The Shaping of Middle-earth. Christopher Tolkien
this is the first occurrence of his mother Rían, and so of the story that she died seeking Huor’s body on the battlefield. It cannot be said whether the story of Tuor’s birth in the wild and his fostering by Elves had yet arisen.
In commenting on the conclusion of the mythology in S, here comprised in the three sections 17–19, I point to features that derive from or contradict those outlines and notes from an earlier period that are collected in Vol. II chapter V and the earlier part of Chapter VI. S is here an extremely abbreviated outline, composed very rapidly – my father was indeed changing his conceptions as he wrote.
For the narrative of §17 the primary extant early sources are the ‘schemes’ or plot-outlines which I have called ‘B’ and ‘C’, in the passages given in II. 253 and 254–5 respectively.
At the beginning of this section, before emendation, the survivors of Gondolin were already at the Mouths of Sirion when Elwing came there; and this goes back to B and C (‘Elwing … flees to them [i.e. Tuor and Idril] with the Nauglafring’, II. 254). But earlier in S (§15) the destruction of Dior took place before the fall of Gondolin; hence the revision here, to make Elwing ‘receive the survivors of Gondolin’. (In the Tale of the Nauglafring, II. 242, the fall of Gondolin and the attack on Dior took place on the same day.)
Following this, there is a major development in S. In the early outlines there is the story, only glimpsed, of the March of the Elves of Valinor into the Great Lands; and in B (only) there is a reference to ‘the sorrow and wrath of the Gods’, of which I said in my discussion of these outlines (II. 257): ‘the meaning can surely only be that the March of the Elves from Valinor was undertaken in direct opposition to the will of the Valar, that the Valar were bitterly opposed to the intervention of the Elves of Valinor in the affairs of the Great Lands.’ On the other hand, the bare hints of what happened when the assault on Melko took place show that greater powers than the Eldar alone were present: Noldorin (the Vala Salmar, who entered the world with Ulmo, and loved the Noldoli), and Tulkas himself, who overthrew Melko in the Battle of the Silent Pools (outline C, II. 278). The only hint in the outlines of Ulmo’s intervention is his saving of Eärendel from shipwreck, bidding him sail to Kôr with the words ‘for this hast thou been brought out of the Wrack of Gondolin’ (B, similarly in C). The March of the Eldar from Valinor was brought about by the coming of the birds from Gondolin.
In S, on the other hand, it is Ulmo (Ylmir) who directly brings about the intervention from the West by his reproaches to the Valar, bidding them rescue the remnants of the Noldoli and the Silmarils; and the host is led by ‘the sons of the Valar’, commanded by Fionwë – who is here the son of Tulkas! Fionwë is frequently named in the Lost Tales as the son of Manwë, while the son of Tulkas was Telimektar (who became the constellation Orion). The naming Fionwë son of Tulkas may have been a simple slip, though the same is said in the Quenta as first written (p. 149); subsequently Fionwë again becomes the son of Manwë (p. 154).
‘Remembering Swanhaven few of the Teleri go with them’: in the outline B the presence of the Solosimpi on the March is referred to without comment, while in C they only agreed to accompany the expedition on condition that they remained by the sea (see II. 258), and this was in some way associated with their remembrance of the Kinslaying.
The desertion of Kôr at this time is referred to in the outlines, but only in connection with Eärendel’s coming there and finding it empty; I noted (II. 257) that ‘it seems at least strongly implied that Kôr was empty because the Elves of Valinor had departed into the Great Lands’, and this is now seen to be certain.
The narrative in S now turns to Tuor. The statement that he grew old at Sirion’s mouths – a statement that was struck out – goes back to the old schemes. His ship is now Eärámë, untranslated; previously it was Alqarámë ‘Swanwing’, while Eärámë was Eärendel’s earlier ship, translated ‘Eaglepinion’, which foundered. In The Silmarillion Tuor’s ship is Eärrámë, as in S, with the meaning ‘Sea-Wing’.
In S, Idril departs in company with Tuor. This is different from the original schemes, where Tuor leaves alone, and Idril ‘sees him too late’, ‘laments’, and afterwards ‘vanishes’. But in the outline C it seems that she found him, for ‘Tuor and Idril some say sail now in Swanwing and may be seen going swift down the wind at dawn and dusk’.
In S, the earlier history of Eärendel’s ship-building and shipwrecks in the Fiord of the Mermaid and at Falasquil has, apparently, been abandoned entirely, and Wingelot is his first and only ship; but there remains the motive that Eärendel wishes to seek for his father, whereas Ylmir bids him sail to Valinor (this last being afterwards struck out). His adventures in Wingelot are referred to in S but not otherwise indicated, save for the slaying of Ungoliant ‘in the South’; there is no mention of the Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl. In C the long voyage of Eärendel, accompanied by Voronwë, that finally took them to Kôr, included an encounter with Ungweliantë, though this was after his southern voyage: ‘Driven west. Ungweliantë. Magic Isles. Twilit Isle. Littleheart’s gong awakes the Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl.’ In another outline Eärendel encounters Wirilómë (Gloomweaver) in the South (II. 260). In the account in S he does not on this great voyage come to Kôr, though from it, as in B and C, he returns to ‘the Waters of Sirion’ (the delta) and finds the dwellings there desolate. Now however enters the motive of the last desperate attempt of the Fëanorians to regain the Silmaril of Beren and Lúthien, their descent on the Havens of Sirion, and their destruction. Thus the raid on the Havens has remained, but it is no longer the work of Melko (see II. 258) and is brought into the story of the Oath of Fëanor. As S was first written only Maidros survived; but Maglor was added. (In §14, as written, all the Sons of Fëanor save Maglor were slain at the time of the attack on Dior, though this passage was afterwards struck out. In The Silmarillion Celegorm, Curufin, and Caranthir were slain at that time, and Amrod and Amras (later names of Damrod and Díriel) were slain in the attack on the Havens of Sirion, so that only Maidros and Maglor were left.)
In the old outlines Elwing was taken captive (as is to be deduced, by Melko); there is no mention of her release from captivity, and she next appears in references to the sinking of her ship (on the way to Tol Eressëa) and the loss of the Nauglafring; after which she becomes a seabird to seek Eärendel. Eärendel returning from his long voyage and finding the dwellings at Sirion’s mouth sacked, goes with Voronwë to the ruins of Gondolin, and in an isolated note (II. 264, xv) he ‘goes even to the empty Halls of Iron seeking Elwing’.
All this has disappeared in S, with the new story of Elwing casting herself and the Nauglafring into the sea, except that she still becomes a seabird (thus changed by Ulmo) and flies to seek Eärendel about all the shores of the world. The early outlines are then at variance: in C it is said that Eärendel dwelt on the Isle of Seabirds and hoped that Elwing would come to him, ‘but she is seeking him wailing along all the shores’ – yet ‘he will find Elwing at the Faring Forth’, while in the short outline E (II. 260) she came to him as a seamew on the Isle of Seabirds. But in S Elwing is further mentioned only as being sought by Eärendel when he sets sail again, until she reappears at the end (§19) and is restored to Eärendel.
The introduction of Elrond in S is of great interest. He has no brother as yet; and he is saved by Maidros (in The Silmarillion, p. 247, Elrond and Elros were saved by Maglor). When the Elves return into the West he elects to stay ‘on earth’, being ‘bound by his mortal half’. It is most remarkable that although the idea of a choice of fate for the Half-elven is already present, it takes a curiously different form from that which it was to take afterwards, and which became of great importance in The Lord of the Rings; for afterwards, Elrond, unlike his brother Elros Tar-Minyatur, elected to remain an Elf – yet his later choice derives in part from the earlier conception, for he elected also not to go into the West. In S, to choose his ‘elfin half’ seems to have meant to choose the West; afterwards, it meant to choose Elvish immortality.
Eärendel learnt what had happened at the Mouths of Sirion from Bronweg (earlier it was Littleheart son of Bronweg who survived the sack of