The Peoples of Middle-earth (26 page)

Thus the old conception that the Noldor in Beleriand retained their own tongue was still present, as it was also in the original forms of the Appendices on Languages and Calendars (see p. 138, note 9).

This at once shows a relatively early date for the Akallabeth; and as noted earlier the adoption of Sindarin by the Exiled Noldor had already emerged in the Grey Annals (p. 62, $5).

The continuation of the same sentence originally read 'and they remained in great friendship with the Eldar, whether of Avallon or of the westlands of Middle-earth', but this was changed to the text in SA, 'and thus they held converse still with the Eldar, whether of Eressea', etc. The same removal of the word 'friendship' of the relations between the Eldar and the Numenoreans is found also in $$12, 29.

$$10, 11. For the Dunedain became mighty ..., But the Lords of Valinor ... There were no editorial alterations made to these paragraphs, which go back with no change of any significance to the earliest text.

$12. For in those days Valinor still remained ... In A the name of the Mountain of Numenor was Menelmindon; in FN III it was Menelmin (IX.335), and Menelmindo, Menelminda occur in The Notion Club Papers. But Meneltarma is found already in A at a later point in the narrative.

In A as originally written the name Avallon was still the new name of the isle of Eressea, but in the rewriting of that passage (see under $4) it was corrected to Avallone, now the name of the haven of the Eldar in Eressea. In the present paragraph A had: 'But the wise among them knew that this distant land was not indeed Valinor, the Blessed Realm, but was Avallone, the Isle of the Eldar, easternmost of the Undying Lands'; Avallone was here the form first written, and thus my father moved from Avallon to Avallone while writing the manuscript, without however changing the significance of the name (but see under $75). The text was then altered, to embody the new conception, but only by changing 'Isle' to 'Haven', to which in SA I added 'upon Eressea' to make the meaning clear.

(Much of the present passage derives fairly closely from The Drowning of Anadune, IX.361, $16: on the extremely difficult question of the meaning of Avalloni in that work see IX.379-80, 385-6.)

In the passage describing the coming of the Eldar to Numenor AB

had:

And thence at times the Firstborn still would come to Numenor in oarless boats, or as birds flying, for the friendship that was between the peoples.

The text of SA here is that of B 2, and here again (see $9 above) the

'friendship' of the Eldar and the Numenoreans was removed.

The conclusion of the paragraph provides further clear evidence of the early date of the Akallabeth. This passage began as an addition to A (following the words 'for the friendship that was between the peoples' cited above) as follows, with the changes made to it shown:

And they brought to Numenor many gifts: birds of song, and flowers of sweet fragrance and herbs of great virtue. And a seedling they brought of the White Tree [Nimloth the Fair >]

Galathilion that grew in the [courts of Avallone >] midst of Eressea, and was in his turn a seedling of the Eldest Tree,

[Galathilion the light of Valinor >] Telperion of many names, the light of Valinor. And the tree grew and blossomed in the courts of the King in [Numenos >] Ar-minaleth; Nimloth the fair it was named, and the night-shadows departed when Nimloth was in flower.

The history of the names of the White Trees is complex, for several reasons: the names were applied to the Two Trees of Valinor and re-used as names for the later trees; the later trees (of Tirion (Tuna), Eressea, Numenor) entered at different times; and there was shifting in their applications. It is simplest to consider first the statements deriving from the major period of work on the Elder Days between the completion and the publication of The Lord of the Rings.

In the Annals of Aman (X.85, $69) Yavanna gave to the Noldor of Tuna (Tirion) 'Galathilion, image of the Tree Telperion'. In the revision of the Quenta Silmarillion from the same period (X.176, $39) it is said of this tree that 'Yavanna made for them a tree in all things like a lesser image of Telperion, save that it did not give light of its own being'; its name is not given. It is also said in the same version of the Quenta Silmarillion (X.155) that Galathilion, a name of Telperion, was given also to the White Tree of Tuna, which was known as 'Galathilion the Less'; and that 'his seedling was named Celeborn in Eressea, and Nimloth in Numenor, the gift of the Eldar.'

As my father first wrote this addition to A he named the Tree of Eressea Nimloth, saying that it was 'a seedling of the Eldest Tree, Galathilion the light of Valinor'; he thus omitted the Tree of Tuna (Galathilion the Less). He immediately changed the name of the Tree of Eressea to Galathilion, a seedling of Telperion, and gave the name Nimloth to the Tree of Numenor. (This shows incidentally that the addition preceded the writing of the account of the fate of the Tree of Numenor later in A, for there the name was Nimloth from the first.)

The passage as emended reappears without any further change in the second text, the typescript B. But on this text my father struck it out and rewrote it thus (B 2):

And a seedling they brought of the White Tree that grew in the midst of Eressea, and was in its turn a seedling of the Tree of Tuna, Galathilion, that Yavanna gave to the Eldar in the Land of the Gods to be a memorial of Telperion, Light of Valinor. And the tree grew and blossomed in the courts of the King in Ar-Minaleth

[> Ar-Menelos]; Nimloth the Fair it was named, and flowered in the evening and the shadows of night it filled with its fragrance.

Here, in this 'second phase' of the Akallabeth, with the introduction of the Tree of Tuna (Galathilion), the gift of Yavanna, the same succession is found as in the Annals of Aman and the contemporary revision of the Quenta Silmarillion: Telperion of Valinor; Galathilion of Tuna; [Celeborn] of Eressea; Nimloth of Numenor.

The conclusion is thus inescapable that the first phase (AB) of the Alkallabeth was earlier than those works (the Annals of Aman, etc.) that can be dated with sufficient accuracy to 1951.

In SA the passage was slightly rewritten, introducing the name Celeborn of the Tree of Eressea (X.155) and (unnecessarily) the word 'image' of the Tree of Tuna from the Annals of Aman (X.85).

In this connection it is interesting to compare the passage in The Return of the King (p. 250, at the end of the chapter The Steward and the King) where the finding of the sapling tree on Mount Mindolluin is recounted. Gandalf's words are:

Verily this is a sapling of the line of Nimloth the fair; and that was a seedling of Galathilion, and that a fruit of Telperion of many names, Eldest of Trees.

It will be seen that this agrees with the emended form of the passage in the first phase (AB) of the Akallabeth: for Galathilion (as the parent of Nimloth) is here the Tree of Eressea, there is no mention of the Tree of Tuna, and Galathilion is a 'fruit' of Telperion (not an

'image', or a 'memorial'). The conclusion must be that this passage was not revised when the Tree of Tuna entered the history.(7) $13. Thus it was that because of the Ban of the Valar ... The development of the opening passage concerning the great voyage is curious. In The Drowning of Anadune (IX.362, $17) it was said that the mariners of Numenor sailed 'from the darkness of the North to the heats of the South, and beyond the South to the Nether Darkness. And the Eruhin [Numenoreans] came often to the shares of the Great Lands, and they took pity on the forsaken world of Middle-earth.' In the Akallabeth, after the words 'to the Nether Darkness', my father introduced a passage from FN HI (IX.334): They ranged from Eressea in the West to the shores of Middle-earth, and came even into the inner seas; and they sailed about the North and the South and glimpsed from their high prows the Gates of Morning in the East.

This goes back to the earliest texts of The Fall of Numenor (V.14, 20, 25). But when incorporating it into the Akallabeth he changed this to 'and they came even into the inner seas, and sailed about Middle-earth and glimpsed from their high prows the Gates of Morning in the East' - returning to The Drowning of Anadune with

'And the Dunedain came often to the shores of the Great Lands'

(with 'often' > 'at times' in B 2).

This is the text in SA. It seems altogether impossible to say what geographical conception of the East of the World lies behind this passage.

In SA, after the words 'the Numenoreans taught them many things', the following passage (likewise derived from The Drowning of Anadune, ibid.) was omitted:

Language they taught them, for the tongues of the Men of Middle-earth, save in the old lands of the Edain, were fallen into brutishness, and they cried like harsh birds, or snarled like savage beasts.

$14. Then the Men of Middle-earth were comforted ... to $17 And some there were who said ... (SA pp. 263-4). No changes entered the text in B 2, but two editorial changes were made in $17: for 'the bliss of the Great' and 'the people of Earth' I substituted 'the bliss of the Powers' and 'the people of Arda'.

$18. The Eldar reported these words ... A has: 'and he sent messengers to the Dunedain, who spoke earnestly to the King, Tar-Atanamir'. My father was closely following The Drowning of Anadune in this paragraph (IX.364, $23), but in that work the king was Ar-Pharazon: Tar Atanamir here first appears.(8) See further under $$24 - 5.

$19. 'The Doom of the World,' they said ... to $23 Then the Messengers said ... Scarcely any changes, and none that need be recorded, entered the text in B 2 in this part of the Akallabeth; there were however some minor editorial alterations made in SA. In $21

there is in the original a complex interchange between 'thou' and

'you' in the reply of the Messengers, according as they are addressing the King or referring to the people as a whole, for example:

'thou and thy people are not of the Firstborn, but are mortal Men as Iluvatar made you', or 'And you, thou sayest, are punished for the rebellion of Men'. In SA 'you' was employed throughout. In $23

'within the girdle of the Earth' was changed to 'within the Circles of the World', and 'The love of this Earth' to 'The love of Arda'.

$ $24, 25 These things took place ..., Then Tar-Ancalimon ...

These two paragraphs have to be considered together. AB $24

opened:

These things took place in the days of Tar-Atanamir, and he was the seventh of those kings that succeeded Elros upon the throne of Numenor; and that realm had then endured for more than two thousand years ...

And AB $25 opened:

Then [Kiryatan > Ar-Kiryatan >] Tar-Kiryatan the Shipbuilder, son of Atanamir, became King, and he was of like mind ...

It would be clear in any case from these new names that a development had taken place, or was taking place, in the history of the royal house of Numenor from that in The Drowning of Anadune; but in fact there is an extremely interesting isolated page in which my father set forth the new conception, and it is most convenient to give this page here.

Second Age

Elros died S.A. 460

King 1. " c. 682

2. " c. 903

3. " c. 1125

4. " c. 1347

5. " c. 1568

6. " c. 1790 [added:] In his day the Numenoreans aided

Gil-glad in the defeat of

Sauron

7. " c. 2061

In his time the Shadow first fell on Numenor. His name was Tar-Atanamir. To him came messages from the Valar, which he rejected. [Added:] He clung to life for an extra 50 years.

8. died S.A. c. 2233

In his time first began the division of the folk between the King's folk and the Nimruzirim (9) (Elendilli) or Elf-friends.

The King's folk and Royal House cease to learn or use Elvish speech and are more usually known by their Numenorean names. This king was Tar-Kiryatan (Shipwright) or in Numenorean Ar-Balkumagan. Settlements of dominion in Middle-earth begin.

9. died S.A. c. 2454

Estrangement of Elf-friends and King's Men deepens. The King makes the Elf-friends dwell in East, and their chief place becomes Romenna. Many depart to settle on shores of N.W.

of Middle-earth. The King's folk as a rule go further south.

10. died S.A. c. 2676

11. " c. 2897

12. " c. 3118.

Power but not bliss of Numenor reaches zenith.

13 and last Tarkalion or Arpharazon. Challenges Sauron and lands at Umbar 3125

Downfall of Numenor 3319.

General aspects of this text are discussed later (pp.171-2 and note 4). There can be no doubt that it is a scheme that my father had beside him when writing the original manuscript A of the Akallabeth. For the moment, it can be observed that, as in A, Atanamir (to whom the Messengers came) was the father of Kiryatan; and that when my father wrote in A that Atanamir 'was the seventh of those kings that succeeded Elros' he meant this precisely: for in the 'Scheme' (as I will refer to it) he is numbered 7, and Kiryatan is numbered 8, while Elros has no number.