After the Sketch of the Mythology this text, which I will refer to as ‘the Quenta’, was the only complete and finished version of ‘The Silmarillion’ that my father achieved: a typescript that he made in (as seems certain) 1930. No preliminary drafts or outlines, if there were any, survive; but it is plain that for a good part of its length he had the Sketch before him. It is longer than the Sketch, and the ‘Silmarillion style’ has clearly appeared, but it remains a compression, a compendious account. In the sub-title it is said that it is ‘the brief history of the Noldoli or Gnomes’, drawn from the Book of Lost Tales which Eriol [?lfwine] wrote. The long poems were of course now in being, substantial but massively unfinished, and my father was still working on The Lay of Leithian.
In the Quenta there emerges the major transformation of the legend of Beren and Lúthien by the entry of the Noldorin prince, Felagund, son of Finrod. To explain how this could come about I will give here a passage from this text, but a note on names is needed. The leader of the Noldor in the great journey of the Elves from Cuiviénen, the Water of Awakening in the furthest East, was Finw?; his three sons were F?anor, Fingolfin, and Finrod, who was the father of Felagund. (Later the names were changed: The third son of Finw? became Finarfin, and Finrod the name of his son; but Finrod was also Felagund. This name meant ‘Lord of Caves’ or ‘Cave-hewer’ in the language of the Dwarves, for he was the founder of Nargothrond. The sister of Finrod Felagund was Galadriel.)
A PASSAGE EXTRACTED FROM THE QUENTA
This was the time that songs call the Siege of Angband. The swords of the Gnomes then fenced the earth from the ruin of Morgoth, and his power was shut behind the walls of Angband. The Gnomes boasted that never could he break their leaguer, and that none of his folk could ever pass to work evil in the ways of the world . . .
In those days Men came over the Blue Mountains into Beleriand, bravest and fairest of their race. Felagund it was that found them, and he was ever their friend. On a time he was the guest of Celegorm in the East, and rode a-hunting with him. But he became separated from the others, and at a time of night he came upon a dale in the western foothills of the Blue Mountains. There were lights in the dale and the sound of rugged song. Then Felagund marvelled, for the tongue of those songs was not the tongue of Eldar or of Dwarves. Nor was it the tongue of Orcs, though this at first he feared. There were camped the people of B?or, a mighty warrior of Men, whose son was Barahir the bold. They were the first of Men to come into Beleriand . . .
That night Felagund went among the sleeping men of B?or’s host and sat by their dying fires where none kept watch, and he took a harp which B?or had laid aside, and he played music on it such as mortal ear had never heard, having learned the strains of music from the Dark-elves alone. Then men woke and listened and marvelled, for great wisdom was in that song, as well as beauty, and the heart grew wiser that listened to it. Thus came it that Men called Felagund, whom they met first of the Noldoli, Wisdom, and after him they called his race the Wise, whom we call the Gnomes.
B?or lived till death with Felagund, and Barahir his son was the greatest friend of the sons of Finrod.
Now began the time of the ruin of the Gnomes. It was long before this was achieved, for great was their power grown, and they were very valiant, and their allies were many and bold, Dark-elves and Men.
But the tide of their fortune took a sudden turn. Long had Morgoth prepared his forces in secret. On a time of night at winter he let forth great rivers of flame that poured over all the plain before the Mountains of Iron and burned it to a desolate waste. Many of the Gnomes of Finrod’s sons perished in that burning, and the fumes of it wrought darkness and confusion among the foes of Morgoth. In the train of the fire came the black armies of the Orcs in numbers such as the Gnomes had never before seen or imagined. In this way Morgoth broke the leaguer of Angband and slew by the hands of the Orcs a great slaughter of the bravest of the besieging hosts. His enemies were scattered far and wide, Gnomes, Ilkorins and Men. Men he drove for the most part over the Blue Mountains, save the children of B?or and of Hador who took refuge in Hithlum beyond the Shadowy Mountains, where as yet the Orcs came not in force. The Dark-elves fled south to Beleriand and beyond, but many went to Doriath, and the kingdom and power of Thingol grew great in that time, till he became a bulwark and a refuge of the Elves. The magics of Melian that were woven about the borders of Doriath fenced evil from his halls and realm.
The pine-forest Morgoth took and turned it into a place of dread, and the watchtower of Sirion he took and made it into a stronghold of evil and of menace. There dwelt Th? the chief servant of Morgoth, sorcerer of dreadful power, the lord of wolves. Heaviest had the burden of that dreadful battle, the second battle and the first defeat of the Gnomes, fallen upon the sons of Finrod. There were Angrod and Egnor slain. There too would Felagund have been taken or slain, but Barahir came up with all his men and saved the Gnomish king and made a wall of spears about him; and though grievous was their loss they fought their way from the Orcs and fled to the fens of Sirion to the South. There Felagund swore an oath of undying friendship and aid in time of need to Barahir and all his kin and seed, and in token of his vow he gave to Barahir his ring.
Then Felagund went South, and on the banks of Narog established after the manner of Thingol a hidden and cavernous city and a realm. Those deep places were called Nargothrond. There came Orodreth [son of Finrod, brother of Felagund] after a time of breathless flight and perilous wanderings, and with him Celegorm and Curufin, the sons of F?anor, his friends. The people of Celegorm swelled the strength of Felagund, but it would have been better if they had gone rather to their own kin, who fortified the hill of Himling east of Doriath and filled the Gorge of Aglon with hidden arms . . .