The Nature of Middle-earth
Page 40
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2 See X:50, §7: “each Year [of the Valar] … is somewhat more than are nine and one half of our years (nine and one half and eight hundredths and yet a little)” (the parenthetical words being, however, omitted in The Tale of Years, X:57 n.11); also X:59, §§5–10.
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3 The date VY 1102 again agrees precisely with AAm (X:81).
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4 AAm (X:84) gives VY 1133 as the date of the coming of the Noldor to Aman.
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5 For other discussions of the possible failings of the Valar, see Notes on motives in the Silmarillion (X:394–408), and chap. IX, “Ósanwe-kenta”, in part two of this book.
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6 Tolkien marked this paragraph as a crucial point with a large “*” in the margin against it. The “Vision”, as an intervening stage between the Music of the Ainur and the world being spoken into existence by Eru, arose in the c. 1948 text C of the Ainulindalë (cf. X:11, §§12, 13; X:14, §22; X:25–6).
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7 The corresponding part of version A of this text has here: “Hence latent tendency to wickedness even among the Quendi”.
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8 Tolkien marked this paragraph as a crucial point with a large “**” in the margin against it. With “screen of investment” cf. OED “Investment”, sense 2: “An outer covering of any kind; an envelope; a coating”; also sense 4: “The surrounding or hemming in of a town or fort by a hostile force so as to cut off all communication with the outside; beleaguerment; blockade”, and the quote illustrating this sense: “Secrecy and speed are secured, in the investment of an inland fortress, by the use of an advanced force of cavalry and horse artillery, which conceals the march of the main body.” If any such text as referred to here ever existed, there is, alas, now no extant remnant of it known to me.
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9 AAm likewise gives the date VY 1495 for the Death of the Two Trees (X:98 ff.). Tolkien actually wrote “57,334” here as the length of the existence of Men in Bel. 310, but that is a mathematical error. 395 VY × 144 = 56,880 + 310 = 57,190.
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10 Cf. XI:30–1.
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11 Tolkien marked this paragraph as a crucial point with a large “*” in the margin against it.
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12 Tolkien marked this passage regarding language as a crucial point with a large “*” in the margin against it.
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13 Tolkien marked this passage as a crucial point with a manicule (☞) in the left margin against it.
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14 Tolkien marked the passage regarding the artistic primacy of language as a crucial point with a large “*” against it. On the similarity of “Western speeches of Men” with Quendian, cf. The Lhammas, §10 (V:179).
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15 This would appear to be a reference to chap. VIII, “Eldarin Traditions Concerning the ‘Awakening’”, below.
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16 Tolkien marked this passage as a crucial point with a manicule (☞) in the left margin against it. With the fallen nature of Men, in Elvish and Mannish thought, see the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth in Morgoth’s Ring, and chaps. XII, “Concerning the Quendi in Their Mode of Life and Growth”, below, and X, “Notes on Órë”, in part two of this book. See also THE FALL OF MAN in App. I.
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17 For the potentially far-reaching (and greatly disruptive) decision (or at any rate considered option) by Tolkien to make the Sun and the Moon coëval with Arda (and not the last fruits of the Two Trees), and for the consequent “artificial” situation in Aman, see X:369–90.
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18 The various possible rates, being all multiples of 12, evidence what Tolkien elsewhere refers to as the “duodecimal system” of ratios.
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19 Tolkien replaced an earlier number, apparently 59,000, with 32,000 in the act of writing. The latter figure matches that calculated for the Eldar at the Finding in “Scheme 2” of text 2 of chap. XVII. “Generational Schemes”, below; but see also the similar calculations in chap. XV, “A Generational Scheme”, below.
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20 The title is original, but the text numbering “II” is a later addition in red ballpoint. See XI:344: “My father pencilled on the typescript (referring to the interval since Morgoth’s return from Valinor in 1495): ‘Too small a time for Morgoth to build Angband’, and also ‘Time too small, should be 10 at least or 20 Valian Years’. This would have required substantial modification of the chronology; and it seems conceivable that this consideration was a factor in the emergence of the later story that Utumno and Angband were distinct fortresses in different regions, both built by Morgoth in ancient days (X:156, §12).”
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21 AAm (X:98) agrees with the Tale of Years in giving VY 1495 as the date of Melkor’s escape, and also lists 1497 (X:118) as the date of the return of the exiled Noldor to Middle-earth.
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22 Tolkien marked this passage as a crucial point with a manicule (☞) in the left margin against it. Sometime later, in red ball-point pen, he added the note beginning “But see later”, which agrees with the date (VY 1100) and agent (Sauron) of the corruption of Men set forth in the second version.
In apparently contemporary writing amongst Tolkien linguistic papers is a rejected sheet that, in addition to some Elvish etymologies, has this note:
☞ The Disquiet of the Ñoldor must last a long while (the Fëanorëans can dwell in the North of Aman a long while). A long time must be allowed (a) for Men to appear and diverge, and (b) for Melkor to corrupt them? They should “awake” just at his return to Middle-earth – on an island. (Reason for his returning was his guessing of the Time.)
The whole Time in Beleriand must be extended to at least 1000 years unless Men awake before the captivity of Melkor. Thus Fingolfin should dwell long in Arvalin [?south] of Valinor.
Fingolfin is nowhere else depicted as having lived in Arvalin, which is otherwise known only as a shadowy land south of Valinor, where Ungoliant dwelt.
Against the first paragraph, in the margin, Tolkien wrote in ball-point pen:
No, corruption of Men must occur before captivity.
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23 These comments were added later in red ball-point pen. Cf. the similar later note Tolkien made to the corresponding passage in the second version (B) of this text.
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24 See XI:14–15.
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25 Tolkien preceded this passage with a large “*”, indicating its importance as a decision.
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26 The statement about Angband’s prior existence entered as a marginal note in the course of writing. The sense is that it must be either that Angband arose in the same place, and on the only-partially destroyed foundations of Utumno; or that Angband existed in a separate place before the destruction of Utumno. The latter solution is that described as “greatly to be preferred” in the “Note on Angband and Utumno” in the second version (B) of this text.
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27 This note entered as a later marginal note in red ball-point pen.
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28 Against this passage, or at least against the statement that “Men must awake before VY 1090”, Tolkien subsequently wrote “no” in red ball-point pen.
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29 Tolkien actually wrote here “64,434”, but I have corrected this calculation error.
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30 The parenthetical comment in this last sentence entered as a contemporary marginal note. For the significance of the statement that Tolkien is writing in the year 1960 “of the 7th Age”, see AGES OF THE WORLD in App. I.
Earlier, in a letter of 1958, Tolkien had said of the time between the Fall of Barad-dûr and “our days” that: “I imagine the gap to be about 6000 years: that is
we are now at the end of the Fifth Age, if the Ages were of about the same length as S.A. and T.A. But they have, I think, quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age, or in the Seventh” (L:283, fn).
Therefore, if Men entered Beleriand in Bel. 310, and the First Age ended c. Bel. 600 (cf. XI:346), then that entrance occurred 290 + SA 3441 + TA 3021 = 6,752 years before the end of the Third Age. Assuming three additional ages, plus 1,960 years of the 7th Age as here, as having occurred about 16,000 years prior, would yield an average duration of the 4th through 6th Ages of: 16,000 – 1,960 – 6,752 = 7,288 ÷ 3 = c. 2,430 years.
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31 As first written, this sentence read: “But this is not in fact sufficient”.
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32 Tolkien has marked the statement that the “the exact process [of the awaking of Men] will not be disclosed or discussed in the Silmarillion” as crucial by bracketing it in large asterisks. The alternate year “1075” appears to have been a later addition, but in black nib-pen; it agrees with the date given in B for the awaking of Men.
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33 As first written, this sentence began: “The Quendi should then awake at least [1000 >>] 10 VYs sooner: say, [?950 >>] 1050, soon enough”, before all between “at least” and “soon” was heavily struck through.
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34 These figures reflect a “maturing” rate of 12 SYs to 1 Elven-year, and a rate from maturity to “prime” of 144 SYs to 1 Elven-year. Hence, at maturity, Elves would be between 18 and 24 Elven-years (i.e., 216 ÷ 12 = 18 Elven-years to 288 ÷ 12 = 24 Elven-years).
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35 Far south and, presumably, far east of Utumno. At one point Tolkien baldly stated that: “The Great Central Land, Europe and Asia, was first inhabited. Men awoke in Mesopotamia” (IX:410).
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VII The March of the Quendi
1 This sentence continues in the MS with: “that is, in VY 1018 + 19 löar”; but this is impossible, since the 2nd generation itself appeared in that year.
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2 Tolkien here actually wrote: “VY 1073/24”, which is a calculation error (since 46 + 120 – 144 = 22).
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3 Tolkien marked this as a crucial point with a large “*”.
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4 As first written, this sentence concluded: “at least 10 years (gestation 9 + mother’s rest), more likely 20”. There followed: “[?Or] If a whole generation or Time of Children”, struck through in the act of writing.
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5 As first written, this sentence ended: “and halt 20 again”.
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6 That is, these Teleri and their descendants later became the Lindar, Sindar, and Nandor of Beleriand. For the name Ingar, the “People of Ingwë” (i.e., the Vanyar), see the introduction to this part of the book.
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7 Tolkien here actually wrote: “How far W or SW of Sea of Rhûn was Cuiviénen?”, but this must be a slip, since in no account of the Awakening was Cuiviénen ever west of the Sea of Rhûn and, as will be seen, the Eldar here too reach the shores of the Sea of Rhûn from the east.
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8 This last sentence, represented here as a parenthetical comment, was a late addition in red ball-point pen.
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9 This final sentence entered as a later, faint addition in red ball-point pen.
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10 That is, 2,000 miles “as the crow flies”, as previously stipulated. The actual course of the journey, as will be seen, is much longer than this.
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11 “Máyar” is a seldom-used form of the name “Maiar” that appears to have arisen in linguistic notes dating from 1957 (PE17:124, 149 s.v. √AYA-N, and cf. 145 s.v. ADA for the date). The Máyar in question are not here named, but see the entry for DB 866/13 in chap. XIII, “Key Dates”, below.
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12 “Atyamar” in Quenya is literally ‘second-home’.
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13 Tolkien here actually wrote: “2/26 years old = 166 löar = 13 löar 10 [?months]”, but this is irreconcilable with the record and the mathematics.
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14 “Denethor”: cf. S:54, 94–6, X:93, XI:13.
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15 Here a curious element enters the new scheme of the Great March: sc., that none of the Eldar crossed the Misty Mountains (Hithaeglir) into Eriador after crossing the Anduin, but instead the whole host (save some 3,000 Nandor) turned south down the Anduin. In contrast, The Silmarillion recounts (S:54, and cf. X:82–3 entry for YT 1115):
Now the Teleri abode long on the east bank of that river [the Anduin] and wished to remain there, but the Vanyar and the Noldor passed over it, and Oromë led them into the passes of the mountains [the Hithaeglir].
and further that the Teleri too eventually passed over the mountains (S:54):
And the host of the Teleri passed over the Misty Mountains, and crossed the wide lands of Eriador.
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16 Originally, this sentence continued (before being struck through):
but many go down to the Sea, at Isenmouth. Oromë eventually gets them to go – saying that they can dwell by the Sea long at their journeys’ end, and that the Valar want them to go northwards to
“Isenmouth” here must refer to the mouth of the River Isen/Angren (and not the Carach Angren ‘Jaws of Iron’/Isenmouthe of later Mordor; see LR:920, 927–8). If so, this original continuation implies that in the First Age the River Isen emptied into the Belegaer at or about the same latitude and longitude that it does in the Third Age, despite the submergence of vast amounts of the western lands of Beleriand in the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age. The realization of this implication of the passage no doubt occasioned its deletion in the act of writing and the note that immediately follows.
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17 The last two sentences are additions in red ball-point pen, and roughly written. The number of available 8th generation pairs appears to have originally been 8,000, and the number of begetting pairs 4,000.
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18 Tolkien actually wrote “1131/9” here, but that is an error.
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19 Here again, in consequence of the southerly route the host takes to avoid crossing the Misty Mountains and its subsequent passing through the (later-named) gap of Rohan at the southern end of the mountains, the host enters Beleriand below the southern end of the Ered Luin; whereas in The Silmarillion the various bodies of the whole host cross over the Ered Luin (at different times) at a much more northerly point (S:54, and cf. X:83 entry for YT 1125):
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 …
Thus after many years the Teleri also came at last over Ered Luin into the eastern regions of Beleriand.
Accounts of the Great March prior to this give the impression that it proceeded more-or-less straight from east to west at about the mid-latitude of the Misty Mountains, and so much closer to the latitude of Doriath. Given this new, more circuitous and much more southerly route, it seems difficult to understand why, after entering Beleriand at the southern end of the Ered Luin, the host would deviate so far north as to reach the area of Doriath? As Oromë at least must have known, the Bay of Balar directly to their west was much closer than the Falas or Nevrast, and in the event became their point of departure from Middle-earth to Valinor.
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20 Tolkien here actually wrote: “Say about 1132/17 they are in Beleriand”; but since the (main) host entered Beleriand in VY 1132/12, and since Tolkien next writes: “March is over”, and then writes furt
her below that “Eldar reach coast in 1132/17”, I have used the latter to clarify what seems to be the actual intent here.
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21 Cf. X:81–3, where the Great Journey starts in YT 1105 and ends in 1125. As Tolkien notes, in the scheme of the earlier “Tale of Years”, 20 VY = 200 sun-years, not 2880 as here.
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22 Cf. X:101 n.1.
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23 Cf. X:84 §67, which assigns 1133 as the year when the Vanyar and Noldor arrived in Aman. This is indeed 27 VY before the begetting of Fëanor by Finwë and Míriel (but 36 VY before his birth), and so appears to be what Tolkien is referring to here by “this”.
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24 Draft material for this passage reads:
When Quendi were very “young in Arda”, they were far more like Men (unfallen), or indeed grown-up children. Their hröar (and the delights of the body of all kinds) were dominant, and full of vigour; and their fëar only beginning to grow and wake and discover their powers. So they were far more progenitive and less exhausted by the production of children.
Cf. the opening paragraph of the text presented in chap. V, “Natural Youth and Growth of the Quendi”, above. On the unfallen nature of the Quendi, see THE FALL OF MAN in App. I.
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VIII Eldarin Traditions Concerning the “Awakening”