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Old 07-23-2001, 04:45 PM   #64
Aiwendil
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Re: A project ~~~~Revising the Fall of Gondolin

<u>The Transition</u>

Here I assume that we will follow the later 'Tuor' in Unfinished Tales as far as it goes; I thus start with the transition immediately following the last line of this text, "Then Ecthelion said at last: 'Now no further proof is needed; and even the name he claims as son of Huor matters less than this clear truth, that he comes from Ulmo himself.'"

I refer to this text as Tuor; as usual, FG refers to the Lost Tales version, Q30 refers to the Quenta Noldorinwa, and QS77 refers to the published Silmarillion. In addition, TO refers to the brief notes given in note 59 to to the later Tuor in UT.

I will go through FG paragraph by paragraph beginning from my suggested transition point, the paragraph beginning "Then said Tuor: 'What be those names?'"

I follow jallanite's practice of using the following symbols:
[ ] Normalized, usually used for proper names indicating they are here in final form, not as in original text. Eg. "[Huor]" probably represents an original "Peleg", "[nor]thward", represents original "southward", and "[']" represents original """.
< > Material inserted from secondary source. If more than one secondary source occurs in the passage then a code appears after the opening angle-bracket, eg. "< QS77 ".
{ } Material to be deleted.
Underlined Material inserted for grammatical reasons or as editorial bridge.

To these I add:
/ / Material altered in accordance with our principle 6c; mostly used for expansion of outlines. In this case, I will show the deletion of the original as well; for example: {Coming thither of Elwing} = /Elwing came thither/.

I've numbered the paragraphs for ease of discussion; after each one I give notes.

P.1: {Then said Tuor: "What be those names?"}< TO Tuor asked the name of the city, [a]nd {the chief of the Guard}[Elemmakil] made answer: [']'Tis said and 'tis sung: "Gondobar am I called and Gondo[lodrim]bar, City of Stone and City of the Dwellers in Stone; Gondolin the Stone of Song and [?] am I named, the Tower of Guard, [Nome] Thuri{o}n or the Secret Place, for I am hidden from the eyes of [Morgoth]; but they who love me most greatly call me Loth, for like a flower am I, even Loth[inan] the flower that blooms [in] the [valley]." Yet,' said he, 'in our daily speech we speak and we name it mostly Gondolin.' Then said Voronwë: 'Bring us thither, for we fain would enter,' and Tuor said that his heart desired much to tread the ways of that fair city.

The 'chief of the Guard' seems to me to refer to him who was later named Elemmakil, though it might also be Ecthelion.

See the following post for discussion of the names of Gondolin.

P.2: < QS77 At the bidding of Ecthelion trumpets were blown on the towers of the great gate, and they echoed in the hills; and far off but clear there came a sound of answering trumpets blown upon the white walls of the city, flushed with the rose of dawn upon the plain. Then < TO [h]orses were brought {(a grey horse for Tuor)} = /, one white for Voronwë and one grey for Tuor;/> and said {the chief of the guard} [Ecthelion] that they themselves must abide here, for there were yet many days of their moon of watch to pass, but that Voronwë and Tuor might pass on to Gondolin; and moreover that they would need thereto no guide, for [']Lo, it stands fair to see and very clear, and its towers prick the heavens above the Hill of Watch in the midmost plain.['] Then Tuor and his companion fared over the plain that was of a marvellous level, broken but here and there by boulders round and smooth which lay amid a sward, or by pools in rocky beds. Many fair pathways lay across that plain, and they came after a day's light march to the foot of the Hill of Watch (which is in the tongue of the Nold[or] Amon Gwareth). Then did they begin to ascend the winding stairways which climbed up to the city gate; nor might any one reach that city save on foot and espied from the walls. As the westward gate was golden in the last sunlight did they come to the long stair's head, and many eyes gazed upon them from the battlements and towers.

I may have taken too much liberty in adding that Voronwe's horse was white, but I can't think of any other reasonable way to introduce the fact that Tuor's horse was grey; all other horses used by the Eldar seem to be white. We might simply use: . . . horses were brought, a grey horse for Tuor . . .; I don't know if that's really awkward or not.

P.3: But Tuor looked upon the walls of stone, and the uplifted towers, upon the glistening pinnacles of the town, and he looked upon the stairs of stone and marble < TO up to its high platform and its great gate>, bordered by slender balustrades and cooled by the leap of threadlike waterfalls seeking the plain from the fountains of Amon Gwareth, and he fared as one in some dream of the [Valar], for he deemed not such things were seen by men in the visions of their sleep, so great was his amaze at the glory of Gondolin.

P. 4: Even so came they to the gates, Tuor in wonder and Voronwë in great joy that daring much he had brought Tuor hither in the will of Ulmo {and he had himself thrown off the yoke of Melko for ever. Though he hated him no wise less, no longer did he dread that Evil One with a binding terror (and of a sooth that spell which Melko held over the Noldoli was one of bottomless dread, so that he seemed ever nigh them even were they far from the Hells of Iron, and their hearts quaked and they fled not even when they could; and to this Melko trusted often).}

In the later story Voronwe was not captured by Morgoth. This paragraph, reduced as it is, should probably be appended to P.3.

P. 5: Now is there a sally from the gates of Gondolin and a throng comes about these twain in wonder, rejoicing that {yet another of the Noldoli has fled hither from Melko} Voronwë had returned, and marvelling at the stature and gaunt limbs of Tuor, his heavy spear barbed with fish bone and his great harp. Rugged was his aspect, and his locks were unkempt, and he was clad in the skin of bears. {'Tis written that in those days the fathers of the fathers of Men were of less stature than Men now are, and the children of Elfinesse of greater growth, yet was Tuor taller than any that stood there. Indeed the Gondothlim were not bent of back as some of their unhappy kin became, labouring without rest at delving and hammering for Melko, but small were they and slender and very lithe. They were swift of foot and surpassing fair; sweet and sad were their mouths, and their eyes had ever a joy within quivering to tears; for in those times the Gnomes were exiles at heart, haunted with a desire for their ancient home that faded not. But fate and unconquerable eagerness after knowledge had driven them into far places, and now were they hemmed by Melko and must make their abiding as fair as they might by labour and by love.}

Passage on the relative stature of Elves and Men delted for obvious reasons.

P. 6: {How it came ever that among Men the Noldoli have been confused with the Orcs who are Melko's goblins, I know not, unless it be that certain of the Noldoli were twisted to the evil of Melko and mingled among these Orcs, for all that race were bred by Melko of the subterranean heats and slime. Their hearts were of granite and their bodies deformed; foul their faces which smiled not, but their laugh that of the clash of metal, and to nothing were they more fain than to aid in the basest of the purposes of Melko. The greatest hatred was between them and the Noldoli, who named them Glamhoth, or folk of dreadful hate.}

There is no suggestion in later writings of Elves being confused with Orcs.

P. 7: Behold, the armed guardians of the gate pressed back the thronging folk that gathered about the wanderers, and one among them spake saying: [']This is a city of watch and ward, Gondolin on Amon Gwareth, where all may be free who are of true heart, but none may be free to enter unknown. Tell me then your names.' But Voronwë named himself {Bronweg of the Gnomes}, come hither by the will of Ulmo as guide to this son of Men; and Tuor said: 'I am Tuor son of [Huor] son of [Galdor] of the house of [Hador] of the sons of the Men of the North who liver far hence, and I fare hither by the will of Ulmo of the Outer Oceans.'

I think that even if we decide to retain the 'house of the Swan' as referring to Annael, we should use 'the house of Hador' here, since he has just named his father and grandfather.

P. 8: Then all who listened grew silent, and his deep and rolling voice held them in amaze, for their own voices were fair as the plash of fountains. Then a saying arose among them: 'Lead him before the king.'
* * * *
P. 9: Then did the throng return within the gates and the wanderers with them, and Tuor saw they were of iron and of great height and strength. Now the streets of Gondolin were paved with stone and wide, kerbed with marble, and fair houses and coursts amid gardens of bright flowers and < TO mounds of mallorns, birches, and evergreen trees> were set about the ways, and many towers of great slenderness and beauty builded of white marble and carved most marvellously rose to the heaven. Squares there were lit with fountains and the home of birds that sang amid the branches of their aged trees, but of all these the greatest was that place where stood the [K]ing's {palace} < TO house>, and the tower thereof < TO on a pillared arcade> was the loftiest in the city, < TO {and the banner of Fingolfin}= /and above it flew the banner of Fingolfin/> and the fountains that played before the doors shot twenty fathoms and seven in the air and fell in a singing rain of crystal: therein did the sun glitter splendidly by day, and the moon most magically shimmered by night. The birds that dwelt there were of the whiteness of snow and their voices sweeter than a lullaby of music.
* * * *
P. 10: On either side of the doors of the palace were the gilded images of two trees, one {that bore blossom} of gold and the other of silver, {nor did they ever fade, for} and they were {shoots from} likenesses of the glorious Trees of Valinor that lit those places before [Morgoth] and [Ungoliant] withered them: and those trees the Gondothlim named
Gling[a]l and B[elthi]l.

P. 11: Then Turgon [K]ing of Gondolin robed in white with a belt of gold, < TO tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol,> and a coronet of garnets was upon his head, < TO {with a} = /and at his side/ a white and gold sword in a ruel-bone sheath>, stood before his doors and spake from the head of the white stairs that led thereto. < QS77 [A]nd upon the King's right hand there stood Maeglin his sister-son, but upon his left hand sat Idril Celebrindal his daughter> < TO {and that it was to be emphasized, either when Tuor first set eyes upon Idril or at some earlier point, that} = /and at the sight of her Tuor marvelled, for/ he had known or even seen few woment in his life. Most of the women and all the children of Annael's company in Mithrim were sent away south; and as a thrall Tuor had seen only the proud and barbarous women of the Easterlings, who treated him as a beast, or the unhappy slaves forced to labour from childhood, for whom he had only pity.> {"Welcome, O Man of the Land of Shadows. Lo! thy coming was set in our books of wisdom, and it has been written that there would come to pass many great things in the homes of the Gondothlim whenso thou faredst hither."}

There is no later indication of this prophecy.

P.12: Then {spake Tuor}< Q30 Tuor spoke the embassy of Ulmo < TO in the hearing of all>, and something of the power and majesty of the Lord of Waters his voice had caught, so that all folk looked in wonder on him, and doubted that this were a Man of mortal race as he declared[.] < QS77And he gave warning to Turgon that the Curse of Mandos now hastened to its fulfilment, when all the works of the Noldor should perish; and he bade him depart, and abandon the fair and mighty city that he had built, and go down Sirion to the sea[,]> < TO {Ulmo's cloak would vanish when Tuor spoke the message to Turgon} = /and when he had spoken, the cloak of Ulmo vanished./>> {and Ulmo set power in his heart and majesty in his voice. "Behold, 0 father of the City of Stone, I am bidden by him who maketh deep music in the Abyss, and who knoweth the mind of Elves and Men, to say unto thee that the days of release draw nigh. There have come to the ears of Ulmo whispers of your dwelling and your hill of vigilance against the evil of Melko, and he is glad: but his heart is wroth and the hearts of the Valar are angered who sit in the mountains of Valinor and look upon the world from the peak of Taniquetil, seeing the sorrow of the thraldom of the Noldoli and the wanderings of Men; for Melko ringeth them in the Land of Shadows beyond hills of iron. Therefore have I been brought by a secret way to bid you number your hosts and prepare for battle, for the time is ripe."}

I added 'in the hearing of all' from TO; that outline says that this occurs either 'in the hearing of all' or 'in a council-chamber'. There's really nothing to push us in either direction, but the former is much easier to work into the narrative, so I went with it.

P. 13-15: < QS77Then Turgon pondered long the counsel of Ulmo, and there came into his mind the words that were spoken to him in Vinyamar: 'Love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart; and remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West, and cometh from the Sea.' But Turgon was become proud, and Gondolin as beautiful as a memory of Elven Tirion, and he trusted still in its secret and impregnable strength, though even a Vala should gainsay it; and after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad the people of that city desired never again to mingle in the woes of Elves and Men without, nor to return through dread and danger into the West. Shut behind their pathless and enchanted hills they suffered none to enter, though he fled from Morgoth hate-pursued; and tidings of the lands beyond came to them faint and far, and they heeded them little. The spies of Angband sought for them in vain; and their dwelling was as a rumour, and secret that none could find.>

Here I would delete all 3 paragraphs from FG. The exact dialogue they use here is not so relevant to the later story; for example, the message bidding Tuor to prepare for battle appears to have been dropped. I think it's better to follow the more concise account of their converse above, at least until:

P. 16: Then said Turgon: [']Every year at the lifting of winter have messengers repaired swiftly and by stealth down the river {that is called} Sirion to the coasts of the Great Sea, and there builded them boats whereto have swans and gulls been harnessed or the strong wings of the wind, and these have sought back beyond the moon and sun to Valinor; but the paths thereto are forgotten and the highways faded from the world, and the seas and mountains are about it, and they that sit within in mirth reck little of the dread of Melko or the sorrow of the world, but hide their land and weave about it inaccessible magic, that no tidings of evil come ever to their ears. Nay, enough of my people have for years untold gone
out to the wide waters never to return, but have perished in the deep places or wander now lost in the shadows that have no paths; and at the coming of next year no more shall fare to the sea, but rather will we trust to ourselves and our city for the warding off of Melko; and thereto have the Valar been of scant help aforetime.[']

I eliminate 'that is called' as Tuor has just spoken of the Sirion, and obviously knows what it is. After this paragraph, I think we can follow FG with more limited corrections.

In a few places, I've used passages from QS77 here that I believe were created by CRT; I think this is better here (and allowed by our principles), as it achieves slightly better unity of style.







</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000320>Aiwendil </A> at: 7/25/01 10:18:04 am


[ December 17, 2001: Message edited by: Aiwendil ]

[ June 21, 2002: Message edited by: Aiwendil ]
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