I.
PROSE FRAGMENTS
FOLLOWING THE LOST TALES.
Before giving the 'Sketch of the Mythology', the earliest form
of the prose 'Silmarillion', there are some brief prose texts that
can be conveniently collected here.
(i).
Among loose papers there is an early piece, soon abandoned,
entitled Turlin and the Exiles of Gondolin. It will be seen that
it relates closely to the beginning of the tale of The Fall of
Gondolin (II. 149) but at the same time contains much that is
new. That it was the beginning of a later version of the tale is
clear at once from the name Mithrim, for this only replaced
Asgon by emendation in the final text of The Fall of Gondolin
(II. 202). This brief text reads as follows. At the first three oc-
currences of the name Turlin in the narrative (but not in the ti-
tle) it was emended to Turgon; at the fourth and fifth Turgon
was so written from the first. I give Turgon throughout.
'Then' said Ilfiniol son of Bronweg 'know that Ulmo
Lord of Waters forgot never the sorrows of the Elfin kin-
dreds beneath the power of Melko, but he might do little
because of the anger of the other Gods who shut their
hearts against the race of the Gnomes, and dwelt behind the
veiled hills of Valinor heedless of the Outer World, so deep
was their ruth and regret for the death of the Two Trees.
Nor did any save Ulmo only dread the power of Melko that
wrought ruin and sorrow over all the Earth; but Ulmo de-
sired that Valinor should gather all its might to quench his
evil ere it be too late, and him seemed that both purposes
might perchance be achieved if messengers from the
Gnomes should win to Valinor and plead for pardon and for
pity upon the Earth; for the love of Palurien and Orome her
son for those wide realms did but slumber still. Yet hard
and evil was the road from the Outer Earth to Valinor, and
the Gods themselves had meshed the ways with magic and
veiled the encircling hills. Thus did Ulmo seek unceasingly
to stir the Gnomes to send messengers unto Valinor, but
Melko was cunning and very deep in wisdom, and unsleep-
ing was his wariness in all things that touched the Elfin
kindreds, and their messengers overcame not the perils and
temptations of that longest and most evil of all roads, and
many that dared to set forth were lost for ever.
Now tells the tale how Ulmo despaired that any of the
Elfin race should surpass the dangers of the way, and of
the deepest and the latest design that he then fashioned, and
of those things which came of it.
In those days the greater part of the kindreds of Men
dwelt after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears in that land of
the North that has many names, but which the Elves of Kor
have named Hisilome which is the Twilit Mist, and the
Gnomes, who of the Elf-kin know it best, Dor-Lomin the
Land of Shadows. A people mighty in numbers were there,
dwelling about the wide pale waters of Mithrim the great
lake that lies in those regions, and other folk named them
Tunglin or folk of the Harp, for their joy was in the wild
music and minstrelsy of the fells and woodlands, but they
knew not and sang not of the sea. Now this folk came into
those places after the dread battle, being too late summoned
thither from afar, and they bore no stain of treachery
against the Elfin kin; but indeed many among them clung
to such friendship with the hidden Gnomes of the moun-
tains and Dark Elves as might be still for the sorrow and
mistrust born of those ruinous deeds in the Vale of Niniach.
Turgon was a man of that folk, son of Peleg, son of Indor,
son of [Ear >] Fengel who was their chief and hearing the
summons had marched out of the deeps of the East with all
his folk. But Turgon dwelt not much with his kindred, and
loved rather solitude and the friendship of the Elves whose
tongues he knew, and he wandered alone about the long
shores of Mithrim, now hunting in its woods, now making
sudden music in the rocks upon his rugged harp of wood
strung with the sinews of bears. But he sang not for the
ears of Men, and many hearing the power of his rough
songs came from afar to hearken to his harping; [?but]
Turgon left his singing and departed to lonely places in the
mountains.
Many strange things he learned there, broken tidings of
far off things, and longing came upon him for deeper lore,
but as yet his heart turned not from the long shores, and the
pale waters of Mithrim in the mists. Yet was he not fated
to dwell for ever in those places, for 'tis said that magic
and destiny led him on a day to a cavernous opening in the
rocks down which a hidden river flowed from Mithrim.
And Turgon entered that cavern seeking to learn its secret,
but having entered the waters of Mithrim drave him for-
ward into the heart of the rock and he might not win back
into the light. This men have said was not without the will
of Ulmo, at whose prompting may be the Gnomes had
fashioned that deep and hidden way. Then came the
Gnomes to Turgon and guided him along the dark passages
amid the mountains until he came out once more into the
light.
The text ends here (though manuscript pages written at the
same time continue on another subject, see (ii) below).
Turlin must have been a passing shift from Tuor (cf. the form
Tur that appears in texts of The Fall of Gondolin, II. 148), and
Turgon likewise; in the Tale Turgon is of course the name of the
King of Gondolin. This curious passing transference of a pri-
mary name in the legends may be compared with the brief sub-
stitution of Celegorm for Thingol and Maglor for Beren in the
Lay of Leithian (III. 159).
Particularly interesting is the account here of the origins of
Tuor's people: they came out of the East to the Battle of Un-
numbered Tears, but they came too late. This can hardly be
wholly unconnected with the coming of the Easterlings before
the battle in the later story. The genealogy of Tuor (Turlin,
Turgon) is here 'son of Peleg son of Indor son of Fengel'. In
The Fall of Gondolin he is 'son of Peleg son of Indor'
(II. 160); in the fragment of the Lay of the Fall of Gondolin he
is the son of Fengel, and in associated notes Tuor is himself
called Fengel (III. 145). His people are here the Tunglin, the
folk of the Harp, whereas in The Fall of Gondolin (ibid.) he
belongs to 'the house of the Swan of the sons of the Men of
the North'.
Also noteworthy is the opening of the present text where
Ulmo's desires and devisings ate described: his unceasing at-
tempts to persuade the Gnomes to send messengers to Valinor,
his isolation from the other Valar, his wish that the power of
Valinor should go against Melko in time. There does not ap-
pear to Le any other mention of Ulmo's attempting to arouse
the Gnomes to send messages to Valinor; and though his iso-
lation in his pity for the Gnomes in the Great Lands appears
strongly at the beginning of the tale of The Hiding of Valinor
g. 209), there Manwe and Varda beside Ulmo were opposed to
the withdrawal of Valinor from the fate of 'the world'.
Lastly, 'the Vale of Niniach' must be the site of the Battle
of Unnumbered Tears; cf. 'the Vale (Valley) of Weeping Wa-
ters' in the outlines for Gilfanon's Tale (I.230-40). Niniach
never occurs again in this application, though the way by
which Tuor went down to the sea came to be called Cirith
Ninniach, the Rainbow Cleft.
(ii).
The manuscript Turlin and the Exiles of Gondolin continues
(the paper and the handwriting are identical, and all were
placed together) with a further text of great interest, since it
represents the first step towards the later story of the coming
of the Noldor to Middle-earth since the outlines for Gilfanon's
Tale g. 237 ff.). This was hastily pencilled and is in places dif-
ficult to make out.
Then Gelmir king of the Gnomes marshalled his un-
happy folk and he said to them: 'We am come at last to the
Great Lands and have set our feet upon the Earth, and not
even Elf-wisdom may yet say what shall come of it; but the
torment and the pain and the tears that we have borne in
the way hither shall be sung in song and told in tale by all
the folk of the Elfin race hereafter; yea and even among
other children of Ior shall some remember it.'
Long time did the Gnome-folk dwell nigh those west-
ward shores in the northern regions of the Earth; and their
anguish was lessened. Some were there that fared far afield
and gained knowledge of the lands about, and they sought
ever to know whither Melko had fled, or where was hidden
the gems and treasury of Valinor. [Struck out: Then did
Gelmir marshal his hosts and three great armies had he, and
Golfin his son was captain of the one, and Delin his son of
a second, [Oleg >] Luthien his son of the third, but Gelmir
was lord and king.] Thereafter did all the folk move onward
to the East and somewhat South, and all the armies of
Golfin and of Delin moved ahead unhampered. Now the ice
melted, and the snow [?thinned], and the trees grew deep
upon the hills, and their hearts knew comfort, till their
harps and elfin pipes awoke once more. Then did the rocks
ring with the sweet music of the Elves, and countless
[?coming] of their many feet; new flowers sprang behind
those armies as they trod, for the earth was glad of the
coming of the Gnomes, nor had the sun or the white moon
yet seen fairer things in those places than their moving field
of glinting spears and their goldwrought elfin armoury. But
the women and the Gnome-maids and Gnome-children sang
as they journeyed after, and no such clear song of hope
have the lands heard since, yet was it sad and boding be-
side that singing that was heard upon [Kor >] the hill of
Tun while the Two Trees blossomed still.
Of all those scouts and scattered hosts that went far
ahead or upon either side of the marching Gnomes none
were more eager or burnt with greater fire than Feanor the
gem-smith and his seven sons; but nothing did they dis-
cover yet, and came the Gnomes at length unto that magic
northern land of which tales often speak, and by reason of
its dark woods and grey mountains and its deep mists the
Gnomes named Dor Lomin land of shadows. There lies a
lake, Mithrim whose mighty waters reflect a pale image of
the encircling hills. Here did the Gnomes rest once more a
great while, and Gelmir let build dwellings for the folk
about the shores and shoreland woods, but there too be
numbered and marshalled all his hosts both of spearmen,
and bowmen, and of swordsmen, for no lack of arms did
the Gnomes bring out of Valinor and the armouries of
Makar to their war with Melko. And three great armies had
Gelmir under his lordship, and Golfin his son was captain
of one, and Delin his son of another, and Luthien (not that
Luthien of the Roses who is of another and a later tale) of
a third; and Golfin's might was in swordsmen, and Delin
had more of those who bore the long... elfin spears, but
Luthien's joy was in the number and... of his bowmen -
and the bow has ever been the weapon wherein the Elf-kin
has had the most wondrous skill. Now the colours of the
Gnomes were gold and white in those ancient days in mem-
ory of the Two Trees, but Gelmir's standard bore upon a
silver field a crown of gold, and each captain had a fair
banner; and the sign of Golfin in those days was upon gold
a silver sword, and of Delin a green beech leaf upon silver
diapered with golden flowers, and of Luthien a golden
swallow that winged through an azure field as it were the
sky set with silver stars, and the sons of Feanor wrought
that standard and those banners, and they shone by sunlight
and by mist and by moonlight and by starless dark by the
light of the Gnome-wrought gems that sewed them [sic].
Now it happened on a while that Feanor got him beyond
to the hills that girt Dor Lomin in those parts [northward
of >] beyond Artanor where these were open empty lands
and treeless hills, and he had no small company and three
of his sons were with him. Thus came they on a day nigh
evening to a hilltop, and afar off descried a red light leaping
in a vale open on that side that looked towards [?them].
Then Feanor wondered what this fire might be, and he and
his folk marched in the still night swiftly thereto, so that ere
dawn they looked down into that vale. There saw they an
armed company no less than their own, and they sat around
a mighty fire of wood. The most were asleep, but some few
stirred, and Feanor stood then up and called in his clear
voice so that the dark vale rang: 'Who be ye; men of the
Gnomes or other what - say swiftly for 'tis best for [you to]
know the children of Feanor compass you around.'
Then a great clamour broke forth in the vale and the folk
of Feanor knew full soon that here were no elfin folk, by
reason of their harsh voices and unlovely cries, and many
arrows came winging in the dark towards that voice, but
Feanor was no longer there. Swiftly had he gone and drawn
the most of his folk before the vale's mouth whence a
stream issued forlh tree-hung
Here the text ends abruptly and near the top of a new page;
it is clear that no more was written.
The Noldorin house has still not emerged, but we have a
king Gelmir of the Gnomes, with his sons Golfin, Delin,
Luthien (the last emended from Oleg), captains of his three ar-
mies. There is no suggestion that Feanor and his sons were as-
sociated with these in any sort of close kinship. In the
fragment of the Lay of the Fall of Gondolin (see III. 146-7)
there appears - for the first time - Fingolfin, who steps into
Finwe Noleme's place as the father of Turgon and Isfin, but is
not the son of Finwe, rather of Gelmir. I have suggested there
that this Gelmir, father of Golfin/Fingolfin, is to be identified
with Finwe, father of Fingolfin in the alliterative poems and
later; and it may be that the name Gelmir is formally con-
nected with Fin-golma, which in the outlines-for Gilfanon's
Tale is another name for Finwe Noleme g. 238-9, and see
I. 263, entry Noleme). It is to be remembered that Finwe
Noleme was not in the earliest legend the father of Feanor and
was not slain by Melko in Valinor, but came to the Great
Lands. - Of the other sons of Gelmir named in the present
text, Delin and Luthien, there is no trace elsewhere.
It is certainly clear that Golfin here is the first appearaace of
Fingolfin, and by the same token that this text preceded the
abandoned beginning of the Lay of the Fall of Gondolin. On
the other hand, the obscure story of the death of Feanor in the
earliest outlines g. 238 - 9) has disappeared, and though the
present text breaks off too soon for certainty it seems ex-
tremely probable that, had my father continued it a little fur-
ther, we should have learned of Feanor's death in battle with
the Orcs whom he and his companions had aroused in the val-
ley where they were encamped It may be, too, that we should
have had an explanation of the puzzling lines of the Lay
(III. 146):
'Twas the bent blades of the Glamhoth that drank
Fiagolfin's life as he stood alone by Feanor.
We are in any case here still a long way from the story of the
divided hosts and the treachery of Feanor.
The encampment of Mithrim (Asgon) is refened to already
in the early outlines, but in the later of these there is mention
g. 239) of the first devising of weapons by the Gnomes at this
time, whereas in the present text they are said to have brought
great store of arms 'out of Valinor and the armouries of
Makar'. Here also appears the earliest form of the idea of the
flowers springing beneath the marching feet of the Gnomish
host.
A characteristic heraldry appears in the armies led by
Gelmir's sons, all in gold and silver, in memory of the Two
Trees - the banners made (curiously enough) by the sons of
Feanor. In the 'Sketch of the Mythology' the banners of
Fingolfin were in blue and silver, as they remained (p. 24).
The name Ior, which occurs at the beginning of the text in
the expression 'among other children of Ior' (as opposed to
'the Elfin race') and seems therefore to refer to Iluvatar,' occurs
elsewhere only in a quite different reference: it is given in the
early Gnomish dictionary as the equivalent of Qenya Ivare,
'the famous "piper of the sea" '.
(iii).
Thirdly and lastly, an isolated slip of paper contains a most cu-
rious trace of a stage in development between The Flight of the
Noldoli in the Lost Tales and the 'Sketch of the Mythology'.
The Trees stand dark. The Plain is full of trouble. The
Gnomes gather by torchlight in Tun or Cor; Feanor laments
Buithwir (Felegron) [emended to (Feleor)] his father, bids
Gnomes depart & seek Melko and their treasures - he longs
for the Silmarils - Finweg & Fingolfin speak against him.
The Gnomes shout and prepare to depart. The Solosimpi
refuse: the wise words of Ethlon (Dimlint). Foamriders
[?beaches]. The threats of Feanor to march to Cu nan Eilch.
The arch, the lamplit quays; they seize the boats. One
Gilfanon sees his mighty swanwinged swan-feather boat
with md.oars [?going] & he k his sons run to the arch and
threaten the Gnomes. The fight on the arch & Gilfanon's
[?curse] ere they throw him into the waves. The Gnomes
reach Fangros k repent - burn the boats.
Here Bruithwir (with the additional name Felegron > Feleor)
is still the father of Feanor as in the Lost Tales; but Fingolfin
and Finweg have emerged, and speak against Feanor (it is not
clear whether Finwegh ere is Fingolfin's father ( Finwe) or
Fingolfin's son (later Fingon): see IIL 137 - 8, 146). Narrative
features that were never taken up in the later development of
'The Silmarillion' here make their only appearance. What lay
behind 'the wise words of Ethlon (Dimlint)' and 'the threats of
Feanor to march to Cu nan Eilch' has now vanished without
trace. The name Fangros appears once elsewhere, in the allit-
erative Children of Hurin, III. 31 line 631 (earlier Fangair),
where there is a reference to a song, or songs, being sung
of the fight at Fangros, and Feanor's sons'
oath unbreakable
(the fight and the oath need not be in any way connected). But
whatever happened at Fangros is lost beyond recall; and no-
where later is there any suggestion that the burning of the ships
arose from repentance. In the Lost Tales g. 168) the Gnomes
'abandoned their stolen ships' when they made the passage of
the Ice; Sorontur reported to Manwe (I. 177) that he had seen
'a fleet of white ships that drifted empty in the gales, and some
were burning with bright fires', and Manwe 'knew thereby that
the Noldoli were gone for ever and their ships burned or aban-
doned'.
Lastly, Gilfanon appears as an Elf of Alqualonde, one of
those hurled by the Gnomes into the sea, though it is not said
that he was drowned. Gilfanon of Tavrobel was a Gnome
g. 174-5); and it seems virtually certain that the two Gilfanons
were not the same. In that case it is most probable that the Elf
of Tavrobel had ceased to be so named; though he had not, as
I think, ceased to exist (see pp. 325-326).
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