. Therefore at the sixth hour of the First Day, and of all the joyful days thereafter, until the Darkening of Valinor, Telperion ceased his time of flower; and at the twelfth hour Laurelin her blossoming. And each day of the Valar in Aman contained twelve hours, and ended with the second mingling of the lights, in which Laurelin was waning but Telperion was waxing. But the light that was spilled from the trees endured long, ere it was taken up into the airs or sank down into the earth; and the dews of Telperion and the rain that fell from Laurelin Varda hoarded in great vats like shining lakes, that were to all the land of the Valar as wells of water and of light. Thus began the Days of the Bliss of Valinor; and thus began also the Count of Time. But as the ages drew on to the hour appointed by Ilúvatar for the coming of the Firstborn, Middle-earth lay in a twilight beneath the stars that Varda had wrought in the ages forgotten of her labours in Ea And in the darkness Melkor dwelt, and still often walked abroad, in many shapes of power and fear, and he wielded cold and fire, from the tops of the mountains to the deep furnaces that are beneath them; and whatsoever was cruel or violent or deadly in those days is laid to his charge From the beauty and bliss of Valinor the Valar came seldom over the mountains to Middle-earth, but gave to the land beyond the Pelori their care and their love And in the midst of the Blessed Realm were the mansions of Aule, and there he laboured long. For in the making of all things in that land he had the chief part, and he wrought there many beautiful and shapely works both openly and in secret. Of lum comes the lore and knowledge of the Earth and of all things that it contains' whether the lore of those that make not, but seek only for the understanding of what is, or the lore of all craftsmen: the weaver, the shaper of wood, and the worker in metals; and the tiller and husbandman also, though these last and all that deal with things that grow and bear fruit must look also to the spouse of Aule, Yavanna Kementári. Aule it is who is named the Friend of the Noldor, for of him they learned much in after days, and they are the ·of the Beginning of Days 45 most skilled of the Elves; and in their own fashion, according to the gifts which Ilúvatar gave to them, they added much to his teaching, delighting in tongues and in scripts, and in the figures of broidery, of drawing, and of carving. The Noldor also it was who first achieved the making of gems; and the fairest of all gems were the Silmarils, and they are lost. But Manwe Súlimo, highest and holiest of the Valar, sat upon the borders of Aman, forsaking not in his thought the Outer Lands. For his throne was set in majesty upon the pinnacle of Taniquetil, the highest of the mountains of the world, standing upon the margin of the sea. Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world. Thus they brought word to him of well nigh all that passed in Arda; yet som things were hidden even from the eyes of Manwe and the servants of Manwë, for where Melkor sat in his dark thought impenetrable shadows lay. Manwe has no thought for his own honour, and is not jealous of his power, but rules all to peace. The Vanyar he loved best of all the Elves, and of him they received song and poetry; for poetry is the delight of Manwë, and the song of words is his music. His raiment is blue, and blue is the fire of his eyes, and his sceptre is of sapphire, which the Noldor wrought for him; and he was appointed to be the vicegerent of Ilúvatar, King of the world of Valar and Elves and Men, and the chief defence against the evil of Melkor. With Manwe dwelt Varda the most beautiful, she who in the Sindarin tongue is named Elbereth, Queen of the Valar, maker of the stars; and with them were a great host of spirits in blessedness. But Ulmo was alone, and he abode not in Valinor, nor ever came thither unless there were need for a great council; łe dwelt from the beginning of Arda in the Outer Ocean, and still he dwells there. Thence he governs the flowing of all waters, and the ebbing, the courses of all rivers and the replenishment of springs, the distilling of all dews and rain in cycry land beneath the sky. In the deep places he gives ·46 The Silmarillion thought to music grcat and terrible; and the ccho of that music runs through all the veins of the world in sorrow and in joy; for if joyful is the fountain that rises in the sun, its springs are in the wells of sorrow unfathomed at the foundations of the Earth The Teleri Icarned much of Ulmo, and for this reason their music has both sadness and cnchantment, Salmar came with him to Arda, he who made the liorns of Ulmo that none may ever forget who once has heard them; and Osse and Uinen also, to whom he gavc the government of the waves and the movements of the Inner Seas, and many other spirits beside. And thus it was by the power of Ulmo that even under the darkness of Melkor liſc coursed still through many secret lodes, and the Earth did not die; and to all who were lost in that darkness or wandered far from the light of the Valar the car of Ulmo was ever open; nor has he ever forsaken Middle-earth, and whatsocver may since have befallen of ruin or of change hc has not ceased to take thought for it, and will not until the end of days And in that time of dark Yavanna also was unwilling utterly to forsake the Outer Lands; for all things that grow are dear to her, and she mourned for the works that she had begun in Middle-earth but Melkor had marred. Therefore leaving the house of Aule and the flowering mcads of Valinor she would come at times and heal the hurts of Melkor; and returning she would cver urge the Valar to that war with his evil dominion that they must surely wage cre the coming of the Firstborn. And Orome tamer of beasts would ride too at whiles in the darkness of the unlit forests; as a mighty hunter he came with spear and bow, pursuing to the death the monsters and fell creatures of the kingdom of Melkor, and his white horse Nahar shone likc silver in the shadows. Then the sleeping carth trembled at the beat of his golden hooves, and in the twilight of the world Orome would sound the Valaróma hus great horn upon the plains of Arda; whereat the mountains echoed, and thc shadows of evil fled away, and Melkor himself quailed in Utumno, foreboding the wrath to come But even as Orome passed the servants of Melkor would gather ·Of the Beginning of Days 47 igain; and the lands were filled with shadows and deceit. Now all is said concerning the manner of the Earth and its rulers in the beginning of days, and ere the world became such as the Children of Ilúvatar have known it. For Elves and Men are the Children of Ilúvatar; and since they understood not fully that theme by which the Children entered into the Music, none of the Ainur dared to add anything to their fashion. For which reason the Valar are to these kindreds rather their elders and their chieftains than their masters; and if ever in their dealings with Elves and Men the Ainur have endeavoured to force them when they would not be guided, seldom has this turned to good, howsoever good the intent. The dealings of the Ainur have indeed been mostly with the Elves, for Ilúvatar made them more like in nature to the Ainur, though less in might and stature, whereas to Men he gave strange gifts. For it is said that after the departure of the Valar there was silence, and for an age Ilúvatar sat alone in thought. Then he spoke and said: 'Behold I love the Earth, which shall be a mansion for the Quendi and the Atanı! But the Quendi shall be the fairest of all earthly creatures, and they shall have and shall conceive and bring forth more beauty than all my Children; and they shall have the greater bliss in this world. But to the Atani I will give a new gift.' Therefore he willed that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and should find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to shape their life, amid the powers and chances of the world, beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else; and of their operation everything should be, in form and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest. But Ilúvatar knew that Men, being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world, would stray often, and would not use their gifts in harmony; and he said, 'These too in their time shall find that all that they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work: Yet the Elves believe that Men are often a grief to Manwe, who knows most of the mind of llúvatar; for it seems to the Elves that Men ·48 The Silmarillion resemble Melkor most of all the Ainur, although he has ever feared and hated them, even those that served him. It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are not bound to it, and depart soon whither the Elves know not. Whereas the Elves remain until the end of days, and their love of the Earth and all the world is more single and more poignant therefore, and as the years lengthen ever more sorrowful For the Elves die not till the world dies, unless they are slain or waste in grief (and to both these seeming deaths they are subject); neither does age subdue their strength, unless one grow weary of ten thousand centuries; and dying they are gathered to the halls of Mandos in Valinor, whence they may in time return. But the sons of Men die indeed, and leave the world; wherefore they are called the Guests, or the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar, which as Time wears even the Powers shall cnvy. But Melkor has cast his shadow upon it, and confounded it with darkness, and brought forth cvil out of good, and fear out of hope. Yet of old thc Valar declared to the Elves in Valinor that Men shall join in the Second Music of the Ainur; whereas Ilúvatar has not revealed what he purposes for the Elves after the World's end, and Melkor has not discovered it.

·Chapter 2 Of Aulë and Yavanna It is told that in their beginning the Dwarves were made by Aule in the darkness of Middle-earth; for so greatly did Aule desire the coming of the Children, to have learners to whom he could teach his lore and his crafts, that he was unwilling to await the fulfilment of the designs of Ilúvatar. And Aule made the Dwarves even as they still are, because the forms of the Children who were to come were unclear to his mind, and because the power of Melkor was yet over the Earth; and he wished therefore that they should be strong and unyielding. But fearing that the other Valar might blame his work, he wrought in secret: and he made first the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves in a hall under the mountains in Middle-earth. Now Ilúvatar knew what was done, and in the very hour that Aule's work was complete, and he was pleased, and began to instruct the Dwarves in the speech that he had devised for them, Ilúvatar spoke to him; and Aule heard his voice and was silent. And the voice of Ilúvatar said to him: Why hast thou done this? Why dost thou attempt a thing which thou knowest is beyond thy power and thy authority? For thou hast from me as a gift thy own being only, and no more; and therefore the creatures of thy hand and mind can live only by that being, moving when thou thinkest to move them, and if thy thought be elsewhere, standing idle Is that thy desire?' Then Aule answered. 'I did not desire such lordship I desired things other than I am, to love and to teach them, so that they too might perceive the beauty of Eä, which thou hast caused to be For it seemed to me that there is great room in Arda for many things that might rejoice in it, yet it is for the most part empty still, and dumb. And in my

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·Of Aule and Yavanna 51 Melkor, Aule made the Dwarves strong to endure. Therefore they are stone-hard, stubborn, fast in friendship and in cnmity, and they suffer toil and hunger and hurt of body more hardily than all other speaking peoples; and they live long, far beyond the span of Men, yet not for ever. Aforetime it was held among the Elves in Middle-earth that dying the Dwarves returned to the earth and the stone of which they were made; yet that is not their own belief. For they say that Aule the Maker, whom they call Mahal, cares for them, and gathers them to Mandos in halls set apart; and that he declared to their Fathers of old that Ilúvatar will hallow them and give them a place among the Children in the End. Then their part shall be to serve Aule and to aid him in the remaking of Arda after the Last Battle. They say also that the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves return to live again in their own kin and to bear once more their ancient names: of whom Durin was the most renowned in after ages, father of that kindred most friendly to the Elves, whose mansions were at Khazad-dûm. Now when Aule laboured in the making of the Dwarves he kept this work hidden from the other Valar; but at last he opened his mind to Yavanna and told her of all that had come to pass Then Yavanna said to him: 'Eru is merciful Now I see that thy heart rejoiceth, as indeed it may; for thou hast received not only forgiveness but bounty. Yet because thou hiddest this thought from me until its achievement, thy children will have little love for the things of my love. They will love first the things made by their own hands, as doth their father. They will delve in the earth, and thic things that grow and live upon the earth they will not heed. Many a tree shall feel the bite of their iron without pity.' But Aule answered: “That shall also be true of the Children of Ilúvatar; for they will eat and they will build. And though the things of thy realm have worth in themselves, and would have worth if no Children were to come, yet Eru will give them dominion, and they shall use all that they find in Arda: though not, by the purpose of Eru, without respect or without gratitude ·52 The Silmarillion "Not unless Melkor darken their hearts,' said Yavanna. And she was not appeased, but grieved in heart, fearing what might be done upon Middle-earth in days to come. Therefore she went before Manwe, and she did not betray the counsel of Aule, but she said. "King of Arda, is it true, as Aule hath said to me, that the Children when they come shall have dominion over all the things of my labour, to do as they will therewith?' 'It is true,' said Manwe ‘But why dost thou ask, for thou liadst no need of the teaching of Aule? Then Yavanna was silent and looked into her own thought And she answered. 'Because my heart is anxious, thinking of the days to come. All my works are dear to me Is it not enough that Melkor should have marred so many? Shall nothing that I have devised be free from the dominion of others?' 'If thou hadst thy will what wouldst thou reserve?' said Manwe. 'Of all thy realm what dost thou hold dearest? ‘All have their worth,' said Yavanna, 'and each contributes to the worth of the others But the kelvar can flee or defend themselves, whereas the olvar that grow cannot And among these I hold trees dear. Long in the growing, swift shall they be in the felling, and unless they pay toll with fruit upon bough little mourned in their passing So I see in my thought. Would that the trees might speak on behalf of all things that have roots, and punish those that wrong them" 'This is a strange thought,' said Manwe ‘Yet it was in the Song,' said Yavanna 'For while thou wert in the heavens and with Ulmo built the clouds and poured out the rains, I lifted up the branches of great trees to receive them, and some sang to Ilúvatar amid the wind and the rain. Then Manwe sat silent, and the thought of Yavanna that she had put into his heart grew and unfolded, and it was beheld by Ilúvatar. Then it seemed to Manwe that the Song rose once more about him, and he heeded now many things therein that though he had heard them he had not heeded before. And at last the Vision was renewed, but it was not now remote, for he was himself within it, and yet he saw ·Of Aulë and Yavanna 53 that all was upheld by the hand of Ilúvatar; and the hand entered in, and from it came forth many wonders that had until then been hidden from him in the hearts of the Ainur. Then Manwe awoke, and he went down to Yavanna upon Ezellohar, and he sat beside her beneath the Two Trees. And Manwe said: 'O Kementárı, Eru hath spoken, saying: "Do then any of the Valar suppose that I did not hear all the Song, even the least sound of the least voice? Behold! When the Children awake, then the thought of Yavanna will awake also, and it will summon spirits from afar, and they wul go among the kelvar and the olvai, and some will dwell therein, and be held in reverence, and their just anger shall be feared. For a time while the Firstborn are in their power, and while the Secondborn are young." But dost thou not now remember, Kementári, that thy thought sang not always alone? Did not thy thought and mine meet also, so that we took wing together like great birds that soar above the clouds? That also shall come to be by the heed of Ilúvatar, and before the Children awake there shall go forth with wings like the wind the Eagles of the Lords of the West. Then Yavanna was glad, and she stood up, reaching her arms towards the heavens, and she said: 'High shall climb the trees of Kementári, that the Eagles of the King may house therein!' But Manwe rose also, and it seemed that he stood to such a height that his voice came down to Yavanna as from the paths of the winds. "Nay,' he said, 'only the trees of Aule will be tall enough. In the mountains the Eagles shall house, and hear the voices of those who call upon us. But in the forests shall walk the Shepherds of the Trees' Then Manwe and Yavanna parted for that time, and Yavanna returned to Aule; and he was in his smithy, pouring molten metal into a mould 'Eru is bountiful,' she said. "Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril. Nonetheless they will have need of wood,' said Aule, and he went on with his smith-work.

·Chapter 3 Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor Through long ages the Valar dwelt in bliss in the light of the Trees beyond the Mountains of Aman, but all Middlccarth lay in a twilight under the stars While thc Lamps had shonc, growth began therc which now was checked, bccause all was again dark But alrcady the oldest living things had arisen in the seas the great weeds, and on carth the shadow of great trccs; and in the valleys of the nightclad hills there were dark crcaturcs old and strong. To those lands and forests the Valar seldom came, save only Yavanna and Oromc; and Yavanna would walk there in the shadows, gricving because the growth and promise of the Spring of Arda was stayed And she set a sleep upon many things that had arisen in the Spring, so that they should not age, but should wait for a time of awakening that yet should be But in the north Melkor built his strength, and he slept not, but watched, and laboured, and the evil things that hic had perverted walked abroad, and the dark and slumbering woods werc haunted by monsters and shapes of drcad. And in Utumno he gathered his demons about him, those spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them, they had whips of flame. Balrogs they were named in Middle-earth in later days And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world, and his realm spread now ever southward over Middle-carth And Melkor made also a fortress and armoury not far from the north-western shores of the sea, to resist any ·Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor 55 assault that might come from Aman That stronghold was commanded by Sauron, lieutenant of Melkor; and it was named Angband. It came to pass that the Valar held council, for they became troubled by the tidings that Yavanna and Orome brought from the Outer Lands; and Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: 'Ye mighty of Arda, the Vision of Ilúvatar was brief and soon taken away, so that maybe we cannot guess within a narrow count of days the hour appointed. Yet be sure of this: the hour approaches, and within this age our hope shall be revealed, and the Children shall awake. Shall we then leave the lands of their dwelling desolate and full of evil? Shall they walk in darkness while we have light? Shall they call Melkor lord while Manwe sits upon Taniquetil? And Tulkas cried: 'Nay! Let us make war swiftly' Have we not rested from strife overlong, and is not our strength now renewed? Shall one alone contest with us for ever? But at the bidding of Manwe Mandos spoke, and he said: *In this age the Children of Ilúvatar shall come indeed, but they come not yet. Moreover it is doom that the Firstborn shall come in the darkness, and shall look first upon the stars Great light shall be for their waning. To Varda ever shall they call at need.' Then Varda went forth from the council, and she looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the darkness of Middle-earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and far. Then she began a great labour, greatest of all the works of the Valar since their coming into Arda. She took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the Firstborn; wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Ea was Tintalle, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentári, Queen of the Stars. Carnil and Luinil, Nénar and Lumbar, Alcarinque and Elemmire she Wrought in that time, and many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda: Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronúmė, and Anarrima; 5 ·56 The Silmarillion and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmacai stróde up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the Firstborn of Ilúvatar By the starlit mere of Cuiviénen, Water of Awakening, they rose from the sleep of Ilúvatar; and while they dwelt yet silent by Cuiviénen their eyes beheld first of all things the stars of heaven. Therefore they lave ever loved the starlight, and have revered Varda Elentárı above all the Valar In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of seas have been broken and remade, rivers have not kept their courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to Cuiviénen there is no returning. But it is said among the Elves that it lay far off in the east of Middle-earth, and northward, and it was a bay in the Inland Sea of Helcar; and that sea stood where aforetime the roots of the mountain of Illuin had been before Melkor overthrew it Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone Long they dwelt in their first home by the water under stars, and they walked the Earth in wonder, and they began to make speech and to give names to all things that they perceived. Themselves they named the Quendi, signifying those that speak with voices, for as yet they had met no other living things that spoke or sang. And on a time it chanced that Orome rode eastward in his hunting, and he turned north by the shores of Helcar and passed under the shadows of the Orocarni, the Mountains of the East. Then on a sudden Nahar set up a great neighing, and stood still And Orome wondered and sat silent, and it seemed to him that in the quiet of the land under the stars he heard afar off many voices singing ·** Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor 57 Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by chance, those whom they had so long awaited. And Orome looking upon the Elves was filled with wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforeseen; for so it shall ever be with the Valar. From without the World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Ea each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold, In the beginning the Elder Children of Ilúvatar were stronger and greater than they have since become, but not more fair, for though the beauty of the Quendi in the days of their youth was beyond all other beauty that Ilúvatar has caused to be, it has not perished, but lives in the West, and sorrow and wisdom have enriched it. And Orome loved the Quendi, and pamed them in their own tongue Eldar, the people of the stars; but that name was after borne only by those who followed him upon the westward road. Yet many of the Quendi were filled with dread at his coming; and this was the doing of Melkor For by afterknowledge the wise declare that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil spirits to spy upon them and waylay them. So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Orome, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return; and the Quendi said that the Hunter had caught them, and they were afraid. And indeed the most ancient songs of the Elves, of which echoes are remembered still in the West, tell of the shadow-shapes that walked in the hills above Cuivićnen, or would pass suddenly over the stars; and of the dark Rider upon his wild horse that pursued those that wandered to take them and devour them. Now Melkor greatly hated and fcared the riding of Orome, and either he sent indeed his dark servants as riders, or he set lying whispers abroad, for the purpose that the Quendi should shun Orome, if ever they should meet. Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Oromë indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves, and ·58 The Silmarillion some flcd and were lost. But those that had courage, and stayed, perceived swiſtly that thc Gical Rider was no shape out of darkness; for the light of Aman was in his face, and all the noblest of the Elves were drawn towards it. But of those unhappy ones who wcic cnsnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has cxplored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held truc by the wise of Ercssca, that all those of the Qucnd, who camc into the hands of Melkor, crc Utumno was brohen, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruclly were corrupted and enslaved, and thus did Melkor breed the hideous racc of the Orcs in cnvy and mockery of thc Elvcs, of whom they were afterwards the bittcrcst foes. Foi thc Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the scmblance of life, could ever Melkor makc sincc lus rcbcllion in thc Ainulindale before the Beginning' so say the wisc. And dccp in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed thic Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. This it may bc was the vilest deed of Melkor, and thic most hatcful to Ilúvatar. Oromë larricd a while among the Qucndi, and then swiftly hc rode back over land and sca to Valinor and brought the tidings to Valmar; and he spokc of thc shadows that troubled Cuivićnen. Then thc Valar rejoiced, and yet they were in doubt amid their joy, and they debated long what counsel it were best to take for the guarding of the Quendi from the shadow of Melkor. But Orome returned at once to Middle-earth and abode with thc Elves Manwe sat long in thought upon Taniquetil, and he sought the counsel of Ilúvatar. And coming then down to Valmar he summoned the Valar to the Ring of Doom, and thither came even Ulmo from the Outcr Sca Then Manwe said to the Valar: "This is thic counsel of Ilúvatar in my heart that we should take up again the mastery of Arda, at whatsoever cost, and deliver the Qucndi from the shadow of Melkor' Then Tulkas was glad, but Aule was grieved, foreboding the hurts of the world that ·Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor 59 must come of that strife. But the Valar made ready and came forth from Aman in strength of war, resolving to assault the fortresses of Melkor and make an end. Never did Melkor forget that this war was made for the sake of the Elves, and that they were the cause of his downfall. Yet they had no part in those deeds, and they know little of the riding of the might of the West against the North in the beginning of their days. Melkor met the onset of the Valar in the North-west of Middle-earth, and all that region was much broken But the first victory of the hosts of the West was swift, and the servants of Melkor fled before them to Utumno. Then the Valar passed over Middle-earth, and they set a guard over Cuiviénen; and thereafter the Quendi knew nothing of the great Battle of the Powers, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and the waters were moved, and in the north there were lights as of mighty fires. Long and grievous was the siege of Utumno, and many battles were fought before its gates of which naught but the rumour is known to the Elves. In that time the shape of Middle-earth was changed, and the Great Sea that sundered it from Aman grew wide and deep; and it broke in upon the coasts and made a deep gulf to the southward. Many lesser bays were made between the Great Gulf and Helcaraxe far in the north, where Middle-earth and Aman came nigh together. Of these the Bay of Balar was the chief; and into it the mighty river Sirion flowed down from the new-raised highlands northwards: Dorthonion, and the mountains about Hithlum. The lands of the far north were all made desolate in those days; for there Utumno was delved exceeding deep, and its pits were filled with fires and with great hosts of the servants of Melkor, But at the last the gates of Utumno were broken and the halls unroofed, and Melkor took refuge in the uttermost pit. Then Tulkas stood forth as champion of the Valar and Wrestled with him, and cast him upon his face; and he was bound with the chain Angainor that Aule had wrought, and led captive; and the world had peace for a long age. Nonetheless the Valar did not discover all the mighty 3 ! + --- ·60 The Silmarillion vaults and caverns hidden with deceit far under the fortresses of Angband and Utumno Many evil things still lingered there, and others were dispersed and fled into the dark and roamed in the waste places of the world, awaiting a more evil hour, and Sauron they did not find. But when the Battle was ended and from the ruin of the North great clouds arose and hid the stars, the Valar drew Melkor back to Valinor, bound hand and foot, and blindfold; and he was brought to the Ring of Doom. There he lay upon his face before the feet of Manwe and sued for pardon; but his prayer was denied, and he was cast into prison in the fastness of Mandos, whence none can escape, neither Valar, nor Elf, nor mortal Man Vast and strong are those halls, and they were built in the west of the land of Aman. There was Melkor doomed to abide for three ages long, before his cause should be tried anew, or he should plead again for pardon Then again the Valar were gathered in council, and they were divided in debate For some, and of those Ulmo was the chief, held that the Quendi should be left free to walk as they would in Middle-earth, and with their gifts of skill to order all the lands and heal their hurts But the most part feared for the Quendi in the dangerous world amid the deceits of the starlit dusk; and they were filled moreover with the love of the beauty of the Elves and desired their fellowship. At the last, therefore, the Valar summoned the Quendi to Valinor, there to be gathered at the knees of the Powers in the light of the Trees for ever, and Mandos broke his silence, saying: 'So it is doomed.' From this summons came many woes that afterwards befell. But the Elves were at first unwilling to hearken to the summons, for they had as yet seen the Valar only in their wrath as they went to war, save Orome alone; and they were filled with dread Therefore Orome was sent again to them, and he chose from among them ambassadors who should go to Valinor and speak for their people; and these were Ingwe, Finwe, and Elwe, who afterwards were kings And coming they were filled with awe by the glory and majesty of the Valar, and desired greatly the light and splendour of the ·*** Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor 61 Trees. Then Oromé brought them back to Cuiviénen, and they spoke before their people, and counselled them to heed the summons of the Valar and remove into the West. Then befell the first sundering of the Elves. For the kindred of Ingwe, and the most part of the kindreds of Finwe and Elwë, were swayed by the words of their lords, and were willing to depart and follow Orome; and these were known ever after as the Eldar, by the name that Oromo gave to the Elves in the beginning, in their own tongue. But many refused the summons, preferring the starlight and the wide spaces of Middle-earth to the rumour of the Trees; and these are the Avari, the Unwilling, and they were sundered in that time from the Eldar, and met never again until many ages were past. The Eldar prepared now a great march from their first homes in the east; and they were arrayed in three hosts. The smallest host and the first to set forth was led by Ingwe, the most high lord of all the Elvish race. He entered into Valinor and sits at the feet of the Powers, and all Elves revere his name; but he came never back, nor looked again upon Middle-earth. The Vanyar were his people; they are the Fair Elves, the beloved of Manwe and Varda, and few among Men have spoken with them Next came the Noldor, a name of wisdom, the people of Finwe. They are the Deep Elves, the friends of Aulė; and they are renowned in song, for they fought and laboured long and grievously in the northern lands of old. The greatest host came last, and they are named the Teleri, for they tarried on the road, and were not wholly of a mind to pass from the dusk to the light of Valinor. In water they had great delight, and those that came at last to the western shores were enamoured of the sea. The Seaelves therefore they became in the land of Aman, the Falmari, for they made music beside the breaking waves. Two lords they had, for their numbers were great: Elwë Singollo (which signifies Greymantle) and Olwe his brother. These were the three kindreds of the Eldalıé, who passing at length into the uttermost West in the days of the Trees are called the Calaquendi, Elves of thc Light. But others of ·62 The Silmarillion the Eldar there were who set out indeed upon the westward march, but became lost upon the long road, or turned aside, or lingered on the shores of Middle-carth; and these were for the most part of the kindred of the Teleri, as is told hereafter. They dwelt by the sea, or wandered in the woods and mountains of the world, yet their hearts were turned towards the West. Those Elves the Calaqucndi call the Úmanyar, since they came never to the land of Aman and the Blessed Realm; but the Umanyar and the Avari alike they call the Moriquendi, Elves of the Darkness, for they never behold the Light that was before the Sun and Moon. It is told that when the hosts of the Eldalie departed from Cuiviénen Orome rode at their head upon Nahar, his white horse shod with gold; and passing northward about the Sca of Helcar they turned towards the west. Before thcm great clouds hung still black in the North above the ruins of war, and the stars in that region were hidden. Then not a few grew afraid and repented, and turned back, and are forgotten Long and slow was the march of thc Eldar into the west, for the leagues of Middle-carth were uncounted, and weary and pathless. Nor did the Eldar desire to hasten, for they were filled with wonder at all that they saw, and by many lands and rivers they wished to abide; and though all were yet willing to wander, many feared rather their journey's end than hoped for it Therefore whenever Orome departed, having at times other matters to heed, thcy halted and went forward no more, until he returned to guide them. And it came to pass after many years of journeying in thus manner that the Eldar took their course through a forest, and they came to a great river, wider than any they had yet seen; and beyond it were mountains whose sharp horns seemed to pierce the realm of the stars This river, it is said, was even the river which was after called Anduin the Great, and was ever the frontier of the west-lands of Middle-carth. But the mountains were the Hıthaeglır, the Towers of Mist upon the borders of Eriador; yet they were taller and more terrible in those days, and were reared by Melkor to hinder the riding ·of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor 63 of Orome Now the Teleri abode long on the east bank of that river and wished to remain there, but the Vanyar and the Noldor passed over it, and Orome led them into the passes of the mountains. And when Orome was gone forward the Telerı looked upon the shadowy heights and were afraid Then one arose in the host of Olwe, which was ever the hindmost on the road; Lenwe he was called. He forsook the westward march, and led away a numerous people, southwards down the great river, and they passed out of the knowledge of their kin until long years were past. Those were the Nandor; and they became a people apart, unlike their kin, save that they loved water, and dwelt most beside falls and running streams. Greater knowledge they had of living things, tree and herb, bird and beast, than all other Elves In after years Denethor, son of Lenwe, turned again west at last, and led a part of that people over the mountains into Beleriand ere the rising of the Moon. At length the Vanyar and the Noldor came over Ered Luin, the Blue Mountains, between Eriador and the westernmost land of Middle-earth, which the Elves after named Beleriand, and the foremost companies passed over the Vale of Sirion and came down to the shores of the Great Sea between Drengist and the Bay of Balar. But when they beheld it great fear came upon them, and many withdrew into the woods and highlands of Beleriand. Then Orome departed, and returned to Valinor to seek the counsel of Manwe, and left them. And the host of the Teleri passed over the Misty Mountains, and crossed the wide lands of Eriador, being urged on by Elwe Singollo, for he was eager to return to Valinor and the Light that he had beheld; and he wished not to be sundered from the Noldor, for he had great friendship with Finwe their lord. Thus after many years the Telerı also came at last over Ered Luin into the eastern regions of Beleriand. There they halted, and dwelt a while beyond the River Gelion.

·Chapter 4 Of Thingol and Melian Melian was a Maia, of the race of the Valar. She dwelt in the gardens of Lórien, and among all his people there were none more beautiful than Mclian, nor more wise, nor more skilled in songs of enchantment It is told that the Valar would leave their works, and the birds of Valinor their mirth, that the bells of Valmar were silent and the fountains ceased to flow, when at the mingling of the lights Melian sang in Lórien Nightingales went always with her, and she taught them their song, and she loved the deep shadows of the great trees She was akin before the World was made to Yavanna herself; and in that time when the Quendi awoke beside the waters of Cuivićnen she departed from Valinor and came to the Hither Lands, and there she filled the silence of Middle-earth before the dawn with her voice and the voices of her birds Now when their journey was near its end, as has been told, the people of the Teleri rested long in East Beleriand, beyond the River Gelion, and at that time many of the Noldor still lay to the westward, in those forests that were afterwards named Neldoreth and Region Elwe, lord of the Teleri, went often through the great woods to scek out Finwe his friend in the dwellings of the Noldor; and it chanced on a time that he came alone to the starlit wood of Nan Elmoth, and there suddenly he heard the song of nightingales. Then an enchantment fell on him, and he stood still; and afar off beyond the voices of the lómelindi he heard the voice of Melian, and it filled all his heart with wonder and desire. He forgot then utterly all his people and all the purposes of his mind, and following the birds under the shadow of the trees he passed deep into Nan Elmoth and was lost. But he came at last to a glade open to the stars, and there ·1 Of Thingol and Melian 65 Melian stood, and out of the darkness he looked at her, and the light of Aman was in her face She spoke no word, but being filled with love Elwe came to her and took her hand, and straightway a spell was laid on him, so that they stood thus while long years were measured by the wheeling stars above them, and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark before they spoke any word. Thus Elwe's folk who sought him found him not, and Olwe took the kingship of the Teleri and departed, as is told hereafter. Elwe Singollo camę never again across the sea to Valinor so long as he lived, and Melian returned not thither while their realm together lasted; but of her there came among both Elves and Men a strain of the Ainur who were with Ilúvatar before Ea In after days he became king renowned, and his people were all the Eldar of Beleriand, the Sındar they were named, the Grey-elves, the Elves of the Twilight, and King Greymantle was he, Elu Thingol in the tongue of that land And Melian was his Queen, wiser than any child of Middle-earth; and their hidden halls were in Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, in Doriath Great power Melian lent to Thingol, who was himself great among the Eldar; for he alone of all the Sındar had seen with his own eyes the Trees in the day of their flowering, and king though he was of Úmanyar, he was not accounted among the Moriquendi, but with the Elves of the Light, mighty upon Middle-earth And of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the world the fairest of all the Children of Ilúvatar that was or shall ever be.

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·Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië 67 was broken asunder and remained behind; and that, it is said, was the Isle of Balar, to which afterwards Osse oſten came. But the Teleri remained still in Middle-earth, for they dwelt in East Beleriand far from the sea, and they heard not the summons of Ulmo until too late; and many searched still for Elwe their lord, and without him they were unwilling to depart But when they learned that Ingwe and Finwe and their peoples were gone, then many of the Telerı pressed on to the shores of Beleriand, and dwelt thereafter near the Mouths of Sirion, in longing for their friends that had departed; and they took Olwe, Elwe's brother, to be their king. Long they remained by the coasts of the western sea, and Osse and Uinen came to them and befriended them, and Osse instructed them, sitting upon a rock near to the margin of the land, and of him they Icarned all manner of sea-lore and sea-music. Thus it came to be that the Teleri, who were from the beginning lovers of water, and the fairest singers of all the Elves, were after enamoured of the seas, and their songs were filled with the sound of waves upon the shore When many years had passed, Ulmo hearkened to the prayers of the Noldor and of Finwe their king, who grieved at their long sundering from the Teleri, and besought him to bring them to Aman, if they would come And most of them proved now willing indeed; but great was the grief of Osse when Ulmo returned to the coasts of Beleriand, to bear them away to Valınor; for his care was for the seas of Middle-earth and the shores of the Hither Lands, and he was ill-pleased that the voices of the Teleri should be heard no more in his domain. Some he persuaded to remain; and those were the Falathum, the Elves of the Falas, who in after days had dwellings at the havens of Brithombar and Eglarest, the first mariners in Middle-earth and the first makers of ships. Círdan the Shipwright was their lord. The kinsfolk and friends of Elwe Singollo also remained in the Hither Lands, seeking him yet, though they would fain have departed to Valinor and the light of the Trees, if Ulmo and Olwe had been willing to tarry longer. But Olwe ·68 The Silmarillion would be gone, and at last the main host of the Teleri em. barked upon the isle, and Ulmo drew them far away. Then the friends of Elwe were left behind; and they called themselves Eglath, the Forsaken People They dwelt in the woods and hills of Beleriand, rather than by the sea, which filled them with sorrow, but the desire of Aman was ever in their hearts. But when Elwë awoke from his long trance, he came forth from Nan Elmoth with Melian, and they dwelt thereafter in the woods in the midst of the land. Greatly though he had desired to see again the light of the Trees, in the face of Melian he beheld the light of Aman as in an unclouded mirror, and in that light he was content. His people gathered about him in joy, and they were amazed; for fair and noble as he had been, now he appeared as it were a lord of the Maiar, his hair as grey silver, tallest of all the Children of Ilúvatar; and a high doom was before him. Now Osse followed after the host of Olwë, and when they were come to the Bay of Eldamar (which is Elvenhome) he called to them; and they knew his voice, and begged Ulmo to stay their voyage And Ulmo granted their request, and at his bidding Osse made fast the island and rooted it to the foundations of the sea Ulmo did this the more readily, for he understood the hearts of the Teleri, and in the council of the Valar he had spoken against the summons, thinking that it were better for the Quendi to remain in Middle-earth. The Valar were little pleased to learn what he had done; and Finwe grieved when the Teleri came not, and yet more when he learned that Elwe was forsaken, and knew that he should not see him again, unless it were in the halls of Mandos. But the island was not moved again, and stood there alone in the Bay of Eldamar; and it was called Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle There the Teleri abode as they wished under the stars of heaven, and yet within sight of Aman and the deathless shore, and by that long sojourn apart in the Lonely Isle was caused the sundering of their speech from that of the Vanyar and the Noldor. To these the Valar had given a land and a dwelling-place.

·Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie 69 Even among the radiant flowers of the Tree-lit gardens of Valinor they longed still at times to see the stars; and therefore a gap was made in the great walls of the Pelóri, and there in a deep valley that ran down to the sea the Eldar raised a high green hill: Túna it was called From the west the light of the Trees ſell upon it, and its shadow lay ever eastward; and to the east it looked towards the Bay of Elvenhome, and the Lonely Isle, and the Shadowy Seas. Then through the Calacırya, the Pass of Light, the radiance of the Blessed Realm streamed forth, kindling the dark waves to silver and gold, and it touched the Lonely Isle, and its western shore grew green and fair There bloomed the first flowers that ever were east of the Mountains of Aman Upon the crown of Túna the city of the Elves was built, the white walls and terraces of Tirion; and the highest of the towers of that city was the Tower of Ingwe, Mindon Eldaliéva, whose silver lamp shone far out into the mists of the sea Few are the ships of mortal Men that have seen its slender beam. In Tırion upon Túna the Vanyar and the Noldor dwelt long in fellowship And since of all things in Valinor they loved most the White Tree, Yavanna made for them a tree like to a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give light of its own being; Galathilion it was named in the Sindarin tongue This tree was planted in the courts beneath the Mindon and there flourished, and its seedlings were many in Eldamar Of these one was afterwards planted in Tol Eressea, and it prospered there, and was named Celeborn, thence came in the fullness of time, as is elsewhere told, Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor Manwe and Varda loved most the Vanyar, the Fair Elves; but the Noldor were beloved of Aule, and he and his people came olten among them. Grcat became their knowledge and their skill; yet even greater was their thirst for more knowledge, and in many things they soon surpassed their teachers. They were changeful in speech, for they had great love of words, and sought ever to find names more fit for all things that they knew or imagined. And it came to pass that the masons of the house of Finwe, quarrying in the hills after stone (for they delighted in the building of high ·70 The Silmarillion towers), first discovered the earth-gems, and brought them forth in countless myriads; and they devised tools for the cutting and shaping of gems, and carved them in many forms They lioarded them not, but gave them freely, and by their labour enriched all Valinor. The Noldor afterwards came back to Middle-earth, and this tale tells mostly of their deeds, therefore the names and kinship of their princes may here be told, in that form which these names later bore in the tonguc of the Elves of Beleriand Finwe was King of the Noldor. The sons of Finwe were Feanor, and Fingolfin, and Finarſin; but the mother of Feanor was Míriel Serınde, whereas the mother of Fingolfio and Finarfin was Indis of the Vanyar. Feanor was the mightiest in skill of word and of hand, more learned than his brothers, his spirit burned as a flame Fingolfin was the strongest, the most steadfast, and the most valiant Finarfin was the fairest, and the most wise of heart; and afterwards he was a friend of the sons of Olwe, lord of the Teleri, and had to wife Earwen, the swan-maiden of Alqualonde, Olwe's daughter. The seven sons of Feanor were Maedhros the tall; Maglor the mighty singer, whose voice was heard far over land and sea; Celegorm the fair, and Caranthir the dark; Curufin the crafty, who inherited most his father's skill of hand; and the youngest Amrod and Amras, who were twin brothers, alıke in mood and face In later days they were great hunters in the woods of Middle-earth, and a hunter also was Celegorm, who in Valinor was a friend of Orome, and often followed the Vala's horn The sons of Fingolfin were Fingon, who was afterwards King of the Noldor in the north of the world, and Turgon, lord of Gondolin; their sister was Aredhel the White. She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brothers; and when she was grown to full stature and beauty she was tall and strong, and loved much to ride and hunt in the forests There she was often in the company of the sons of Feanor, her kin; but to none was her heart's love given. Ar-Feiniel she was called, the White Lady of the Noldor, for ·Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie 71 she was pale, though her hair was dark, and she was never arrayed but in silver and white. The sons of Finarfin were Finrod the faithful (who was afterwards named Felagund, Lord of Caves), Orodreth, Angrod, and Aegnor; these four were as close in friendship with the sons of Fingolfin as though they were all brothers A sister they had, Galadriel, most beautiful of all the house of Finwe; her hair was lit with gold as though it had caught in a mesh the radiance of Laurelin. Here must be told how the Teleri came at last to the land of Aman. Through a long age they dwelt in Tol Eressea, but slowly their hearts were changed, and were drawn towards the light that flowed out over the sea to the Lonely Isle They were torn between the love of the music of the waves upon their shores, and the desire to see again their kindred and to look upon the splendour of Valinor; but in the end desire of the light was the stronger. Therefore Ulmo, submitting to the will of the Valar, sent to them Osse, their friend, and he though grieving taught them the craft of shipbuilding; and when their ships were built he brought them as his parting gift many strong-winged swans. Then the swans drew the white ships of the Teleri over the windless sea, and thus at last and latest they came to Aman and the shores of Eldamar There they dwelt, and if they wished they could see the light of the Trees, and could tread the golden streets of Valmar and the crystal stairs of Tirion upon Túna, the green hill; but most of all they sailed in their swift ships on the waters of the Bay of Elvenhome, or walked in the waves upon the shore with their hair gleaming in the light beyond the hill Many jewels the Noldor gave them, opals and diamonds and pale crystals, which they strewed upon the shores and scattered in the pools; marvellous were the beaches of Elende in those days And many pearls they won for themselves from the sea, and their halls were of pearl, and of pearl were the mansions of Olwe at Alqualonde, the Haven of the Swans, lit with many lamps For that was their city, and the haven of their ships; and those were made in

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·bar child; for strength that would have nourished the lifc Chapter 6 Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor Now the Three Kindreds of the Eldar were gathered at last in Valinor, and Melkor was chained. This was the Noontide of the Blessed Realm, the fullness of its glory and its bliss, long in tale of years, but in memory too brief. In those days the Eldar became full-grown in stature of body and of mind, and the Noldor advanced ever in skill and knowledge; and the long years were filled with their joyful labours, in which many new things fair and wonderful were devised Then it was that the Noldor first bethought them of letters, and Rúmil of Tirion was the name of the loremaster who first achieved fitting signs for the recording of speech and song, some for graving upon metal or in stone, others for drawing with brush or with pen. In that time was born in Eldamar, in the house of the King in Tirion upon the crown of Túna, the eldest of the sons of Finwe, and the most beloved. Curufinwe was hus name, but by his mother he was called Feanor, Spirit of Fire; and thus he is remembered in all the tales of the Noldor. Miriel was the name of his mother, who was called Serinde, because of her surpassing skill in weaving and needlework; for her hands were more skilled to fineness than any hands even among the Noldor. The love of Finwë and Miriel was great and glad, for it began in the Blessed Rcalm in the Days of Bliss. But in the bearing of her son Miſriel was consumed in spirit and body; and after his birth she yearned for release from the labour of living. And when she had named him, she said to Finwe: Never again shall I of many has sone forth into Fëanor.'

·74 The Silniarillion Then Finwe was grieved, for the Noldor were in the youth of their days, and he desired to bring forth many children into the bliss of Aman; and he said: 'Surely there is healing in Aman? Here all weariness can find rest.' But when Míriel languished still, Finwe sought the counsel of Manwe, and Manwe delivered her to the carc of Irmo in Lórien. At their parting (for a little while as he thought) Finwe was sad, for it seemed an unhappy chance that the mother should depart and miss the beginning at least of the childhood days of her son. 'It is indeed unhappy,' said Miriel, ‘and I would weep, if I were not so weary. But hold me blameless in this, and in all that may come after.' She went then to the gardens of Lóricn and lay down to sleep; but though she seemed to sleep, her spirit indeed departed from her body, and passed in silence to the halls of Mandos. The maidens of Este tended the body of Mirici, and it remained unwithered; but she did not return. Then Finwe lived in sorrow; and he went often to the gardens of Lórien, and sitting beneath the silver willows beside the body of his wife he called her by her namcs. But it was unavailing; and alone in all the Blessed Realm he was deprived of joy. After a while he went to Lórien no more. All his love he gave thereafter to his son; and Feanor grew swiftly, as if a secret fire were kindled within him. He was tall, and fair of face, and masterful, his eyes piercingly bright and his hair raven-dark; in the pursuit of all his purposes eager and steadfast. Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force. He became of all the Noldor, then or after, the most subtle in mind and the most skilled in hand. In his youth, bettering the work of Rúmil, he devised those letters which bear his name, and which the Eldar used ever after; and he it was who, first of the Noldor, discovered how gems greater and brighter than those of the Earth might be made with skill. The first gems that Feanor made were white and colourless, but being set under starlight they would blaze with blue and silver fires brighter than Helluin; and other crystals he made also, wherein things far away could be seen small but clear, as with the eyes of the eagles ·Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor 75 of Manwë. Seldom were the hands and mind of Feanor at Test. While still in his early youth he wedded Nerdanel, the daughter of a great smith named Mahtan, among those of the Noldor most dear to Aule; and of Mahtan he learned much of the making of things in metal and in stone. Nerdanel also was firm of will, but more patient than Feanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them, and at first she restrained him when the fire of his heart grew too hot; but his later deeds grieved her, and they became estranged. Seven sons she bore to Feanor; her mood she bequeathed in part to some of them, but not to all. Now it came to pass that Finwe took as his second wife Indis the Fair. She was a Vanya, close kin of Ingwe the High King, golden-haired and tall, and in all ways unlike Míriel. Finwe loved her greatly, and was glad again But the shadow of Míriel did not depart from the house of Finwe, nor from his heart; and of all whom he loved Feanor had ever the chief share of his thought. The wedding of his father was not pleasing to Feanor; and he had no great love for Indis, nor for Fingolfin and Finarfin, her sons. He lived apart from them, exploring the land of Aman, or busying himself with the knowledge and the crafts in which he delighted. In those unhappy things which later came to pass, and in which Feanor was the leader, many saw the effect of this breach within the house of Finwe, judging that if Finwe had endured his loss and been content with the fathering of his mighty son, the courses of Feanor would have been otherwise, and great evil might have been prevented; for the sorrow and the strife in the house of Finwe is graven in the memory of the Noldorin Elves. But the children of Indis were great and glorious, and their children also; and if they had not lived the history of the Eldar would have been diminished. Now even while Feanor and the craftsmen of the Noldor worked with delight, foreseeing no end to their labours, and while the sons of Indis grew to their full stature, the Noontide of Valinor was drawing to its close For it came to pass ·76 The Silmarillion that Melkor, as the Valar had decreed, completed the term of his bondage, dwelling for three ages in the duress of Mandos, alone At length, as Manwe had promised, he was brought again before the thrones of the Valar Then he looked upon their glory and their bliss, and envy was in his heart; he looked upon the Children of Ilúvatar that sat at the feet of the Mighty, and hatred filled him, he looked upon the wealth of bright gems, and he lusted for them; but he hid his thoughts, and postponed his vengeance. Before the gates of Valmar Melkor abased himself at the feet of Manwe and sued for pardon, vowing that if he might be made only the least of the frce people of Valınor ho would aid the Valar in all their works, and most of all in the healing of the many hurts that he had done to the world. And Nienna aided his prayer; but Mandos was silent Then Manwe granted him pardon; but the Valar would not yet suffer him to depart beyond their sight and vigilance. and he was constrained to dwell within the gates of Valmar But fair-seeming were all the words and deeds of Melkor in that time, and both the Valar and the Eldar had profit from his aid and counsel, if they sought it; and therefore in a while he was given leave to go frcely about the land, and it seemed to Manwe that the evil of Melkor was cured. For Manwe was free from evil and could not comprehend it, and he knew that in the beginning, in the thought of Ilúvatar, Melkor had been even as he; and he saw not to the depths of Melkor's heart, and did not perceive that all love had departed from him for ever. But Ulmo was not deceived, and Tulkas clenched his hands whenever he saw Melkor his foe go by, for if Tulkas is slow to wrath he is slow also to forget. But they obeyed the judgement of Manwe, for those who will defend authority against rebellion must not themselves rebel Now in his heart Melkor most hated the Eldar, both because they were fair and joyful and because in them he saw the reason for the arising of the Valar, and his own downfall Therefore all the more did he feign love for them and seek their friendship, and he offered them the service of his lore and labour in any great deed that they would do. The ·Of Feánor and the Unchaining of Melkor 77 Vanyar indeed held him in suspicion, for they dwelt in the light of the Trees and were content; and to the Teleri he gave small heed, thinking them of little worth, tools too weak for his designs. But the Noldor took delight in the hidden knowledge that he could reveal to them; and some hearkened to words that it would have been better for them never to have heard Melkor indeed declared afterwards that Feanor had learned much art from him in secret, and had been instructed by him in the greatest of all his works; but he lied in his lust and his envy, for none of the Eldalie ever hated Melkor more than Feanor son of Finwe, who first named him Morgoth; and snared though he was in the webs of Melkor's malice against the Valar he held no converse with him and took no counsel from him For Feanor was driven by the fire of his own heart only, working ever swiftly and alone; and he asked the aid and sought the counsel of none that dwelt in Aman, great or small, save only and for a little while of Nerdanel the wise, his wife. 4 ·Chapter 7 Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor In that time were made those things that afterwards were most rcnowned of all thic works of the Elves. For leanor. bcing come to his full miglit, was fillcd with a new thought. or it may be that sonic shadow of forcknowledge came to him of the doom that drew ncar, and he pondered how the light of the Trccs, the glory of the Blessed Rcalm, might be preserved imperishablc. Thien he began a long and sccret labour, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtlc skill, and at the end of all he made the Silmarils As three grcat jewels they were in form. But not until the End, when Feanor shall rcturn who perished crc the Sun was made, and sits now in the Halls of Awaiting and comes no more among his kin, not until the Sun passes and the Moon falls, shall it be known of what substance they were made Like the crystal of diamonds it appcarcd, and yet was more strong than adamant, so that no violence could mar it or break it within the Kingdom of Arda Yct that crystal was to the Sılmarıls but as is thic body to thc Children of Ilúvatar, the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life. And the inner fire of thic Silmarils Fcanor made of the blended light of the Trees of Valinor, which lives in thcm yet, though the Trees have long withcred and shine no more Therefore cycn in the darkness of thc dccpest treasury thc Silmarils of their own radiance shonc like the stars of Varda; and yet, as were they indced living things, they rejoiced in light and received it and gave it back in hues more marvellous than before. All who dwelt in Aman were filled with wonder and dclight at the work of Fcanor. And Varda hallowed tlic Sil- ·Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor 79 marils, so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, but it was scorched and withered; and Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea, and air, lay locked within them The heart of Feanor was fast bound to these things that he himself had made. Then Melkor lusted for the Sılmarıls, and the very memory of their radiance was a gnawing fire in his heart. From that time forth, inflamed by this desire, he sought ever more eagerly how he should destroy Feanor and end the friendship of the Valar and the Elves; but he dissembled his purposes with cunning, and nothing of his malice could yet be seen in the semblance that he wore. Long was he at work, and slow at first and barren was his labour. But he that sows lies in the end shall not lack of a harvest, and soon he may rest from toil indeed while others reap and sow in his stead Ever Melkor found some ears that would heed him, and some tongues that would enlarge what they had heard; and his lies passed from friend to friend, as secrets of which the knowledge proves the teller wise Bitterly did the Noldor atone for the folly of their open ears in the days that followed after. When he saw that many leaned towards him, Melkor would often walk among them, and amid his fair words others were woven, so subtly that many who heard them believed in recollection that they arose from their own thought. Visions he would conjure in their hearts of the mighty realms that they could have ruled at their own will, in power and freedom in the East; and then whispers went abroad that the Valar had brought the Eldar to Aman because of their jealousy, fearing that the beauty of the Quendi and the makers' power that Ilúvatar had bequeathed to them would grow too great for the Valar to govern, as the Elves waxed and spread over the wide lands of the world In those days, moreover, though the Valar knew indeed of the coming of Men that were to be, the Elves as yet knew naught of it; for Manwe had not revealed it to them But Melkor spoke to them in secret of Mortal Men, seeing how the silence of the Valar might be twisted to evil. Little he ·80 The Silmarillion knew yet concerning Men, for engrossed with his own thought in the Music he had paid small heed to the Third Theme of Ilúvatar; but now the whisper went among the Elves that Manwe held them captive, so that Men might come and supplant them in the kingdoms of Middle-earth, for the Valar saw that they might more easily sway this short-lived and weaker race, defrauding the Elves of the inheritance of Ilúvatar Small truth was there in this, and little have the Valar ever prevailed to sway the wills of Men; but many of the Noldor believed, or half believed, the evil words. Thus ere the Valar were aware, the peace of Valinor was poisoned. The Noldor began to murmur against them, and many became filled with pride, forgetting how much of what they had and knew came to them in gift from the Valar. Fiercest burned the new flame of desire for freedom and wider realms in the cager heart of Feanor; and Melkor laughed in his secrecy, for to that mark his lies had been addressed, hating Feanor above all, and lusting ever for the Sılmarıls But these he was not suffered to approach; for though at great feasts Feanor would wear them, blazing on his brow, at other times they were guarded close, locked in the deep chambers of his hoard in Tirion. For Feanor began to love the Silmarils with a greedy love, and grudged the sight of them to all save to his father and his seven sons; he seldom remembered now that the light within them was not his own High princes were Feanor and Fingolfin, the elder sons of Finwe, honoured by all in Aman; but now they grew proud and jealous each of his rights and his possessions Then Melkor set new lies abroad in Eldamar, and whispers came to Feanor that Fingolfin and his sons were plotting to usurp the leadership of Finwe and of the elder line of Feanor, and to supplant them by the leave of the Valar; for the Valar were ill-pleased that the Sılmarıls lay in Tirion and were not committed to their keeping But to Fingolfin and Finarfin it was said. 'Beware! Small love has the proud son of Míriel ever had for the children of Indis Now he has become great, and he has his father in his hand. It will not be long before he drives you forth from Túna!

·Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor 81 And when Melkor saw that these lies were smouldering, and that pride and anger were awake among the Noldor, he spoke to them concerning weapons; and in that time the Noldor began the smithying of swords and axes and spears Shields also they made displaying the tokens of many houses and kindreds that vied one with another; and these only they wore abroad, and of other weapons they did not speak, for each believed that he alone had received the warning And Feanor made a secrét forge, of which not even Melkor was aware; and there he tempered fell swords for himself and for his sons, and made tall helms with plumes of red. Bitterly did Mahtan rue the day when he taught to the husband of Nerdanel all the lore of metalwork that he had learned of Aule Thus with lies and evil whisperings and false counsel Melkor kindled the hearts of the Noldor to strife; and of their quarrels came at length the end of the high days of Valinor and the evening of its ancient glory. For Feanor now began openly to speak words of rebellion against the Valar, crying aloud that he would depart from Valinor back to the world without, and would deliver the Noldor from thraldom, if they would follow him Then there was great unrest in Tirion, and Finwe was troubled; and he summoned all his lords to council. But Fingolfin hastened to his halls and stood before him, saying *King and father, wilt thou not restrain the pride of our brother, Curufinwe, who is called the Spirit of Fire, all too truly? By what right does he speak for all our people, as if he were King? Thou it was who long ago spoke before the Quendı, bidding them accept the summons of the Valar to Aman. Thou it was that led the Noldor upon the long road through the perils of Middle-earth to the light of Eldamar. If thou dost not now repent of it, two sons at least thou has to honour thy words.' But even as Fingolfin spoke, Feanor strode into the chamber, and he was fully armed: his high helm upon his head, and at his side a mighty sword. 'So it is, even as I guessed,' he said. “My half-brother would be before me with my father, in this as in all other matters.' Then turning upon ·82 The Sılmarıllıon Fingolfin he drew his sword, crying 'Get thee gone, and take thy due place! Fingolfin bowed before Finwe, and without word or glance to Feanor he went from the chamber. But Feanor followed him, and at the door of the king's house he stayed him, and the point of his bright sword he set against Fingolfin's breast. "See, half-brother” he said 'This is sharper than thy tongue Try but once more to usurp my place and the love of my father, and maybe it will rid the Noldor of one who seeks to be the master of thralls' These words were heard by many, for the house of Finwe was in the great square beneath the Mindon, but again Fingolfin made no answer, and passing through the throng in silence he went to seek Finarfin his brother. Now the unrest of the Noldor was not indeed hidden from the Valar, but its seed had been sown in the dark, and therefore, since Feanor first spoke openly against them, they judged that he was the mover of discontent, being eminent in self-will and arrogance, though all the Noldor had become proud And Manwe was grieved, but he watched and said no word The Valar had brought the Eldar to their land freely, to dwell or to depart; and though they might judge departure to be folly, they might not restrain them from it But now the deeds of Feanor could not be passed over, and the Valar were angered and dismayed; and he was summoned to appear before them at the gates of Valmar, to answer for all his words and deeds There also were summoned all others who had any part in this matter, or any knowledge of it; and Feanor standing before Mandos in the Ring of Doom was commanded to answer all that was asked of him Then at last the root was laid bare, and the malice of Melkor revealed; and straightway Tulkas left the council to lay hands upon him and bring him again to judgement. But Feanor was not held guiltless, for he it was that had broken the peace of Valinor and drawn his sword upon his kinsman, and Mandos said to him: 'Thou speakest of thraldom If thraldom it be, thou canst not escape it; for Manwe is King of Arda, and not of Aman only. And this deed was unlawful, whether in Aman or not ·Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor 83 in Aman. Therefore this doom is now made: for twelve years thou shalt leave Tirion where this threat was uttered. In that time take counsel with thyself, and remember who and what thou art. But after that time this matter shall be set in peace and held redressed, if others will release thee Then Fingolfin said: 'I will release my brother.' But Feanor spoke no word in answer, standing silent before the Valar. Then he turned and left the council, and departed from Valmar. With him into banishment went his seven sons, and northward in Valinor they made a strong place and treasury in the hills; and there at Formenos a multitude of gems were laid in hoard, and weapons also, and the Silmarils were shut in a chamber of iron. Thither also came Finwė the King, because of the love that he bore to Feanor; and Fingolfin ruled the Noldor in Tirion. Thus the lies of Melkor were made true in seeming, though Feanor by his own deeds had brought this thing to pass; and the bitterness that Melkor had sown endured, and lived still long afterwards between the sons of Fingolfin and Feanor. Now Melkor, knowing that his devices had been revealed, hid himself and passed from place to place as a cloud in the hills, and Tulkas sought for him in vain. Then it seemed to the people of Valinor that the light of the Trees was dimmed, and the shadows of all standing things grew longei and darker in that time, It is told that for a time Melkor was not seen again in Valinor, nor was any rumour heard of him, until suddenly he came to Formenos, and spoke with Feanor before his doors Friendship he ſeigned with cunning argument, urging him to his former thought of flight from the trammels of the Valar; and he said. Behold the truth of all that I have spoken, and how thou art banished unjustly. But if the heart of Feanor is yet free and bold as were his words in Tirion, then I will aid him, and bring him far from this narrow land. For am I not Vala also? Yea, and more than those who sit in pride in Valimar; and I have ever been a friend to ·84 The Silmarillion the Noldor, most skilled and most valiant of the people of Arda' Now Feanor's heart was still bitter at his humiliation before Mandos, and he looked at Melkor in silence, pondering if indeed he might yet trust him so far as to aid him in his flight. And Melkor, seeing that Feanor wavered, and knowing that the Silmarils held his heart in thrall, said at the last: ‘Here is a strong place, and well guarded; but think not that the Silmarils will lie safe in any treasury within the realm of the Valar!' But his cunning overreached his aim; his words touched too deep, and awoke a fire more fierce than he designed; and Feanor looked upon Melkor with eyes that burned through his fair semblance and pierced the cloaks of his mind, perceiving there his fierce lust for the Silmarils. Then hate overcame Feanor's fear, and he cursed Melkor and bade him be gone, saying 'Get thee gone from my gate, thou jail-crow of Mandos!' And he shut the doors of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Ea. Then Melkor departed in shame, for he was himself in peril, and he saw not his time yet for revenge; but his heart was black with anger. And Finwe was filled with great fear, and in haste he sent messengers to Manwe in Valmar. Now the Valar were sitting in council before their gates, fearing the lengthening of the shadows, when the messengers came from Formenos At once Orome and Tulkas sprang up, but even as they set out in pursuit messengers came from Eldamar, telling that Melkor had fled through the Calacirya, and from the hill of Túna the Elves had seen him pass in wrath as a thundercloud. And they said that thence he had turned northward, for the Teleri in Alqualonde had seen his shadow going by their haven towards Araman. Thus Melkor departed from Valinor, and for a while the Two Trees shone again unshadowed, and the land was filled with light. But the Valar sought in vain for tidings of their enemy; and as a cloud far off that looms ever higher, borne upon a slow cold wind, a doubt now marred the joy of all the dwellers in Aman, dreading they knew not what evil that yet might come.

·Chapter 8 Of the Darkening of Valinor When Manwë heard of the ways that Melkor had taken, it seemed plain to him that he purposed to escape to his old strongholds in the north of Middle-earth; and Orome and Tulkas went with all speed northward, seeking to overtake him if they might, but they found no trace or rumour of him beyond the shores of the Teleri, in the unpeopled wastes that drew near to the Ice. Thereafter the watch was redoubled along the northern fences of Aman; but to no purpose, for ere ever the pursuit set out Melkor had turned back, and in secrecy passed away far to the south. For he was yet as one of the Valar, and could change his form, or walk unclad, as could his brethren; though that power he was soon to lose for ever. Thus unseen he came at last to the dark region of Avathar. That narrow land lay south of the Bay of Eldamar, beneath the eastern feet of the Pelóri, and its long and mournful shores stretched away into the south, lightless and unexplored. There, beneath the sheer walls of the mountains and the cold dark sea, the shadows were deepest and thickest in the world; and there in Avathar, secret and unknown, Ungoliant had made her abode. The Eldar knew not whence she came; but some have said that in ages long before she descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, when Melkor first looked down in envy upon the Kingdom of Manwe, and that in the beginning she was one of those that he corrupted to his service. But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust, taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness; and she fled to the south, escaping the assaults of the Valar and the hunters of Oromė, for their vigilance had ever been to the north, and the south was long unheeded. Thence she had crept towards ·86 The Silmarillion the light of the Blessed Realm; for she hungered for light and hated it. In a ravine she lived, and took shape as a spider of monstrous form, weaving her black webs in a cleft of the mountains. There she sucked up all light that she could find, and spun it forth again in dark nets of strangling gloom, until no light more could come to her abode; and she was famished. Now Melkor came to Avathar and sought her out; and he put on again the form that he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno: a dark Lord, tall and terrible In that form he remained ever after There in the black shadows, beyond the sight even of Manwe in his highest halls, Melkor with Ungoliant plotted his revenge. But when Ungoliant understood the purpose of Melkor, she was torn between lust and great fear, for she was loath to dare the perils of Aman and the power of the dreadful Lords, and she would not stir from her hiding Therefore Melkor said to her: 'Do as I bid; and if thou hunger still when all is done, then I will give thee whatsoever thy lust may demand. Yea, with both hands' Lightly he made this vow, as he ever did; and he laughed in his heart. Thus did the great thief set his lure for the lesser. A cloak of darkness she wove about them when Melkor and Ungoliant set forth: an Unlight, in which things seemed to be no more, and which eyes could not pierce, for it was void. Then slowly she wrought her webs: rope by rope from cleft to cleft, from jutting rock to pinnacle of stone, ever climbing upwards, crawling and clinging, until at last she reached the very summit of Hyarmentir, the highest mountain in that region of the world, far south of great Taniquetil. There the Valar were not vigilant; for west of the Pelóri was an empty land in twilight, and eastward the mountains looked out, save for forgotten Avathar, only upon the dim waters of the pathless sea. But now upon the mountain-top dark Ungoliant lay; and she made a ladder of woven ropes and cast it down, and Melkor climbed upon it and came to that high place, and stood beside her, looking down upon the Guarded Realm Below them lay the woods of Orome, and westward shimmered the fields and pastures of Yavanna, gold beneath the ·Of the Darkening of Valinor 87 tall wheat of the gods. But Melkor looked north, and saw afar the shining plain, and the silver domes of Valmar gleaming in the mingling of the lights of Telperion and Laurelin. Then Melkor laughed aloud, and leapt swiftly down the long western slopes; and Ungoliant was at his side, and her darkness covered them. Now it was a time of festival, as Melkor knew well. Though all tides and seasons were at the will of the Valar, and in Valinor there was no winter of death, nonetheless they dwelt then in the Kingdom of Arda, and that was but a small realm in the halls of Ea, whose life is Time, which flows ever from the first note to the last chord of Eru. And even as it was then the delight of the Valar (as is told in the Ainulindalë) to clothe themselves as in a vesture in the forms of the Children of Ilúvatar, so also did they eat and drink, and gather the fruits of Yavanna from the Earth, which under Eru they had made. Therefore Yavanna set times for the flowering and the ripening of all things that grew in Valinor; and at each first gathering of fruits Manwë made a high feast for the praising of Eru, when all the peoples of Valinor poured forth their joy in music and song upon Taniquetil. This now was the hour, and Manwe decreed a feast more glorious than any that had been held since the coming of the Eldar to Aman. For though the escape of Melkor portended toils and sorrows to come, and indeed none could tell what further hurts would be done to Arda ere he could be subdued again, at this time Manwe designed to heal the evil that had arisen among the Noldor; and all were bidden to come to his halls upon Taniquetil, there to put aside the griefs that lay between their princes, and forget utterly the lies of their Enemy. There came the Vanyar, and there came the Noldor of Tirion, and the Maiar were gathered together, and the Valar were arrayed in their beauty and majesty; and they sang before Manwe and Varda in their lofty halls, or danced the green slopes of the Mountain that looked west towards the Trees. In that day the streets of Valmar were empty, and the stairs of Tirion were silent; and all the land upon ? 3 ·88 The Silmarillion lay sleeping in peace. Only the Teleri beyond the mountains still sang upon the shores of the sca; for they recked little of seasons or times, and gave no thought to the cares of the Rulers of Arda, or the shadow that had fallen on Valinor, for it had not touched them, as yet. One thing only marred the design of Manwe. Fcanor came indeed, for him alone Manwe had commanded to come; but Finwe came not, nor any others of the Noldor of Formenos. For said Finwe 'While the ban lasts upon Feanor my son, that he may not go to Tirion, I hold myself unkinged, and I will not meet my people.' And Feanor came not in raiment of festival, and he wore no ornament, neither silver nor gold nor any gem, and he denied the sight of the Silmarils to the Valar and the Eldar, and left them locked in Formenos in their chamber of iron. Nevertheless he met Fingolfin before the throne of Manwe, and was reconciled, in word, and Fingolfin set at naught the unsheathing of the sword For Fingolfin held forth his hand, saying: 'As I promised, I do now. I release thee, and remember no grievance Then Feanor took his hand in silence, but Fingolfin said: 'Half-brother in blood, full brother in heart will I be. Thou shalt lead and I will follow May no new grief divide us.' 'I hear thee,' said Feanor. 'So be it.' But they did not know the meaning that their words would bear. It is told that even as Feanor and Fingolfin stood before Manwe there came the mingling of the lights, when both Trees were shining, and the silent city of Valmar was filled with a radiance of silver and gold. And in that very hour Melkor and Ungoliant came hastening over the fields of Valinor, as the shadow of a black cloud upon the wind fleets over the sunlit earth; and they came before the green mound Ezellohar. Then the Unlight of Ungoliant rose up even to the roots of the Trees, and Melkor sprang upon the mound; and with his black spear he smote each Tree to its core, wounded them deep, and their sap poured forth as it were their blood, and was spilled upon the ground. But Ungoliant sucked it up, and going then from Tree to Tree she set her black beak to their wounds, till they were drained;

·Of the Darkening of Valinor 89 and the poison of Death that was in her went into thcir tissues and withered them, root, branch, and leaf; and they died. And still she thirsted, and going to the Wells of Varda she drank them dry; but Ungoliant belched forth black vapours as she drank, and swelled to a shape so vast and hideous that Melkor was afraid. So the great darkness fell upon Valinor. Of the deeds of that day much is told in the Aldudénie, that Elemmíre of the Vanyar made and is known to all the Eldar. Yet no song or tale could contain all the grief and terror that then befell. The Light failed; but the Darkness that followed was more than loss of light. In that hour was made a Darkness that seemed not lack but a thing with being of its own for it was indeed made by malice out of Light, and it had power to pierce the eye, and to enter heart and mind, and strangle the very will. Varda looked down from Taniquetil, and beheld the Shadow soaring up in sudden towers of gloom; Valmar had foundered in a deep sea of night. Soon the Holy Mountain stood alone, a last island in a world that was drowned All song ceased. There was silence in Valinor, and no sound could be heard, save only from afar there came on the wind through the pass of the mountains the wailing of the Teleri like the cold cry of gulls. For it blew chill from the East in that hour, and the vast shadows of the sea were rolled against the walls of the shore. But Manwe from his high seat looked out, and his eyes alone pierced through the night, until they saw a Darkness beyond dark which they could not penetrate, huge but far away, moving now northward with great speed; and he knew that Melkor had come and gone Then the pursuit was begun; and the earth shook beneath the horses of the host of Orome, and the fire that was stricken from the hooves of Nahar was the first light that returned to Valinor But so soon as any came up with the Cloud of Ungoliant the riders of the Valar were blinded and dismayed, and they were scattered, and went they knew not whither; and the sound of the Valaróma faltered and failed. 1 ·90 The Silmarillion And Tulkas was as one caught in a black net at night, and he stood powerless and beat the air in vain But when the Darkness had passed, it was too late: Melkor had gone whither he would, and his vengeance was achieved.

·Chapter 9 Of the Flight of the Noldor After a time a great concourse gathered about the Ring of Doom; and the Valar sat in shadow, for it was night But the stars of Varda now glimmered overhead, and the air was clear; for the winds of Manwe had driven away the vapours of death and rolled back the shadows of the sea. Then Yavanna arose and stood upon Ezellohar, the Green Mound, but it was bare now and black; and she laid her hands upon the Trees, but they were dead and dark, and each branch that she touched broke and fell lifeless at her feet. Then many voices were lifted in lamentation; and it seemed to those that mourned that they had drained to the dregs the cup of woe that Melkor had filled for them. But it was not so. Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: “The Light of the Trees has passed away, and lives now only in the Sulmarils of Feanor. Foresighted was he! Even for those who are mightiest under Ilúvatar there is some work that they may accomplish once, and once only. The Light of the Trees I brought into being, and within Ea I can do so never again Yet had I but a little of that light I could recall life to the Trees, ere their roots decay; and then our hurt should be healed, and the malice of Melkor be confounded.' Then Manwe spoke and said: 'Hearest thou, Feanor son of Finwė, the words of Yavanna? Wilt thou grant what she would ask?' There was long silence, but Feanor answered no word. Then Tulkas cried: 'Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Silmarils come from her work in the beginning?' But Aule the Maker said: 'Be not hasty! We ask a greater thing than thou knowest. Let him have peace yet awhile.' + ·92 The Silmarillion But Feanor spoke then, and cried bittcrly: 'For the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest. It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their likc, and if I must brcak thcm, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain; first of all the Eldar in Aman.' 'Not the first,' said Mandos, but they did not understand his word; and again there was silence, whilc Feanor brooded in the dark. It seemed to him that he was beset in a ring of enemies, and the words of Melkor returned to him, saying that the Silmarils were not safe, if the Valar would possess them. 'And is he not Vala as are they,' said his thought, and does he not understand their hearts? Yca, a thicf shall reveal thieves! Then he cried aloud: “This thing I will not do of free will But if the Valar will constrain me, then shall I know indeed that Melkor is of their kindred' Then Mandos said: “Thou hast spoken.' And Nienna arose and went up onto Ezellohar, and cast back her grey hood, and with her tears washed away the defilements of Ungoliant; and she sang in mourning for the bitterness of the world and the Marring of Arda. But even as Nienna mourned, there came messengers from Formenos, and they were Noldor and bore new tidings of evil For they told how a blind Darkness came northward, and in the midst walked some power for which there was no name, and the Darkness issued from it. But Melkor also was there, and he came to the house of Feanor, and there he slew Finwe King of the Noldor before his doors, and spilled the first blood in the Blessed Realm; for Finwe alone had not fied from the horror of the Dark. And they told that Melkor had broken the stronghold of Formenos, and taken all the jewels of the Noldor that were hoarded in that place; and the Silmarils were gone. Then Feanor rose, and lifting up his hand before Manwe he cursed Melkor, naming him Morgoth, the Black Foe of the World; and by that name only was he known to the Eldar ever after. And he cursed also the summons of Manwe and the hour in which he came to Taniquetil, think- ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 93 ing in the madness of his rage and grief that had he been at Formenos his strength would have availed more than to be slain also, as Melkor had purposed. Then Feanor ran from the Ring of Doom, and fled into the night; for his father was dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth? Many there grieved for the anguish of Feanor, but his loss was not his alone; and Yavanna wept by the mound, in fear that the Darkness should swallow the last rays of the Light of Valinor for ever. For though the Valar did not yet understand fully what had befallen, they perceived that Melkor had called upon some aid that came from beyond Arda The Silmarils had passed away, and all one it may seem whether Feanor had said yea or nay to Yavanna; yet had he said yea at the first, before the tidings came from Formenos, it may be that his after deeds would have been other than they were But now the doom of the Noldor drew near Meanwhile Morgoth escaping from the pursuit of the Valar came to the wastes of Araman This land lay northward between the Mountains of the Pelori and the Great Sea, as Avathar lay to the south; but Araman was a wider land, and between the shores and the mountains were barren plains, ever colder as the Ice drew nearer. Through this region Morgoth and Ungoliant passed in haste, and so came through the great mists of Oiomúre to the Helcaraxe, where the strait between Araman and Middle-earth was filled with grinding ice; and he crossed over, and came back at last to the north of the Outer Lands Together they went on, for Morgoth could not elude Ungoliant, and her cloud was still about him, and all her eyes were upon him, and they came to those lands that lay north of the Firth of Drengist. Now Morgoth was drawing near to the ruins of Angband, where his great western stronghold had been, and Ungoliant perceived his hope, and knew that here he would seek to escape from her, and she stayed him, demanding that he fulfil his promise 'Blackheart!' she said. 'I have done thy bidding But I hunger still ·94 The Sılmai illon “What wouldst thou have more? said Morgoth. “Dost thou desire all the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that. I am its Lord.' ‘Not so much,' said Ungoliant. 'But thou hast a great treasure from Formenos; I will have all that Yca, with both hands thou shalt give it.' Then perforce Morgoth surrendered to her the gems that he bore with him, one by one and grudgingly; and she devoured them, and their beauty perished from the world. Huger and darker yet grew Ungoliant, but her lust was unsated. 'With one hand thou givest,' she said; 'with the left only. Open thy right hand' In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silmarils, and though they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to burn him, and his hand was clenched in pain; but he would not open it 'Nay!' he said 'Thou hast had thy due. For with my power that I put into thee thy work was accomplished. I need thee no more These things thou shalt not have, nor see I name them unto myself for ever.' But Ungoliant had grown great, and he less by the power that had gone out of him; and she rose against him, and her cloud closed about him, and she enmeshed him in a web of clinging thongs to strangle him Then Morgoth sent forth a terrible cry, that echoed in the mountains. Therefore that region was called Lammoth; for the echoes of his voice dwelt there ever after, so that any who cried aloud in that land awoke them, and all the waste between the hills and the sea was filled with a clamour as of voices in anguish. The cry of Morgoth in that hour was the greatest and most dreadful that was ever heard in the northern world; the mountains shook, and the earth trembled, and rocks were riven asunder. Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the ruined halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and now swiftly they arose, and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire With their whips of flame they smote asunder the webs of Ungoliant, and she quailed, and turned to flight, belching black vapours to ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 95 cover her; and fleeing from the north she went down into Beleriand, and dwelt beneath Ered Gorgoroth, in that dark valley that was after called Nan Dungortheb, the Valley of Dreadful Death, because of the horror that she bred there For other foul creatures of spider form had dwelt there since the days of the delving of Angband, and she mated with them, and devoured them; and even after Ungoliant herself departed, and went whither she would into the forgotten south of the world, her offspring abode there and wove their hideous webs. Of the fate of Ungoliant no tale tells Yet some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last. And thus the fear of Yavanna that the Silmarils would be swallowed up and fall into nothingness did not come to pass; but they remained in the power of Morgoth. And he being freed gathered again all his servants that he could find, and came to the ruins of Angband. There he delved anew his vast vaults and dungeons, and above their gates he reared the threefold peaks of Thangorodrim, and a great reek of dark smoke was ever wreathed about them There countless became the hosts of his beasts and his demons, and the race of the Orcs, bred long before, grew and multiplied in the bowels of the earth. Dark now fell the shadow on Beleriand, as is told hereafter; but in Angband Morgoth forged for himself a great crown of iron, and he called himself King of the World In token of this he set the Silmarils in his crown. His hands were burned black by the touch of those hallowed jewels, and black they remained ever after; nor was he ever free from the pain of the burning, and the anger of the pain. That crown he never took from his head, though its weight became a deadly weariness Never but once only did he depart for a while secretly from his domain in the North; seldom indeed did he leave the deep places of his fortress, but governed his armies from his northern throne And once only also did he himself wield weapon, while his realm lasted. For now, more than in the days of Utumno ere his pride was humbled, his hatred devoured him, and in the domination of his servants and the inspiring of them with lust of ·96 The Sılmai illion cvil he spent his spirit. Nonctheless his majesty as onc of the Valar long remained, though turned to terror, and before his face all save the mightiest sank into a dark pit of fear. Now when it was known that Morgoth had escaped from Valinor and pursuit was unavailing, the Valar remained long scated in darkness in the Ring of Doom, and the Maiar and the Vanyar stood beside them and wcpt; but the Noldor for the most part returned to Tirion and mourned for the darkening of their fair city. Through the dim ravinc of the Calacırya fogs drifted in from the shadowy scas and mantlcd its towers, and the lamp of the Mindon burned pale in the gloom Then suddenly Feanor appeared in the city and called on all to come to the high court of the King upon the summit of Túna; but the doom of banishment that had been laid upon him was not yet liftcd, and he rebelled against the Valar A grcat multitude gathered swiftly, therefore, to hear what he would say; and the hill and all the stairs and strcets that climbed upon it were lit with the light of many torches that each one bore in hand. Feanor was a master of words, and his tongue had great power over hearts when he would use it; and that night he made a speech before the Noldor which they ever remembered Fierce and ſell were his words, and filled with anger and pride; and hearing them the Noldor were stirred to madness His wrath and his hate were given most to Morgoth, and yet well nigh all that he said came from the very lies of Morgoth himself; but he was distraught with grief for the slaying of his father, and with anguish for the rape of the Silmarils He claimed now the kingship of all the Noldor, since Finwe was dead, and he scorned the decrees of the Valar. 'Why, O people of the Noldor,' he cried, 'why should we longer serve the jealous Valar, who cannot keep us nor even their own realm secure from their Enemy? And though he be now their foe, are not they and he of one kin? Vengeance calls me hence, but even were it otherwise I would not dwell longer in the same land with the kin of my father's slayer and of the thief of my treasure. Yet I am not the only valiant ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 97 in this valiant people. And have ye not all lost your King? And what else have ye not lost, cooped here in a narrow land between the mountains and the sea? "Here once was light, that the Valar begrudged to Middleearth, but now dark levels all. Shall we mourn here deedless for ever, a shadow-folk, mist-haunting, dropping vain tears in the thankless sea? Or shall we return to our home? In Cuiviénen sweet ran the waters under unclouded stars, and wide lands lay about, where a free people might walk. There they lie still and await us who in our folly forsook them. Come away! Let the cowards keep this city!' Long he spoke, and ever he urged the Noldor to follow lim and by their own prowess to win freedom and great realms in the lands of the East, before it was too late; for he echoed the lies of Melkor, that the Valar had cozened them and would hold them captive so that Men might rule in Middle-earth. Many of the Eldar heard then for the first time of the Aftercomers. 'Fair shall the end be,' he cried, 'though long and hard shall be the road! Say farewell to bondage! But say farewell also to ease! Say farewell to the weak! Say farewell to your treasures! More still shall we make. Journey light: but bring with you your swords! For we will go further than Orome, endure longer than Tulkas: We will never turn back from pursuit. After Morgoth to the ends of the Earth! War shall he have and hatred undying. But when we have conquered and have regained the Sulmarils, then we and we alone shall be lords of the unsullied Light, and masters of the bliss and beauty of Arda. No other race shall oust us!' Then Feanor swore a terrible oath His seven sons leapt straightway to his side and took the selfsame vow together, and red as blood shone their drawn swords in the glare of the torches. They swore an oath which none shall break, and none should take, by the name even of Ilúvatar, calling the Everlasting Dark upon them if they kept it not; and Manwe they named in witness, and Varda, and the hallowed mountain of Taniquetil, vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to the ends of the World Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn, or any creature, great or small, good or evil, ·98 The Silmarillion that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession Thus spoke Macdhros and Maglor and Celcgorm, Curuſin and Caranthir, Amrod and Amras, princes of the Noldor; and many quailed to hear the dread words. For so sworn, good or evil, an oath may not be broken, and it shall pursuc oathkeeper and oathbreaker to the world's end. Fingolfin and Turgon his son therefore spoke against Feanor, and fierce words awoke, so that once again wrath came near to the edge of swords But Finarfin spoke softly, as was his wont, and sought to calm the Noldor, persuading them to pause and ponder ere dceds were done that could not be undone; and Orodreth, alone of his sons, spoke in like manner Finrod was with Turgon, his friend; but Galadriel, the only woman of the Noldor to stand that day tall and valiant among the contending princes, was cager to be gone. No oaths she swore, but the words of Feanor concerning Middle-earth had kindled in her heart, for she yearned to see the wide unguarded lands and to rule there a realm at her own will. Of like mind with Galadriel was Fingon Fingolfin's son, being moved also by Feanor's words, though he loved him little; and with Fingon stood as they ever did Angrod and Aegnor, sons of Finarfin. But these held their peace and spoke not against their fathers. At length after long debate Feanor prevailed, and the greater part of the Noldor there assembled he set aflame with the desire of new things and strange countries. Therefore when Finarfin spoke yet again for heed and delay, a great shout went up. Nay, let us be gone!' And straightway Feanor and his sons began to prepare for the marching forth. Little foresight could there be for those who dared to take so dark a road Yet all was done in over-haste; for Feanor drove them on, fearing lest in the cooling of their hearts his words should wane and other counsels yet prevail; and for all his proud words he did not forget the power of the Valar. But from Valmar no message came, and Manwé was silent. He would not yet either forbid or hinder Feanor's purpose; for the Valar were aggrieved that they were charged with ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 99 evil intent to the Eldar, or that any were held captive by them against their will. Now they watched and waited, for they did not yet believe that Feanor could hold the host of the Noldor to his will And indeed when Feanor began the marshalling of the Noldor for their setting-out, then at once dissension arose. For though lie had brought the assembly in a mind to depart, by no means all were of a mind to take Feanor as King. Greater love was given to Fingolfin and his sons, and his household and the most part of the dwellers in Tirion refused to renounce him, if he would go with them; and thus at the last as two divided hosts the Noldor set forth upon their bitter road. Feanor and his following were in the van, but the greater host came behind under Fingolfin; and he marched against his wisdoni, because Fingon his son so urged him, and because he would not be sundered from his people that were eager to go, nor leaye them to the rash counsels of Feanor. Nor did he forget his words before the throne of Manwe. With Fingolfin went Fınarfin also and for like reasons; but most loath was he to depart And of all the Noldor in Valinor, who were grown now to a great people, but one tithe refused to take the road. some for the love that they bore to the Valar (and to Aule not least), some for the love of Tirion and the many things that they had made. none for fear of peril by the way. But even as the trumpet sang and Feanor issued from the gatcs of Tirion a messenger came at last from Manwe, saying: 'Against the folly of Feanor shall be set my counsel only. Go not forth! For the hour is evil, and your road leads to sorrow that ye do not foresee No aid will the Valar lend you in this quest; but neither will they hinder you; for this ye shall know: as ye came hither freely, freely shall ye depart But thou Feanor Finwe's son, by thine oath art exiled. The lies of Melkor thou shalt unlearn in bitterness. Vala he is, thou saist Then thou hast sworn in vain, for none of the Valar canst thou overcome now or ever within the halls of Ea, not though Eru whom thou namest had made thee thrice greater than thou art.' But Feanor laughed, and spoke not to the herald, but to ·100 The Silmarillion the Noldor, saying 'So! Then will this valiant pcople send forth the heir of their King alone into banishment with his sons only, and return to their bondage? But if any will come with me, I say to them. Is sorrow foreboded to you? But in Aman we have seen it. In Aman we have come through bliss to woe The other now we will try: through sorrow to find joy; or freedom, at the Icast' Then turning to the herald he cricd: 'Say this to Manwc Súlimo, High King of Arda: if Feanor cannot overthrow Morgoth, at Icast he delays not to assail him, and sits not idle in grief. And it may be that Eru has set in mc a fire greater than thou knowest Such hurt at the least will I do to the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear it. Y ca, in the end they shall follow me Farewell!' In that hour the voice of Feanor grew so great and so potent that cven thc herald of the Valar bowcd bcforc him as one full-answered, and departed; and the Noldor were over-ruled. Therefore they continued thcir march; and the House of Feanor hastened before them along the coasts of Elende: not once did they turn their eyes back to Tirion on the green hill of Túna. Slower and less cagerly came the host of Fingolfin after them. Of those Fingon was the foremost; but at the rear went Finarfin and Finrod, and many of the noblcst and wisest of the Noldor; and often they looked behind them to see their fair city, until the lamp of the Mindon Eldalieva was lost in the night. More than any others of the Exiles they carried thence memories of the bliss they had forsaken, and some cvcn of the things that they had made there they took with them: a solace and a burden on the road Now Feanor led the Noldor northward, bccause his first purpose was to follow Morgoth. Morcover Túna beneath Taniquetil was set nigh to the girdle of Arda, and there the Great Sea was immeasurably wide, whereas ever northward the sundering seas grew narrower, as the wasteland of Araman and the coasts of Middle-earth drew together. But as the mind of Feanor cooled and took counsel he perceived ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 101 overlate that all these great companies would never overcome the long leagues to the north, nor cross the seas at the last, save with the aid of ships; yet it would need long time and toil to build so great a fleet, even were there any among the Noldor skilled in that craft He resolved now therefore to persuade the Teleri, ever friends to the Noldor, to join with them; and in his rebellion he thought that thus the bliss of Valinor might be further diminished and his power for war upon Morgoth be increased. He hastened then to Alqualonde, and spoke to the Teleri as he had spoken before in Tirion But the Teleri were unmoved by aught that he could say. They were grieved indced at thc going of their kinsfolk and long friends, but would rather dissuade them than aid then; and no ship would they lend, nor help in the building, against the will of the Valar. As for themselves, they desired now no other home but the strands of Eldamar, and no other lord than Olwe, prince of Alqualonde. And he had never Icnt ear to Morgoth, nor welcomed him to his land. and he trusted still that Ulmo and the other great among the Valar would redress the hurts of Morgoth, and that the night would pass yet to a new dawn. Then Feanor grew wrathful, for he still feared delay; and hotly he spoke to Olwe. 'You renounce your friendship, even in the hour of our need,' he said. “Yet you were glad indeed to receive our aid when you came at last to these shores, fainthearted loiterers, and wellnigh emptyhanded. In huts on the beaches would you be dwelling still, had not the Noldor carved out your haven and toiled upon your walls.' But Olwe answered: 'We renounce no friendship. But it may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend's folly. And when the Noldor welcomed us and gave us aid, otherwise then you spoke in the land of Aman we were to dwell for ever, as brothers whose houses stand side by side. But as for our white ships: those you gave us not. We learned not the craft from the Noldor, but from the Lords of the Sea; and the white timbers we wrought with our own hands, and the white sails were woven by our wives and daughters. Therefore we will neither give them nor sell them for any league ·102 The Silmarillion or friendship For I say to you, Fcanor son of Finwc, these arc to us as are thic gems of the Noldor. the work of our hearts, whose like we shall not makc again.' Thereupon Fcanor left him, and sat in dark thought bc. yond the walls of Alqualonde, until his host was asscmbled When he judged that his strength was enough, he went to the Haven of the Swans and began to man the ships that were anchored there and to take them away by forcc. But the Teleri withstood him, and cast many of the Noldor into the sca. Then swords were drawn, and a bitter fight was fought upon the ships, and about the lamplit quays and picrs of the Haven, and cven upon the grcat arch of its gaic. Thrice the people of Fcanor were driven back, and many were slain upon either side, but thc vanguard of the Noldor were succoured by Fingon with thc foremost of the host of Fingolfin, who coming up found a battle joined and their own kin falling, and rushed in before they knew rightly the cause of the quarrel; some thought indced that the Teleri had sought to waylay the march of the Noldor at thc bidding of the Valar, Thus at last the Teleri werc overcomc, and a great part of their mariners that dwelt in Alqualonde were wickedly slain For the Noldor were becomc fierce and desperate, and the Teleri had less strength, and were armed for the most part but with slender bows. Then the Noldor drew away their white ships and manned their oars as best they might, and rowed them north along the coast And Olwe called upon Ossë, but he came not, for it was not permitted by the Valar that the flight of the Noldor should be hindered by force. But Uinen wept for the mariners of the Teleri; and the sca rose in wrath against the slayers, so that many of the shups were wrecked and those in thcm drowned Of the Kinslaying at Alqualonde more is told in that lament which is named Noldolantė, the Fall of the Noldor, that Maglor made ere he was lost Nonetheless the greater part of the Noldor escaped, and when the storm was past they held on their course, some by ship and some by land; but the way was long and ever more evil as they went forward. After thcy had marched for a great ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 103 while in the unmeasured night, they came at length to the northern confines of the Guarded Realm, upon the borders of the empty waste of Araman which were mountainous and cold There they beheld suddenly a dark figure standing high upon a rock that looked down upon the shore. Some say that it was Mandos himself, and no lesser herald of Manwe. And they heard a loud voice, solemn and terrible, that bade them stand and give ear. Then all halted and stood still, and from end to end of the hosts of the Noldor the voice was heard speaking the curse and prophecy which is called the Prophecy of the North, and the Doom of the Noldor. Much it foretold in dark words, which the Noldor understood not until the woes indeed after befell them; but all heard the curse that was uttered upon those that would not stay nor seek the doom and pardon of the Valar. *Tcars unnumbered ye shall shed, and the Valar will fence Valınor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains On the House of Féanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well, and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass The Dispossessed shall they be for ever 'Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief, and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret ·104 The Silmai illion before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken' Then many quailed; but Feanor hardened his heart and said, “We have sworn, and not lightly. This oath we will keep We are threatened with many evils, and treason not least, but one thing is not said that we shall suffer from cowardice, from cravens or the fear of cravens Therefore I say that we will go on, and this doom I add the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda' But in that hour Finarfin forsook the march, and turned back, being filled with grief, and with bitterness against the House of Feanor, because of his kinship with Olwe of Alqualonde, and many of his people went with him, retracing their steps in sorrow, until they beheld once more the far beam of the Mindon upon Túna still shining in the night, and so came at last to Valinor There they received the pardon of the Valar, and Finarfin was set to rule the remnant of the Noldor in the Blessed Realm But his sons were not with him, for they would not forsake the sons of Fingolfin; and all Fingolfin's folk went forward still, feeling the constraint of their kinship and the will of Feanor, and fearing to face the doom of the Valar, since not all of them had been guiltless of the Kinslaying at Alqualonde Moreover Fingon and Turgon were bold and fiery of heart, and loath to abandon any task to which they had put their hands until the bitter end, if bitter it must be. So the main host held on, and swiftly the evil that was foretold began its work The Noldor came at last far into the north of Arda; and they saw the first teeth of the ice that floated in the sea, and knew that they were drawing nigh to the Helcaraxe For between the land of Aman that in the north curved eastward, and the east-shores of Endor (which is Middle-earth) that bore westward, there was a narrow strait, through which the chill waters of the Encircling Sea and the waves of Belegaer flowed together, and there were vast fogs and mists of deathly cold, and the sea-streams were filled with clashing hills of ice and the grinding of ice deep-sunken. Such ·Of the Flight of the Noldor 105 was the Helcaraxe, and there none yet had dared to trcad save the Valar only and Ungoliant. Therefore Feanor halted and the Noldor debated what course they should now take But they began to suffer anguish from the cold, and the clinging mists through which no gleam of star could pierce; and many repented of the road and began to murmur, especially those that followed Fingolfin, cursing Feanor, and naming him as the cause of all the woes of the Eldar. But Feanor, knowing all that was said, took counsel with his sons; and two courses only they saw to escape from Araman and come into Endor. by the straits or by ship. But the Helcaraxe they deemed impassable, whereas the ships were too few. Many had been lost upon their long journey, and there remained now not enough to bear across all the great host together; yet none were willing to abide upon the western coast while others were ferried first: already the fear of treachery was awake among the Noldor Therefore it came into the heaits of Feanor and his sons to seize all the ships and depart suddenly; for they had retained the mastery of the fleet since the battle of the Haven, and it was manned only by those who had fought there and were bound to Feanor. And as though it came at his call, there sprang up a wind from the north-west, and Feanor slipped away secretly with all whom he deemed true to him, and went aboard, and put out to sea, and left Fingolfin in Araman. And since the sea was there narrow, steering east and somewhat south he passed over without loss, and first of all the Noldor set foot once more upon the shores of Middle-earth; and the landing of Feanor was at the mouth of the firth which was called Diengist and ran into Dor-lómin. But when they were landed, Maedhros the eldest of his sons, and on a time the friend of Fingon ere Morgoth's lies came between, spoke to Feanor, saying "Now what ships and rowers will you spare to return, and wliom shall they bear hither first? Fingon the valiant?' Then Feanor laughed as one fey, and he cried 'None and nonel What I have left behind I count now no loss, needless baggage on the road it has proved. Let those that cursed my

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·1 Of the Sindar 109 had passed, she counselled Thingol that the Peace of Arda would not last for ever. He took thought therefore how he should make for himself a kingly dwelling, and a place that should be strong, if evil were to awake again in Middlecarth; and he sought aid and counsel of the Dwarves of Belegost. They gave it willingly, for they were unwearied in those days and eager for new works; and though the Dwarves ever demanded a price for all that they did, whether with delight or with toil, at this time they held themselves paid. For Melian taught them much that they were eager to learn, and Thingol rewarded them with many fair pearls These Cirdan gave to him, for they were got in great number in the shallow waters about the Isle of Balar; but the Naugrim had not before seen their like, and they held them dear. One there was as great as a dove's egg, and its sheen was as, starlight on the foam of the sea; Nimphelos it was named, and the chieftain of the Dwarves of Belegost prized it above a mountain of wealth Therefore the Naugrim laboured long and gladly for Thingol, and devised for him mansions after the fashion of their people, delved deep in the earth. Where the Esgalduin flowed down, and parted Neldoreth from Region, there rose in the midst of the forest a rocky hill, and the river ran at its feet. There they made the gates of the hall of Thingol, and they built a bridge of stone over the river, by which alone the gates could be entered. Beyond the gates wide passages ran down to high halls and chambers far below that were hewn in the living stone, so many and so great that that dwelling was named Menegroth, the Thousand Caves But the Elves also had part in that labour, and Elves and Dwarves together, each with their own skill, there wrought out the visions of Melian, images of the wonder and beauty of Valınor beyond the Sea The pillars of Menegroth were hewn in the likeness of the beeches of Orome, stock, bough, and leaf, and they were lit with lanterns of gold. The nightingales sang there as in the gardens of Lórien; and there were fountains of silver, and basins of marble, and floors of many-coloured stones Carven figures of beasts and birds there ran upon the walls, or climbed upon the pillars, or ·110 The Silmarillion pcercd among the branches cntwined with many flowers. And as the years passed Melian and her maidens lilled [lic halls with woven hangings whercin could be read the decds of thc Valar, and many things that liad befallen in Arda since its beginning, and shadows of things that were yet to be That was the ſairest dwelling of any king that has ever been cast of the Sca. And when the building of Menegroth was achicved, and there was peace in the rcalm of Thingol and Melian, the Naugrim yet came over and anon over the mountains and went in traffic about the lands; but they went seldom to the Falas, for they hated the sound of the sea and ſcared to look upon it. To Bclcriand thcrc camc no other rumour or tidings of the world without But as the third age of the captivity of Melkor drew on, llic Dwarves became troubled, and they spoke to King Thingol, saying that the Valar had not rooted out ullcrly the cvils of the North, and now the remnant, having long multiplied in the dark, were coming forth once morc and roaniing far and wide. 'Thcrc arc (ell bcasts,' they said, 'in thic land cast of the mountains, and your ancient kindred that dwell there are flying from the plains to the hills.' And cre long thc cvil crcatures camc cven to Belcriand. over passes in the mountains, or up from the south through the dark forests Wolves there were, or creatures that walked in wolf-shapes, and other fell beings of shadow; and among them were the Orcs, who afterwards wrought ruin in Belcriand. but they were yet fcw and wary, and did but smell out the ways of the land, awaiting the return of their lord. Whence they came, or what they were, the Elves know not then, thinking thicm perhaps to be Avari who had become cvil and savage in the wild, in which they gucsscd all too ncar, it is said. Therefore Thingol took thought for arms, which before his people had not needed, and these at first the Naugrim smithied for him; for they were greatly skilled in such work, though none among them surpassed the craftsmen of Nogrod, of whom Telchar the smith was grcatest in renown. A warlıke iace of old were all the Nauglim, and they would ·of the Sindar 111 fight fiercely against whomsoever aggrieved them: servants of Melkor, or Eldar, or Avari, or wild beasts, or not seldom their own kin, Dwarves of other mansions and lordships. Their smithcraft indeed the Sindar soon learned of them; yet in the tempering of steel alone of all crafts the Dwarves were never outmatched even by the Noldor, and in the making of mail of linked rings, which was first contrived by the smiths of Belegost, their work had no rival. At this time therefore the Sindar were well-armed, and they drove off all creatures of evil, and had peace again, but Thingol's armouries were stored with axes and with spears and swords, and tall helms, and long coats of bright mail; for the hauberks of the Dwarves were so fashioned that they rusted not but shone ever as if they were new-burnished And that proved well for Thingol in the time that was to come. Now as has been told, one Lenwe of the host of Olwe forsook the march of the Eldar at that time when the Teleri were halted by the shores of the Great River upon the borders of the westlands of Middle-earth. Little is known of the wanderings of the Nandor, whom he led away down Anduin: some, it is said, dwelt age-long in the woods of the Vale of the Great River, some came at last to its mouths and there dwelt by the Sea, and yet others passing by Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains, came north again and entered the wilderness of Eriador between Ered Luin and the far Mountains of Mist Now these were a woodland people and had no weapons of steel, and the coming of the fell beasts of the North filled them with great fear, as the Naugrim declared to King Thingol in Menegroth. Therefore Denethor, the son of Lenwe, hearing rumour of the might of Thingol and his majesty, and of the peace of his realm, gathered such host of his scattered people as he could, and led them over the mountains into Beleriand There they were welcomed by Thingol, as kin long lost that return, and they dwelt in Ossiriand, the Land of Seven Rivers Of the long years of peace that followed after the coming of Dencthor there is little tale. In those days, it is said, } ·112 The Silmarillion Daeron the Minstrel, chief loremaster of the kingdom of Thingol, devised his Runes; and the Naugrim that came to Thingol learned them, and were well-pleased with the device, esteeming Daeron's skill higher than did the Sındar, his own people. By the Naugrim the Cirth were taken cast over the mountains and passed into the knowledge of many peoples; but they were little used by the Sindar for the keeping of records, until the days of the War, and much that was held in memory perished in the ruins of Doriath. But of bliss and glad life there is little to be said, before it ends; as works fair and wonderful, while still they endure for eyes to sce, are their own record, and only when they are in peril or broken for ever do they pass into song. In Beleriand in those days the Elves walkcd, and the rivers flowed, and the stars shone, and the night-flowers gave forth their scents; and the beauty of Melian was as the noon, and the beauty of Lúthien was as the dawn in spring. In Beleriand King Thingol upon his throne was as the lords of the Maiar, whose power is at rest, whose joy is as an air that they breathe in all their days, whose thought flows in a tidc untroubled from the heights to the deeps. In Beleriand still at times rode Orome the great, passing like a wind over the mountains, and the sound of his horn came down the leagues of the starlight, and the Elves feared him for the splendour of his countenance and the great noise of the onrush of Nahar, but when the Valaróma echoed in the hills, they knew well that all evil things were fled far away. But it came to pass at last that the end of bliss was at hand, and the noontide of Valinor was drawing to its twilight For as has been told and as is known to all, being written in lore and sung in many songs, Melkor slew the Trees of the Valar with the aid of Ungoliant, and escaped, and came back to Middle-earth Far to the north befell the strife of Morgoth and Ungoliant; but the great cry of Morgoth cchoed through Beleriand, and all its people shrank for fear, for though they knew not what it foreboded, they heard then the herald of death Soon afterwaids Ungoliant fled from the north and came into the realm of King ·Of the Sindar 113 Thingol, and a terror of darkness was about her; but by the power of Melian she was stayed, and entered not into Neldoreth, but abode long time under the shadow of the precipices in which Dorthonion fell southward And they became known as Ered Gorgoroth, the Mountains of Terror, and nonc dared go thither, or pass nigh them; there life and light were strangled, and there all waters were poisoned. But Morgoth, as has before been told, returned to Angband, and built it anew, and above its doors he reared the reeking towers of Thangorodrim, and the gates of Morgoth were but one hundred and fifty leagues distant from the bridge of Menegroth, far and yet all too near Now the Orcs that multiplied in the darkness of the earth grew strong and fell, and their dark lord filled them with a lust of ruin and death; and they issued from Angband's gates under the clouds that Morgoth sent forth, and passed silently into the highlands of the north Thence on a sudden a great army came into Beleriand and assailed King Thingol Now in his wide realm many Elves wandered free in the wild, or dwelt at peace in small kindreds far sundered, and only about Menegroth in the midst of the land, and along the Falas in the country of the mariners, were there numerous peoples But the Orcs came down upon either side of Menegroth, and from camps in the east between Celon and Gelion, and west in the plains between Sirion and Narog. they plundered far and wide, and Thingol was cut off from Cirdan at Eglarest. Therefore he called upon Denethor, and the Elves came in force from Region beyond Aros and from Ossiriand, and fought the first battle in the Wars of Beleriand. And the eastern host of the Orcs was taken between the armics of the Eldar, north of the Andram and midway between Aros and Gelion, and there they were utterly defeated, and those that fied north from the great slaughter were waylaid by the axes of the Naugrim that issued from Mount Dolmed: few indeed returned to Angband. But the victory of the Elves was dear-bought For those of Ossiriand were light-armed, and no match for the Orcs. who were shod with iron and iron-shielded and bore great spears with broad blades, and Denethor was cut off and ·114 The Silmarillion surrounded upon the hill of Amon Ereb There he fell and all his nearest kin about him, before the host of Thingol could come to his aid. Bitterly though his fall was avenged, when Thingol came upon the rear of the Orcs and slew them in heaps, his people lamented him ever after and took no king again After the battle some returned to Ossiriand, and their tidings filled the remnant of their people with great ſcar, so that thereafter they came never forth in open war, but kept themselves by wariness and secrecy; and they were called the Laiquendi, the Green-elves, because of their raiment of the colour of leaves But many went north and entered the guarded realm of Thingol, and were merged with his people And when Thingol came again to Menegroth he lcarned that the Orc-host in the west was victorious, and had driven Círdan to the rim of the sea. Therefore he withdrew all his people that his summons could reach within the fastness of Neldoreth and Region, and Melian put forth her power and fenced all that dominion round about with an unseen wall of shadow and bewilderment, the Girdle of Melian, that nonc thereafter could pass against her will or the will of King Thingol, unless one should come with a power greater than that of Melian the Maia And this inner land, which was long named Eglador, was after called Doriath, the guarded kingdom, Land of the Girdle Within it there was yet a watchful peace, but without there was peril and great fear, and the servants of Morgoth roamed at will, save in the walled havens of the Falas But new tidings were at hand, which none in Middleearth had foreseen, neither Morgoth in huis pits nor Melian in Menegroth; for no news came out of Aman, whether by messenger, or by spirit, or by vision in dream, after the death of the Trees. In this same time Feanor came over the Sea in the white ships of the Teleri, and landed in the Firth of-Drengist, and there burned the ships at Losgar ·Chapter 11 Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor It is told that after the flight of Melkor the Valar sat long unmoved upon their thrones in the Ring of Doom; but they were not idle, as Feanor declared in the folly of his heart For the Valar may work many things with thought rather than with hands, and without voices in silence they may hold council one with another. Thus they held vigil in the night of Valinor, and their thought passed back beyond Ea and forth to the End; yet neither power nor wisdom assuaged their grief, and the knowing of evil in the hour of its being. And they mourned not more for the death of the Trees than for the marring of Feanor. of the works of Melkor one of the most evil. For Feanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind, in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and in subtlety alike, of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him. The works of wonder for the glory of Arda that he might otherwise have wrought only Manwe might in some measure conceive. And it was told by the Vanyar who held vigil with the Valar that when the messengers declared to Manwe the answers of Feanor to 1115 heralds, Manwe wept and bowed his head. But at that last word of Feanor: that at the least the Noldor should do deeds to live in song for ever, he raised his head, as one that hears a voice far off, and he said: 'So shall it bel Dear-bought those songs shall be accounted, and yet shall be well-bought For the price could be no other. Thus even as Eru spoke to us shall beauty not before conceived be brought into Ea, and evil yet be good to have been But Mandos said: 'And yet remain evil To me shall Feanor come soon.'

·116 The Silmarillion But when at last the Valar Icarned that the Noldor had indeed passed out of Aman and were come back into Middle-earth, they arose and began to set forth in deeds those counsels which they had taken in thought for the redress of the evils of Melkor. Then Manwe bade Yavanna and Nienna to put forth all their powers of growth and healing; and they put forth all their powers upon the Trccs. But the tears of Nienna availed not to hcal their mortal wounds; and for a long while Yavanna sang alone in the shadows. Yet even as hope failed and her song faltered, Telpcrion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single fruit of gold. These Yavanna took; and then the Trees dicd, and thcir lifeless stems stand yet in Valinor, a memorial of vanished joy. But the flower and the fruit Yavanna gave to Aulc, and Manwe hallowed them, and Aule and his peoplc madc vessels to hold them and preserve their radiancc as is said in the Narsilion, the Song of the Sun and Moon. These vessels the Valar gave to Varda, that they might become lamps of heaven, outshining the ancient stars, being nearer to Arda; and she gave them power to traverse the lower regions of Ilmen, and set them to voyage upon appointed courses above the girdle of the Earth from the West unto the East and to return These things the Valar did, recalling in their twilight the darkness of the lands of Arda; and they resolved now to illumine Middle-earth and with light to hinder the deeds of Melkor. For they remembered the Avari that remained by the waters of their awakening, and they did not utterly forsake the Noldor in exile; and Manwe knew also that the liour of the coming of Men was drawn nigh. And it is said indeed that, even as the Valar made war upon Melkor for the sake of the Quendi, so now for that time they forboro for the sake of the Hildor, the Aftercomers, the younger Children of Ilúvatar. For so grievous had been the hurts of Middle-earth in the war upon Utumno that the Valar feared lest even worse should now befall; whereas the Hildor should be mortal, and weaker than the Quendi to withstand fear and tumult Moreover it was not revealed to Manwc ·of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor 117 where the beginning of Men should be, north, south, or east. Therefore the Valar sent forth light, but made strong the land of their dwelling. Isil the Sheen the Vanyar of old named the Moon, flower of Telperion in Valinor; and Anar the Fire-golden, fruit of Laurelin, they named the Sun. But the Noldor named them also Rána, the Wayward, and Vása, the Heart of Fire, that awakens and consumes; for the Sun was set as a sign for the awakening of Men and the waning of the Elves, but the Moon cherishes their memory. The maiden whom the Valar chose from among the Maiar to guide the vessel of the Sun was named Arien, and he that steered the island of the Moon was Tilion In the days of the Trees Arien had tended the golden flowers in the gardens of Vána, and watered them with the bright dews of Laurelin; but Tilion was a hunter of the company of Orome, and he had a silver bow. He was a lover of silver, and when he would rest he forsook the woods of Orome, and going into Lórien he lay in dream by the pools of Este, in Telperion's flickering beams; and he begged to be given the task of tending for ever the last Flower of Silver, Arien the maiden was mightier than he, and she was chosen because she had not feared the heats of Laurelin, and was unhurt by them, being from the beginning a spirit of fire, whom Melkor had not deceived nor drawn to his service. Too bright were the eyes of Arien for even the Eldar to look on, and leaving Valinor she forsook the form and raiment which like the Valar she had worn there, and she was as a naked flame, terrible in the fullness of her splendour. Isıl was first wrought and made ready, and first rose into the realm of the stars, and was the elder of the new lights, as was Telperion of the Trees. Then for a while the world had moonlight, and many things stirred and woke that had waited long in the sleep of Yavanna. The servants of Morgoth were filled with amazement, but the Elves of the Outer Lands looked up in delight; and even as the Moon rose above the darkness in the west, Fingolfin let blow his silver trumpets and began his march into Middle-earth, and the shadows of his host went long and black before them. + ·118 The Silmarillion Tilion had traversed the heaven seven times, and thus was in the furthest cast, when the vessel of Arich was made ready. Then Anar arose in glory, and the first dawn of the Sun was like a great fire upon the towers of the Pclóri: thic clouds of Middle-earth were kindlcd, and there was heard the sound of many waterfalls. Then indeed Morgoth was dismayed, and he descended into the uttermost depths of Angband, and withdrew his servants, sending forth great reek and dark cloud to hide his land from the light of the Daystar Now Varda purposed that the two vessels should journcy in Ilmen and cver be aloft, but not together; cach should pass from Valinor into the cast and return, the one issuing from the west as the other turned from the cast. Thus the first of the new days were reckoned after the manner of the Trces, from the mingling of the lights when Aricn and Tilion passed in their courses, above the middle of the Earth But Tilion was wayward and uncertain in spced, and hold not to his appointed path; and he sought to come near to Arien, being drawn by her splendour, though the flame of Anar scorched him, and the island of the Moon was darkened Because of the waywardness of Tilion, therefore, and yet more because of the prayers of Lóricn and Este, who said that sleep and rest had been banished from the Earth, and the stars were hidden, Varda changed her counsel, and allowed a time wherein the world should still have shadow and half-light. Anar rested therefore a while in Valinor, lying upon the cool bosom of the Outer Sca; and Evening, the time of the descent and resting of the Sun, was the hour of greatest light and joy in Aman. But soon the Sun was drawn down by the scrvants of Ulmo, and went then in haste under the Earth, and so came unseen to the east and there mounted the heaven again, lest night be over-long and evil walk under the Moon. But by Anar the waters of the Outer Sea were made hot and glowed with coloured fire, and Valinor had light for a while aſter the passing of Arien. Yet as she journeyed under the Earth and drew towards the cast the glow faded and Valınor was dim, and the Valar mourned ·Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valmor 119 then most for the death of Laurelin. At dawn the shadows of the Mountains of Defence lay heavy on the Blessed Realm. Varda commanded the Moon to journey in like manner, and passing under Earth to arise in the east, but only after the Sun had descended from heaven. But Tilion went with uncertain pace, as yet he goes, and was still drawn towards Arien, as he shall ever be; so that often both may be seen above the Earth together, or at times it will chance that he comes so nigh that his shadow cuts off her brightness and there is a darkness amid the day. Therefore by the coming and going of Anar the Valar reckoned the days thereafter until the Change of the World. For Tilion tarried seldom in Valinor, but more often would pass swiftly over the western land, over Avathar, or Araman, or Valinor, and plunge in the chasm beyond the Outer Sea, pursuing his way alone amid the grots and caverns at the roots of Arda. There he would often wander long, and late would return. Still therefore, after the Long Night, the light of Valinor was greater and fairer than upon Middle-earth; for the Sun rested there, and the lights of heaven drew nearer to Earth in that region. But neither the Sun nor the Moon can recall the light that was of old, that came from the Trees before they were touched by the poison of Ungoliant. That light lives now in the Silmarils alone. But Morgoth hated the new lights, and was for a while confounded by this unlooked-for stroke of the Valar. Then he assailed Tilion, sending spirits of shadow against him, and there was strife in Ilmen beneath the paths of the stars; but Tilion was victorious. And Arien Morgoth feared with a great fear, but dared not come nigh her, having indeed no longer the power; for as he grew in malice, and sent forth from himself the evil that he conceived in lies and creatures of wickedness, his might passed into them and was dispersed, and he himself became ever more bound to the earth, unwilling to issue from his dark strongholds. With shadows he hid himself and his servants from Arien, the glance of whose eyes they could not long endure; and the ·120 The Silmarillion lands near his dwelling were shrouded in fumes and great clouds. But seeing the assault upon Tilion the Valar were in doubt, fearing what the malice and cunning of Morgoth might yet contrive against them. Being unwilling to make war upon him in Middle-earth, they remembered nonetheless the ruin of Almaren; and they resolved that the like should not befall Valinor. Therefore at that time they fortified their land anew, and they raised up the mountain-walls of the Pelórı to sheer and dreadful heights, east, north and south Their outer sides were dark and smooth, without foothold or ledge, and they fell in great precipices with faces hard as glass, and rose up to towers with crowns of white ice. A sleepless watch was set upon them, and no pass led through them, save only at the Calacirya: but that pass the Valar did not close, because of the Eldar that were faithful, and in the city of Tirion upon the green hill Finarſin yet ruled the remnant of the Noldor in the deep cleft of the mountains For all those of elven-race, cven the Vanyar and Ingwe their lord, must breathe at times the outer air and the wind that comes over the sea from the lands of their birth; and the Valar would not sunder the Teleri wholly from their kin. But in the Calacırya they set strong towers and many sentinels, and at its issue upon the plains of Valmar a host was encamped, so that neither bird nor beast nor elf nor man, nor any creature beside that dwelt in Middle-earth, could pass that leaguer And in that time also, which songs call Nurtale Valinoreva, the Hiding of Valinor, the Enchanted Isles were set, and all the seas about them were filled with shadows an bewilderment. And these isles were strung as a net in the Shadowy Seas from the north to the south, before Tol Eressea, the Lonely Isle, is reached by one sailing west. Hardly might any vessel pass between them, for in the dangerous sounds the waves sighed for ever upon dark rocks shrouded in mist. And in the twilight a great weariness came upon mariners and a loathing of the sca; but all that ever set foot upon the islands were there entrapped,

·Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor 121
and slept until the Change of the World. Thus it was that
as Mandos foretold to them in Araman the Blessed
Realm was shut against the Noldor; and of the many
messengers that in after days sailed into the West none
came ever to Valinor--save one only: the mightiest
mariner of song.

·Chapter 12 Of Men The Valar sat now behind their mountains at peace; and having given light to Middle-earth they left it for long untended, and the lordship of Morgoth was uncontested save by the valour of the Noldor. Most in mind Ulmo kept the exiles, who gathered news of the Earth through all the waters From this time forth were reckoned the Years of the Sun Swifter and briefer are they than the long Years of the Trees in Valinor. In that time the air of Middle-earth became heavy with the breath of growth and mortality, and the changing and ageing of all things was hastened exceedingly; life teemed upon the soil and in the waters in the Second Spring of Arda, and the Eldar increased, and beneath the new Sun Beleriand grew green and fair. At the first rising of the Sun the Younger Children of Ilúvatar awoke in the land of Hildórien in the eastward regions of Middle-earth; but the first Sun arose in the West, and the opening eyes of Men were turned towards it, and their feet as they wandered over the Earth for the most part strayed that way. The Atani they were named by the Eldar, the Second People; but they called them also Hildor, the Followers, and many other names: Apanónar, the Afterborn, Engwar, the Sickly, and Firimar, the Mortals; and they named them the Usurpers, the Strangers, and the Inscrutable, the Self-cursed, the Heavy-handed, the Nightfearers, the Children of the Sun. Of Men little is told in these tales, which concern the Eldest Days before the waxing of mortals and the waning of the Elves, savc of those fathers of men, the Atanatári, who in the first years of the Sun and Moon wandered into the North of the world. To ·Of Men 123 Hildórien there came no Vala to guide Men, or to summon them to dwell in Valinor; and Men have feared the Valar, rather than loved them, and have not understood the purposes of the Powers, being at variance with them, and at strife with the world. Ulmo nonetheless took thought for them, aiding the counsel and will of Manwë; and his messages came often to them by stream and flood. But they have not skill in such matters, and still less had they in those days before they had mingled with the Elves. Therefore they loved the waters, and their hearts were stirred, but they understood not the messages. Yet it is told that ere long they met Dark Elves in many places, and were befriended by them; and Men became the companions and disciples in their childhood of these ancient folk, wanderers of the Elven-race who never set out upon the paths to Valinor, and knew of the Valar only as a rumour and a distant name. Morgoth had then not long come back into Middle-earth, and his power went not far abroad, and was moreover checked by the sudden coming of great light. There was little peril in the lands and hills; and there new things, devised long ages before in the thought of Yavanna and sown as seed in the dark, came at last to their budding and their bloom. West, North, and South the children of Men spread and wandered, and their joy was the joy of the morning before the dew is dry, when every leaf is green But the dawn is brief and the day full often belies its promise; and now the time drew on to the great wars of the powers of the North, when Noldor and Sindar and Men strove against the hosts of Morgoth Bauglir, and went down in ruin. To this end the cunning lies of Morgoth that he sowed of old, and sowed ever anew among his foes, and the curse that came of the staying at Alqualonde, and the oath of Feanor, were ever at work. Only a part is here told of the deeds of those days, and most is said of the Noldor, and the Silmarils, and the mortals that became entangled in their fate. In those days Elves and Men were of like stature and strength of body, but the Elves had greater wisdom, and skill, and beauty; and those who had dwelt in Valinor and looked upon the Powers as much surpassed the Dark Elves + ·124 The Silmarillion in these things as they in turn surpassed thc people of mortal race Only in the realm of Doriath, whose queen Melian was of the kindred of Valar, did the Sindar como near to match the Calaquendi of the Blessed Realm. Immortal were the Elves, and their wisdom waxed from age to age, and no sickness nor pestilence brought death to them. Their bodies indeed were of the stuff of Earth, and could be destroyed, and in those days they were more like to the bodies of Men, since they had not so long been inhabited by the fire of their spirit, which consumes them from within in the courses of time But Men were more frail, more easily slain by weapon or mischance, and less easily healed, subject to sickness and many ills, and they grow old and died What may befall their spirits after death thc Elves know not Some say that they too go to the halls of Mandos, but their place of waiting there is not that of the Elves, and Mandos under Ilúvatar alone save Manwe knows whither they go after the time of recollection in those silent halls beside the Outer Sea. None have ever come back from the mansions of the dead, save only Beren son of Barahir, whose hand had touched a Silmaril; but he never spoke afterward to mortal Men The fate of Men after death, maybe, is not in the hands of the Valar, nor was all foretold in the Music of the Ainur In after days, when because of the triumph of Morgoth Elves and Men became estranged, as he most wished, thosc of the Elven-race that lived still in Middle-earth waned and faded, and Men usurped the sunlight. Then the Quendi wandered in thc lonely places of the great lands and the isles, and took to the moonlight and the starlight, and to the woods and caves, becoming as shadows and memories, save those who ever and anon set sail into the West and vanished from Middle-carth. But in the dawn of years Elves and Men were allies and held themselves akin, and there were some among Men that learned the wisdom of the Eldar, and became great and valiant among the captains of the Noldor. And in the glory and beauty of the Elves, and in their fale, full share had the offspring of elf and mortal, Earendil, and Elwing, and Elrond their child.

·Chapter 13 Of the Return of the Noldor It has been told that Fëanor and his sons came first of the Exiles to Middle-earth, and landed in the waste of Lammoth, the Great Echo, upon the outer shores of the Firth of Drengist. And even as the Noldor set foot upon the strand their cries were taken up into the hills and multiplied, so that a clamour as of countless mighty voices filled all the coasts of the North; and the noise of the burning of the ships at Losgar went down the winds of the sea as a tumult of great wrath, and far away all who heard that sound were filled with wonder. Now the flames of that burning were seen not only by Fingolfin, whom Feanor had deserted in Araman, but also by the Orcs and the watchers of Morgoth, No tale has told what Morgoth thought in his heart at the tidings that Feanor, his bitterest foe, had brought a host out of the West. It may be that he feared him little, for he had as yet no proof of the swords of the Noldor; and soon it was seen that he purposed to drive them back into the sea. Under the cold stars before the rising of the Moon the host of Feanor went up the long Firth of Drengist that pierced the Echoing Hills of Ered Lómin, and passed thus from the shores into the great land of Hithlum; and they came at length to the long lake of Mithrim, and upon its northern shore made their encampment in the region that bore the same name. But the host of Morgoth, aroused by the tumult of Lammoth and the light of the burning at Losgar, came through the passes of Ered Wethrin, the Mountains of Shadow, and assailed Feanor on a sudden, before his camp was full-wrought or put in defence; and grey fields of Mithrim was fought the Second Battle in the Wars of Beleriand. Dagor-nuin-Giliath it is - 1 there on the ·126 The Silmarillion named, the Battle-under-Stars, forthe Moon had not yet risen, and it is renowned in song The Noldor, outnumbered and taken at unawares, were yet swiftly victorious; for the light of Aman was not yet dimmed in their eyes, and they were strong and swift, and deadly in anger, and their swords were long and terrible The Orcs fled before them, and they were driven forth from Mithrim with great slaughter, and hunted over the Mountains of Shadow into the great plain of Ard-galen, that lay northward of Dorthonion. There the armies of Morgoth that had passed south into the Vale of Sirion and beleaguered Círdan in the Havens of the Falas came up to their aid, and were caught in their ruin For Celegorm, Feanor's son, having news of them, waylard them with a part of the Elven-host, and coming down upon them out of the hills near Eithel Sirion drove them into the Fen of Serech. Evil indeed were the tidings that came at last to Angband, and Morgoth was dismayed Ten days that battle lasted, and from it returned of all the hosts that he had prepared for the conquest of Beleriand no more than a handful of leaves Yet cause he had for great joy, though it was hidden from him for a while. For Feanor, in his wrath against the Enemy, would not halt, but pressed on behind the remnant of the Orcs, thinking so to come at Morgoth himself; and he laughed aloud as he wielded lus sword, rejoicing that he had dared the wrath of the Valar and the evils of the road, that he might see the hour of his vengeance Nothing did hc know of Angband or the great strength of defence that Morgoth had so swiftly prepared, but even had he known it would not have deterred him, for he was fey, consumed by the flame of his own wrath Thus it was that he drew far ahead of the van of his host; and seeing this the servants of Morgoth turned to bay, and there issued from Angband Balrogs to aid them There upon the confines of Dor Daedeloth, the land of Morgoth, Feanor was surrounded, with few friends about him Long he fought on, and undismayed, though he was wrapped in fire and wounded with many wounds, but at the last he was smitten to the ground by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, whom Ecthelion after slew in ·Of the Return of the Noldor 127 Gondolin There he would have perished, had not his sons in that moment come up with force to his aid; and the Balrogs left lum, and departed to Angband Then his sons raised up their father and bore him back towards Mithrim. But as they drew near to Eithel Sirion and were upon the upward path to the pass over the mountains, Feanor bade them halt; for his wounds were mortal, and he knew that his hour was come And looking out from the slopes of Ered Wethrin with his last sight he beheld far off the peaks of Thangorodrim, mightiest of the towers of Middle-earth, and knew with the foreknowledge of death that no power of the Noldor would ever overthrow them; but he cursed the name of Morgoth thrice, and laid it upon his sons to hold to their oath, and to avenge their father. Then he died; but he had neither burial nor tomb, for so fiery was his spirit that as it sped his body fell to ash, and was bornc away like smoke; and his likeness has never again appeared in Arda, neither has his spirit left the halls of Mandos. Thus ended the mightiest of the Noldor, of whose deeds came both their greatest renown and their most grievous woe. Now in Mithrim there dwelt Grey-clves, folk of Beleriand that had wandered north over the mountains, and the Noldor met them with gladness, as kinsfolk long sundered; but speech at first was not easy between them, for in their long severance the tongues of the Calaquendi in Valinor and of the Moriquendi in Beleriand had drawn far apart. From the Elves of Mithrim the Noldor learned of the power of Elu Thingol, King in Doriath, and the girdle of enchantment that fenced his realm; and tidings of these great deeds in the north came south to Menegroth, and to the havens of Brithombar and Eglarest. Then all the Elves of Beleriand were filled with wonder and with hope at the coming of their mighty kindred, who thus returned unlooked-for from the West in the very hour of their need, believing indeed at: first that they came as emissaries of the Valar to deliver tlich. But even in the hour of the death of Feanor an embassy came to his sons from Morgoth, acknowledging defeat, and ·128 The Silmarillion offering terms, cven to the surrender of a Silmaril Then Macdhros the tall, the eldest son, persuaded his brothers to fcign to treat with Morgoth, and to meet hus cmissaries at the place appointed; but thc Noldor had as littlc thought of faith as had hc. Wherefore cach embassy camic with greater force than was agreed; but Morgoth sent the morc, and there were Balrogs Maedhros was ambushed, and all his company were slain, but he himself was taken alive by the command of Morgoth, and brought to Angband Then the brothers of Macdhros drew back, and fortificd a great camp in Hithlum; but Morgoth held Macdhros as hostage, and sent word that he would not relcasc him unless the Noldor would ſorsakc their war, returning into the West, or elsc departing far from Beleriand into the South of thc world. But the sons of Fcanor knew that Morgoth would bctray them, and would not release Macdhros, whatsoever they might do; and they were constrained also by their oath, and might not for any cause forsake the war against their Enemy Thereforc Morgoth took Maedhros and hung him from the face of a prccipice upon Thangorodrim, and hc was caught to the rock by the wrist of his right hand in a band of steel Now rumour came to the camp in Hithlum of the march of Fingolfin and thosc that followed him, who had crossed the Grinding Ice, and all the world lay then in wonder at the coming of the Moon But as thehost of Fingolfin marched into Mithrım the Sun rose flaming in the West, and Fingolfin unfurled his blue and silver banners, and blew his horns, and flowers sprang beneath his marching feet, and the ages of the stars were ended At thc uprising of the great light the servants of Morgoth fled into Angband, and Fingolfin passed unopposed through the fastness of Dor Daedcloth while his foes hid beneath the earth Then thc Elves smote upon the gates of Angband, and the challenge of their trumpets shook the towers of Thangorodrim; and Maedhros heard them amid his torment and cried aloud, but his voice was lost in the echoes of the stone But Fingolfin, being of other temper than Feanor, and ·Of the Return of the Noldor 129 wary of the wiles of Morgoth, withdrew from Dor Daedeloth and turned back towards Mithrim, for he had heard tidings that there he should find the sons of Feanor, and he desired also to have the shield of the Mountains of Shadow while his people rested and grew strong; for he had seen the strength of Angband, and thought not that it would fall to the sound of trumpets only. Therefore coming at length to Hithlum he made his first camp and dwelling by the northern shores of Lake Mithrim. No love was there in the hearts of those that followed Fingolfin for the House of Feanor, for the agony of those that endured the crossing of the Ice had been great, and Fingolfin held the sons the accomplices of their father. Then there was peril of strife between the hosts; but grievous as were their losses upon the road, the people of Fingolfin and of Finrod son of Finarfin were still more numerous than the followers of Feanor, and these now withdrew before them, and removed their dwelling to the southern shore; and the lake lay between them Many of Feanor's people indeed repented of the burning at Losgar, and were filled with amazement at the valour that had brought the friends whom they had abandoned over the Ice of the North; and they would have welcomed them, but they dared not, for shame. Thus because of the curse that lay upon them the Noldor achieved nothing, while Morgoth hesitated, and the dread of light was new and strong upon the Orcs But Morgoth arose from thought, and secing the division of his foes he laughed. In the pits of Angband he caused vast smokes and vapours to be made, and they came forth from the reeking tops of the Iron Mountains, and afar off they could be seen in Mithrim, staining the bright airs in the first mornings of the world. A wind came out of the east, and bore them over Hithlum, darkening the new Sun; and they fell, and coiled about the fields and hollows, and lay upon the waters of Mithrim, drear and poisonous. Then Fingon the valiant, son of Fingolfin, resolved to heal the feud that divided the Noldor, before their Enemy should be ready for wai; for the earth trembled in the Northlands with the thunder of the forges of Morgoth ·130 The Silmarillioni underground Long before, in the bliss of Valinor, beforc Melkor was unchained, or lics came between them, Fingon had been closc in friendship with Macdhros; and though hc knew not yet that Macdhros had not forgotten him at thc burning of the shups, the thought of their ancient friendship stung his heart. Therefore hc dared a deed which is justly renowned among the fcats of the princes of the Noldor. alone, and without thc counsel of any, he set forth in scarch of Macdhros; and aided by the very darkness that Morgoth had made he came unseen into the fastness of his focs High upon the shoulders of Thangorodrim hc climbed, and looked in despair upon the desolation of the land, but no passage or crevice could he find through which he might come within Morgoth's stronghold Then in defiance of the Orcs, who cowered still in the dark vaults beneath the carth, hic took his larp and sang a song of Valinor that the Noldor niade of old, before strife was born among the sons of Finwc; and his voice rang in the mournful hollows that had never heard before aught save cries of fear and woc Thus Fingon found what he sought. For suddenly above him far and faint his song was taken up, and a voice answering called to lum Macdhros it was that sang amid his torment. But Fingon climbed to the foot of the precipicc where his kinsman hung, and then could go no further; and lic wept when he saw the cruel device of Morgoth. Macdhros therefore, being in anguish without hope, begged Fingon to shoot him with his bow; and Fingon strung an arrow, and bent hus bow. And seeing no better hope he cried to Manwc, saying 'O King to whom all birds are dear, specd now this fcathered shaft, and recall some pity for the Noldor in their need! His prayer was answered swiftly For Manwe to whom all birds are dear, and to whom they bring news upon Taniquctil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of thc North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth; for Manwe still had pity for the exiled Elves And the Eagles brought news of much that passed in those days to the sad ears of Manwe Now, even as Fingon bent his bow, there flew down from the lugh airs ·Of the Return of the Noldor 131 Thorondor, King of Eagles, mightiest of all birds that have ever been, whose outstretched wings spanned thirty fathoms; and staying Fingon's hand he took him up, and bore him to the face of the rock where Maedhros hung. But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon his wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain, Maedhros begged that he would şlay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim. There Maedhros in time was healed; for the fire of life was hot within him, and his strength was of the ancient world, such as those possessed who were nurtured in Valinor. His body recovered from his torment and became hale, but the shadow of his pain was in his heart; and he lived to wield his sword with left hand more deadly than his right had been. By this deed Fingon won great renown, and all the Noldor praised him; and the hatred between the houses of Fingolfin and Feanor was assuaged. For Maedhros begged forgiveness for the desertion in Araman; and he waived his claim to kingship over all the Noldor, saying to Fingolfin: 'If there lay no grievance between us, lord, still the kingship would rightly come to you, the eldest here of the house of Finwė, and not the least wise.' But to this his brothers did not all in their hearts agree. Therefore even as Mandos foretold the House of Feanor were called the Dispossessed, because the overlordship passed from it, the elder, to the house of Fingolfin, both in Elende and in Beleriand, and because also of the loss of the Sılmarıls. But the Noldor being again united set a watch upon the borders of Dor Daedeloth, and Angband was beleaguered from west, and south, and east; and they sent forth messengers far and wide to explore the countries of Beleriand, and to treat with the people that dwelt there Now King Thingol welcomed not with a full heart the coming of so many princes in might out of the West, eager for new realms; and he would not open his kingdom, nor remove its girdle of enchantment, for wise with the wisdom of Melian die trusted not that the restraint of Morgoth would endure Alone of the princes of the Noldor those of 1 + Test ·132 The Silmarillion Finarſin's house were suffered to pass within the confines of Doriath; for they could claim close kinship with King Thingol himself, since their mother was Earwen of Alqualonde, Olwc's daughter Angrod son of Fınarfin was the first of the Exiles to come to Menegroth, as messenger of his brother Finrod, and he spoke long with the King, telling him of the deeds of the Noldor in the north, and of their numbers, and of the ordering of their force, but being true, and wisehearted, and thinking all griefs now forgiven, he spoke no word concerning the kinslaying, nor of the manner of the exile of the Noldor and the oath of Feanor. King Thingol hearkened to the words of Angrod, and ere he went he said to him: 'Thus shall you speak for me to those that sent you. In Hithlum the Noldor have leave to dwell, and in the highlands of Dorthonion, and in the lands east of Doriath that are empty and wild; but elsewhere there are many of my people, and I would not have them restrained of their freedom, still less ousted from their homes Beware therefore how you princes of the West bear yourselves, for I am the Lord of Beleriand, and all who seek to dwell there shall hear my word. Into Doriath none shall come to abide but only such as I call as guests, or who seek me in great need' Now the lords of the Noldor held council in Mithrim, and thuther came Angrod out of Doriath, bearing the message of King Thingol. Cold seemed its welcome to the Noldor, and the sons of Feanor were angered at the words, but Maedhros laughed, saying: 'A king is he that can hold his own, or else his title is vain Thingol does but grant us lands where his power does not run. Indeed Doriath alone would be his realm this day, but for the coming of the Noldor. Therefore in Doriath let him reign, and be glad that he has the sons of Finwe for his neighbours, not the Orcs of Morgoth that we found Elsewhere it shall go as seems good to us But Caranthir, who loved not the sons of Finarfin, and was the harshest of the brothers and the most quick to anger, cried aloud 'Yea more! Let not the sons of Finarfin run hither and thither with their tales to this Dark Elf in his cavesi Who made them our spokesmen to deal with him? > ·Of the Return of the Noldor 133 And though they be come indeed to Beleriand, let them not so swiftly forget that their father is a lord of the Noldor, though their mother be of other kin.' Then Angrod was wrathful and went forth from the council. Maedhros indeed rebuked Caranthir; but the greater part of the Noldor, of both followings, hearing his words were troubled in heart, fearing the fell spirit of the sons of Feanor that it seemed would ever be like to burst forth in rash word or violence. But Maedhros restrained his brothers, and they departed from the council, and soon afterwards thcy left Mithrim and went eastward beyond Aros to the wide lands about the Hill of Himring. That region was named thereafter the March of Maedhros; for northwards there was little defence of hill or river against assault from Angband. There Maedbros and his brothers kept watch, gathering all such people as would come to them, and they had few dealings with their kinsfolk westward, save at need. It is said indeed that Maedhros himself devised this plan, to lessen the chances of strife, and because he was very willing that the chief peril of assault should fall upon himself; and le remained for his part in friendship with the houses of Fingolfin and Finarfin, and would come among them at times for common counsel. Yet he also was bound by the oath, though it slept now for a time Now the people of Caranthir dwelt furthest east beyond the upper waters of Gelion, about Lake Helevorn under Mount Rerir and to the southward; and they climbed the heights of Ered Luin and looked eastward in wonder, for wild and wide it seemed to them were the lands of Middlecarth. And thus it was that Caranthir's people came upon the Dwarves, who after the onslaught of Morgoth and the coming of the Noldor had ceased their traffic into Beleriand But though either people loved skill and were eager to learn, no great love was there between them; for the Dwarves were sccret and quick to resentment, and Caranthir was haughty and scarce concealed his scorn for the unloveliness of the Naugrım, and his people followed their lord Nevertheless Since both peoples feared and hated Morgoth they made alliance, and had of it great profit; for the Naugrim learned ·134 The Silmarillion many secrets of craft in those days, so that the smiths and masons of Nogrod and Belegost became renowned among their kin, and when the Dwarves began again to journey into Beleriand all the traffic of the dwarf-mincs passed first through the hands of Caranthir, and thus great riches came to him. When twenty years of the Sun had passed, Fingolfin King of the Noldor made a great feast; and it was held in the spring near to the pools of Ivrin, whence the swift river Narog rose, for there the lands were green and fair at the feet of the Mountains of Shadow that shielded them from the north. The joy of that feast was long remembered in later days of sorrow; and it was called Mereth Aderthad, the Feast of Reuniting. Thither came many of the chieftains and people of Fingolfin and Finrod; and of the sons of Feanor Maedhros and Maglor, with warriors of the eastern March; and there came also great numbers of the Grey. elves, wanderers of the woods of Beleriand and folk of the Havens, with Círdan their lord. There came even Greenelves from Ossiriand, the Land of Seven Rivers, far off under the walls of the Blue Mountains; but out of Doriath there came but two messengers, Mablung and Daeron, bearing greetings from the King. At Mereth Aderthad many counsels were taken in good will, and oaths were sworn of league and friendship; and it is told that at this feast the tongue of the Grey-elves was most spoken even by the Noldor, for they learned swiftly the speech of Beleriand, whereas the Sindar were slow to master the tongue of Valinor. The hearts of the Noldor were high and full of hope, and to many among them it scemed that the words of Feanor had been justified, bidding them seek freedom and fair kingdoms in Middle-earth; and indeed there followed after long years of peace, while their swords fenced Beleriand from the ruin of Morgoth, and his power was shut behind his gates. In those days there was joy beneath the new Sun and Moon, and all the land was glad; but still the Shadow brooded in the north And when again thirty years had passed, Turgon son of ·Of the Return of the Noldor 135 Fingolfin left Nevrast where he dwelt and sought out Finrod Juis friend upon the island of Tol Sirion, and they journeyed southward along the river, being weary for a while of the northern mountains, and as they journeyed night came upon them beyond the Meres of Twilight beside the waters of Sirion, and they slept upon his banks beneath the summer stars But Ulmo coming up the river laid a deep sleep upon them and heavy dreams; and the trouble of the dreams remained after they awoke, but neither said aught to the other, for their memory was not clear, and each believed that Ulmo had sent a message to him alone. But unquiet was upon them ever after, and doubt of what should befall, and they wandered often alone in untrodden lands, seeking far and wide for places of hidden strength; for it seemed to each that he was bidden to prepare for a day of evil, and to establish a retreat, lest Morgoth should burst from Angband and overthrow the armies of the North. Now on a time Finrod and Galadriel his sister were the guests of Thingol their kinsman in Doriath Then Finrod was filled with wonder at the strength and majesty of Menegroth, its treasuries and armouries and its many-pillared halls of stone; and it came into his heart that he would build wide halls behind ever-guarded gates in some deep and secret place beneath the hills Therefore he opened his hcart to Thingol, telling him of his dreams; and Thingol spoke to him of the deep gorge of the River Narog, and the caves under the High Faroth in its steep western shore, and when he departed he gave him guides to lead him to that place of which few yet knew. Thus Finrod came to the Caverns of Narog, and began to establish there deep halls and armouries after the fashion of the mansions of Menegroth; and that stronghold was called Nargothrond In that labour Finrod was aided by the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, and they were rewarded well, for Finrod had brought more treasures out of Tirion than any other of the princes of the Noldor. And in that time was made for him the Nauglamír, the Necklace of the Dwarves, most renowned of their works in the Elder Days It was a carcanet of gold, and set therein were gems uncounted from Valinor, but it had a power ·136 The Silmarillion within it so that it rested lightly on its wearer as a strand of flax, and whatsoever neck it clasped it sat always with grace and loveliness. There in Nargothrond Finrod made his home with many of his people, and he was named in the tongue of the Dwarves Felagund, Hewer of Caves; and that name hc bore thereafter until his end. But Finrod Felagund was not thc first to dwell in the caves beside the River Narog. Galadriel his sister went not with him to Nargothrond, for in Doriath dwelt Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol, and there was great love between them. Therefore she remained in the Hidden Kingdom, and abode with Melian, and of her learned great lore and wisdom concerning Middle-earth. But Turgon remembered the city set upon a hill, Tirion the fair with its tower and tree, and he found not what he sought, but returned to Nevrast, and sat in peace in Vinyamar by the shores of the sea. And in the next year Ulmo himself appeared to him, and bade him go forth again alone into the Vale of Sirion; and Turgon went forth, and by the guidance of Ulmo he discovered the hidden vale of Tumladen in the Encircling Mountains, in the midst of which there was a hill of stone of this he spoke to none as yet, but returned once more to Nevrast, and there began in his secret counsels to devise the plan of a city after the manner of Tirion upon Túna, for which his heart yearned in exile Now Morgoth, believing the report of his spies that the lords of the Noldor were wandering abroad with little thought of war, made trial of the strength and watchfulness of his enemies. Once more, with little warning, his might was stirred, and suddenly there were earthquakes in the north, and fire came from fissures in the earth, and the Iron Mountains vomited flame; and Orcs poured forth across the plain of Ard-galen Thence they thrust down the Pass of Sirion in the west, and in the east they burst through the land of Maglor, in the gap between the hills of Maedhros and the outliers of the Blue Mountains. But Fingolfin and Maedhros were not sleeping, and while others sought out the scattered bands of Orcs that strayed in Beleriand and ·Of the Return of the Noldor 137 did great evil they came upon the main host from cither side as it was assaulting Dorthonion; and they defeated the servants of Morgoth, and pursuing them across Ard-galen destroyed them utterly, to the least and last, within sight of Angband's gates That was the thurd great battle of the Wars of Beleriand, and it was named Dagor Aglareb, the Glorious Battle. A victory it was, and yet a warning; and the princes took heed of it, and thereafter drew closer their leaguer, and strengthened and ordered their watch, setting the Siege of Angband, which lasted wellnigh four hundred years of the Sun For a long time after Dagor Aglareb no servant of Morgoth would venture from his gates, for they feared the lords of the Noldor; and Fingolfin boasted that save by treason among themselves Morgoth could never again burst from the leaguer of the Eldar, nor come upon them at unawares Yet the Noldor could not capture Angband, nor could they regain the Silmarıls, and war never wholly ceased in all that time of the Siege, for Morgoth devised now evils, and ever and anon he would make trial of his enemies Nor could the stronghold of Morgoth be ever wholly encircled; for the Iron Mountains, from whose great curving wall the towers of Thangorodrim were thrust forward, dcfended it upon either side, and were impassable to the Noldor, because of their snow and icc Thus in his rear and to the north Morgoth had no foes, and by that way his spies at times went out, and came by devious routes into Beleriand And desiring above all to sow fear and disunion among the Eldar, he commanded the Orcs to take alive any of them that they could and bring them bound to Angband, and some he so daunted by the terror of his eyes that they necded no chains more, but walked ever in fear of him, doing his will wherever they might be Thus Morgoth learned much of all that had befallen since the rebellion of Feanor, and he rejoiced, seeing therein the seed of many dissensions his foes. among When ncarly one hundred years had run since the Dagor Aglareb, Morgoth endeavoured to take Fingolfin at ·138 The Silmarillion unawares (for he knew of the vigilance of Macdhros); and he sent forth an army into the white north, and they turned west and again south and came down the coasts to the Firth of Drengist, by the route that Fingolfin followed from the Grinding Ice. Thus they would enter into the realm of Hithlum from the west; but they were espied in time, and Fingon fell upon them among the hills at the head of the Firth, and most of the Orcs were driven into the sca This was not reckoned among the great battles, for the Orcs were not in great number, and only a part of the people of Hithlum fought there But thereafter there was peace for many years, and no open assault from Angband, for Morgoth perceived now that the Orcs unaided were no match for the Noldor, and he sought in his heart for new counsel Again after a hundred years Glaurung, the first of the Urulóki, the fire-drakes of the North, issued from Angband's gates by night. He was yet young and scarce half-grown, for long and slow is the life of the dragons, but the Elves fled before him to Ered Wethrin and Dorthonion in dismay; and he defiled the fields of Ard-galen. Then Fingon prince of Hithlum rode against him with archers on horse-back, and hemmed him round with a ring of swift riders; and Glaurung could not endure their darts, being not yet come to his full armoury, and he fled back to Angband, and came not forth again for many years. Fingon won great praise, and the Noldor rejoiced; for few foresaw the full meaning and threat of this new thing But Morgoth was ill-pleased that Glaurung had disclosed himself oversoon, and after his defeat there was the Long Peace of wellnigh two hundred years In all that time there were but affrays on the marches, and all Beleriand prospered and grew rich. Behind the guard of their armies in the north the Noldor built their dwellings and their towers, and many fair things they made in those days, and poems and histories and books of lore In many parts of the land the Noldor and the Sındar became welded into one people, and spoke the same tongue, though this difference remained between them, that the Noldor had the greater power of mind and body, and were the mightier warriors and sages, and they built with stone, and loved the ·144 The Silmarillion But Fingolfin was held overlord of all the Noldor, and Fingon after him, though their own realm was but the northern land of Hithlum; yet their people were the most hardy and valiant, most feared by the Orcs and most hated by Morgoth. Upon the left hand of Sirion lay East Beleriand, at its widest a hundred leagues from Sirion to Gelion and the borders of Ossiriand; and first, between Sirion and Mindeb, lay the empty land of Dimbar under the peaks of the Crissaegrim, abode of eagles. Between Mindeb and the upper waters of Esgalduin lay the no-land of Nan Dungortheb; and that region was filled with fear, for upon its one side the power of Melian fenced the north march of Doriath, but upon the other side the sheer precipices of Ered Gorgoroth, Mountains of Terror, fell down from high Dorthonion. Thither, as was earlier told, Ungoliant had fled from the whips of the Balrogs, and there she dwelt a while, filling the ravines with her deadly gloom, and there still, when she had passed away, her foul offspring lurked and wove their evil nets; and the thin waters that spilled from Ered Gorgoroth were defiled, and perilous to drink, for the hearts of those that tasted them were filled with shadows of madness and despair. All living things else shunned that land, and the Noldor would pass through Nan Dungortheb only at great need, by paths near to the borders of Doriath and furthest from the haunted hills That way was made long before, in the time ere Morgoth returned to Middle-earth; and if one fared upon it he came eastwards to Esgalduin, where still there stood in the days of the Siege the stone bridge of Iant Taur. Thence he passed through Dor Dínen, the Silent Land, and crossing the Arossiach (which signifies the Fords of Aros) came to the north marches of Beleriand, where dwelt the sons of Feanor. Southward lay the guarded woods of Doriath, abode of Thingol the Hidden King, into whose realm none passed save by his will. Its northern and lesser part, the Forest of Neldoreth, was bounded east and south by the dark river Esgalduin, which bent westward in the midst of the land; and between Aros and Esgalduin lay the denser and greater ·Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin 187 Radhruin and Dairuin they were, Dagnir and Ragnor, Gildor and Gorlim the unhappy, Arthad and Urthel, and Hathaldır the young. Outlaws without hope they became, a desperate band that could not escape and would not yield, for their dwellings were destroyed, and their wives and children captured, slain, or fled. From Hithlum there came neither news nor help, and Baiahir and his men were hunted like wild beasts; and they retreated to the barren highland above the forest, and wandered among the tarns and rocky moors of that region, furthest from the spies and spells of Morgoth. Their bed was the heather and their roof the cloudy sky. For nigh on two years after the Dagor Bragollach thic Noldor still defended the western pass about the sources of Sirion, for the power of Ulmo was in that water, and Minas Tirith withstood the Orcs. But at length, after the fall of Fingolfin, Sauron, greatest and most terrible of the servants of Morgoth, who in the Sindarin tongue was named Gorthaur, came against Orodreth, the warden of the tower upon Tol Sirion. Sauron was become now a sorcerer of dreadful power, master of shadows and of phantoms, foul in wisdom, cruel in strength, misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled, lord of werewolves; his dominion was torment. He took Minas Tirith by assault, for a dark cloud of fear fell upon those that defended it; and Orodrcth was driven out, and fled to Nargothrond Then Sauron made it into a watchtower for Morgoth, a stronghold of evil, and a menace; and the fair isle of Tol Sirion became accursed, and it was called Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves. No living creature could pass through that vale that Sauron did not espy from the tower where he sat. And Morgoth held now the western pass, and his terror filled the fields and woods of Beleriand. Beyond Hithlum lie pursued his foes relentlessly, and he searched out their hiding-places and took their strongholds one by one. The Orcs growing Cier bolder wandered at will far and wide, coming down Sirion in the west and Cclon in the cast and thcy encompassed Doriath; and they larried the lands so that beast and ·ܢܩܝܫ ·Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin 189 Dwarves of the mountains than for the Elves. But Maedhros, knowing the weakness of the Noldor and the Edain, whereas the pits of Angband seemed to hold store inexhaustible and ever-renewed, made alliance with these new-come Men, and gave his friendship to the greatest of their chieftains, Bór and Ulfang. And Morgoth was well content, for this was as he had designed. The sons of Bór were Borlad, Borlach, and Borthand; and they followed Maedhros and Maglor, and cheated the hope of Morgoth, and were faithful. The sons of Ulfang the Black were Ulfast, and Ulwarth, and Uldor the accursed; and they followed Caranthir and swore allegiance to him, and proved faithless. There was small love between the Edain and the Easterlings, and they met seldom; for the newcomers abode long in East Beleriand, but Hador's folk were shut in Hithlum, and Beor's house was wellnigh destroyed. The People of Haleth were at first untouched by the northern war, for they dwelt to the southward in the Forest of Brethil; but now there was battle between them and the invading Orcs, for they were stout-hearted men and would not lightly forsake the woods that they loved. And amid the tale of defeats of that time the deeds of the Haladın are remembered with honour: for after the taking of Minas Tırith the Orcs came through the western pass, and maybe would have ravaged even to the mouths of Sirion; but Halmır lord of the Haladin sent swift word to Thingol, for he had friendship with the Elves that guarded the borders of Doriath Then Beleg Strongbow, chief of the marchwardens of Thingol, brought great strength of the Sindar armed with axes into Brethul; and issuing from the deeps of the forest Halmir and Beleg took an Orc-legion at unawares and destroyed it Thereafter the black tide out of the North was stemmed in that region, and the Orcs dared not cross the Teiglin for many years after. The People of Haleth dwelt yet in watchful peace in the Forest of Brethil, and behind their guard the Kingdom of Nargothrond had respite, and mustered its At this time Húrin and Huor, the sons of Galdor of Dorlómin, were dwelling with the Haladin, for they were akin. strength.

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·others guessed at the truth; and in timc the strange fortunc of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin 191 Húrin said to Turgon: 'Lord, we are but mortal Men, and unlike the Eldar. They may endure for long years awaiting battle with their enemies in some far distant day; but for us the time is short, and our hope and strength soon wither. Moreover we did not find the road to Gondolin, and indeed we do not know surely where this city stands; for we were brought in fear and wonder by the high ways of the air, and in mercy our eyes were veiled.' Then Turgon granted his prayer, and he said: 'By the way that you came you have leave to depart. if Thorondor is willing. I grieve at this parting; yet in a little while, as the Eldar account it, we may meet again.' But Maeglin, the King's sister-son, who was mighty in Gondolin, grieved not at all at their going, though he begrudged them the favour of the King, for he had no love for any of the kindred of Men; and he said to Húrin: 'The King's grace is greater than you know, and the law is become less stern than aforetime; or else no choice would be given you but to abide here to your life's end.' Then Húrin answered him: "The King's grace is great indeed; but if our word is not enough, then we will swear oaths to you.' And the brothers swore never to reveal the counsels of Turgon, and to keep secret all that they had seen in his realm. Then they took their leave, and the eagles coming bore them away by night, and set them down in Dorlómin before the dawn. Their kinsfolk rejoiced to see them, for messengers from Brethil had reported that they were lost; but they would not declare even to their father where they had been, save that they were rescued in the wilderness by the eagles that brought them home But Galdor said: you then dwell a year in the wild? Or did the cagles house you in their eyries? But you found food and fine raiment, and return as young princes, not as waifs of the Wood.' And Húrin answered: 'Be content that we have rcturned; for only under an oath of silence was this permitted.' Then Galdor questioned them no more, but he and many of Húrin and Huor reached the cars of the scrvants of 'Did Morgoth.

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·Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin 191 Húrin said to Turgon: 'Lord, we are but mortal Men, and unlike the Eldar. They may endure for long years awaiting battle with their enemies in some far distant day; but for us the time is short, and our hope and strength soon wither. Moreover we did not find the road to Gondolin, and indeed we do not know surely where this city stands; for we were brought in fear and wonder by the high ways of the air, and in mercy our eyes were veiled.' Then Turgon granted his prayer, and he said: 'By the way that you came you have leave to depart, if Thorondor is willing. I grieve at this parting; yet in a little while, as the Eldar account it, we may meet again.' But Maeglin, the King's sister-son, who was mighty in Gondolin, grieved not at all at their going, though he bcgrudged them the favour of the King, for he had no love for any of the kindred of Men; and he said to Húrin: "The King's grace is greater than you know, and the law is become less stern than aforetime; or else no choice would be given you but to abide here to your life's end.' Then Húrin answered him: 'The King's grace is great indeed; but if our word is not enough, then we will swear oaths to you.' And the brothers swore never to reveal the counsels of Turgon, and to keep secret all that they had scen in his realm. Then they took their Icave, and the cagles coming bore them away by night, and set them down in Dorlómin before the dawn. Their kinsfolk rejoiced to see them, for messengers from Brethil had reported that they were lost; but they would not declare even to their father where they had been, save that they were rescued in the wilderness by the cagles that brought them home. But Galdor said: 'Did you then dwell a year in the wild? Or did the eagles house you in their eyrics? But you found food and fine raiment, and return as young princes, not as waifs of the wood.' And Húrin answered: 'Be content that we have returned; for only under an oath of silence was this permitted." Then Galdor questioned them no more, but he and many Others guessed at the truth; and in time the strange fortune of Húrin and Huor reached the cars of the scrvants of Morgoth.

·192 The Silmarillion Now when Turgon learned of the breaking of the leaguer of Angband he would not suffer any of his own people to issue forth to war; for he deemed that Gondolin was strong, and the time not yet ripe for its revealing. But he believed also that the ending of the Siege was the beginning of the downfall of the Noldor, unless aid should come; and he sent companies of the Gondolındrim in secret to the mouths of Sirion and the Isle of Balar. There they built ships, and set sail into the uttermost West upon Turgon's errand, seeking for Valinor, to ask for pardon and aid of the Valar; and they besought the birds of the sea to guide them. But the seas were wild and wide, and shadow and enchantment lay upon them; and Valinor was hidden. Therefore none of the messengers of Turgon came into the West, and many were lost and few returned, but the doom of Gondolin drew nearer. Rumour came to Morgoth of these things, and he was unquiet amid his victories, and he desired greatly to learn tidings of Felagund and Turgon. For they had vanished out of knowledge, and yet were not dead; and he feared what they might yet accomplish against him. Of Nargothrond he knew indeed the name, but neither its place nor its strength; and of Gondolin he knew nothing, and the thought of Turgon troubled him the more. Therefore he sent forth ever more spies into Beleriand; but he recalled the main hosts of the Orcs to Angband, for he perceived that he could not yet make a final and victorious battle until he had gathered new strength, and that he had not measured rightly the valour of the Noldor nor the might in arms of the Men thạt fought beside them. Great though his victory had been in the Bragollach and in the years after, and grievous the harm that he had done to his enemies, his own loss had been no less; and though he held Dorthonion and the Pass of Sirion, the Eldar recovering from their first dismay began now to regain what they had lost. Thus Beleriand in the south had a semblance of peace again for a few brief years; but the forges of Angband were full of labour. When seven years had passed since the Fourth Battle, Morgoth renewed his assault, and he sent a great force } ·of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin 193 against Hithlum. The attack on the passes of the Shadowy Mountains was bitter, and in the siege of Eithel Sirion Galdor the tall, Lord of Dor-lómin, was slain by an arrow. That fortress he held on behalf of Fingon the High King; and in that same place his father Hador Lórindol died but a littic time before. Húrin his son was then newly come to manhood, but he was great in strength both of mind and body; and he drove the Orcs with heavy slaughter from Ered Wethrin, and pursued them far across the sands of Anſauglith. But King Fingon was hard put to it to hold back the army of Angband that came down from the north; and battle was joined upon the very plains of Hithlum. There Fingon was outnumbered; but the ships of Círdan sailed in great strength up the Firth of Drengist, and in the hour of need thic Elves of the Falas came upon the host of Morgoth from the west. Then the Orcs brokc and fied, and the Eldar had the victory, and their horsed archers pursued them cven into the Iron Mountains. Thereafter Húrin son of Galdor ruled the house of Hador in Dor-lómin, and served Fingon Húrin was of less staturo than luis fathers, or his son after him; but he was tireless and cnduring in body, lithe and swift after the manner of his mother's kin, Hareth of the Haladin. His wife was Morwen Eledhn cn, daughter of Baragund of the house of Bcor, shc who fled from Dorthonion with Rían daughter of Bclcgund and Emcidir the mother of Beren. In that time also the outlaws of Dorthonion were des. troyed, as is told hereafter; and Beren son of Baralir alone escaping came hardly into Doriath.