[Maédhros]

Tuor in Gondolin

§18 {Then Tuor's heart was heavy, and Voronwë wept; and Tuor sat by the great fountain of the king and its splashing recalled the music of the waves, and his soul was troubled by the conches of Ulmo and he would return down the waters of Sirion to the sea.} FG-TG-01 But Turgon, who knew that Tuor, mortal as he was, had the favour of the Valar, marking his stout glance and the power of his voice sent to him and bade him dwell in Gondolin and be in his favour, and abide even within the royal halls if he would.

§ 19 Then Tuor, for he was weary, and that place was fair, said yea; and hence cometh the abiding of Tuor in Gondolin. Of all Tuor's deeds among the Gondolindrim the tales tell not, but 'tis said that many a time would he have stolen thence, growing weary of the concourses of folk, and thinking of empty forest and fell or hearing afar the sea-music of Ulmo, had not his heart been filled with love for a woman of the Gondolindrim, {and she was} [Idril Celebrindal, the] {a} FG-TG-02 daughter of the king.

§ 20 Now Tuor learnt many things in those realms taught by Voronwë whom he loved, and who loved him exceeding greatly in return; or else was he instructed by the skilled men of the city and the wise men of the king. Wherefore he became a man far mightier than aforetime and wisdom was in his counsel; and many things became clear to him that were unclear before, and many things known that are still unknown to mortal Men. There he heard concerning that city of Gondolin and {how unstaying labour through ages of years had not sufficed to} its building and adornment {whereat folk travailed yet}FG-TG-02.5; of the delving of that hidden tunnel he heard, which the folk named the Way of Escape, {and how there had been divided counsels in that matter, yet pity for the enthralled Noldor had prevailed in the end to its making} FG-TG-03; of the guard without ceasing he was told, that was held there in arms and likewise at certain low places in the encircling mountains, and how watchers dwelt ever vigilant on the highest peaks of that range beside builded beacons ready for the fire; for never did that folk cease to look for an onslaught of the Orcs did their stronghold become known.

§ 21 Now however was the guard of the hills maintained rather by custom than necessity, for the Gondolindrim had long ago with unimagined toil levelled and cleared and delved all that plain about Amon Gwared, so that scarce {Gnome} Elf FG-24 or bird or beast or snake could approach but was espied from many leagues off, for among the Gondolindrim were many whose eyes were keener than the very hawks of Manwë Súlimo Lord of Gods and Elves who dwells upon Taniquetil; and for this reason did they call that vale Tumladen or the valley of smoothness. Now this great work was finished to their mind, and folk were the busier about the quarrying of metals and the forging of all manner of swords and axes, spears and bills, and the fashioning of coats of mail, byrnies and hauberks, greaves and vambraces, helms and shields. Now 'twas said to Tuor that already the whole folk of Gondolin shooting with bows without stay day or night might not expend their hoarded arrows in many years, and that yearly their fear of the Orcs grew the less for this.

§ 22 There learnt Tuor of building with stone, of masonry and the hewing of rock and marble; crafts of weaving and spinning, broidure and painting, did he fathom, and cunning in metals. Musics most delicate he there heard; and in these were they who dwelt in the southern city the most deeply skilled, for there played a profusion of murmuring founts and springs. Many of these subtleties Tuor mastered and learned to entwine with his songs to the wonder and heart's joy of all who heard. Strange stories of the Sun and Moon and Stars, of the manner of the Earth and its elements, and of the depths of heaven, were told to him; and the secret characters of the Elves he learnt, and their speeches and old tongues, and heard tell of Ilúvatar, the Lord for Always, who dwelleth beyond the world, of the great music of the Ainur about Ilúvatar's feet in the uttermost deeps of time, whence came the making of the world and the manner of it, and all therein and their governance.

§ 23 Now for his skill and his great mastery over all lore and craft whatsoever, and his great courage of heart and body, did Tuor become a comfort and stay to the king who had no son; and he was beloved by the folk of Gondolin. Upon a time the king caused his most cunning artificers to fashion a suit of armour for Tuor as a great gift, and it was made of {Gnome} Noldor-steel overlaid with silver; but his helm was adorned with a device of metals and jewels like to two swan-wings, one on either side, and a swan's wing was wrought on his shield; but he carried an axe rather than a sword, and this in the speech of the Gondolindrim he named Dramborleg, for its buffet stunned and its edge clove all armour.

§ 24 A house was built for him upon the southern walls, for he loved the free airs and liked not the close neighbourhood of other dwellings. There it was his delight often to stand on the battlements at dawn, and folk rejoiced to see the new light catch the wings of his helm -- {and many murmured and would fain have backed him into battle with the Orcs, seeing that the speeches of those two, Tuor and Turgon, before the palace were known to many; but this matter went not further for reverence of Turgon, and because at this time in Tuor's heart the thought of the words of Ulmo seemed to have grown dim and far off.} FG-TG-05

§ 25 Now came days when Tuor had dwelt among the Gondolindrim many years. Long had he known and cherished a love for the king's daughter, and now was his heart full of that love. Great love too had Idril for Tuor, and the strands of her fate were woven with his even from that day when first she gazed upon him {from a high window} as he stood a way-worn suppliant before the palace of the king FG-TG-06. Little cause had Turgon to withstand their love, for he saw in Tuor a kinsman of comfort and great hope. {Thus was first wed a child of Men with a daughter of Elfinesse, nor was Tuor the last} FG-TG-07 . Less bliss have many had than they, and their sorrow in the end was great. Yet great was the mirth of those days when Idril and Tuor were wed before the folk in {Gar Ainion}, the Place of the Ainur, nigh to the king's halls. A day of merriment was that wedding to the city of Gondolin, and of the greatest happiness to Tuor and Idril. Thereafter dwelt they in joy in that house upon the walls that looked out south over Tumladen, and this was good to the hearts of all in the city save Maeglin alone. Now that {Gnome} Elf was come of an ancient house, though now were its numbers less than others, but he himself was nephew to the king by his mother the king's sister Aredhel; {and that tale of Aredhel and Eöl may not here be told} FG-TG-08.

§ 26 Now the sign of Maeglin was a sable Mole, and he was great among quarrymen and a chief of the delvers after ore; and many of these belonged to his house. {Less fair was he than most of this goodly folk, swart and of none too kindly mood, so that he won small love, and whispers there were that he had Orc's blood in his veins, but I know not how this could be true} FG-TG-09.{Now he had bid often with the king for the hand of Idril, yet Turgon finding her very loth had as often said nay, for him seemed Maeglin's suit was caused as much by the desire of standing in high power beside the royal throne as by love of that most fair maid} And {Maeglin's} [his] secret hatred grew ever greater, for he desired above all things to possess {her} Idril, the only heir of the King of Gondolin FG-TG-10 . Fair indeed was she and brave thereto; and the people called her Idril of the Silver Feet in that she went ever barefoot and bareheaded, king's daughter as she was, save only at pomps of the Ainur; and Maeglin gnawed his anger seeing Tuor thrust him out.

§ 27 In these days came to pass the fulfilment of the time of the desire of the Valar and the hope of [the] Eldalië FG-TG-11 KO, for in great love Idril bore to Tuor a son and he was called Eärendil. {Now thereto there are many interpretations both among Elves and Men, but belike it was a name wrought of some secret tongue among the Gondothlim and that has perished with them from the dwellings of the Earth.} FG-TG-12

§ 28 Now this babe was of greatest beauty; his skin of a shining white and his eyes of a blue surpassing that of the sky in southern lands -- bluer than the sapphires of the raiment of Manwë; and the envy of Maeglin was deep at his birth, but the joy of Turgon and all the people very great indeed.

Maeglin's Treachery

§ 29 [None knew that the region wherein the Hidden Kingdom lay had been at last revealed to Morgoth by the cries of Húrin, when standing in the wilderness beyond the Encircling Mountains and finding no entrance he called on Turgon in despair. Thereafter the thought of Morgoth was bent unceasing on the mountainous land between Anach and the upper waters of Sirion.] FG-M-01
{Behold now many years have gone since Tuor was lost amid the foothills and deserted by those Noldor; yet many years too have gone since to Morgoth's ears came first those strange tidings – faint were they and various in form -- of a Man wandering amid the dales of the waters of Sirion. Now Morgoth was not much afraid of the race of Men in those days of his great power, and for this reason did Ulmo work through one of this kindred for the better deceiving of Morgoth, seeing that no Valar and scarce any of the Eldar or Noldor might stir unmarked of his vigilance. Yet nonetheless foreboding smote that ill heart at the tidings}, and he got together a mighty army of spies: {sons of the} Orcs were there with eyes of yellow and green like cats that could pierce all glooms and see through mist or fog or night; snakes that could go everywhither and search all crannies or the deepest pits or the highest peaks, listen to every whisper that ran in the grass or echoed in the hills; wolves there were and ravening dogs and great weasels full of the thirst of blood whose nostrils could take scent moons old through running water, or whose eyes find among shingle footsteps that had passed a lifetime since; owls came and falcons whose keen glance might descry by day or night the fluttering of small birds in all the woods of the world, and the movement of every mouse or vole or rat that crept or dwelt throughout the Earth. All these he summoned to his Hall of Iron, and they came in multitudes. Thence he sent them over the Earth to seek this Man who had escaped from the Land of Shadows, but yet far more curiously and intently to search out the dwelling of the Noldor {that had escaped his thraldom}[of Turgon] FG-M-02; for these his heart burnt to destroy or to enslave.

§ 30 Now while Tuor dwelt in happiness and in great increase of knowledge and might in Gondolin, these creatures through the years untiring nosed among the stones and rocks, hunted the forests and the heaths, espied the airs and lofty places, tracked all paths about the dales and plains, and neither let nor stayed. From this hunt they brought a wealth of tidings to Morgoth -- indeed {among} many hidden things {that} they dragged to light {they discovered that Way of Escape whereby Tuor and Voronwë entered aforetime. Nor had they done so save by constraining some of the less stout of the Noldor with dire threats of torment to join in that great ransacking; for because of the magic about that gate no folk of Morgoth unaided by the {Gnomes} Noldor could come to it. Yet now they had pried of late far into its tunnels and captured within many of the Noldor creeping there to flee from thraldom. They had scaled too the Encircling Hills} [Mountains] at certain places {and gazed upon the beauty of the city of Gondolin and the strength of Amon Gwared from afar; but into the plain they could not win for} [though because of] the vigilance of its guardians [ and the Eagles] and the difficulty of those mountains [no spy of Morgoth's could yet come within sight of the land behind {the Encircling Mountains} [them to] {gazed} [gaze] upon the beauty of the city of Gondolin and the strength of Amon Gwared] FG-M-03 from afar. Indeed the Gondolindrim were mighty archers, and bows they made of a marvel of power. Therewith might they shoot an arrow into heaven seven times as far as could the best bowman among Men shoot at a mark upon the ground; and they would have suffered no falcon to hover long over their plain or snake to crawl therein; for they liked not creatures of blood, broodlings of Morgoth.

§ 31 Now in those days was Eärendil one year old when these ill tidings came to that city of the spies of Morgoth and how they encompassed the vale of Tumladen around. Then Turgon's heart was saddened, remembering the words of Tuor in past years before the palace doors; and he caused the watch and ward to be thrice strengthened at all points, and engines of war to be devised by his artificers and set upon the hill. Poisonous fires and hot liquids, arrows and great rocks, was he prepared to shoot down on any who would assail those gleaming walls; and then he abode as well content as might be, but Tuor's heart was heavier than the king's, for now the words of Ulmo came ever to his mind, and their purport and gravity he understood more deeply than of old; nor did he find any great comfort in Idril, for her heart boded more darkly even than his own.

§ 32 Know then that Idril had a great power of piercing with her thought the darkness of the hearts of Elves and Men, and the glooms of the future thereto -- further even than is the common power of the kindreds of the Eldalië; therefore she spake thus on a day to Tuor: "Know, my husband, that my heart misgives me for doubt of Maeglin, and I fear that he will bring an ill on this fair realm, though by no means may I see how or when -- yet I dread lest all that he knows of our doings and preparations become in some manner known to the Foe, so that he devise a new means of whelming us, against which we have thought of no defence. Lo! I dreamed on a night that Maeglin builded a furnace, and coming at us unawares flung therein Eärendil our babe, and would after thrust in thee and me; but that for sorrow at the death of our fair child I would not resist."

§ 33 And Tuor answered: "There is reason for thy fear, for neither is my heart good towards Maeglin; yet is he the nephew of the king and thine own cousin, nor is there charge against him, and I see nought to do but to abide and watch."

§ 34 But Idril said: "This is my rede thereto: gather thou in deep secret those delvers and quarrymen who by careful trial are found to hold least love for Maeglin by reason of the pride and arrogance of his dealings among them. From these thou must choose trusty men to keep watch upon Maeglin whenso he fares to the outer hills, yet I counsel thee to set the greater part of those in whose secrecy thou canst confide at a hidden delving, and to devise with their aid -- howsoever cautious and slow that labour be -- a secret way from thy house here beneath the rocks of this hill unto the vale below. Now this way must not lead toward the Way of Escape, for my heart bids me trust it not, but even to that far distant pass, the Cleft of Eagles in the southern mountains; and the further this delving reach thitherward beneath the plain so much the better would I esteem it -- yet let all this labour be kept dark save from a few."

§ 35 Now there are none such delvers of earth or rock as the Noldor (and this Morgoth knows), but in those places is the earth of a great hardness; and Tuor said: "The rocks of the hill of Amon Gwared are as iron, and only with much travail may they be cloven; yet if this be done in secret then must great time and patience be added; but the stone of the floor of the Vale of Tumladen is as forged steel, nor may it be hewn without the knowledge of the Gondolindrim save in moons and years."

§ 36 Idril said then: "Sooth this may be, but such is my rede, and there is yet time to spare." Then Tuor said that he might not see all its purport, "but 'better is any plan than a lack of counsel', and I will do even as thou sayest".

§ 37 [On a time when Eärendil was yet young, and the days of Gondolin were full of joy and peace {and yet Idril's heart misgave her, and foreboding crept upon her spirit like a cloud}, Maeglin was lost. Now Maeglin loved mining and quarrying after metals above other craft; and he was master and leader of the Elves who worked in the mountains distant from the city, seeking for metals for their smithying of things both of peace and war. But often Maeglin went with few of his folk beyond the leaguer of the hills, though the king knew not that his bidding was defied; and so it came to pass, as fate willed, that Maeglin] {Now it so chanced that not long after Maeglin went to the hills for the getting of ore, and} straying in the mountains alone was taken [prisoner] by some of the Orcs prowling there, and they would do him evil and terrible hurt, knowing him to be a man of the Gondolindrim. This was however unknown of Tuor's watchers. [Maeglin was no weakling or craven, but the torment wherewith he was threatened cowed his soul, and] {But} evil came into the heart of Maeglin, and he said to his captors: "Know then that I am Maeglin son of Eöl who had to wife Aredhel sister of Turgon king of the Gondolindrim." But they said: "What is that to us?" And Maeglin answered: "Much is it to you; for if you slay me, be it speedy or slow, ye will lose great tidings concerning the city of Gondolin that your master would rejoice to hear." Then the Orcs stayed their hands, and said they would give him life if the matters he opened to them seemed to merit that; and Maeglin told them of all the fashion of that plain and city, of its walls and their height and thickness, and the valour of its gates; of the host of men at arms who now obeyed Turgon he spake, and the countless hoard of weapons gathered for their equipment, of the engines of war and the venomous fires.

§ 38 Then the Orcs were wroth, and having heard these matters were yet for slaying him there and then as one who impudently enlarged the power of his miserable folk to the mockery of the great might and puissance of Morgoth; but Maeglin catching at a straw said: "Think ye not that ye would rather pleasure your master if ye bore to his feet so noble a captive, that he might hear my tidings of himself and judge of their verity?"

§ 39 Now this seemed good to the Orcs, and they returned from the mountains about Gondolin to the Hills of Iron and the dark halls of Morgoth; thither they haled Maeglin with them, and now was he in a sore dread. But when he knelt before the black throne of Morgoth in terror of the grimness of the shapes about him, of the wolves that sat beneath that chair and of the adders that twined about its legs, Morgoth bade him speak. Then [he] told {he} {those tidings, and Morgoth hearkening spake very fair to him, that the insolence of his heart in great measure returned} unto Morgoth the place of Gondolin FG-M-06.
[Morgoth {must answer} [answered] laughing, saying: 'Stale news will buy nothing. I know this already, I am not so easily blinded!' So Maeglin was obliged to offer more − the ways whereby it might be {found and} assailed and to himself undermine resistance in Gondolin] FG-M-07.

§ 40 [Great indeed was the joy of Morgoth] Now the end of this was that Morgoth aided by the cunning of Maeglin devised a plan for the overthrow of Gondolin. For this Maeglin's reward was to be {a great captaincy among the Orcs} [the lordship of Gondolin, as his vassal, when that city should be taken] -- yet Morgoth purposed not in his heart to fulfil such a promise – {but} [and] {Tuor and Eärendil should Morgoth burn} [Maeglin was to] compass the death of Tuor and Eärendil if he could. If he did, {and} Idril [would] be given to Maeglin's arms -- and such promises was that evil one fain to redeem. [Lust for Idril and hatred of Tuor led Maeglin the easier to this foul treachery.] FG-M-08 Yet as meed of treachery did Morgoth threaten Maeglin with the torment of the Balrogs. Now these were demons with whips of flame and claws of steel by whom he tormented those of the Noldor who durst withstand him in anything -- and the Eldar have called them Valaraukar. But the rede that Maeglin gave to Morgoth was that not all the host of the Orcs nor the Balrogs in their fierceness might by assault or siege hope ever to overthrow the walls and gates of Gondolin even if they availed to win unto the plain without. Therefore he counselled Morgoth to devise out of his sorceries a succour for his warriors in their endeavour. From the greatness of his wealth of metals and his powers of fire he bid him make beasts like snakes and dragons of irresistible might that should overcreep the Encircling Hills and lap that plain and its fair city in flame and death.

§ 41 Then [Morgoth sent] Maeglin {was bidden fare home lest at his absence men suspect somewhat} [back to Gondolin, lest men should suspect the betrayal, and so that in} [Maeglin] should aid the assault from within when the hour came]; but Morgoth wove about him the spell of bottomless dread, and he had thereafter neither joy nor quiet in his heart. Nonetheless [though evil was in his heart] he {wore} [abode in the halls of the king with] FG-M-10 a fair mask of good liking and gaiety, so that men said: "Maeglin is softened", and he was held in less disfavour; yet Idril feared him the more. Now Maeglin said: "I have laboured much and am minded to rest, and to join in the dance and the song and the merrymakings of the folk", and he went no more quarrying stone or ore in the hills: yet in sooth he sought herein to drown his fear and disquiet. A dread possessed him that Morgoth was ever at hand, and this came of the spell; and he durst never again wander amid the mines lest he again fall in with the Orcs and be bidden once more to the terrors of the halls of darkness.

§ 42 Now the years fare by, and egged by Idril Tuor keepeth ever at his secret delving{;}. [Tidings Turgon heard of Thorondor concerning the slaying of Dior, Thingol's heir, and thereafter he shut his ear to word of the woes without; and he vowed to march never at the side of any son of Fëanor; and his folk he forbade ever to pass the leaguer of the hills] FG-M-05 but seeing that the leaguer of spies hath grown thinner Turgon dwelleth more at ease and in less fear. Yet these years are filled by Morgoth in the utmost ferment of labour, and all the thrall-folk of the Noldor must dig unceasingly for metals while Morgoth sitteth and deviseth fires and calleth flames and smokes to come from the lower heats, nor doth he suffer any of the Noldor to stray ever a foot from their places of bondage.

[ July 20, 2003: Message edited by: Maédhros ]