The Book of Lost Tales 2 (The History of Middle-Earth #2)

The Book of Lost Tales 2 (The History of Middle-Earth #2) Page 25

VI.

THE HISTORY OF ERIOL OR AEFWINE AND THE END OF THE TALES. In this final chapter we come to the most difficult (though not, as I hope to show, altogether insoluble) part of the earliest form of the mythology: its end, with which is intertwined the story of Eriol/AElfwine -- and with that, the history and original significance of Tol Eressea. For its eluci- dation we have some short pieces of connected narrative, but are largely dependent on the same materials as those that constitute Cilfanon's Tale and the story of Earendel: scribbled plot-outlines, endlessly varying, written on separate slips of paper or in the pages of the little notebook 'C' (see p. 254). In this chapter there is much material to consider, and for convenience of reference within the chapter I number the various citations consecutively. But it must be said that no device of presentation can much diminish the inherent complexity and obscurity of the matter.

The fullest account (bald as it is) of the March of the Elves of Kor and the events that followed is contained in notebook C, continuing on from - the point where I left that outline on p. 255, after the coming of the birds from Gondolin, the 'counsels of the Gods and uproar of the Elves', and the 'March of the Inwir and Teleri', with the Solosimpi only agreeing to accompany the expedition on condition that they remain by the sea. The outline continues: (1) Coming of the Eldar. Encampment in the Land of Willows of first host. Overwhelming of Noldorin and Valwe. Wanderings of Noldorin with his harp. Tulkas overthrows Melko in the battle of the Silent Pools. Bound in Lumbi and guarded by Gorgumoth the hound of Mandos. Release of the Noldoli. War with Men as soon as Tulkas and: Noldorin have fared back to Valinor. Noldoli led to Valinor by Egalmoth and Galdor. There have been previous references in the Lost Tales to a battle in Tasarinan, the Land of Willows: in the Tale of Turambar (pp. 70, 140), and, most notably, in The Fall of Condolin (p. 154), where when Tuor's sojourn in that land is described there is mention of events that would take place there in the future:

Did not even after the days of Tuor Noldorin and his Eldar come there seeking for Dor Lomin and the hidden river and the caverns of the Gnomes' imprisonment; yet thus nigh to their quest's end were like to abandon it? Indeed sleeping and dancing here... they were whelmed by the goblins sped by Melko from the Hills of Iron and Noldorin made bare escape thence. Valwe has been mentioned once before, by Lindo, on Eriol's first evening in Mar Vanwa Tyalieva (I. 16): 'My father Valwe who went with Noldorin to find the Gnomes.' Of Noldorin we know also that he was the Vala Salmar, the twin-brother of Omar-Amillo; that he entered the world with Ulmo, and that in Valinor he played the harp and lyre and loved the Noldoli (1.66, 75, 93, 126). An isolated note states: {2) Noldorin escapes from the defeat of the Land of Willows and takes his harp and goes seeking in the Iron Mountains for Valwe and the Gnomes until he finds their place of imprisonment. Tulkas follows. Melko comes to meet him. The only one of the great Valar who is mentioned in these notes as taking part in the expedition to the Great Lands is Tulkas; but whatever story underlay his presence, despite the anger and sorrow of the.

Valar at the March of the Elves (see p. 257), is quite irrecoverable. (A very faint hint concerning it is found in two isolated notes: 'Tulkas gives -- or the Elves take limpe with them', and 'Limpe' given by the Gods (Orome? Tulkas?) when Elves left Valinor', cf. The Flight of the Noldoli (I. 166): 'no limpe had they [the Noldoli] as yet to bring away, for that was not given to the fairies until long after, when the March of Liberation was undertaken'.) According to (1) above Tulkas fought with and overthrew Melko 'in the battle of the Silent Pools', and the Silent Pools are the Pools of Twilight, 'where Tulkas after fought with Melko's self' {The Fall of Condolin, p. 195; the original reading here was 'Noldorin and Tulkas'). The name Lumbi is found elsewhere (in a list of names associated with the tale of The Coming of the Valar, I. 93), where it is said to be Melko's third dwelling; and a jotting in notebook C, sufficiently mysterious, reads: 'Lumfad. Melko's dwelling after release. Castle of Lumbi.' But this story also is lost. That the Noldoli were led back to Valinor by Egalmoth and Galdor, as stated in (1), is notable.

This is contradicted in detail by a statement in the Name-list to The Fall of Condolin, which says (p. 215) that Egalmoth was slain in the raid on the dwelling at the mouth of Sirion when Elwing was taken; and contradicted in general by the next citation to be given, which denies that the Elves were permitted to dwell in Valinor. The only other statement concerning these events is found in the first of the four outlines that constitute Gilfanon's Tale, which I there called 'A' (I. 234). This reads: (3) March of the Elves out into the world. The capture of Noldorin. The camp in the Land of Willows. Army of Tulkas at the Pools of Twilight...... .. and [?many] Gnomes, but Men fall on them out of Hisilome. Defeat of Melko. Breaking of Angamandi and release of captives. Hostility of Men. The Gnomes collect some of the jewels. Elwing and most of the Elves go back to dwell in Tol Eressea. The Gods will not let them dwell in Valinor. This seems to differ from (1) in the capture of Noldorin and in the attack of Men from Hisilome before the defeat of Melko; but the most notable statement is that concerning the refusal of the Gods to allow the Elves to dwell in Valinor. There is no reason to think that this ban rested only, or chiefly, on the Noldoli. The text, (3), does not refer specifically to the Gnomes in this connection; and the ban is surely to be related to 'the sorrow and wrath of the Gods' at the time of the March of the Elves (p. 253).

Further, it is said in The Cottage of Lost Play (I. 16) that Ingil son of Inwe returned to Tol Eressea with 'most of the fairest and the wisest, most of the merriest and the kindest, of all the Eldar', and that the town that he built there was named 'Koromas or "the Resting of the Exiles of Kor".' This is quite clearly to be connected with the statement in (3) that 'Most of the Elves go back to dwell in Tol Eressea', and with that given on p. 255: The wars with Men and the departure to Tol Eressea (the Eldar unable to endure the strife of the world)'. These indications taken together leave no doubt, I think, that my father's original conception was of the Eldar of Valinor undertaking the expedition into the Great Lands against the will of the Valar; together with the rescued Noldoli they returned over the Ocean, but being refused re-entry into Valinor they settled in Tol Eressea, as 'the Exiles of Kor'.

That some did return in the end to Valinor may be concluded from the words of Meril-i-Turinqi (I. xag) that Ingil, who built Kortirion, 'went long ago back to Valinor and is with Manwe'. But Tol Eressea remained the land of the fairies in the early conception, the Exiles of Kor, Eldar and Gnomes, speaking both Eldarissa and Noldorissa. It seems that there is nothing else to be found or said concerning the original story of the coming of aid out of the West and the renewed assault on Melko. * The conclusion of the whole story as originally envisaged was to be rejected in its entirety. For it we are very largely dependent on the outline in notebook C, continuing on from citation (1) above; this is extremely rough and disjointed, and is given here in a very slightly edited form. (4) After the departure of Earendel and the coming of the Elves to Tol Eressea (and most of this belongs to the history of Men) great ages elapse; Men spread and thrive, and the Elves of the Great Lands fade.

As Men's stature grows theirs diminishes. Men and Elves were formerly of a size, though Men always larger.' Melko again breaks away, by the aid of Tevildo (who in long ages gnaws his bonds); the Gods are in dissension about Men and Elves, some favouring the one and some the other. Melko goes to Tol Eressea and tries to stir up dissension among the Elves (between Gnomes and Solosimpi), who are in consternation and send to Valinor. No help comes, but Tulkas sends privily Telimektar (Taimonto) his son.~ Telimektar of the silver sword and Ingil surprise Melko and wound him, and he flees and climbs up the great Pine of Tavrobel. Before the Inwir left Valinor Belaurin (Palurien)~ gave them a seed, and said that it must be guarded, for great tidings would one day come of its growth. But it was forgotten, and cast in the garden of Gilfanon, and a mighty pine arose that reached to Ilwe and the stars.'

Telimektar and Ingil pursue him, and they remain now in the sky to ward it, and Melko stalks high above the air seeking ever to do a hurt to the Sun and Moon and stars (eclipses, meteors). He is continually frustrated, but on his first attempt -- saying that the Gods stole his fire for its making -- he upset the Sun, so that Urwendi fell into the Sea, and the Ship fell near the ground, scorching regions of the Earth. The clarity of the Sun's radiance has not been so great since, and something of magic has gone from it.

Hence it is, and long has been, that the fairies dance and sing more sweetly and can the better be seen by the light of the Moon -- because of the death of Urwendi. The 'Rekindling of the Magic Sun' refers in part to the Trees and in part to Urwendi. Fionwe's rage and grief. In the end he will slay Melko. 'Orion' is only the image of Telimektar in the sky? [sic] Varda gave him stars, and he bears them aloft that the Gods may know he watches; he has diamonds on his sword-sheath, and this will go red when he draws his sword at the Great End. But now Telimektar, and Gil~ who follows him like a Blue Bee, ward off evil, and Varda immediately replaces any stars that Melko loosens and casts down. Although grieved at the Gods' behest, the Pine is cut down; and Melko is thus now out of the world -- but one day he will find a way back, and the last great uproars will begin before the Great End.

The evils that still happen come about in this wise. The Gods can cause things to enter the hearts of Men, but not of Elves (hence their difficult dealings in the old days of the Exile of the Gnomes) and though Melko sits without, gnawing his fingers and gazing in anger on the world, he can suggest evil to Men so inclined -- but the lies he planted of old still grow and spread. Hence Melko can now work hurt and damage and evil in the world only through Men, and he has more power and subtlety with Men than Manwe or any of the Gods, because of his long sojourn in the world and among Men. In these early chartings we are in a primitive mythology, with Melko reduced to a grotesque figure chased up a great pine-tree, which is thereupon cut down to keep him out of the world, where he 'stalks high above the air' or 'sits without, gnawing his fingers', and upsets the Sun-ship so that Urwendi falls into the Sea -- and, most strangely, meets her death.

That Ingil (Gil) who with Telimektar pursues Melko is to be identified with Ingil son of Inwe who built Kortirion is certain and appears from several notes; see the Appendix on Names to Vol. I, entries Ingil, Telimektar. This is the fullest statement of the Orion-myth, which is referred to in the Tale of the Sun and Moon (see I. 182, 200): of Nielluin [Sirius] too, who is the Bee of Azure, Nielluin whom still may all men see in autumn or winter burning nigh the foot of Telimektar son of Tulkas whose tale is yet to tell. In the Gnomish dictionary it is said (I. 256) that Gil rose into the heavens and 'in the likeness of a great bee bearing honey of flame' followed Telimektar.

This presumably represents a distinct conception from that referred to above, where Ingil 'went long ago back to Valinor and is with Manwe' (I. 129). With the reference to Fionwe's slaying of Melko 'in the end' cf. the end of The Hiding of Valinor (I. 219): Fionwe Urion, son of Manwe, of love for Urwendi shall in the end be, Melko's bane, and shall destroy the world to destroy his foe, and so shall all things then be rolled away. Cf. also the Tale of Turambar, p. 116, where it is said that Turambar 'shall stand beside Fionwe in the Great Wrack'. For the prophecies and hopes of the Elves concerning the Rekindling of the Magic Sun see pp.285 -- 6.

The outline in C continues and concludes thus (again with some very slight and insignificant editing):

(5) Longer ages elapse. Gilfanon is now the oldest and wisest Elf in Tol Eressea, but is not of the Inwir -- hence Meril-i-Turinqi is Lady of the Isle. Eriol comes to Tol Eressea. Sojourns at Kortirion. Goes to Tavrobel to see Gilfanon, and sojourns in the house of a hundred chimneys -- for this is the last condition of his drinking limpe. Gilfanon bids him write down all he has heard before he drinks. Eriol drinks limpe. Gilfanon tells him of things to be; that in his mind (although the fairies hope not) he believes that Tol Eressea will become a dwelling of Men. Gilfanon also prophesies concern- ing the Great End, and of the Wrack of Things, and of Fionwe, Tulkas, and Melko and the last fight on the Plains of Valinor.

Eriol ends his life at Tavrobel but in his last days is consumed with longing for the black cliffs of his shores, even as Meril said. The book lay untouched in the house of Gilfanon during many ages of Men. The compiler of the Golden Book takes up the Tale: one of the children of the fathers of the fathers of Men. [Against this is written:] It may perhaps be much better to let Eriol himself see the last things and finish the book. Rising of the Lost Elves against the Orcs and Nautar.' The time is not ready for the Faring Forth, but the fairies judge it to be necessary. They obtain through Ulmo the help of Uin,~ and Tol Eressea is uprooted and dragged near to the Great Lands, nigh to the promontory of Ros. A magic bridge is cast across the interven- ing sound. Osse is wroth at the breaking of the roots of the isle he set so long ago -- and many of his rare sea-treasures grow about it -- that he tries to wrench it back; and the western half breaks off, and is now the Isle of Iverin.

The Battle of Ros: the Island-elves and the Lost Elves against Nautar, Gongs,~ Orcs, and a few evil Men. Defeat of the Elves. The fading Elves retire to Tol Eressea and hide in the woods. Men come to Tol Eressea and also Orcs, Dwarves, Gongs, Trolls, etc. After the Battle of Ros the Elves faded with sorrow. They cannot live in air breathed by a number of Men equal to their own or greater; and ever as Men wax more powerful and numerous so the fairies fade and grow small and tenuous, filmy and trans- parent, but Men larger and more dense and gross. At last Men, or almost all, can no longer see the fairies. The Gods now dwell in Valinor, and come scarcely ever to the world, being content with the restraining of the elements from utterly destroying Men. They grieve much at what they see; but - Iluvatar is over all.

On the page opposite the passage about the Battle of Ros is written: A great battle between Men at the Heath of the Sky-roof (now the Withered Heath), about a league from Tavrobel. The Elves and the Children flee over the Gruir and the Afros. 'Even now do they approach and our great tale comes to its ending.' The book found in the ruins of the house of a hundred chimneys. That Gilfanon was the oldest of the Elves of Tol Eressea, though Meril held the title of Lady of the Isle, is said also in the Tale of the Sun and Moon (I. 175): but what is most notable is that Gilfanon (not Ailios, teller of the Tale of the Nauglafring, whom Gilfanon replaced, see I. 197 note 19 and 229ff.) appears in this outline, which must therefore be late in the period of the composition of the Lost Tales. Also noteworthy are the references to Eriol's drinking limpe at Gilfanon's 'house of a hundred chimneys'. In The Cottage of Lost Play (I. 17) Lindo told Eriol that he could not give him limpe to drink: Turinqi only may give it to those not of the Eldar race, and those that drink must dwell always with the Eldar of the Island until such time as they fare forth to find the lost families of the kindred.

Meril-i-Turinqi herself, when Eriol besought her for a drink of limpe, was severe (I. 98): If you drink this drink... even at the Faring Forth, should Eldar and Men fall into war at the last, still must you stand by us against the children of your kith and kin, but until then never may you fare away home though longings gnaw you... In the text described in I. 229 ff. Eriol bemoans to Lindo the refusal to grant him his desire, and Lindo, while warning him against 'thinking to overpass the bounds that Iluvatar hath set', tells him that Meril has not irrevocably refused him. In a note to this text my.father wrote: '... Eriol fares to Tavrobel -- after Tavrobel he drinks of limpe.' The statement in this passage of outline C that Eriol 'in his last days is consumed with longing for the black cliffs of his shores, even as Meril said' clearly refers to the passage in The Chaining of Melko from which I have cited above: On a day of autumn will come the winds and a driven gull, maybe, will wail overhead, and lo! you will be filled with desire, remembering the black coasts of your home.

(I. 96). Lindo's reference, in the passage from The Cottage of Lost Play cited above, to the faring forth of the Eldar of Tol Eressea 'to find the lost families of the kindred' must likewise relate to the mentions in (5) of the Faring Forth (though the time was not ripe), of the 'rising of the Lost Elves against the Orcs and Nautar', and of 'the Island-elves and the Lost Elves' at the Battle of Ros. Precisely who are to be understood by the 'Lost Elves' is not clear; but in Gilfanon's Tale (I. 231) all Elves of the Great Lands 'that never saw the light at Kor' (Ilkorins), whether or not they left the Waters of Awakening, are called 'the lost fairies of the world', and this seems likely to be the meaning here. It must then be supposed that there dwelt on Tol Eressea only the Eldar of Kor (the 'Exiles') and the Noldoli released from thraldom under Melko; the Faring Forth was to be the great expedition from Tol Eressea for the rescue of those who had never departed from the Great Lands. In (5) we meet the conception of the dragging of Tol Eressea back eastwards across the Ocean to the geographical position of England -- it becomes England (see I. 26); that the part which was torn off by Osse, the Isle of Iverin, is Ireland is explicitly stated in the Qenya dictionary.

The promontory of Ros is perhaps Brittany. Here also there is a clear definition of the 'fading' of the Elves, their physical diminution and increasing tenuity and transparency, so that they become invisible (and finally incredible) to gross Mankind. This is a central concept of the early mythology: the 'fairies', as now conceived by Men (in so far as they are rightly conceived), have become so. They were not always so. And perhaps most remarkable in this remarkable passage, there is the final and virtually complete withdrawal of the Gods (to whom the Eldar are 'most like in nature', I. 57) from the concerns of 'the world', the Great Lands across the Sea. They watch, it seems, since they grieve, and are therefore not wholly indifferent to what passes in the lands of Men; but they are henceforward utterly remote, hidden in the West. Other features of (5), the Golden Book of Tavrobel, and the Battle of the Heath of the Sky-roof, will be explained shortly. I give next a separate passage found in the notebook C under the heading 'Rekindling of the Magic Sun.

Faring Forth.' (6) The Elves' prophecy is that one day they will fare forth from Tol Eressea and on arriving in the world will gather all their fading kindred who still live in the world and march towards Valinor -- through the southern lands. This they will only do with the help of Men. If Men aid them, the fairies will take Men to Valinor -- those that wish to go -- fight a great battle with Melko in Erumani and open Valinor.~ Laurelin and Silpion will be rekindled, and the mountain wall being destroyed then soft radiance will spread over all the world, and the Sun and Moon will be recalled. If Men oppose them and aid Melko the Wrack of the Gods and the ending of the fairies will result -- and maybe the Great End.

On the opposite page is written: Were the Trees relit all the paths to Valinor would become clear to follow -- and the Shadowy Seas open clear and free -- Men as well as Elves would taste the blessedness of the Gods, and Mandos be emptied. This prophecy is clearly behind Vaire's words to Eriol (I. 19 -- 20): '... the Faring Forth, when if all goes well the roads through Arvalin to Valinor shall be thronged with the sons and daughters of Men.' Since 'the Sun and Moon will be recalled' when the Two Trees give light again, it seems that here 'the Rekindling of the Magic Sun' (to which the toast was drunk in Mar Vanwa Tyalieva, I. 17, 65) refers to the relighting of the Trees. But in citation (4) above it is said that 'the "Rekindling of the Magic Sun" refers in part to the Trees and in part to Urwendi', while in the Tale of the Sun and Moon (I. 179) Yavanna seems to distinguish the two ideas: 'Many things shall be done and come to pass, and the Gods grow old, and the Elves come nigh to fading, ere ye shall see the rekindling of these trees or the Magic Sun relit', and the Gods knew not what she meant, speaking of the Magic Sun, nor did for a long while after.