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Doriath and was also called The Land Beyond; to the north lay the barrier of the Iron Mountains,
also called the Bitter Hills, over which Beren came: afterwards they became Ered Wethrin, the
Mountains of Shadow. Beyond the mountains lay Hisilómë (Hithlum) the Land of Shadow, also
called Dor-lómin. Palisor (p. 37) is the land where the Elves awoke.
The Valar are often referred to as the Gods, and are called also the Ainur (singular Ainu). Melko
(later Melkor) is the great evil Vala, called Morgoth, the Black Foe, after his theft of the Silmarils.
Mandos is the name both of the Vala and the place of his abode. He is the keeper of the Houses of the
Dead.
Manwë is the lord of the Valar; Varda, maker of the stars, is the spouse of Manwë and dwells with
him on the summit of Taniquetil, the highest mountain of Arda. The Two Trees are the great trees
whose flowers gave light to Valinor, destroyed by Morgoth and the monstrous spider Ungoliant.
Lastly, this is a convenient place to say something of the Silmarils, fundamental to the legend of
Beren and Lúthien: they were the work of Fëanor, greatest of the Noldor: ‘the mightiest in skill of
word and of hand’; his name means ‘Spirit of Fire’. I will quote here a passage from the later (1930)
‘Silmarillion’ text entitled Quenta Noldorinwa, on which see p. 103.
In those far days Fëanor began on a time a long and marvellous labour, and all his power
and all his subtle magic he called upon, for he purposed to make a thing more fair than any of
the Eldar yet had made, that should last beyond the end of all. Three jewels he made, and
named them Silmarils. A living fire burned within them that was blended of the light of the
Two Trees; of their own radiance they shone even in the dark; no mortal flesh impure could
touch them, but was withered and was scorched. These jewels the Elves prized beyond all
the works of their hands, and Manwë hallowed them, and Varda said: ‘The fate of the Elves
is locked herein, and the fate of many things beside.’ The heart of Fëanor was wound about
the things he himself had made.
A terrible and deeply destructive oath was sworn by Fëanor and his seven sons in assertion of their
sole and inviolable right to the Silmarils, which were stolen by Morgoth.
Vëannë’s tale was expressly addressed to Eriol (Ælfwine), who had never heard of Tinúviel, but
as she tells it there is no formal opening: she begins with an account of Tinwelint and Gwendeling
(afterwards known as Thingol and Melian). I will however turn again to the Quenta Noldorinwa for
this essential element in the legend. In the Tale the formidable Tinwelint (Thingol) is a central figure:
the king of the Elves who dwelt in the deep woodlands of Artanor, ruling from his vast cavern in the
heart of the forest. But the queen was also a personage of great significance, although seldom seen,
and I give here the account of her given in the Quenta Noldorinwa.
In this it is told that on the Great Journey of the Elves from far off Palisor, the place of their
awakening, with the ultimate goal of reaching Valinor in the far West beyond the great Ocean
[many Elves] were lost upon the long dark roads, and they wandered in the woods and
mountains of the world, and never came to Valinor, nor saw the light of the Two Trees.
Therefore they are called Ilkorindi, the Elves that dwelt never in Kôr, the city of the Eldar
[Elves] in the land of the Gods. The Dark-elves are they, and many are their scattered tribes,
and many are their tongues.
Of the Dark-elves the chief in renown was Thingol. For this reason he came never to