VI. THE EARLIEST ANNALS OF VALINOR. I refer to this work as the 'earliest' Annals of Valinor because it was followed later in the 1930s by a second version, and then, after the completion of The Lord of the Rings and very probably in 1951 - 2, by a third, entitled The Annals of Aman, which though still a part of the continuous evolution of these Annals is a major new work, and which contains some of the finest prose in all the Matter of the Elder Days. These earliest Annals of Valinor are comprised in a short manuscript of nine pages written in ink. There is a good deal of emendation and interpolation, some changes being made in ink and probably not much if any later than the first writing of the text, while a second layer of change consists of alterations in faint and rapid pencil that are not always legible. These lat- ter include two quite substantial passages (given in notes 14 and 18) which introduce wholly new material concerning events in Middle-earth. The text that follows is that of the Annals as originally writ- ten, apart from one or two insignificant alterations of wording that are taken up silently, and all later changes are given in the numbered notes, other than those made to dates. These are many and complex and are dealt with all together, separately, at the end of the notes. It is certain that these Annals belong to the same period as the Quenta, but also that they are later than the Quenta. This is seen from the fact that whereas in Q Finrod (= the later Finarfin) returned to Valinor out of the far North after the burning of the ships, and the later story of his return earlier, af- ter the Prophecy of the North, is only introduced in a marginal note ($5 note 8 and commentary p. 204), in the Annals the later story is already embodied in the text (Valian Year 2993). The Annals have Beleriand, whereas Q, as far as $12, had Broseliand emended to Beleriand; they have several names that do not occur in Q, e.g. Bladorion, Dagor-os-Giliath, Drengist, Eredwethion (this only by later emendation in Q); and Eredlomin has its later sense of the Echoing Moun- tains, not as in Q and on the first map of the Shadowy Moun- tains (see pp. 233-4). I see no way of showing that the Annals are later, or earlier, than the Ambarkanta, but the matter seems of no importance; the two texts certainly belong to very much the same time. Following my commentary on the Annals, which I shall re- fer to as 'AV', I give the Old English versions in an appendix. ANNALS OF VALINOR. (These and the Annals of Beleriand were written by pengolod the Wise of Gondolin, before its fall, and after at Sirion's Haven, and at Tavrobel in Tol Eressea after his re- turn unto the West, and there seen and translated by Eriol of Leithien, that is AElfwine of the Angelcynn.) Here begin the Annals of Valinor. 0 At the beginning Iluvatar, that is 'Allfather', made all things, and the Valar, that is the 'Pow- ers', came into the World. These are nine, Manwe, Ulmo, Aule, Orome, Tulkas, Osse, Mandos, Lorien, and Melko. Of these Manwe and Melko were most puissant and were breth- ren, and Manwe was lord of the Valar and holy; but Melko turned to lust and pride and violence and evil, and his name is accursed, and is not ut- tered, but he is called Morgoth. The spouses of the Valar were Varda, and Yavanna, who were sisters; and Vana; and the sister of Orome, Nessa the wife of Tulkas;(1) and Uinen lady of the Seas; and Nienna sister of Manwe and Melko; and Este. No spouse hath Ulmo or Melko.(2) With them came many lesser spirits, their children, or beings of their own kind but of less might; these are the Valarindi. Time was counted in the world before the Sun and Moon by the Valar according to ages, and a Valian age hath 100 of the years of the Valar, which are each as ten years are now. In the Valian Year 500: Morgoth destroyed by deceit the Lamps (3) which Aule made for the light- ing of the World, and the Valar, save Morgoth, retired to the West and built there Valinor be- tween the Outer Seas that surround the Earth and the Great Seas of the West, and on the shores of these they piled great mountains. But the symme- try of land and sea was first broken in those days.(4) In the Valian Year 1000, after the building of Valinor, and Valmar the city of the Gods, the Valar brought into being the Two Trees of Silver and of Gold, whose bloom gave light unto Valinor. But all this while Morgoth had dwelt in the Middle-earth and made him a great fortress in the North of the World; and he broke and twisted the Earth much in that time.(5) A thousand Valian Years of bliss and glory fol- lowed in Valinor, but growth that began on Middle-earth at the lighting of the Lamps was checked. To Middle-earth came only Orome to hunt in the dark woods of the ancient Earth, and sometimes Yavanna walked there. The Valian Year 2000 is accounted the Noon- tide of the Blessed Realm, and the full season of the mirth of the Gods. Then did Varda make the stars (6) and set them aloft, and thereafter some of the Valarindi strayed into the Middle-earth, and among them was Melian, whose voice was re- nowned in Valmar. But she returned not thither for many ages, and the nightingales sang about her in the dark woods of the Western Lands. At the first shining of the Sickle of the Gods which Varda set (7) above the North as a threat to Morgoth and an omen of his fall, the elder chil- dren of Iluvatar awoke in the midmost of the World: they are the Elves.(8) Orome found them and befriended them; and the most part under his guidance marched West and North to the shores of Beleriand, being bidden by the Gods to Valinor. But first Morgoth in a great war was bound and made captive and imprisoned in Mandos. There he was confined in punishment for nine ages (900 Valian Years)(9) until he sought for par- don. In that war the lands were rent and sundered anew.(10) The Quendi (11) and the Noldoli were the first to reach Valinor, and upon the hill of Kor nigh to the strand they built the city of Tun. But the Teleri who came after abode an age (100 Valian Years) upon the shores of Beleriand, and some never departed thence. Of these most renowned was Thingol (Sindingul)(12) brother of Elwe, lord of the Teleri, whom Melian enchanted. Her he after wedded and dwelt as a king in Beleriand, but this was after the departure of most of the Teleri, drawn by Ulmo upon Tol Eressea.(13) This is the Valian Years 2000 to 2100. From 2100 to 2200 the Teleri dwelt on Tol Eressea in the Great Sea within sight of Valinor, in 2200 they came in their ships to Valinor, ang dwelt upon its eastern strands, and there they made the town and haven of Alqalonde or 'Swan-haven', so called because there were moored their swan-shaped boats. About 2500 the Noldoli invented and began the fashioning of gems; and after a while Feanor the smith, eldest son of Finwe chief of the Noldoli, devised the thrice-renowned Silmarils concerning the fates of which these tales tell. They shone of their own light, being filled with the radiance of the Two Trees, the holy light of Valinor, blended to a marvellous fire.(14) In 2900 Morgoth sued for pardo...
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