Of the Coming of Men Into the West

[Arvegil145]

I agree with Findegil - it's all okay.

Originally Posted by Elvellon

And when reading strictly the text of DM on its own, there's no reason to conclude that Haleth awaited tidings from (to paraphrase) "strangers who spoke an unintelligible language".

Just a minor tidbit - while the DM mentions Haleth as being one of the original leaders of the Three Houses, CT has this to say:

Haleth was not the name of the chieftain who commanded the Folk of Haleth when they first came to Beleriand: see XI.221-2 and the genealogical tree, XI.237. But this is probably not significant, in view of what is said at the end of the paragraph: these people 'were called the Folk of Haleth, for Haleth was the name of their chieftainess who led them to the woods north of Doriath where they were permitted to dwell.'

- 'Of Dwarves and Men', note 41, p. 325


However, in the same note CT goes on to say:

On the other hand, the statement that Hador was the name of the chieftain who led the Folk of Hador into Beleriand seems to ignore that greatly enlarged and altered history that had entered in the chapter 'Of the Coming of Men into the West' (cf. note 38), according to which it was Marach who led that people over the Mountains, and Hador himself, though he gave his name to the people, was a descendant of Marach in the fourth generation (see XI.218-19 and the genealogical tree, XI.234).

I have a sneaking suspicion (nothing concrete of course) that Tolkien followed up on his swap of Magor and Hador and ultimately ended up further swapping Marach with Hador - or at any rate, perhaps he was to identify Marach with Hador ('Marach' being a Mannish name and 'Hador' being an Elvish one, I can easily imagine Marach being called Hador by the Elves).

Of course, all this is pure speculation and shouldn't be included in the work - but I always wondered why Hador was included with the likes of Hurin, Turin and Beren when Elrond was comparing Frodo to the heroic 'elf-friends of old': he is important obviously, but that important?

Perhaps Tolkien also felt that way, and just like in the case Galadriel and Celeborn, he kept progressively elevating his status to match Elrond's description of him.

Anyway, I'm rambling...