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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
Valinor. Melian was a fay. In the gardens of [the Vala] Lórien she dwelt, and among all his fair folk none were there that surpassed her beauty, nor none more wise, nor none more skilled in magical and enchanting song. It is told that the Gods would leave their business and the birds of Valinor their mirth, that Valmar’s bells were silent, and the fountains ceased to flow, when at the mingling of the light Melian sang in the gardens of the God of Dreams. Nightingales went always with her, and their song she taught them. But she loved deep shadow, and strayed on long journeys into the Outer Lands [Middle-earth], and there filled the silence of the dawning world with her voice and the voices of her birds. The nightingales of Melian Thingol heard and was enchanted and left his folk. Melian he found beneath the trees and was cast into a dream and a great slumber, so that his people sought him in vain. In Vëannë’s account, when Tinwelint awoke from his mythically long sleep ‘he thought no more of his people (and indeed it had been vain, for long now had those reached Valinor)’, but desired only to see the lady of the twilight. She was not far off, for she had watched over him as he slept. ‘But more of their story I know not, O Eriol, save that in the end she became his wife, for Tinwelint and Gwendeling very long indeed were king and queen of the Lost Elves of Artanor or the Land Beyond, or so it is said here.’ Vëannë said further that the dwelling of Tinwelint ‘was hidden from the vision and knowledge of Melko by the magics of Gwendeling the fay, and she wove spells about the paths thereto that none but the Eldar [Elves] might tread them easily, and so was the king secured from all dangers save it be treachery alone. Now his halls were builded in a deep cavern of great size, and they were nonetheless a kingly and a fair abode. This cavern was in the heart of the mighty forest of Artanor that is the mightiest of forests, and a stream ran before its doors, but none could enter that portal save across the stream, and a bridge spanned it narrow and well guarded.’ Then Vëannë exclaimed: ‘Lo, now I will tell you of things that happened in the halls of Tinwelint’; and this seems to be the point at which the tale proper can be said to begin.
Page 3 and 4: First U.S. Edition All texts and ma
Page 5 and 6: Contents Cover Title Page Copyright
Page 7 and 8: PREFACE After the publication of Th
Page 9 and 10: Lastly, I will cite another of my p
Page 11 and 12: NOTES ON THE ELDER DAYS The depth i
Page 13 and 14: That country came afterwards to be
Page 15 and 16: BEREN AND LÚTHIEN
Page 17 and 18: The Tale of Tinúviel in its rewrit
Page 19: of the white moths that flew in the
Page 23 and 24: Iron Mountains until he reached the
Page 25 and 26: quest, and indeed there was little,
Page 27 and 28: Now Gwendeling laughed not, for in
Page 29 and 30: towards Palisor, and there plays su
Page 31 and 32: Tinúviel was robed in her robe of
Page 33 and 34: ears, for they twitch already.’ B
Page 35 and 36: for Tevildo’s wrath was terrible,
Page 37 and 38: and Melko gazed on enchanted, but h
Page 39 and 40: him, saying it would be folly to be
Page 41 and 42: to cutting it open, but Huan licks
Page 43 and 44: A PASSAGE FROM THE ‘SKETCH OF THE
Page 45 and 46: A PASSAGE EXTRACTED FROM THE LAY OF
Page 47 and 48: he found the servants of the king a
Page 49 and 50: traitor betrayed, now stands! Nor f
Page 51 and 52: Yet seldom well an outlaw ends, and
Page 53: THE QUENTA NOLDORINWA After the Ske
Page 56 and 57: that burning, and the fumes of it w
Page 58 and 59: A SECOND EXTRACT FROM THE LAY OF LE
Page 60 and 61: An everlasting watch they hold, the
Page 62 and 63: that to Beren son of Barahir mercy
Page 64 and 65: is now our fate, but not to lose th
Page 66 and 67: they took; and loathing each him cl
Page 68 and 69: Foreboding evil weights their mind,
Page 70 and 71:
Death to light, to law, to love! Cu
Page 72 and 73:
and blood flowing they would smell.
Page 74 and 75:
any who could capture her. Each wol
Page 76 and 77:
Doriath. Then the heart of Thingol
Page 78 and 79:
as arrow from a bow of yew; their v
Page 80 and 81:
Curufin spake: ‘Good brother mine
Page 82 and 83:
The perfume of her flower-twined ha
Page 84 and 85:
her eager questions. Out of mind, i
Page 86 and 87:
The others lived no more, but bare
Page 88 and 89:
slim fingers flute and viol seize b
Page 90 and 91:
and each was seized, and there were
Page 92 and 93:
and vanquished betrayed his master
Page 94 and 95:
and there there lie the white bones
Page 96 and 97:
‘For never more to Doriath can Be
Page 98 and 99:
There Curufin had left his life, ha
Page 100 and 101:
long years had sung in those sad li
Page 102 and 103:
eneath the beech and oak we stand,
Page 104 and 105:
and dream thee back in Valinor, whe
Page 106 and 107:
would Huan make, of flowing pace: t
Page 108 and 109:
singing until the midnight hour. Sw
Page 110 and 111:
Fingolfin there: ‘Come, open wide
Page 112 and 113:
Thus Bauglir earned the furrowed sc
Page 114 and 115:
and ever wild their voices rolled i
Page 116 and 117:
eyes shining grim with evil mood, u
Page 118 and 119:
at every turn they silent loomed in
Page 120 and 121:
‘A lawful errand here me brought;
Page 122 and 123:
In slothful gardens many a flower l
Page 124 and 125:
in ecstasy enchanted borne. All eye
Page 126 and 127:
in sleep uneasy Balrogs stirred, an
Page 128 and 129:
No moon is there, no voice, no soun
Page 130 and 131:
my father’s consignment contained
Page 132 and 133:
twenty years from the original Tale
Page 134 and 135:
time return. But the sons of Men di
Page 136 and 137:
THE RETURN OF BEREN AND LÚTHIEN AC
Page 138 and 139:
[In a text somewhat later than the
Page 140 and 141:
tree and boulder do the brown Elves
Page 142 and 143:
She wandered in the woods, and of t
Page 144 and 145:
THE MORNING AND EVENING STAR Great
Page 146:
silver-grey. And at times, when Eä
Page 149 and 150:
of slender birches silver-grey stoo
Page 151 and 152:
to him of Eilinel his wife. ‘Woul
Page 153 and 154:
As Beren went, still like a knell r
Page 155 and 156:
aped from dead bodies. One a ring h
Page 157 and 158:
than all the world has since in son
Page 159 and 160:
FOOTNOTES Preface * ‘The Lost Tal
Page 161 and 162:
Beleg Elf of Doriath, a great arche
Page 163 and 164:
Ginglith River flowing into the Nar
Page 165 and 166:
Nan Dumgorthin ‘The land of the d
Page 167 and 168:
Valmar, Valimar City of the Valar i
Page 169 and 170:
like please, 88 (in doth it like th
Page 171 and 172:
Read More from J.R.R. Tolkien Visit
Page 173:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND EDITOR J.R.R.
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