Pendell reads the Silmarillion

[pendell]

Next Chapter!
Of the Flight of the Noldor
Consequences. Enemy Civil war. Melkor gets a new name.

Spoiler

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The chapter opens on Darkness in Aman and all the Valar sitting around being gloomy and sad.

Yavanna goes out to look at the Trees, and returns with her report.

The trees are mostly dead . Yavanna does not have the power to recreate them; she had to pour out a great deal of her spirit to make the originals, and she cannot do it again. HOWEVER, she will be able to revive the trees if she can get a little bit of their original light in order to jump start them. She praises Feanor for his foresight in preserving the light, and asks that he bring the Silmarils; they can then break the jewels to release their light, and so revive the trees.

Feanor is reluctant. When he does not speak immediately, Aule defends him to the other Valar; as a creator of craft himself, he knows what is being asked of Feanor.

Feanor tells us that he, also, has put a great deal of his power into the making of the jewels and will never be able to do so again either. He fears that if he breaks the jewels he will break his heart also, and die just as Miriel did, the first Noldor slain in Aman.

"Not the first", says Mandos. But no one knows what he's talking about, so they ignore him.

Feanor ponders, but his arrogance, hatred, and paranoia, fed by Melkor's lies, overcome him. He refuses to hand over the jewels. He also states that if the Valar compel him to yield the jewels up, than the Valar are no better than Melkor.

Mandos responds "thou hast spoken." As if a decision has been made and a doom decided.

But just at this moment messengers arrive from Formenos, Feanor's stronghold. They have been attacked! Melkor came there before he fled. Faced with a kaiju spider and the most powerful Valar in the world, all the elves flee save Finwe, who stays to fight.

If this were a game , I would think this would be a Jedi Temple raid with BOSS BATTLE! against Finwe.

It doesn't last long. Melkor curbstomps him, pillages the fortress thoroughly, takes the Silmarils and everything else of value, then leaves.

Feanor is outraged by the news. First, he curses Melkor and names him Morgoth ("Black foe of the world"), and it is by this name he will be known ever after. Feanor is also angry at the Valar. He thinks that if only he had been there things could have been different.

Narrator Note: It would not have been different. All that would have happened would be that Morgoth would have killed them both.

Feanor dashes off to Formenos.

Scene change: Morgoth is running across the ice back to middle earth and to his old strongholds in the north. In his right hand, he carries the Silmarils in a crystal casket. In his left, all the other gems taken from Formenos. He tries to subtly get away from Ungoliant, but she is fully on guard against such tricks and stays with him every step of the way. At last, just as they approach the ruins of Angband. She stops him and demands her fee. "With both hands thou shalt give it", remember?

Morgoth, seeing that he cannot run and cannot fight this monster (Maiar she may be, but Morgoth has buffed her considerably with his own power for this exploit, weakening himself in the bargain She's also become very strong from eating the light of the trees as well as the well of stars. She is far more powerful than Morgoth now). So he surrenders the gems from his left hand, one at a time, hoping that after each one her appetite will be stayed. But they only serve as a light aperitif. At last, after all the gems are eaten, Ungoliant demands the Silmarils from his right hand.

The crystal casket they are in is not sufficient protection from their ward against evil, and Morgoth's hand is burning, but he still holds onto them and refuses. "Nay! Thou hast had thy due, for with the power I put into thee thy work was accomplished. These things thou shalt not have nor see. I name them to myself forever."

And so Morgoth breaks his oath. The firm of Jones and Rodriguez being otherwise engaged, Ungoliant decides to gain redress the old fashioned way: By eating Morgoth AND the Silmarils.

FINAL BOSS BATTLE! Ungoliant.

Tell me this wouldn't be a fitting climax for an evil campaign.

Morgoth is greatly beset, but fortunately he is close to Angband. So he yells for help like the squealing coward he is. That call is loud -- so loud, that the echoes never fully die out in the place where he called.

And from their hiding places under the earth, missed by the Valar in their earlier assault, the Balrogs come. To oppose darkness they bring light: The light of fire, the flame of Udun. With their whips of fire they join the battle, and slash apart Ungoliant's webs of shadow with this terrible light. At last, cowed, she flees and turns tail to hide out in Beleriand. There she mates with other spider-creatures; that is where Shelob and the spiders of Mirkwood come from.

And that's all we know about Ungoliant. The rumor is that she eventually grew so hungry she ate herself to death. Like Pizza The Hutt .

And .. that's it? The most dreadful creature in middle earth, a spider-kaiju who ate the stars, just bu**ers off? That's ALL?

I am unsatisfied. I'd have preferred a Valar-Morgoth team up against a greater evil for the sake of the world. Melkor, after all, wants to rule the world; Ungoliant just wants to eat it all. So he and the Valar have a common interest in saving a world from the ever-hungry maw which would devour all things good and evil. But that's not the story Tolkien tells.

TOO BAD. Maybe a fan fiction some day.

Having won the battle (although who knows how many Balrogs perished in the fight), Morgoth rebuilds his kingdom, first collecting his scattered followers and rebuilding the dungeons of Angband. Of which there is a roguelike . It is a great underground city inhabited by uncountable beasts, demons, and orcs. Above this underground stronghold he rears three great mountain peaks, called Thangorodrim, which will be the hallmark of his kingdom while it lasts.

And in the deepest hall he takes his seat. With his own two hands he forges an iron crown in which he sets the three silmarils. He crowns himself, taking the title King of the World. He never takes this crown off, ever. Not when he's sleeping. Not when he's doing business. And if he ever has ... companions, the crown will stay on during ... intimacy. Yes. It just never comes off.

This turns out to be a mistake; he made the crown for show, not for comfort, and iron isn't light. The crown is very heavy, and always wearing it is a terrible burden for him, as is the pain in his hands, burned black from the Silmarils. He will never be free of that pain, ever, but both the burden and the pain he endures for the sake of his gains.

Enamored of these gems, he will not risk them. He only leaves his dark dungeon twice more during his reign, and he spends his spirit in the domination of his servants and the inspiration in them of lust for evil. These works greatly expand his kingdom, but at the expense of his own personal power. He is a shadow of the Melkor which was, ever more devoured by his own hatred and anger.

Camera scene back to Aman. Feanor enters the city of Tirion. However, although he has completed his sentence he has not yet received pardon or released officially from house arrest, so he's technically in violation of the law by being here. He claims kingship of the Noldor after Finwe, and demands that they all leave at once to return to Middle Earth and create their own kingdom. His speech is long and passionate, raging against Morgoth, but the words for all their venom might have been spoken by Morgoth himself.

Fingolfin speaks against this, and his brother Finarfin calls for thought and delay; let's not do anything hasty. But Feanor is impassioned and reminds his people of all the wrongs they have suffered here. He also tells them of humans, which the Valar have kept quiet about, and says that instead they should return to Middle Earth and dominate it themselves, not to allow their inheritance to be taken by humans.

The next bit deserves its own section.

Spoiler: The Oath of Feanor

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Then Feanor swore a terrible oath, along with his seven sons. They swore an oath that none shall break, and none should take, even by the name of Iluvatar, calling upon themselves the everlasting Darkness if they kept it not... to pursue to the ends of the world Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn, or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession.

... Many quailed to hear the dread words. For so sworn, good or evil, an oath cannot be broken, and it will pursue both oathkeeper and oathbreaker to the worlds end.

Oaths are serious things in middle earth; witness the Dead bound for millenia to the mountains of Dunharrow in Lord of the Rings until their oath was fulfilled.

Spoiler: The Tragedy Unfolds

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Fingolfin speaks against this, as does his son Turgon. So vehement does the discussion become that almost swords are drawn again.

Galadriel is in the middle of all this, staying quiet but keeping her own counsel. She will not swear that terrible oath, but she likes the idea of wide realms in Middle Earth, and decides to travel with Feanor for that purpose.

Feanor carries the day, and 90% of the Noldor set forth, the remaining 10% remaining behind for the love they still bear for the Valar and the city. Because a lot of the Noldor aren't willing to take Feanor as king, they set out as two divided armies; one under Feanor and one under Fingolfin.

Only NOW, as the armies are just setting foot out, do the Valar respond; a herald comes from them and rebukes them for folly. They are not slaves, and so may leave whenever they want. But the Valar won't give them any help on this adventure, rash and desperate as it is.

But the case is different for Feanor -- because of his oath he is exiled . He has to leave and has no choice about it. The Valar are more than happy to see the back of him.

Feanor mocks this; are the elves supposed to let their king go alone into exile? So powerful and masterful he is, that even the herald of the Valar is overawed, and the army marches through.

They journey along the coast to the northeast, where they hit their first stumbling block; they cannot cross the polar wastes, and it will take a long time to build the ships necessary for the task. What's more , Feanor is worried that with delay the people will think better of their choice, and he is in a hurry to make sure they are all beyond the point of no return. So he travels to the Teleri and asks if they will join him in his quest.

They won't. They think his journey madness. Nor will they part with their ships which, like the Silmarils, are something they can never make again.

Feanor is one determined not to take no for an answer , however. So, finding his most trusted members of his house, they raid the harbour of the Teleri and man the ships by force. The Teleri resist this and throw the Noldor overboard. Then swords are drawn. Though the Teleri are armed only with slender bows, they make a gallant fight of it until Fingolfin's army comes up. Finding Noldor in battle and not knowing anything else about the quarrel, they rush to assist their own kinsfolk. Then the tied is turned, the Teleri are massacred, and the ships are taken.

They travel a short distance up the coast for their next move when they are halted by another messenger of the Valar, supposedly Mandos himself. And he has a message of doom to deliver. A doom on all who would not stay and seek the pardon of the Valar.

Spoiler: The Doom of the Noldor

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Tears unnumbered shall ye shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the house of Feanor the wrath of the Valar lies from the West to the Uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and by fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be forever.

Ye have spilled the blood of your kin unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed you to die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, but slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be; by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-Earth shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become a shadow of regret before the younger race that shall cometh after. The Valar have spoken.

Spoiler: Through Fire and through Ice

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Feanor responds and tells the messenger that one thing has not been promised; that they would ever be cowards. Further, that their deeds will be a matter of song to the end of Arda.

With that, he and the bulk of the people move forward. But Finarfin turns back with his following. They return to Tirion and receive the pardon of the Valar, where Finarfin will rule in exile. Fingolfin follows Feanor reluctantly, less because he wants to and more because of his sons , who are determined to go.

They don't have enough ships for everyone, but Feanor makes a decision: He has already seen the hold Fingolfin has on the others , and the continuing struggle for power between them. So he mans the ships with all his people, sails to middle earth, then has the ships burned, trapping Fingolfin's army in Aman.

And thus treason rears its ugly head for the first time, In Accordance With the Prophecy.

Fingolfin and his people see the fires, and know they are betrayed. Nonetheless, they are unwilling to return to the Valar, since not all of them are guiltless of the Kinslaying. Instead, they dare the grinding ice of the Helcaraxe. This is a Polar expedition , which our narrator tells us the 'greatest tale of hardihood and woe from those times'. The glaciers and the storms and the cold kill many of the people, including Turgon's wife Elenwe.

The army is much smaller by the time it arrives, but it DOES arrive as an organized in middle earth, and their horns sound ere the rising of the moon on the shores of their old home.

And ... that's the chapter! Wow, talk about eventful!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Corvus]

And so it begins.

To say Feanor is a hothead is like saying lava is warm. Guy has some serious anger management issues.

And, yeah, Galadriel is old.

[Mechalich]

I think it's important to consider the role of grief in these tragedies, especially how unfamiliar the elves were to dealing with it as individuals and as a society, and also how the Valar aren't really equipped to understand it at all.

The elves have been in Valinor for ~4,000 years by this point and there have been exactly two deaths, the bizarre expiration of Melian and now Finwe. For all of the elves who were born after Melian lay down - which is likely the overwhelming majority since these elves seem to have large families (Feanor has seven kids) making each new generation considerably larger than the preceding one - this is the very first time they've experienced death. Their society has no coping mechanisms, no rituals, no prayers, nothing. Not surprising that they freak out collectively and the Feanor, who's gone from the only elf with just one parent to the only elf with no parents at all, freaks out even harder than everyone else.

And the Valar's blinkered response makes much more sense considering that they are immortal and cannot understand grief properly because their loved ones can't die (Mandos may be the exception, but he seems to be a card-carrying member of 'the God of Death is True Neutral' club). The appear to believe that by withholding aid in getting back to Middle Earth they'll convince the Noldor to stay once they recognize how hard the journey is, which is the opposite of the approach they should have taken. Had they instead offered aid to the Noldor, perhaps by fashioning some device to allow them to make the polar journey in safety, far Noldor would have likely recalled the love the Valar bore them and chosen to remain.

I also suspect that of the 10% who do remain, this is predominantly members of the earliest generations, including almost all of those who'd made the journey to Valinor the first time since in events to come there's hardly any reference to Noldor who are elder than Feanor's generation and much of the leadership falls to his descendants. So the Noldor returned to Middle Earth and left their elders behind. Feanor, after all, faces considerable dissent from his half-siblings, but not from any uncles or the like.

[Fyraltari]

And that's all we know about Ungoliant. The rumor is that she eventually grew so hungry she ate herself to death. Like Pizza The Hutt .

And .. that's it? The most dreadful creature in middle earth, a spider-kaiju who ate the stars, just bu**ers off? That's ALL?

I am unsatisfied. I'd have preferred a Valar-Morgoth team up against a greater evil for the sake of the world. Melkor, after all, wants to rule the world; Ungoliant just wants to eat it all. So he and the Valar have a common interest in saving a world from the ever-hungry maw which would devour all things good and evil. But that's not the story Tolkien tells.

If I'm not mistaken, HoME has it that the original plan was for Eärendil to meet and kill Ungoliant during his voyages before he went West. That was back when the Tale of Eärendil was meant to be the longest and best of the Great Tales, set up by all the others and serving as a fitting conclusion to this universe. But the Professor sort of... lost interest? in actually writing it and there's basically just the cliff notes version we find in the Silm.

Spoiler: The Doom of the Noldor

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Tears unnumbered shall ye shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the house of Feanor the wrath of the Valar lies from the West to the Uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and by fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be forever.

Ye have spilled the blood of your kin unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed you to die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, but slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be; by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-Earth shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become a shadow of regret before the younger race that shall cometh after. The Valar have spoken.

Noldooooor, blood is on your haaaaands!

Feanor, after all, faces considerable dissent from his half-siblings, but not from any uncles or the like.

Does he even have any of those? I'm still not clear how Elwë and Olwë can even be brothers when they just woke up as adults along with everybody else.

As for the lack of mention of first generation elves, I think that's mostly because the narrative is only interested in the Royal Houses.

With that said, we know of only three First Generation Noldor: Finwë, Mahtan and Rúmil and none of them followed Fëanor (granted Finwë was otherwise undisposed) even though Mahtan was his father-in-law (then again, he was divorced in all but name at the time).

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Spoiler: The Oath of Feanor

Show

Then Feanor swore a terrible oath, along with his seven sons. They swore an oath that none shall break, and none should take, even by the name of Iluvatar, calling upon themselves the everlasting Darkness if they kept it not... to pursue to the ends of the world Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn, or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession.

... Many quailed to hear the dread words. For so sworn, good or evil, an oath cannot be broken, and it will pursue both oathkeeper and oathbreaker to the worlds end.

Oaths are serious things in middle earth; witness the Dead bound for millenia to the mountains of Dunharrow in Lord of the Rings until their oath was fulfilled.

This is also why Elrond insists that there must be no oath to bind the Fellowship when Gimli tries to get them to swear one in Rivendell - mostly missed out of the film, of course.

[factotum]

Has to be said, I think this is the real point where we can stop blaming the Valar for messing things up. If Feanor had just taken his Oath and gone into exile, not so much, but add on the Kinslaying and it becomes clear he's several miles over the insanity horizon and accelerating at this point. To curse anyone who chooses to follow someone like that is entirely reasonable, and, IMHO, we haven't even got to his worst stuff yet!

[Fyraltari]

Has to be said, I think this is the real point where we can stop blaming the Valar for messing things up. If Feanor had just taken his Oath and gone into exile, not so much, but add on the Kinslaying and it becomes clear he's several miles over the insanity horizon and accelerating at this point. To curse anyone who chooses to follow someone like that is entirely reasonable, and, IMHO, we haven't even got to his worst stuff yet!

They're going to completely let the Men and the Moriquendi in the sauce through no fault of their own, though.

[Mechalich]

Does he even have any of those? I'm still not clear how Elwë and Olwë can even be brothers when they just woke up as adults along with everybody else.

As for the lack of mention of first generation elves, I think that's mostly because the narrative is only interested in the Royal Houses.

With that said, we know of only three First Generation Noldor: Finwë, Mahtan and Rúmil and none of them followed Fëanor (granted Finwë was otherwise undisposed) even though Mahtan was his father-in-law (then again, he was divorced in all but name at the time).

I mean yeah, I get that the narrative was interested in houses and rulers as befits the sort of quasi-historic saga it is intended to be, it's just kind of strange to me that upon Finwe's death Feanor's generation suddenly takes complete and utter dominance over the Noldor.

The elves awaken in YT 1050 and first arrive in Aman in YT 1133 - almost 800 years later. Feanor is born in YT 1169, approximately 350 years later. Now, things move slowly during these ages, so Feanor may in fact be one of the earlier births in Aman, but there ought to be a whole generation of elves born between the destruction of Utumno in YT 1100 and the completion of the migration to Valinor in 1133 (a nearly three hundred year period after all) - this would the generation that emerged between Finwe's generation and Feanor's generation, which demographically should exist - but very few if any characters can be assigned to it. Now it would make sense that these elves, having been born in Middle-Earth and left it for Aman would be extremely reluctant to leave and therefore comprise the faction that remained behind.

Actually are there any known members of the Noldor who made the journey to Aman and then left with Feanor or Fingolfin, or was every member of the host born there?

[DavidSh]

I'm still not clear how Elwë and Olwë can even be brothers when they just woke up as adults along with everybody else.

The published Silmarillion doesn't actually claim that Elwe, Olwe, Ingwe, or Finwe were original, 0th-generation Elves, and this suggests that they were not. There was a length of time before Orome discovered the Elves, and a length of time when the Valar were fighting Melkor (again), before the ambassadors were chosen to visit Aman.

[Grim Portent]

Has to be said, I think this is the real point where we can stop blaming the Valar for messing things up. If Feanor had just taken his Oath and gone into exile, not so much, but add on the Kinslaying and it becomes clear he's several miles over the insanity horizon and accelerating at this point. To curse anyone who chooses to follow someone like that is entirely reasonable, and, IMHO, we haven't even got to his worst stuff yet!

To be honest, this is still a situation where the Valar could, and should, have done something.

Arrest Feanor for mass murder, piracy, and declaring war on the Valar's protectorates for example. If they decided to punish Feanor and his co-consirators (I would attribute guilt for the kinslaying to all the Noldor who were in the first host under Feanor pesonally) there's not a whole lot the elves could do to resist punishment, and imprisonment in the Undying Lands might be far better than Feanor deserves, but is by far preferable than letting him loose upon Middle Earth.

I wouldn't necessarily stop the Noldor in general from leaving mind, just the ones who'd knowingly engaged in an unjustified attack on the Teleri, and I'd confiscate the stolen ships and tell them to build their own own take the polar walk.


The Valar are very hands off however, seemingly from fear of overstepping their boundaries, so it's not surprising that they allow a murderer to sail free with little more than harsh words* and being told not to come back to see him off.



I'm also somewhat curious about Fingolfin and his folks decision to cross the Helcaraxe. Fingolfin was only going to Middle Earth because his sons wanted to follow Feanor, and then also because of the kinslaying. When the boats were burned you would think his sons would turn against Feanor, and that Finarfin's decision to stay would look more and more appealing.


*The Doom of the Noldor is basically just desribing things that were going to happen anyway as a consequence of leaving Aman, the Noldor's own personalities and the nature of Middle Earth under the dominion of Morgoth and later Sauron.

[Fyraltari]

I'm also somewhat curious about Fingolfin and his folks decision to cross the Helcaraxe. Fingolfin was only going to Middle Earth because his sons wanted to follow Feanor, and then also because of the kinslaying. When the boats were burned you would think his sons would turn against Feanor, and that Finarfin's decision to stay would look more and more appealing.

Well, that ship has sailed too. Mandos told them that if they'd follow Fëanor they'd be banished. They followed Fëanor, they're banished. The fact that Fëanor then abandoned them by the wayside is a whole lot of they-problem. The Valar aren't going to let them cole back.

The Doom of the Noldor is basically just desribing things that were going to happen anyway as a consequence of leaving Aman, the Noldor's own personalities and the nature of Middle Earth under the dominion of Morgoth and later Sauron.

Ah, but that's the deal with curse and prophecy, isn't it? Are things happening because of the curse or would they have happened anyway? Would the Noldor have been so jumpy with one another if it hadn't been predicted they were going to suffer betrayal? We'll talk more about this once Tùrin turns up.

[pendell]

Arrest Feanor for mass murder, piracy, and declaring war on the Valar's protectorates for example. If they decided to punish Feanor and his co-consirators (I would attribute guilt for the kinslaying to all the Noldor who were in the first host under Feanor pesonally) there's not a whole lot the elves could do to resist punishment, and imprisonment in the Undying Lands might be far better than Feanor deserves, but is by far preferable than letting him loose upon Middle Earth.

The problem with arresting them is that it implies they'd be released at some point. So you would have those who had engaged in the Kinslaying living side by side with the Teleri who had suffered it. Perhaps the Valar have forgiven, but have the Teleri?

Talk about awkward.

It wouldn't surprise me if lone Noldor travelers started to experience dreadful accidents while wandering along the coast. Once it happens often enough to be more than a coincidence, maybe Teleri start finding the walk to Tirion unsafe themselves. Low-level blood feud never reaching the point of outright war where the Valar would have to take notice, but constant sniping and counter-sniping.

This isn't going to work. The Noldor need to put some distance between themselves and this crime. So the Valar outlaw them. That's a serious punishment in the middle ages; it means you can't live within city limits if you want to keep your head. The Noldor are driven forth, where they can use their swords against Morgoth rather than boiling in inaction in Aman.

I'd confiscate the stolen ships and tell them to build their own own take the polar walk.

Totally fair. I guess the reason this didn't happen is that the Valar didn't want any more war in Aman than there already had been. Also, they put some kind of prohibition in place against stopping Feanor's exodus by force; if this had not been the case, Osse would have stirred up the storms and their ships would never have put to sea. Instead, a 'favoring wind' sprang up, probably the work of Ulmo and Osse to get Feanor and his troublesome crew the heck away from Aman.

But even so Osse took a small measure of revenge; he stirred up the waves and took some of the ships to a watery grave. Not enough so that he would be accused of breaking his orders, but enough so that the Noldor would know for a fact he wasn't happy with them.

The Valar are very hands off however, seemingly from fear of overstepping their boundaries, so it's not surprising that they allow a murderer to sail free with little more than harsh words* and being told not to come back to see him off.

That's a modern view, IME. This is closer to the medieval or ancient doom of outlawry and banishment, which some considered worse than death. Looked at from that perspective, the Valar didn't go soft on them at all.

I'm also somewhat curious about Fingolfin and his folks decision to cross the Helcaraxe. Fingolfin was only going to Middle Earth because his sons wanted to follow Feanor, and then also because of the kinslaying. When the boats were burned you would think his sons would turn against Feanor, and that Finarfin's decision to stay would look more and more appealing.

I didn't cover it in the read through, but the wording said there were two reasons: First, Fingolfin was very anxiousto catch up with Feanor and have a word with him. Second, the people in his army were not wholly guiltless of the kinslaying, and feared to return to the Valar for judgement.

These are understandable but mistaken motivations. As towards the second, if the Valar are such softies are to let Morgoth off I don't think they're going to be too hard on people whose only crime was, upon seeing battle joined between their kin and strangers, to intervene on the side of their kin. As to the first... I can understand the motivation, but that's not enough reason, in my view, to sentence who knows how many people, including my wife, to death in the arctic regions. Not to salve my own wounded pride or to seek some useless revenge.

*The Doom of the Noldor is basically just desribing things that were going to happen anyway as a consequence of leaving Aman, the Noldor's own personalities and the nature of Middle Earth under the dominion of Morgoth and later Sauron.

I don't think so. We'll see Morgoth curse a person later in the story, and that curse will hound the person all the days of their live, though they never meet Morgoth directly. This is magic of the old school, in which the doom pronounced altars a person's fate for the worse and hounds them until some greater power undoes the curse, the caster ends it , or the caster dies. This is more than just prediction; this is a setting of a doom on the Valar. All of these things would take place naturally, but the ill fate placed on them will make this sort of thing more and more likely. Evil coincidences, happenstance, will drive this on to make it all the more likely.

We'll read later "by ill luck, as it turned out..." In my view there is no luck. The reason this happened was nothing to do with "luck", no random die roll, but their own fate coming to roost on their shoulders. The fate they wrought for themselves by the taking of innocent blood. And, in the world of Middle-Earth, if some greater power cannot pardon the offender, blood must pay for blood.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Sapphire Guard]

What happens if they resist arrest? More kinslaying?

Mandos Doom is tricky, as a Seer it could prediction or curse

[Mechalich]

I don't think so. We'll see Morgoth curse a person later in the story, and that curse will hound the person all the days of their live, though they never meet Morgoth directly. This is magic of the old school, in which the doom pronounced altars a person's fate for the worse and hounds them until some greater power undoes the curse, the caster ends it , or the caster dies. This is more than just prediction; this is a setting of a doom on the Valar. All of these things would take place naturally, but the ill fate placed on them will make this sort of thing more and more likely. Evil coincidences, happenstance, will drive this on to make it all the more likely.

We'll read later "by ill luck, as it turned out..." In my view there is no luck. The reason this happened was nothing to do with "luck", no random die roll, but their own fate coming to roost on their shoulders. The fate they wrought for themselves by the taking of innocent blood. And, in the world of Middle-Earth, if some greater power cannot pardon the offender, blood must pay for blood.

I feel there's a definite tension, in the Silmarillion, between Tolkien's desire to build a mythological saga in the fashion of the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic literature he studied in which there is only the will of the gods and random probabilities do not exist, and a world more in line with his personal experiences and the religion he actually practiced, in which free will is of paramount importance (also, in that context the Valar themselves, including Melkor don't necessarily possess free will). This definitely impacts the Valar heavily, since they are not-quite-gods and there are vague but discernable limits on exactly how far they can push the decision making of mortals. In particular, they seem to be very reluctant to use force against mortals. There are several cases where, after failing to persuade mortals to do what they're told (which isn't a very polytheistic facet of deities either), they very easily could have used force to make it happen but they just...don't do that. For example, they could have easily brought all the elves to Aman whether they wanted to come or not, but when a substantial fraction (the majority? hard to say) don't want to go, they let them stay. Bad things happen because of this, but the Valar appear to consider respecting the choice more important.

[Fyraltari]

The problem with arresting them is that it implies they'd be released at some point. So you would have those who had engaged in the Kinslaying living side by side with the Teleri who had suffered it. Perhaps the Valar have forgiven, but have the Teleri?

Probably yes. Just lock them up until the last of the Sea Elves has left the Caves of Mandos. Remember these are Elves in Aman, not only are they going to be perfectly fine eventually, but in the mean-time their loved ones can still visit them.

Miriel's case is special only in that she wished to remain dead forevermore, the way Men will eventually experience death, and never leave the Caves of Mandos.
And even then Finwë still visited her several times.

[Grim Portent]

What happens if they resist arrest? More kinslaying?

Mandos Doom is tricky, as a Seer it could prediction or curse

If the Valar can drag Morgoth back to Aman they can arrest a few thousand elves. Might take a while, but given their range of powers they should be able to stop them from doing anything worse. Probably wouldn't even have to use force, just enchanting music or talking would probably be enough for most of the Noldor.

There's also the option of letting them board the ships, then becalming them, splitting them up and arresting them ship by ship. Godlike power enables godlike solutions.

Probably yes. Just lock them up until the last of the Sea Elves has left the Caves of Mandos. Remember these are Elves in Aman, not only are they going to be perfectly fine eventually, but in the mean-time their loved ones can still visit them.

There's also no mention of substantial ill will between the Noldor who stayed under Finarfin and the Teleri. IIRC most if not all the meaningful strife in Aman leaves with the Noldor hosts, or at least none is ever mentioned later on.

[pendell]

Chapter 10: Of the Sindar
Back in Middle Earth: First Contact and First War

Spoiler

Show

The scene pans back to middle earth and back a few hundred years to catch us up on what's been happening there while all these events are transpiring in Aman. The Sindar are the Grey-Elves, ruled by Thingol who was Elwe, married to Melian.

It isn't such a bad place; the stars give all the light they need and the various creatures of the Enemy are in hiding, so they are the happiest times on record for these people. Luthien, daughter of Thingol and Melian, is brought into the world during this time.

During Morgoth's second captivity a strange people, calling themselves Khazad , come over the blue mountains into the lands of Beleriand near Thingol's borders. This is a wonder to the elves , for these are people who are not elves yet are also not beasts; they speak with voices.

The initial contact is friendly; The Eldar name them Naugrim, "Stunted people" and Gonhirrim, "masters of stone". Because they are indeed short compared to elves and live underground in great fortress-cities under the blue mountains; Gabilthagol (named by the Elves Belegost, or Middleburg) under Mount Dolmed, and Tumunzahar (named Nogrod, the Hollowbold, by the Elves) to the south. Khazad-dum exists but is only a name and a rumor to the elves as the greatest of Dwarven cities, but it is a very, very long way to the east, in the Mountains of Mist, far distant from any lands in this story. So it is thought of as a far-off city of legend, like the kingdom of Prester John in our middle ages. The elves find the language of the newcomers strange and unlovely, so they have great difficulty learning it. The Khazad, for their part, aren't at all interested in teaching their language to outsiders, but they are eager to learn the language of the Elves. Sindarin, therefore, becomes the Lingua Franca of Middle Earth, the basis of Common in many D&D settings; it is the universal language of both trade and learning. The Khazad will get along best with the Noldor, not only because of their shared affinity with Aule but also because the Khazad prize highly the gems which the Noldor can both mine and craft.

The Khazad (or Dwarves, if you prefer) , deal fairly but have a clear view of the value of their own labor. They insist on being paid in one form or another for all their work, whether the work is something they take delight in or something they detest. I assume they had a premium for the second, though. Thingol and Melian purchase their aid with both pearls from the sea and instruction by Melian, who as a Maia knows much of the world and her knowledge is beyond price. So here Earthtube channel has thousands of Khazad subscribers although it is behind a stiff paywall; the Khazad have no problem with this because they can't imagine anything of value NOT being behind a paywall of some kind. With their aid thus paid for, Thingol listens to Melian's counsel , which is that he should be prepared for war of some kind, for peace cannot endure in this land forever. And so with Melian's counsel and dwarvish assistance he builds Menegroth, "the thousand caves", an underground palace and fortress behind a river across which is built a great bridge of stone.

This is a joint venture between Elves and Dwarves, each contributing their own unique skills to make Menegroth more than a simple hiding place but a true wonder of the world, with pillars and gardens and fountains of silver and paths of many-coloured stones.

However, as time draws on the evil things which had hidden during the early days of Morgoth's captivity begin to stir again. The Dwarves bring warning to Thingol of monsters and evil creatures arising again, although even these are still kept in check; It seems the Valar have not wholly abandoned Middle-Earth. Orome returns frequently on hunting expeditions to wipe out any evil monsters who show their heads. Even so, the infestation is becoming much worse than before, and noticeable. The creatures entering the land are wolves -- or, at least, creatures in wolf-shape, werewolves -- and the orcs, who come in small numbers as scouts to map the land. The Sindar, encountering them, believe them to be Avari gone evil and savage in the wild , "in which they guessed all too near", according to our narrator :(.

Taking heed to this troubling development, Elwe/Thingol contracts with the Khazad for arms and armour, which are duly provided, unmatched by any other smiths in history, even by the Noldor. This allows Thingol to equip his soldiers as heavy infantry, armed with axes, spears , swords, and armoured with mail hauberks, unmatched in the world.

The signs grow worse; previously a band of Teleri had left the main host and settled in the south. Now, under pressure from evil creatures, they migrate into Beleriand and are welcomed by Thingol. They soon set up under one Denethor, son of Lenwe.

Then, disaster.

All in the land here a sudden great cry from the north, which we will later learn is Morgoth's cry for help when beset by Ungoliant. Then Ungoliant herself comes down on the land , fleeing from the battle against the Balrogs but still full of malice. Melian herself puts forth her power and withstands Ungoliant, who veers away from Menegroth and settles in the mountains; this section of mountains is now named Ered Gorgoroth, Mountains of Terror, in which light is strangled as of old. The elves won't go there, but Ungoliant won't come out either.

There is an odd thing: Ungoliant is able to be checked by Melian, when just one short chapter ago she outmatched Morgoth, first and greatest of the Valar? Either there is a very inconsistent power level here, or Melian is down to HP critical on her life bar and doesn't want to fight ANYONE who might push her over that last little bit. Or perhaps it is psychological; Ungoliant has never had a reputation for being particularly brave. Why fight a hard battle against the greatest sorceress of Middle-Earth when she can slink off to her hiding place and devour helpless creatures caught in her web?

One way or the other, Ungoliant passes on. Then Angband is rebuilt along with the three peaks of Thangorodrim, only 900km north of Menegroth's gates, a threat and a warning. It isn't all that long before , without warning, a great orc-host issues from Angband to conquer all these lands and defend Morgoth's claim to be King Of The World.

Denethor and Thingol lay their plans swiftly. They choose a two pronged strategy; Denethor and his elves will draw the Angband army into battle. Once fully engaged, Thingol will march to their relief and take the orcs from behind. Thus caught between hammer and anvil, they will destroy the army of evil.

It doesn't quite work.

Thingol does indeed hit the orcs from behind and slays them "in heaps", but by the time they get to Denethor's redoubt they find it is too late; he and all his warriors have been slain to the last elf.

Also, this is only a part of the orcish army; the rest have been fighting elsewhere, and have driven Cirdan (who will come into Lord of the Rings) to fortifications on the sea shore, where he will remain ever after.

And so this first Great Battle can be described as a tactical victory for the elves but a strategic defeat. While they inflicted great losses on the orcs, outside of Thingol's own army the elves took great losses themselves. Being lightly armoured and armed with bows they were no match for the iron-armed iron-armoured iron-shod orcs. Their casualties were extremely high.

Thingol withdraws to Menegroth and Melian fashions a girdle of enchantment all around the inner bastion of his kingdom; the aforesaid inner bastion being renamed Doriath. The elves of Mirkwood in the Hobbit use similar magic at the enchanted river; when dwarves fall in, they plunge into an enchanted sleep and dream vivid, pleasant dreams from which they have no desire to wake up , ever. Reading this, it also looks to me like they used Old Man Willow's trick of changing, shifting forest paths which always bend in the direction the casters wish bewildered intruders to go. The overall effect is that anyone entering the Girdle of Melian, uninvited, either find themselves back outside the Girdle or else never come out at all; none get through to Doriath.

As for the elves living in the land those who can migrate to Doriath, where they merge with Thingol's original people. The rest hide out in the forests, ambushing enemies who enter with stealth and with arrows, and are named the Green-elves.

Thus, the battle ends with the elves holed up in strategic fortifications while the orcs and other enemies have run of the land , freedom to travel anywhere and attack any traveler. Since the orcs now control the land outside of these isolated fortresses, it's hard to call this first battle anything but a victory for Morgoth, casualty ratios notwithstanding.

On this note, the chapter concludes with Feanor landing in Middle-Earth at the Firth of Drengist, where he burns the ships of Losgar in which he came, trapping himself and his followers in Middle-Earth.

The next chapter will, no doubt, be eventful.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[DavidSh]

Chapter 10: Of the Sindar
Back in Middle Earth: First Contact and First War
...

Respectfully,

Brian P.

It's "Mickleburg", not "Middleburg", spell-checking notwithstanding. Like "Micklegarth" was a name for Constantinople.

[factotum]

Just a note-I didn't get the impression from the text that Angorodrim was *rebuilt*, more that it was new-raised.

[Mechalich]

Thus, the battle ends with the elves holed up in strategic fortifications while the orcs and other enemies have run of the land , freedom to travel anywhere and attack any traveler. Since the orcs now control the land outside of these isolated fortresses, it's hard to call this first battle anything but a victory for Morgoth, casualty ratios notwithstanding.

Morgoth, and later Sauron, is part of that class of fantasy dark lord who seems to just have a 'spawn minions' button on the side of his throne of skulls that he can press as often as he wants. There are always more orcs, and despite their immense numbers they never seem to have to grow any crops or build any houses, and it's decidedly unclear who's doing all their weaponsmithing. Attrition seems to always work in their favor.

I imagine the elves could, and initially did, periodically sortie from their fortresses and send out kill parties to kill all the orcs in a valley or a patch of forest or along a river or something, only to watch as the next season, somehow, there were just as many orcs as before. They just seem to spontaneously generate in Angband.

[Corvus]

I'm fairly sure things like smithies are mentioned as well as farms around the Lake of Rhun in Mordor supplying Sauron's armies.

[pendell]

I'm fairly sure things like smithies are mentioned as well as farms around the Lake of Rhun in Mordor supplying Sauron's armies.

Yes, but it's the sea of Nurnen in Mordor, not the Sea of Rhun, which are mentioned in Return of the King. Since the eastern kings ally with Mordor it wouldn't surprise me if there are farms and smithies there as well, but they don't come into the story.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Fyraltari]

Also, while Beleriand is a warzone, the rest of Middle-Earth is under Morgoth's control. Presumably, that's where he gets his legions of orcs and the food they need.

[Grim Portent]

Orcs are skilled and clever craftsmen in their own right, but only in the creation of things of cruel and destructive purpose. They make their own armour and weapons, which may not have the same level of magical craftsmanship of the weapons of dwarves or elves, but they are still good weapons rather than ramshackle junk as is often depicted in adaptations.

As for their numbers, Tolkien never really went into it, but orcs are implied to breed the old fashioned way. Either there are orc women that exist offscreen or at least aren't mentioned directly, or orcs breed with something else. Outbreeding elves and dwarves is trivial, outbreeding men is another matter and the orcs of the Third Age outnumber the men of Gondor in large part because Gondor never recovered from plague.

[KorvinStarmast]

In Orome, I always got a feel that Tolkien was riffing off The Wild Hunt of European lore with Orome as the leader. The hunting of the evil monsters in this part of the book is but one variation on that theme.

[runeghost]

Chapter 10: Of the Sindar
Back in Middle Earth: First Contact and First War

Spoiler

Show

Then, disaster.

All in the land here a sudden great cry from the north, which we will later learn is Morgoth's cry for help when beset by Ungoliant. Then Ungoliant herself comes down on the land , fleeing from the battle against the Balrogs but still full of malice. Melian herself puts forth her power and withstands Ungoliant, who veers away from Menegroth and settles in the mountains; this section of mountains is now named Ered Gorgoroth, Mountains of Terror, in which light is strangled as of old. The elves won't go there, but Ungoliant won't come out either.

There is an odd thing: Ungoliant is able to be checked by Melian, when just one short chapter ago she outmatched Morgoth, first and greatest of the Valar? Either there is a very inconsistent power level here, or Melian is down to HP critical on her life bar and doesn't want to fight ANYONE who might push her over that last little bit. Or perhaps it is psychological; Ungoliant has never had a reputation for being particularly brave. Why fight a hard battle against the greatest sorceress of Middle-Earth when she can slink off to her hiding place and devour helpless creatures caught in her web?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Spoiler: Some thoughts re: Ungoliant

Show

There's a line from (one version of) The Lay of Lethian,

"...Thingol and deathless Melian,
whose magic yet no evil can
that cometh from without surpass"


My understanding is that the power of the Valar and Maiar (who are the same type of being - incarnate Ainur) is heavily aspected. In the sense of what it pertains to, Melian's power is narrow but deep, spent on only a few very precise things, with one of those (and perhaps the greatest of them) being her protection of Doriath.

Morgoth, in contrast, spends his (much greater) power widely and profligately. He's already dumped a lot of it into Middle-Earth in the not-ultimately-successful goal of corrupting, dominating, and ultimately destroying it. As long as he's going down the road he already made, he's very powerful. But doing all that, and empowering Ungoliant, as diminished his personal might greatly. So, when it comes to "go toe-to-toe with the thing I myself just empowered, which then got an extra power-boost, all in the service of saving my own skin and stuff" Morgoth is... not in the best of positions.

But when Ungoliant then bumps into the power of Melian, it (which is probably a proto-Girdle sort of thing at that point) a warding that has one job: no evil in Doriath. And that narrow focus "boosts" it. It's similar to (a non-evil, because it's not selfish) version of the "power-hack" Sauron did with the One Ring - a Maiar can focus and externalize their native power, getting far more "bang for the buck" in the process, but surrendering the ability to do anything else with it. (For Sauron it was a "hack" because he could then wield the Ring, and effectively magnify his native power at the things the Ring was good for: power, domination, control. Which worked great until he lost it.) The situation isn't completely identical, because the Girdle faded once Melian left. Whether the power she'd put into the Girdle was lost to her and faded without her will beind it, or whether she just reclaimed it, I'm not sure.

One thing Tolkien notes... somewhere (I don't recall the precise source) is that in terms of pure physical might, Second Age Sauron + Ring was actually greater than Wars of Beleriand-era Morgoth. Because the Ring (while wielded) did boost Sauron's personal power, while Morgoth had spent so much of his on control and corruption. So it's not really a suprise that Morgoth couldn't handle a fully "powered up" Ungoliant one-on-one, but she could be stymied by balrogs or Melian.

[Grim Portent]

In Orome, I always got a feel that Tolkien was riffing off The Wild Hunt of European lore with Orome as the leader. The hunting of the evil monsters in this part of the book is but one variation on that theme.

Oh, 100% Orome and his excursions are a reference to the Wild Hunt.

It's also why Orome is the Valar I most respect, with Tulkas pulling a close second. Guy is actually out there doing something direct and concrete to benefit the mortals of Middle Earth.

[Fyraltari]

Oh, 100% Orome and his excursions are a reference to the Wild Hunt.

It's also why Orome is the Valar I most respect, with Tulkas pulling a close second. Guy is actually out there doing something direct and concrete to benefit the mortals of Middle Earth.

What about Ulmo?

[hamishspence]

Spoiler

Show

One thing Tolkien notes... somewhere (I don't recall the precise source) is that in terms of pure physical might, Second Age Sauron + Ring was actually greater than Wars of Beleriand-era Morgoth. Because the Ring (while wielded) did boost Sauron's personal power, while Morgoth had spent so much of his on control and corruption. So it's not really a suprise that Morgoth couldn't handle a fully "powered up" Ungoliant one-on-one, but she could be stymied by balrogs or Melian.

The History of Middle Earth: Morgoth's Ring book has the quote you're thinking of probably.

Spoiler

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Sauron was greater, effectively, in the Second Age than Morgoth at the end of the First. Why? Because, though he was far smaller by natural stature, he had not yet fallen so low. Eventually he also squandered his power (of being) in the endeavour to gain control of others. But he was not obliged to expend so much of himself. To gain domination over Arda, Morgoth had let most of his being pass into the physical constituents of the Earth — hence all things that were born on Earth, and lived on and by it, beasts or plants or incarnate spirits, were liable to be stained. Morgoth at the time of the War of the Jewels had become permanently incarnate; for this reason he was afraid, and waged the war almost entirely by means of devices, or of subordinates and dominated creatures.

Sauron, however, inherited the corruption of Arda, and only spent his (much more limited) power on the Rings; for it was the creatures of earth, in their minds and wills, that he desired to dominate. In this way Sauron was also wiser than Melkor-Morgoth. Sauron was not a beginner of discord; and he probably knew more of the Music than did Melkor, whose mind had always been filled with his own plans and devices, and gave little attention to other things. The time of Melkor's greatest power, therefore, was in the physical beginnings of the World; a vast demiurgic lust for power and the achievement of his own will and designs, on a great scale. And later after things had become more stable, Melkor was more interested in and capable of dealing with a volcanic eruption, for example, than with (say) a tree. It is indeed probable that he was simply unaware of the minor or more delicate productions of Yavanna, such as small flowers.

[pendell]

Which raises a question: If Sauron is more powerful than Morgoth at the end of the First Age, why doesn't he launch a coup and take the top spot for himself? Surely not out of a sense of loyalty?

This is an interesting thing about Middle-Earth; Team Evil seems a lot less backstabby than, say, the Sith of Star Wars. You can't have more than two Sith in the building without triggering an enemy civil war, and even then, the apprentice is constantly plotting to take the Master's place. By contrast, Morgoth runs a tight evil ship; there is plenty of wickedness, torture, other horrors on his team but it is organized horror. The Nazgul don't overthrow Sauron, Sauron doesn't throw Morgoth.

I wonder if Morgoth wasn't revolted against because he spent so much of himself binding these evil creatures to his will, in the same way Sauron bound the Nazgul? Is that both why he is so weak yet fears no betrayal?

Respectfully,

Brian P.