The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves

[Findegil]

This is the first draft of the chapter 1 in the part The Black Years which is named The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves.

Since in this part I found it very difficult to nominate a basic text, all snippets I used are marked by an editing mark with source information.

The markings are:
BY-HL-zz for Black Years, Head-Lines, marking all headlines for the chapters in this part.

SP-SL-zz for The Sindarin Princes of the Silvian Elves, Story-Line, to document all changes that construct the main text.

SP-HM-xx for The Sindarin Princes of the Silvian Elves, The Happy Mariners, for all changes inside that poem.

Some conventions of my writing:
Normal Text is from the text that is mentioned in the source information of each insert.
Bold Text = source information, comments and remarks
{example} = text that should be deleted
[example] = normalised text, normally only used for general changes
<source example> = additions with source information
example = text inserted for grammatical or metrical reason
/example/ = outline expansion
Normally if an inserted text includes the beginning of a new § these is indicated by a missing “>” at the end of the § and a missing “<” at the beginning of the next.

BY-HL-01<editorial addition based on Of the Rings of Power
The Black Years
>BY-HL-02<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn; Appendix B:
The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves
SP-SL-01<Of the Rings of Power {Of the Rings of Power
and the Third Age
in which these tales come to
their end
}Of old there was Sauron the Maia, whom the Sindar in Beleriand named Gorthaur. ... so as to deceive all but the most wary.
When Thangorodrim was broken and Morgoth overthrown, ... for the bonds that Morgoth had laid upon him were very strong.
* * *
In the Great Battle and the tumults of the fall of Thangorodrim there were mighty convulsions in the earth, ... and many of the Eldar still dwelt there, lingering, unwilling yet to forsake Beleriand where they had fought and laboured long. Gil-galad son of SP-SL-02{Fingon}[Orodreth] was their king, and with him was Elrond Half-elven, son of Eärendil the Mariner and brother of Elros first king of Númenor. SP-SL-03<LotR, Appendix B In Lindon south of the Lune dwelt for a time Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol; his wife was Galadriel, greatest of Elven women.>
Upon the shores of the Gulf of Lhûn the Elves built their havens, ... if they would, to their kindred in Eressëa and Valinor beyond the encircling seas. SP-SL-04 BY-HL-03<LT
The Happy Mariners
><LTI know a window in a Western tower
that opens on celestial seas,
SP-HM-01{and there }from wells of dark behind the stars
SP-HM-02{blows ever}[there ever blows] cold a keen unearthly breeze.
It is a white tower builded on the Twilit Isles, 5
and springing from their everlasting shade
it glimmers like a house of lonely pearl,
where lights forlorn take harbour ere they fade.
Its feet are washed by waves that never rest.
There silent boats go by into the West 10
all piled and twinkling in the dark
with orient fire in many a hoarded spark
that divers won
in waters of the rumoured Sun.
There sometimes throbs below a silver harp, 15
touching the heart with sudden music sharp;
or far beneath the SP-HM-03{mountains}[mountain] high and sheer
the voices of grey sailors echo clear,
afloat among the shadows of the world
in oarless ships and with their canvas furled, 20
chanting a farewell and a solemn song:
for wide the sea is, and SP-HM-04{the}[their] journey long.
O happy mariners upon a journey far,
beyond the grey islands and past Gondobar,
to those great portals on the final shores 25
where far away constellate fountains leap,
and dashed against Night's dragon-headed doors
in foam of stars fall sparkling in the deep!
While ISP-HM-05{, alone, look out behind the moon}[ look out alone,]
SP-HM-06{from}[imprisoned] in my white and windy tower, 30
SP-HM-07{ye}[you] bide no moment and await no hour,
but go with solemn song and harpers' tune
SP-HM-08{through the dark shadows and the shadowy seas
to the last land of the Two Trees,
whose fruit and flower are moon and sun, 35
where light of earth is ended and begun.}
Ye follow {Earendel}[Eärendil] without rest,
the shining mariner, beyond the West,
who passed the mouth of night and launched his bark 35
upon the outer seas of everlasting dark.SP-HM-09{ 40}
Here only comes at whiles a wind to blow
returning darkly down the way ye go,
with perfume laden of unearthly trees.
Here only long afar through window-pane 40
I glimpse the flicker of the golden rainSP-HM-10{ 45}
that falls for ever on the outer seas.>BY-HL-04<editorial addition
* * *
>Others of the Eldar there were who crossed the mountains of Ered Luin in that age and passed into the inner lands. Many of these were Teleri, survivors of Doriath and Ossiriand; and they established realms among the Silvan Elves in woods and mountains far from the sea, for which nonetheless they ever yearned in their hearts.> SP-SL-05<LotR; Appendix B SP-SL-06{Thranduil}[Oropher], long in{ the north of} Greenwood the Great, was one of these. SP-SL-07<Editorial addtion based on The History of Galadriel and Celeborn; Appendix B As was Amdír King of Lórien; though whether {Thranduil}[Oropher] and {Amroth}[Amdír] were akin is not now known.>
SP-SL-08<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn; Appendix B The Silvan Elves (Tawarwaith) were in origin Teleri, and so remoter kin of the Sindar, though even longer separated from them than the Teleri of Valinor. ... who eventually crossed the mountains and came at last into Beleriand.
The Silvan Elves hid themselves in woodland fastnesses beyond the Misty Mountains, ... and they welcomed those of the Noldor and especially the Sindar who did not pass over the Sea but migrated eastward{ [i.e. at the beginning of the Second Age]}. Under the leadership of these they became again ordered folk and increased in wisdom.>

SP-SL-09<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn Galadriel was the daughter of Finarfin, and sister of Finrod Felagund. She was welcome in Doriath, because her mother Eärwen, daughter of Olwë, was Telerin and the niece of Thingol, and because the people of Finarfin had had no part in the Kinslaying of Alqualondë and she became a friend of Melian. In Doriath she met Celeborn, grandson of Elmo the brother of Thingol.> SP-SL-10<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn; very late and aprtily illegible note In the years after they did not join in the war against Angband, which they judged to be hopeless under the ban of the Valar and without their aid; and their counsel was to withdraw from Beleriand and to build up a power to the eastward (whence they feared that Morgoth would draw reinforcement), befriending and teaching the Dark Elves and Men of those regions. But such a policy having no hope of acceptance among the Elves of Beleriand, Galadriel and Celeborn departed over Ered Lindon before the end of the First Age{; and when they received the permission of the Valar to return into the West they rejected it}.> SP-SL-11<Editorial addition based on the head note to ‘Concerning Galadirel and Celeborn’ {Celeborn “escaped the sack of Doriath”}When Celeborn returned later to Doriath> SP-SL-12<HoME12; Part 1; Ch. VI; T4; Note 10 she passed east over the mountains and forsook Beleriand, and first of all the Noldor came to the inner lands; and too late she heard the summons of {Fionwë}[Eönwë].> SP-SL-13<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn For love of Celeborn, who had SP-SL-14<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn escaped the sack of Doriath>and would not leave Middle-earth (and probably with some pride of her own, for she had been one of those eager to adventure there), she did not go West at the Downfall of Melkor, but crossed Ered Lindon with Celeborn and came into Eriador. When they entered that region there were many Noldor in their following, together with Grey-elves and Green-elves; and for a while they dwelt in the country about Lake Nenuial (Evendim, north of the Shire). Celeborn and Galadriel came to be regarded as Lord and Lady of the Eldar in Eriador, including the wandering companies of Nandorin origin who had never passed west over Ered Lindon and come down into Ossiriand SP-SL-15{[see The Silmarillion p.94.] During their sojourn near Nenuial was born, at some time between the years 350 and 400, their son Amroth. [}The time and place of Celebrian's birth, whether here or later in Eregion, or even later in Lórien, is not made definite.{]}
But eventually Galadriel became aware that Sauron again, as in the ancient days of the captivity of MelkorSP-SL-16{ [see The Silmarillion p. 51]}, had been left behind. ... beyond Eriador and the Misty Mountains.
Celeborn and Galadriel therefore went eastwards, ... There were and always remained some Dwarves on the eastern side of Ered Lindon, SP-SL-17{3} where the very ancient mansions of Nogrod and Belegost had been – not far from Nenuial; ... and it was destroyed in the battle of {Sarn Athrad}[Athrad Daer] SP-SL-18{ [The Silmarillion pp. 233-5]}. The Dwarves of Belegost were filled with dismay at the calamity and fear for its outcome, and this hastened their departure eastwards to Khazad-dûm. SP-SL-19{4} Thus the Dwarves of Moria may be presumed to have been innocent of the ruin of Doriath ... and Galadriel, like others of the Noldor, had been a pupil of Aulë and Yavanna in Valinor.
Galadriel and Celeborn had in their company a Noldorin craftsman named Celebrimbor. SP-SL-20{[He is here said to have been one of the survivors of Gondolin, who had been among Turgon's greatest artificers; but the text is emended to the later story that made him a descendant of Fëanor, as is mentioned in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings (in the revised edition only), and more fully detailed in The Silmarillion (pp. 176,276), where he is said to have been}/He was/ the son of Curufin, the fifth son of Fëanor, who was estranged from his father and remained in Nargothrond when Celegorm and Curufin were driven forth.{]} Celebrimbor had SP-SL-21{"}an almost 'dwarvish' obsession with crafts{"}; and he soon became the chief artificer of Eregion, entering into a close relationship with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, among whom his greatest friend was Narvi. SP-SL-22{[In the inscription on the West-gate of Moria Gandalf read the words: Im Narvi hain echant: Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i thiw hin: "I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs." The Fellowship of Ring II 4.]} Both Elves and Dwarves had great profit from this association: so that Eregion became far stronger, and Khazad-dûm far more beautiful, than either would have done alone.> SP-SL-23<Of the Rings of Power Only in Eregion, which Men called Hollin, did Elves of Noldorin race establish a lasting realm beyond the Ered Luin. SP-SL-24{Eregion was nigh to the great mansions of the Dwarves that were named Khazad-dûm, but by the Elves Hadhodrond, and afterwards Moria. }From Ost-in-Edhil, the city of the Elves, the highroad ran to the west gate of Khazad-dûm, for a friendship arose between Dwarves and Elves, such as has never elsewhere been, to the enrichment of both those peoples. In Eregion the craftsmen of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, the People of the Jewel-smiths, surpassed in cunning all that have ever wrought, save only Fëanor himself; and indeed greatest in skill among them was Celebrimbor, son of CurufinSP-SL-25{, who was estranged from his father and remained in Nargothrond when Celegorm and Curufin were driven forth, as is told in the Quenta Silmarillion}.
Elsewhere in Middle-earth there was peace for many years; yet the lands were for the most part savage and desolate, save only where the people of Beleriand came. Many Elves dwelt there indeed, as they had dwelt through the countless years, wandering free in the wide lands far from the Sea; but they were Avari, to whom the deeds of Beleriand were but a rumour and Valinor only a distant name. And in the south and in the further east Men multiplied; and most of them turned to evil, for Sauron was at work.>
SP-SL-26<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn; Appendix B The Elvish folk of {this}Oropher’s realm had migrated from the south, being the kin and neighbours of the Elves of Lórien; but they had dwelt in Greenwood the Great east of Anduin. In the Second Age their king, Oropher SP-SL-27{[}the father of Thranduil, father of Legolas{]}, had withdraw northward beyond the Gladden Fields. This he did to be free from the power and encroachments of the Dwarves of Moria, which had grown to be the greatest of the mansions of the Dwarves recorded in history; and also he resented the intrusions of Celeborn and Galadriel into Lórien. But as yet there was little to fear between the Greenwood and the Mountains and there was constant intercourse between his people and their kin across the river, until the War of the Last Alliance.>

Some comments to the editing:
BY-HL-01: I think we discussed that already shortly in the outline thread. The overall plan is to divide TRANSLATION FROM THE ELVISH volume 2: NÚMENOR AND THE HISTORY OF THE NORTH-WEST OF MIDDLE-EARTH in two parts. The Black Years for the Second Age and The Third Age or as ArcusCalion named it The Fading Years.
BY-HL-02: This title is taken from the Appendix B of The History of Galadriel and Celeborn in UT. I found that most fitting for what we have to tell first. As is seen in the next editing, I followed Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age in the arrangement of the story elements.

SP-SL-01: I used the introduction of Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age but not the title which is used later on.

SP-SL-02: Nearly a regular change, since we decided to have Orodreth as the father of Gil-galad.

SP-SL-03: Here I introduced this sentence from Appendix B of LotR.

SP-SL-04: Probably we should under this editing marker discuss if we include the poem or not. The former discussion about it is found in the thread “** Revising The Voyage of Earendil”

BY-HL-03: The title of the poem seemed to me a good enough introduction.

SP-HM-01 to SP-HM-10: All these changes bring the second text of The Happy Mariners given in HoME 2, Chapter 5: The Tale of Earendel to the state of the text as revised in 1940. Christopher Tolkien wrote:

Many years later my father rewrote the poem, and I give this version here. Still later he turned to it again and made a few further alterations (here recorded in footnotes); at this time he noted that the revised version dated from '1940?'.

BY-HL-04: We need this addition to separate the rest of the chapter from The Happy Mariners.

SP-SL-05 & SP-SL-06: Here I used the Appendix B text as a basis for giving the example of Orodreth. In LotR Thranduil isnamed and not Oropher how actauly was the Sindarin to establish the realm in Grennwood. Also the place was not at first the north of Greenwood.

SP-SL-07: I also think we should bring in here Amdír, Sindarin King of Lórien and that passage was the best choice I could find.

SP-SL-08: With this passage about the nature of the Silvian Elves we are back to more secure ground.

SP-SL-09: As Celeborn is as well as Oropher and Amdír a Sindarin Prince establishing realms east of Ered Lindon, and for that matter the best documented case, I found it appropriate to tell part of the ‘History of Galadriel and Celeborn under this chapter.

SP-SL-10: We start with a (by necessity) short retrospective telling of the First Age journey of the couple to Eriador and beyond.
I know that gondowe had told this in his version at the chronologically right place, but we find in many stories given in this part introductions with some retrospective (re-)telling. Therefore I found it much more convenient to collect that story here instead of spreading all over the First Age chapters.

SP-SL-11:This is a difficult editorial addition, but I found no better way to bring Celeborn back, which we know as a ‘fact’.

SP-SL-12: Again I used the text in an probably unwanted way. The reference of the mountains is now changed from Ered Lindon to the Hiteaglir or at least that is the strait forward interpretation. I could argue that the terms ‘inner lands’ refers as well to Eriador and so the text is still to be understood as it was written. But to be honest that was not how I used the text here. If this re-interpretation is not acceptable, we might use the passage from LotR where Galadriel said she crossed the mountains (Hitheaglir) before the fall of Nargothrond and Gondolin in addition to the last part about the summons of Eönwë to construct a text:

… But such a policy having no hope of acceptance among the Elves of Beleriand, Galadriel and Celeborn departed over Ered Lindon before the end of the First Age{; and when they received the permission of the Valar to return into the West they rejected it}.> SP-SL-11<Editorial addition based on the head note to ‘Concerning Galadirel and Celeborn’ {Celeborn “escaped the sack of Doriath”}When Celeborn returned later to Doriath> SP-SL-12.03b<LotR ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin>SP-SL-12.5b<HoME12; Part 1; Ch. VI; T4; Note 10 she passed east over the mountains SP-SL-12.07b<editorial addition based on LotR of Hitheaglir >and forsook Beleriand, and first of all the Noldor came to the inner lands; and too late she heard the summons of {Fionwë}[Eönwë].> SP-SL-13<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn For love of Celeborn, who had SP-SL-14<The History of Galadriel and Celeborn escaped the sack of Doriath>and would not leave Middle-earth (and probably with some pride of her own, for she had been one of those eager to adventure there), she did not go West at the Downfall of Melkor, ...

SP-SL-13: I avoided the question of the ban. It is given RGEO and we must not repeat it here. But the additional reason that Celeborn stayed, and she would not leave him should be mentioned some where.

SP-SL-14: I found no good place to state the simple fact that Celeborn escaped the sack of Doriath in the First Age narrative. Where I tried to put it, it either was an isolated information breaking the narrative or I had to specify some terms of that escape, which would have been fan-fictional. So I think again that this is best told here in retrospective.

SP-SL-15: Here I removed the reference to The Silmarillion and Amroth as son of Galadriel and Celeborn, so I think we should keep the information that the birth place and time of Celebrian is unrecorded.

SP-SL-16 & SP-SL-18: Again a reference to The Silmarillion removed.

SP-SL-17 & SP-SL-19: Footnote 3 & 4 are a references to LotR which I think we have to remove.

SP-SL-20: Celebrimbor is in our version the son of Curufin, and I edited the text as to repeat that information.

SP-SL-21: I am happy that we have in the text in UT these marker of direct quote from original text, but we have no choice and must use Christopher’s retelling, so we have to remove the quotation marks.

SP-SL-22: Again a reference to LotR removed.

SP-SL-23: Here we come back to Of the Rings of Power, which I used as a kind of guideline for the arrangement of the texts.

SP-SL-24: I skipt that sentence to avoid redundancy.

SP-SL-25: We have used this half-sentence in our First Age narrative, so I think we must remove it here.

SP-SL-26: in this last paragraph we come back to Oropher, because here we can now give his reason for the first northward removal.

SP-SL-27: Even so this is marked in UT as a comment by Christopher to the character Oropher, I think we must give this information somewhere. And this seems the best place.

Respectfully
Findegil