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I

THE LAY OF THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN

There exists a substantial manuscript (28 pages long) entitled ‘Sketch of the Mythology with especial reference to “The Children of Húrin”’; and this ‘Sketch’ is the next complete narrative, in the prose tradition, after the Lost Tales (though a few fragmentary writings are extant from the intervening time). On the envelope containing this manuscript my father wrote at some later time:

Original ‘Silmarillion’. Form orig[inally] composed c. 1926–30 for R. W. Reynolds to explain background of ‘alliterative version’ of Túrin & the Dragon: then in progress (unfinished) (begun c. 1918).

He seems to have written first ‘1921’ before correcting this to ‘1918’.

R. W. Reynolds taught my father at King Edward’s School, Birmingham (see Humphrey Carpenter, Biography, p. 47). In a passage of his diary written in August 1926 he wrote that ‘at the end of last year’ he had heard again from R. W. Reynolds, that they had corresponded subsequently, and that he had sent Reynolds many of his poems, including Tinúviel and Túrin (‘Tinúviel meets with qualified approval, it is too prolix, but how could I ever cut it down, and the specimen I sent of Túrin with little or none’). This would date the ‘Sketch’ as originally written (it was subsequently heavily revised) definitely in 1926, probably fairly early in the year. It must have accompanied the specimen of Túrin (the alliterative poem), the background of which it was written to explain, to Anacapri, where Reynolds was then living in retirement.

My father took up his appointment to the Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford in the winter term (October–December) of 1925, though for that term he had to continue to teach at Leeds also, since the appointments overlapped. There can be no doubt that at any rate the great bulk of the alliterative Children of Húrin (or Túrin) was completed at Leeds, and I think it virtually certain that he had ceased to work on it before he moved south: in fact there seems nothing to oppose to the natural assumption that he left ‘Túrin’ for ‘Tinúviel’ (the Lay of Leithian), which he began according to his diary in the summer of 1925 (see p. 159 and footnote).

For the date of its commencement we have only my father’s later (and perhaps hesitant) statement that it was ‘begun c. 1918’. A terminus a quo is provided by a page of the earliest manuscript of the poem, which is written on a slip from the Oxford English Dictionary bearing the printer’s stamp May 1918. On the other hand the name Melian which occurs near the beginning of the earliest manuscript shows it to be later than the typescript version of the Tale of Tinúviel, where the Queen’s name was Gwenethlin and only became Melian in the course of its composition (II. 51); and the manuscript version of that Tale which underlies the typescript seems itself to have been one of the last completed elements in the Lost Tales (see I. 204).

The Children of Húrin exists in two versions, which I shall refer to as I and II, both of them found in manuscript and later typescript (IA, IB; IIA, IIB). I do not think that the second is significantly later than the first; it is indeed possible, and would not be in any way uncharacteristic, that my father began work on II while he was still composing at a later point in I. II is essentially an expansion of I, with many lines, and blocks of lines, left virtually unchanged. Until the second version is reached it will be sufficient to refer simply to ‘A’ and ‘B’, the manuscript and typescript of the first version.

The manuscript A consists of two parts: first (a) a bundle of small slips, numbered 1–32. The poem is here in a very rough state with many alternative readings, and in places at least may represent the actual beginnings, the first words written down. This is followed by (b) a set of large sheets of examination paper from the University of Leeds, numbered 33 ff., where the poem is for the most part written out in a more finished form – the second stage of composition; but my father wrote in line-numbers continuously through (a) and (b) – lines 1–528 in (a), lines 528 ff. in (b). We have thus one sole text, not two, without any overlap; and if (a), the slips, ever existed in the form of (b), the examination sheets, that part has disappeared. In part (b) there are many later emendations in pencil.

Based on this manuscript is the typescript B. This introduces changes not found in A or its emendations; and it was itself emended both in ink and pencil, doubtless involving several movements of revision. To take a single line as exemplification: line 8 was written first in A:

Lo! Thalion in the throng of thickest battle

The line was emended, in two stages, to

Lo! Thalion Húrin in the throng of battle

and this was the form in B as typed; but B was emended, in two stages, to

Lo! Húrin Thalion in the hosts of war

It is obvious that to set this and a great many other similar cases out in a textual apparatus would be a huge task and the result impossibly complicated. The text that follows is therefore, so far as purely metrical-stylistic changes are concerned, that of B as emended, and apart from a few special cases there is no mention in the notes of earlier readings.

In the matter of names, however, the poem presents great difficulty; for changes were made at quite different times and were not introduced consistently throughout. If the latest form in any particular passage is made the principle of choice, irrespective of any other consideration, then the text will have Morwin at lines 105, 129, Mavwin 137 etc., Morwen 438, 472; Ulmo 1469, but Ylmir 1529 and subsequently; Nirnaith Ornoth 1448, but Nirnaith Únoth 1543. If the later Nirnaith Ornoth is adopted at 1543, it seems scarcely justifiable to intrude it at lines 13 and 218 (where the final form is Nínin Unothradin). I have decided finally to abandon overall consistency, and to treat individual names as seems best in the circumstances; for example, I give Ylmir rather than Ulmo at line 1469, for consistency with all the other occurrences, and while changing Únoth to Ornoth at line 1543 I retain Ornoth rather than the much later Arnediad at line 26 of the second version – similarly I prefer the earlier Finweg to Fingon (1975, second version 19, 520) and Bansil, Glingol to Belthil, Glingal (2027–8). All such points are documented in the notes.

A has no title. In B as typed the title was The Golden Dragon, but this was emended to Túrin Son of Húrin & Glórund the Dragon. The second version of the poem was first titled Túrin, but this was changed to The Children of Húrin, and I adopt this, the title by which my father referred to the poem in the 1926 ‘Sketch’, as the general title of the work.

The poem in the first version is divided into a short prologue (Húrin and Morgoth) without sub-title and three long sections, of which the first two (‘Túrin’s Fostering’ and ‘Beleg’) were only introduced later into the typescript; the third (‘Failivrin’) is marked both in A and in B as typed.

The detail of the typescript is largely preserved in the present text, but I have made the capitalisation rather more consistent, added in occasional accents, and increased the number of breaks in the text. The space between the half-lines is marked in the second part of the A-text and begins at line 543 in B.

I have avoided the use of numbered notes to the text, and all annotation is related to the line-numbers of the poem. This annotation (very largely concerned with variations of names, and comparisons with names in the Lost Tales) is found at the end of each of the three major parts, followed by a commentary on the matter of that part.

Throughout, the Tale refers to the Tale of Turambar and the Foalókë (II. 69 ff.); Narn refers to the Narn i Hîn Húrin, in Unfinished Tales pp. 57 ff.

TÚRIN SON OF HÚRIN & GLÓRUND THE DRAGON

Lo! the golden dragon of the God of Hell,
the gloom of the woods of the world now gone,
the woes of Men, and weeping of Elves
fading faintly down forest pathways,
is now to tell, and the name most tearful	5
of Níniel the sorrowful, and the name most sad
of Thalion’s son Túrin o’erthrown by fate.

Lo! Húrin Thalion in the hosts of war
was whelmed, what time the white-clad armies
of Elfinesse were all to ruin	10
by the dread hate driven of Delu-Morgoth.
That field is yet by the folk naméd
Nínin Unothradin, Unnumbered Tears.
There the children of Men, chieftain and warrior,
fled and fought not, but the folk of the Elves	15
they betrayed with treason, save that true man only,
Thalion Erithámrod and his thanes like gods.
There in host on host the hill-fiend Orcs
overbore him at last in that battle terrible,
by the bidding of Bauglir bound him living,	20
and pulled down the proudest of the princes of Men.
To Bauglir’s halls in the hills builded,
to the Hells of Iron and the hidden caverns
they haled the hero of Hithlum’s land,
Thalion Erithámrod, to their thronéd lord,	25
whose breast was burnt with a bitter hatred,
and wroth he was that the wrack of war
had not taken Turgon ten times a king,
even Finweg’s heir; nor Fëanor’s children,
makers of the magic and immortal gems.	30
For Turgon towering in terrible anger
a pathway clove him with his pale sword-blade
out of that slaughter – yea, his swath was plain
through the hosts of Hell like hay that lieth
all low on the lea where the long scythe goes.	35
A countless company that king did lead
through the darkened dales and drear mountains
out of ken of his foes, and he comes not more
in the tale; but the triumph he turned to doubt
of Morgoth the evil, whom mad wrath took.	40
Nor spies sped him, nor spirits of evil,
nor his wealth of wisdom to win him tidings,
whither the nation of the Gnomes was gone.
Now a thought of malice, when Thalion stood,
bound, unbending, in his black dungeon,	45
then moved in his mind that remembered well
how Men were accounted all mightless and frail
by the Elves and their kindred; how only treason
could master the magic whose mazes wrapped
the children of Corthûn, and cheated his purpose.	50

‘Is it dauntless Hurin,’ quoth Delu-Morgoth,
‘stout steel-handed, who stands before me,
a captive living as a coward might be?
Knowest thou my name, or need’st be told
what hope he has who is haled to Angband –	55
the bale most bitter, the Balrogs’ torment?’

‘I know and I hate. For that knowledge I fought thee
by fear unfettered, nor fear I now,’
said Thalion there, and a thane of Morgoth
on the mouth smote him; but Morgoth smiled:	60
‘Fear when thou feelest, and the flames lick thee,
and the whips of the Balrogs thy white flesh brand.
Yet a way canst win, an thou wishest, still
to lessen thy lot of lingering woe.
Go question the captives of the accursed people	65
I have taken, and tell me where Turgon is hid;
how with fire and death I may find him soon,
where he lurketh lost in lands forgot.
Thou must feign thee a friend faithful in anguish,
and their inmost hearts thus open and search.	70
Then, if truth thou tellest, thy triple bonds
I will bid men unbind, that abroad thou fare
in my service to search the secret places
following the footsteps of these foes of the Gods.’

‘Build not thy hopes so high, O Bauglir –	75
I am no tool for thy evil treasons;
torment were sweeter than a traitor’s stain.’

‘If torment be sweet, treasure is liever.
The hoards of a hundred hundred ages,
the gems and jewels of the jealous Gods,	80
are mine, and a meed shall I mete thee thence,
yea, wealth to glut the Worm of Greed.’

‘Canst not learn of thy lore when thou look’st on a foe,
O Bauglir unblest? Bray no longer
of the things thou hast thieved from the Three Kindreds.	85
In hate I hold thee, and thy hests in scorn.’

‘Boldly thou bravest me. Be thy boast rewarded,’
in mirth quod Morgoth, ‘to me now the deeds,
and thy aid I ask not; but anger thee nought
if little they like thee. Yea, look thereon	90
helpless to hinder, or thy hand to raise.’

Then Thalion was thrust to Thangorodrim,
that mountain that meets the misty skies
on high o’er the hills that Hithlum sees
blackly brooding on the borders of the north.	95
To a stool of stone on its steepest peak
they bound him in bonds, an unbreakable chain,
and the Lord of Woe there laughing stood,
then cursed him for ever and his kin and seed
with a doom of dread, of death and horror.	100
There the mighty man unmovéd sat;
but unveiled was his vision, that he viewed afar
all earthly things with eyes enchanted
that fell on his folk – a fiend’s torment.

I

TÚRIN’S FOSTERING

Lo! the lady Morwin in the Land of Shadows	105
waited in the woodland for her well-beloved;
but he came never from the combat home.
No tidings told her whether taken or dead,
or lost in flight he lingered yet.
Laid waste his lands, and his lieges slain,	110
and men unmindful of his mighty lordship
dwelt in Dorlómin and dealt unkindly
with his widowed wife; and she went with child,
who a son must succour now sadly orphaned,
Túrin Thaliodrin of tender years.	115
Then in days of blackness was her daughter born,
and was naméd Nienor, a name of tears
that in language of eld is Lamentation.
Then her thoughts turnéd to Thingol the Elf-king,
and the dancer of Doriath, his daughter Tinúviel,	120
whom the boldest of the brave, Beren Ermabwed,
had won to wife. He once had known
firmest friendship to his fellow in arms,
Thalion Erithámrod – so thought she now,
and said to her son, ‘My sweetest child,	125
our friends are few, and thy father comes not.
Thou must fare afar to the folk of the wood,
where Thingol is throned in the Thousand Caves.
If he remember Morwin and thy mighty sire
he will fain foster thee, and feats of arms	130
he will teach thee, the trade of targe and sword,
and Thalion’s son no thrall shall be –
but remember thy mother when thy manhood nears.’

Heavy boded the heart of Húrin’s son,
yet he weened her words were wild with grief,	135
and he denied her not, for no need him seemed.
Lo! henchmen had Morwin, Halog and Gumlin,
who were young of yore ere the youth of Thalion,
who alone of the lieges of that lord of Men
steadfast in service staid beside her:	140
now she bade them brave the black mountains,
and the woods whose ways wander to evil;
though Túrin be tender and to travail unused,
they must gird them and go; but glad they were not,
and Morwin mourned when men saw not.	145

Came a summer day when sun filtered
warm through the woodland’s waving branches.
Then Morwin stood her mourning hiding
by the gate of her garth in a glade of the woods.
At the breast she mothered her babe unweaned,	150
and the doorpost held lest she droop for anguish.
There Gumlin guided her gallant boy,
and a heavy burden was borne by Halog;
but the heart of Túrin was heavy as stone
uncomprehending its coming anguish.	155
He sought for comfort, with courage saying:
‘Quickly will I come from the courts of Thingol;
long ere manhood I will lead to Morwin
great tale of treasure, and true comrades’ –
for he wist not the weird woven by Bauglir,	160
nor the sundering sorrow that swept between.
The farewells are taken: their footsteps are turned
to the dark forest: the dwelling fadeth
in the tangled trees. Then in Túrin leapt
his awakened heart, and he wept blindly,	165
calling ‘I cannot, I cannot leave thee.
O Morwin, my mother, why makest me go?
Hateful are the hills where hope is lost.
O Morwin, my mother, I am meshed in tears.
Grim are the hills, and my home is gone.’	170
And there came his cries calling faintly
down the dark alleys of the dreary trees,
and one who wept weary on the threshold
heard how the hills said ‘my home is gone.’

The ways were weary and woven with deceit	175
o’er the hills of Hithlum to the hidden kingdom
deep in the darkness of Doriath’s forest;
and never ere now for need or wonder
had children of Men chosen that pathway,
and few of the folk have followed it since.	180
There Túrin and the twain knew torment of thirst,
and hunger and fear and hideous nights,
for wolfriders and wandering Orcs
and the Things of Morgoth thronged the woodland.
Magics were about them, that they missed their ways	185
and strayed steerless, and the stars were hid.
Thus they passed the mountains, but the mazes of Doriath
wildered and wayworn in wanhope bound them.
They had nor bread nor water, and bled of strength
their death they deemed it to die forewandered,	190
when they heard a horn that hooted afar,
and baying dogs. It was Beleg the hunter,
who farthest fared of his folk abroad
ahunting by hill and hollow valley,
who cared not for concourse and commerce of men.	195
He was great of growth and goodly-limbed,
but lithe of girth, and lightly on the ground
his footsteps fell as he fared towards them,
all garbed in grey and green and brown –
a son of the wilderness who wist no sire.	200

‘Who are ye?’ he asked. ‘Outlaws, or maybe
hard hunted men whom hate pursueth?’

‘Nay, for famine and thirst we faint,’ saith Halog,
‘wayworn and wildered, and wot not the road.
Or hast not heard of the hills of slain,	205
or the tear-drenchéd field where the terror and fire
of Morgoth devoured both Men and Elves?
There Thalion Erithámrod and his thanes like gods
vanished from the earth, and his valiant lady
weeps yet widowed as she waits in Hithlum.	210
Thou lookest on the last of the lieges of Morwin
and Thalion’s son Túrin, who to Thingol’s court
are wending by the word of the wife of Húrin.’

Then Beleg bade them be blithe, and said:
‘The Gods have guided you to good keeping.	215
I have heard of the house of Húrin the Steadfast –
and who hath not heard of the hills of slain,
of Nínin Unothradin, the Unnumbered Tears?
To that war I went not, but wage a feud
with the Orcs unending, whom mine arrows bitter	220
oft stab unseen and strike to death.
I am the huntsman Beleg of the Hidden People.’
Then he bade them drink, and drew from his belt
a flask of leather full filled with wine
that is bruised from the berries of the burning South –	225
and the Gnome-folk know it, and the nation of the Elves,
and by long ways lead it to the lands of the North.
There bakéd flesh and bread from his wallet
they had to their hearts’ joy; but their heads were mazed
by the wine of Dor-Winion that went in their veins,	230
and they soundly slept on the soft needles
of the tall pine-trees that towered above.
Later they wakened and were led by ways
devious winding through the dark wood-realm
by slade and slope and swampy thicket	235
through lonely days and long night-times,
and but for Beleg had been baffled utterly
by the magic mazes of Melian the Queen.
To the shadowy shores he showed the way
where stilly that stream strikes ’fore the gates	240
of the cavernous court of the King of Doriath.
O’er the guarded bridge he gained a passage,
and thrice they thanked him, and thought in their hearts
‘the Gods are good’ – had they guessed maybe
what the future enfolded they had feared to live.	245

To the throne of Thingol the three were come,
and their speech sped them; for he spake them fair,
and held in honour Húrin the steadfast,
Beren Ermabwed’s brother-in-arms.
Remembering Morwin, of mortals fairest,	250
he turned not Túrin in contempt away;
said: ‘O son of Húrin, here shalt sojourn
in my cavernous court for thy kindred’s sake.
Nor as slave or servant, but a second king’s son
thou shalt dwell in dear love, till thou deem’st it time	255
to remember thy mother Morwin’s loneliness.
Thou wisdom shalt win unwist of Men
and weapons shalt wield as the warrior Elves,
and Thalion’s son no thrall shall be.’

There tarried the twain that had tended the child,	260
till their limbs were lightened and they longed to fare
through dread and danger to their dear lady.
But Gumlin was gone in greater years
than Halog, and hoped not to home again.
Then sickness took him, and he stayed by Túrin,	265
while Halog hardened his heart to go.
An Elfin escort to his aid was given
and magics of Melian, and a meed of gold.
In his mouth a message to Morwin was set,
words of the king’s will, how her wish was granted;	270
how Thingol called her to the Thousand Caves
to fare unfearing with his folk again,
there to sojourn in solace, till her son be grown;
for Húrin the hero was held in mind,
and no might had Morgoth where Melian dwelt.	275

Of the errand of the Elves and that other Halog
the tale tells not, save in time they came
to the threshold of Morwin, and Thingol’s message
was said where she sate in her solitary hall.
But she dared not do as was dearly bidden,	280
for Nienor her nestling was not yet weaned.
More, the pride of her people, princes of Men,
had suffered her send her son to Thingol
when despair sped her, but to spend her days
as alms-guest of others, even Elfin kings,	285
it liked her little; and there lived e’en now
a hope in her heart that Húrin would come,
and the dwelling was dear where he dwelt of old.
At night she would listen for a knock at the doors,
or a footstep falling that she fondly knew;	290
so she fared not forth, and her fate was woven.
Yet the thanes of Thingol she thanked nobly,
and her shame she showed not, how shorn of glory
to reward their wending she had wealth too scant;
but gave them in gift her golden things	295
that last lingered, and they led away
a helm of Húrin that was hewn in war
when he battled with Beren his brother-in-arms
against ogres and Orcs and evil foemen;
’twas o’erwritten with runes by wrights of old.	300
She bade Thingol receive it and think of her.

Thus Halog her henchman came home, but the Elves,
the thanes of Thingol, thrust through the woods,
and the message of Morwin in a month’s journey,
so quick their coming, to the king was said.	305
Then was Melian moved to ruth,
and courteously received the king her gift,
who deeply delved had dungeons filled
with Elfin armouries of ancient gear,
but he handled the helm as his hoard were scant;	310
said: ‘High were the head that upheld this thing
with that token crowned of the towering dragon
that Thalion Erithámrod thrice-renownéd
oft bore into battle with baleful foes.’
Then a thought was thrust into Thingol’s heart,	315
and Túrin he called and told when come
that Morwin his mother a mighty thing
had sent to her son, his sire’s heirloom,
a helm that hammers had hardened of old,
whose makers had mingled a magic therein	320
that its worth was a wonder and its wearer safe,
guarded from glaive or gleaming axe –
‘Lo! Húrin’s helm hoard thou till manhood
bids thee battle; then bravely don it’;
and Túrin touched it, but took it not,	325
too weak to wield that weight as yet,
and his mind mournéd for Morwin’s answer,
and the first of his sorrows o’erfilled his soul.

Thus came it to pass in the court of Thingol
that Túrin tarried for twelve long years	330
with Gumlin his guardian, who guided him thither
when but seven summers their sorrows had laid
on the son of Thalion. For the seven first
his lot was lightened, since he learnt at whiles
from faring folk what befell in Hithlum,	335
and tidings were told by trusty Elves,
how Morwin his mother was more at ease;
and they named Nienor that now was growing
to the sweet beauty of a slender maiden.
Thus his heart knew hope, and his hap was fairer.	340
There he waxed wonderly and won him praise
in all lands where Thingol as lord was held
for the strength of his body and stoutness of heart.
Much lore he learned, and loved wisdom,
but fortune followed him in few desires;	345
oft wrong and awry what he wrought turnéd;
what he loved he lost, what he longed for he won not;
and full friendship he found not easily,
nor was lightly loved for his looks were sad.
He was gloomy-hearted, and glad seldom,	350
for the sundering sorrow that seared his youth.

On manhood’s threshold he was mighty holden
in the wielding of weapons; and in weaving song
he had a minstrel’s mastery, but mirth was not in it,
for he mourned the misery of the Men of Hithlum.	355
Yet greater his grief grew thereafter,
when from Hithlum’s hills he heard no more,

and no traveller told him tidings of Morwin.
For those days were drawing to the Doom of the Gnomes,
and the power of the Prince of the People of Hell,	360
of the grim Glamhoth, was grown apace,
till the lands of the North were loud with their noise,
and they fell on the folk with flame and ruin
who bent not to Bauglir, or the borders passed
of dark Dorlómin with its dreary pines	365
that Hithlum unhappy is hight by Men.
There Morgoth shut them, and the Shadowy Mountains
fenced them from Faërie and the folk of the wood.
Even Beleg fared not so far abroad
as once was his wont, and the woods were filled	370
with the armies of Angband and evil deeds,
while murder walked on the marches of Doriath;
only mighty magic of Melian the Queen
yet held their havoc from the Hidden People.

Two pages from the original manuscript of The Lay of the Children of Húrin

To assuage his sorrow and to sate the rage	375
and hate of his heart for the hurts of his folk
then Húrin’s son took the helm of his sire
and weapons weighty for the wielding of men,
and went to the woods with warlike Elves;
and far in the fight his feet led him,	380
into black battle yet a boy in years.
Ere manhood’s measure he met and slew
the Orcs of Angband and evil things
that roamed and ravened on the realm’s borders.
There hard his life, and hurts he got him,	385
the wounds of shaft and warfain sword,
and his prowess was proven and his praise renowned,
and beyond his years he was yielded honour;
for by him was holden the hand of ruin
from Thingol’s folk, and Thû feared him –	390
Thû who was thronéd as thane most mighty
neath Morgoth Bauglir; whom that mighty one bade
‘Go ravage the realm of the robber Thingol,
and mar the magic of Melian the Queen.’

Only one was there in war greater,	395
higher in honour in the hearts of the Elves,
than Túrin son of Húrin untamed in war –
even the huntsman Beleg of the Hidden People,
the son of the wilderness who wist no sire
(to bend whose bow of the black yew-tree	400
had none the might), unmatched in knowledge
of the wood’s secrets and the weary hills.
He was leader beloved of the light-armed bands,
the scouts that scoured, scorning danger,
afar o’er the fells their foemen’s lairs;	405
and tales and tidings timely won them
of camps and councils, of comings and goings –
all the movements of the might of Morgoth the Terrible.
Thus Túrin, who trusted to targe and sword,
who was fain of fighting with foes well seen,	410
and the banded troops of his brave comrades
were snared seldom and smote unlooked-for.

Then the fame of the fights on the far marches
were carried to the court of the King of Doriath,
and tales of Túrin were told in his halls,	415
and how Beleg the ageless was brother-in-arms
to the black-haired boy from the beaten people.
Then the king called them to come before him
ever and anon when the Orc-raids waned;
to rest them and revel, and to raise awhile	420
the secret songs of the sons of Ing.
On a time was Túrin at the table of Thingol –
there was laughter long and the loud clamour
of a countless company that quaffed the mead,
amid the wine of Dor-Winion that went ungrudged	425
in their golden goblets; and goodly meats
there burdened the boards, neath the blazing torches
set high in those halls that were hewn of stone.
There mirth fell on many; there minstrels clear
did sing to them songs of the city of Tûn	430
neath Tain-Gwethil, towering mountain,
where the great gods sit and gaze on the world
from the guarded shores of the gulf of Faërie.
Then one sang of the slaying at the Swanships’ Haven
and the curse that had come on the kindreds since:	435
all silent sat and soundless harkened,
and waited the words save one alone –
the Man among Elves that Morwin bore.
Unheeding he heard or high feasting
or lay or laughter, and looked, it seemed,	440
to a deep distance in the dark without,
and strained for sounds in the still spaces,
for voices that vanished in the veils of night.
He was lithe and lean, and his locks were wild,
and woodland weeds he wore of brown	445
and grey and green, and gay jewel
or golden trinket his garb knew not.

An Elf there was – Orgof – of the ancient race
that was lost in the lands where the long marches
from the quiet waters of Cuiviénen	450
were made in the mirk of the midworld’s gloom,
ere light was lifted aloft o’er earth;
but blood of the Gnomes was blent in his veins.
He was close akin to the King of Doriath –
a hardy hunter and his heart was brave,	455
but loose his laughter and light his tongue,
and his pride outran his prowess in arms.
He was fain before all of fine raiment
and of gems and jewels, and jealous of such
as found favour before himself.	460
Now costly clad in colours gleaming
he sat on a seat that was set on high
near the king and queen and close to Túrin.
When those twain were at table he had taunted him oft,
lightly with laughter, for his loveless ways,	465
his haggard raiment and hair unshorn;
but Túrin untroubled neither turned his head
nor wasted words on the wit of Orgof.
But this day of the feast more deep his gloom
than of wont, and his words men won harder;	470
for of twelve long years the tale was full
since on Morwin his mother through a maze of tears
he looked the last, and the long shadows
of the forest had fallen on his fading home;
and he answered few, and Orgof nought.	475
Then the fool’s mirth was filled the more,
to a keener edge was his carping whetted
at the clothes uncouth and the uncombéd hair
of Túrin newcome from the tangled forest.
He drew forth daintily a dear treasure,	480
a comb of gold that he kept about him,
and tendered it to Túrin; but he turned not his eyes,
nor deigned to heed or harken to Orgof,
who too deep drunken that disdain should quell him:
‘Nay, an thou knowest not thy need of comb,	485
nor its use,’ quoth he, ‘too young thou leftest
thy mother’s ministry, and ’twere meet to go
that she teach thee tame thy tangled locks –
if the women of Hithlum be not wild and loveless,
uncouth and unkempt as their cast-off sons.’	490

Then a fierce fury, like a fire blazing,
was born of bitterness in his bruiséd heart;
his white wrath woke at the words of scorn
for the women of Hithlum washed in tears;
and a heavy horn to his hand lying,	495
with gold adorned for good drinking,
of his might unmindful thus moved in ire
he seized and, swinging, swiftly flung it
in the face of Orgof. ‘Thou fool’, he said,
‘fill thy mouth therewith, and to me no further	500
thus witless prate by wine bemused’ –
but his face was broken, and he fell backward,
and heavy his head there hit upon the stone
of the floor rock-paved mid flagons and vessels
of the o’erturned table that tumbled on him	505
as clutching he fell; and carped no more,
in death silent. There dumb were all
at bench and board; in blank amaze
they rose around him, as with ruth of heart
he gazed aghast on his grievous deed,	510
on his wine-stained hand, with wondering eyes
half-comprehending. On his heel then he turned
into the night striding, and none stayed him;
but some their swords half slipped from sheaths
– they were Orgof’s kin – yet for awe of Thingol	515
they dared not draw while the dazéd king
stonefacéd stared on his stricken thane
and no sign showed them. But the slayer weary
his hands laved in the hidden stream
that strikes ’fore the gates, nor stayed his tears:	520
‘Who has cast,’ he cried, ‘a curse upon me;
for all I do is ill, and an outlaw now,
in bitter banishment and blood-guilty,
of my fosterfather I must flee the halls,
nor look on the lady beloved again’ –	525
yea, his heart to Hithlum had hastened him now,
but that road he dared not, lest the wrath he draw
of the Elves after him, and their anger alight
should speed the spears in despite of Morgoth
o’er the hills of Hithlum to hunt him down;	530
lest a doom more dire than they dreed of old
be meted his mother and the Maid of Tears.

In the furthest folds of the Forest of Doriath,
in the darkest dales on its drear borders,
in haste he hid him, lest the hunt take him;	535
and they found not his footsteps who fared after,
the thanes of Thingol; who thirty days
sought him sorrowing, and searched in vain
with no purpose of ill, but the pardon bearing
of Thingol throned in the Thousand Caves.	540
He in council constrained the kin of Orgof
to forget their grief and forgiveness show,
in that wilful bitterness had barbed the words
of Orgof the Elf; said ‘his hour had come
that his soul should seek the sad pathway	545
to the deep valley of the Dead Awaiting,
there a thousand years thrice to ponder
in the gloom of Gurthrond his grim jesting,
ere he fare to Faërie to feast again.’
Yet of his own treasure he oped the gates,	550
and gifts ungrudging of gold and gems
to the sons he gave of the slain; and his folk
well deemed the deed. But that doom of the King
Túrin knew not, and turned against him
the hands of the Elves he unhappy believed,	555
wandering the woodland woeful-hearted;
for his fate would not that the folk of the caves
should harbour longer Húrin’s offspring.

NOTES

	(Throughout the Notes statements such as ‘Delimorgoth A, and B as typed’ (line 11) imply that the reading in the printed text (in that case Delu-Morgoth) is a later emendation made to B).
8	Húrin is Úrin in the Lost Tales (and still when this poem was begun, see note to line 213), and his name Thalion ‘Steadfast’, found in The Silmarillion and the Narn, does not occur in them (though he is called ‘the Steadfast’).
11	Delimorgoth A, and B as typed. Morgoth occurs once only in the Lost Tales, in the typescript version of the Tale of Tinúviel (II. 44); see note to line 20.
13	Nínin Udathriol A, and B as typed; this occurs in the Tale (II. 84; for explanation of the name see II. 346). When changing Udathriol to Unothradin my father wrote in the margin of B: ‘or Nirnaithos Unothradin’.
17	Above Erithámrod is pencilled in A Urinthalion.
20	B as typed had Belcha, which was then changed through Belegor, Melegor, to Bauglir. (A has a different reading here: as a myriad rats in measureless army / might pull down the proudest …) Belcha occurs in the typescript version of the Tale of Tinúviel (II. 44), where Belcha Morgoth are said to be Melko’s names among the Gnomes. Bauglir is found as a name of Morgoth in The Silmarillion and the Narn.
22	Melko’s A; Belcha’s B as typed, then the line changed to To the halls of Belegor (> Melegor), and finally to the reading given. See note to line 20.
25	Above Erithámrod in A is written UrinThalion (see note to line 17); Úrin > Húrin, and a direction to read Thalion Húrin.
29	Finweg’s son A, and B as typed; the emendation is a later one, and at the same time my father wrote in the margin of B ‘he was Fingolfin’s son’, clearly a comment on the change of son to heir. Finweg is Finwë Nólemë Lord of the Noldoli, who in the Lost Tales was Turgon’s father (I. 115), not as he afterwards became his grandfather.
50	Kor > Cor A, Cor B as typed. When emending Cor to Corthûn my father wrote in the margin of B: ‘Corthun or Tûn’.
51	Thalion A, and B as typed. Delimorgoth A, and B as typed (as at line 11).
73	In B there is a mark of insertion between lines 72 and 73. This probably refers to a line in A, not taken up into B: bound by the (> my) spell of bottomless (> unbroken) might.
75	Belcha A, and B as typed; the same chain of emendations in B as at lines 20 and 22.
84	Bauglir: as at line 75.
105	Mavwin A, and B as typed; in B then emended to Mailwin, and back to Mavwin; Morwin written later in the margin of B. Exactly the same at 129, and at 137 though here without Morwin in the margin; at 145 Mavwin unemended, but Morwin in the margin. Thereafter Mavwin stands unemended and without marginal note, as far as 438 (see note). For consistency I read Morwin throughout the first version of the poem. – Mavwin is the form in the Tale; Mailwin does not occur elsewhere.
117	On the variation Nienóri/Nienor in the Tale see II. 118–19.
120	Tinúviel A, Tinwiel B unemended but with Tinúviel in the margin. Tinwiel does not occur elsewhere.
121	Ermabwed ‘One-handed’ is Beren’s title or nickname in the Lost Tales.
137	Gumlin is named in the Tale (II. 74, etc.); the younger of the two guardians of Túrin on his journey to Doriath (here called Halog) is not.
160	Belcha A, and B as typed, emended to Bauglir. Cf. notes to lines 20, 22, 75.
213	Urin > Húrin A; but Húrin A in line 216.
218	Nínin Udathriol A, and B as typed; cf. line 13.
226	The distinction between ‘Gnomes’ and ‘Elves’ is still made; see I. 43–4.
230	Dorwinion A.
306	For Mavwin was Melian moved to ruth A, and B as typed, with Then was Melian moved written in the margin. The second half-line has only three syllables unless moved is read movéd, which is not satisfactory. The second version of the poem has here For Morwen Melian was moved to ruth. Cf. lines 494, 519.
333	Túrin Thaliodrin A (cf. line 115), emended to the son of Thalion.
361	Glamhoth appears in The Fall of Gondolin (II. 160), with the translation ‘folk of dreadful hate’.
364	Belcha A, and B as typed; then > Melegor > Bauglir in B.
392	Bauglir: as at line 364.
408	Morgoth Belcha A, and B as typed.
430	Kor > Cor A, Cor B as typed. Cf. line 50.
431	Tengwethil A, and B as typed. In the early Gnomish dictionary and in the Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin the Gnomish name of Taniquetil is Danigwethil (I. 266, II. 337).
438	Mavwin A, and B as typed, but Mavwin > Morwen a later emendation in B. I read Morwin throughout the first version of the poem (see note to line 105).
450	Cuinlimfin A, and B as typed; Cuiviénen a later emendation in B. The form in the Lost Tales is Koivië-Néni; Cuinlimfin occurs nowhere else.
461–3	These lines bracketed and marked with an X in B.
471	This line marked with an X in B.
472	Mavwin > Morwen B; see line 438.
494	all washed in tears A, washed in tears B (half-line of three syllables), with an X in the margin and an illegible word written in pencil before washed. Cf. lines 306, 519. The second version of the poem does not reach this point.
514–16	Against these lines my father wrote in the margin of B: ‘Make Orgof’s kin set on him and T. fight his way out.’
517	stonefacéd stared: the accent on stonefacéd was put in later and the line marked with an X. – In his essay On Translating Beowulf (1940; The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays (1983) p. 67) my father gave stared stonyfaced as an example of an Old English metrical type.
519	his hands laved: the line is marked with an X in B. Cf. lines 306, 494.
528	With the half-line and their anger alight the second, more finished, part of the manuscript A begins; see p. 4.
529	Belcha A, Morgoth B as typed.
548	Guthrond A, and B as typed.

Commentary on the Prologue and Part I ‘Túrin’s Fostering’

The opening section or ‘Prologue’ of the poem derives from the opening of the Tale (II. 70–1) and in strictly narrative terms there has been little development. In lines 18–21 (and especially in the rejected line in A, as a myriad rats in measureless army / might pull down the proudest) is clearly foreshadowed the story in The Silmarillion (p. 195):

… they took him at last alive, by the command of Morgoth, for the Orcs grappled him with their hands, which clung to him though he hewed off their arms; and ever their numbers were renewed, until at last he fell buried beneath them.

On the other hand the motive in the later story for capturing him alive (Morgoth knew that Húrin had been to Gondolin) is necessarily not present, since Gondolin in the older phases of the legends was not discovered till Turgon retreated down Sirion after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (II. 120, 208). That he was taken alive by Morgoth’s command is however already stated in the poem (line 20), though it is not explained why. In the Tale Morgoth’s interest in Húrin as a tool for the discovery of Turgon arose from his knowledge that

the Elves of Kôr thought little of Men, holding them in scant fear or suspicion for their blindness and lack of skill

– an idea that is repeated in the poem (46–8); but this idea seems only to have arisen in Morgoth’s mind when he came to Húrin in his dungeon (44 ff.).

The place of Húrin’s torment (in the Tale ‘a lofty place of the mountains’) is now defined as a stool of stone on the steepest peak of Thangorodrim; and this is the first occurrence of that name.

In the change of son to heir in line 29 is seen the first hint of a development in the kingly house of the Noldoli, with the appearance of a second generation between Finwë (Finweg) and Turgon; but by the time that my father pencilled this change on the text (and noted ‘He was Fingolfin’s son’) the later genealogical structure was already in being, and this is as it were a casual indication of it.

In ‘Túrin’s Fostering’ there is a close relationship between the Tale and the poem, extending to many close similarities of wording – especially abundant in the scene in Thingol’s hall leading to the death of Orgof; and some phrases had a long life, surviving from the Tale, through the poem, and into the Narn i Hîn Húrin, as

rather would she dwell poor among Men than live sweetly as an almsguest among the woodland Elves

(II. 73)

but to spend her days

as alms-guest of others, even Elfin kings,

it liked her little

(284–6)

she would not yet humble her pride to be an alms-guest, not even of a king

(Narn p. 70)

– though in the Narn the ‘alms-guest’ passage occurs at a different point, before Túrin left Hithlum (Morwen’s hope that Húrin would come back is in the Narn her reason for not journeying to Doriath with her son, not for refusing the later invitation to her to go).

Of Morwen’s situation in Dor-lómin after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears there are a few things to say. In the poem (111–13)

men unmindful of his mighty lordship

dwelt in Dorlómin and dealt unkindly

with his widowed wife

– echoing the Tale: ‘the strange men who dwelt nigh knew not the dignity of the Lady Mavwin’, but there is still no indication of who these men were or where they came from (see II. 126). As so often, the narrative situation was prepared but its explanation had not emerged. The unclarity of the Tale as to where Úrin dwelt before the great Battle (see II. 120) is no longer present: the dwelling was dear where he dwelt of old (288). Nienor was born before Túrin left (on the contradiction in the Tale on this point see II. 131); and the chronology of Túrin’s childhood is still that of the Tale (see II. 142): seven years old when he left Hithlum (332), seven years in Doriath while tidings still came from Morwen (333), twelve years since he came to Doriath when he slew Orgof (471). In the later story the last figure remained unchanged, which suggests that the X (mark of dissatisfaction) placed against line 471 had some other reason.

There are several references in the poem to Húrin and Beren having been friends and fellows-in-arms (122–4, 248–9, 298). In the Tale it was said originally (when Beren was a Man) that Egnor Beren’s father was akin to Mavwin; this was replaced by a different passage (when Beren had become a Gnome) according to which Egnor was a friend of Úrin (‘and Beren Ermabwed son of Egnor he knew’); see II. 71–2, 139. In the later version of the Tale of Tinúviel (II. 44) Úrin is named as the ‘brother in arms’ of Egnor; this was emended to make Úrin’s relationship with Beren himself – as in the poem. In The Silmarillion (p. 198) Morwen thought to send Túrin to Thingol ‘for Beren son of Barahir was her father’s kinsman, and he had been moreover a friend of Húrin, ere evil befell’. There is no mention of the fact in the Narn (p. 63): Morwen merely says: ‘Am I not now kin of the king [Thingol]? For Beren son of Barahir was grandson of Bregor, as was my father also.’

That Beren was still an Elf, not a Man, (deducible on other grounds) is apparent from lines 178–9:

and never ere now for need or wonder

had children of Men chosen that pathway

– cf. the Tale (II. 72): ‘and Túrin son of Úrin was the first of Men to tread that way’, changed from the earlier reading ‘and Beren Ermabwed was the first of Men …’

In the parting of Túrin from his mother comparison with the Tale will show some subtle differences which need not be spelled out here. The younger of Túrin’s guardians is now named, Halog (and it is said that Gumlin and Halog were the only ‘henchmen’ left to Morwen).

Some very curious things are said of Beleg in the poem. He is twice (200, 399) called ‘a (the) son of the wilderness who wist no sire’, and at line 416 he is ‘Beleg the ageless’. There seems to be a mystery about him, an otherness that sets him apart (as he set himself apart, 195) from the Elves of Thingol’s lordship (see further p. 127). It may be that there is still a trace of this in the 1930 ‘Silmarillion’, where it is said that none went from Doriath to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears save Mablung, and Beleg ‘who obeyed no man’ (in the later text this becomes ‘nor any out of Doriath save Mablung and Beleg, who were unwilling to have no part in these great deeds. To them Thingol gave leave to go …’; The Silmarillion p. 189). In the poem (219) Beleg says expressly that he did not go to the great Battle. – His great bow of black yew-wood (so in The Silmarillion, p. 208, where it is named Belthronding) now appears (400): in the Tale he is not particularly marked out as a bowman (II. 123).

Beleg’s The gods have guided you (215) and Turin’s guardians’ thought the gods are good (244) accord with references in the Lost Tales to the influence of the Valar on Men and Elves in the Great Lands: see II. 141.

The potent wine that Beleg carried and gave to the travellers from his flask (223 ff.) is notable – brought from the burning South and by long ways carried to the lands of the North – as is the name of the land from which it came: Dor-Winion (230, 425). The only other places in my father’s writings where this name occurs (so far as I know) are in The Hobbit, Chapter IX Barrels out of Bond: ‘the heady vintage of the great gardens of Dorwinion’, and ‘the wine of Dorwinion brings deep and pleasant dreams’.^* See further p. 127.

The curious element in Thingol’s message to Morwen in the Tale, explaining why he did not go with his people to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (II. 73), has now been rejected; but with Morwen’s response to the messengers out of Doriath there enters the legend the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin (297 ff.). As yet little is told of it (though more is said in the second version of the poem, see p. 126): Húrin often bore it in battle (in the Narn it is denied that he used it, p. 76); it magically protected its wearer (as still in the Narn, p. 75); and it was with that token crowned of the towering dragon, and o’erwritten with runes by wrights of old (cf. the Narn: ‘on it were graven runes of victory’). But nothing is here said of how Húrin came by it, beyond the fact that it was his heirloom. Very notable is the passage (307 ff.) in which is described Thingol’s handling of the helm as his hoard were scant, despite his possession of dungeons filled / with Elfin armouries of ancient gear. I have commented previously (see II. 128–9, 245–6) on the early emphasis on the poverty of Tinwelint (Thingol): here we have the first appearance of the idea of his wealth (present also at the beginning of the Lay of Leithian). Also notable is the close echoing of the lines of the poem in the words of the Narn, p. 76:

Yet Thingol handled the Helm of Hador as though his hoard were scanty, and he spoke courteous words, saying: ‘Proud were the head that bore this helm, which the sires of Húrin bore.’

There is also a clear echo of lines 315–18

Then a thought was thrust into Thingol’s heart,

and Túrin he called and told when come

that Morwin his mother a mighty thing

had sent to her son, his sire’s heirloom

in the prose of the Narn:

Then a thought came to him, and he summoned Túrin, and told him that Morwen had sent to her son a mighty thing, the heirloom of his fathers.

Compare also the passages that follow in both works, concerning Túrin’s being too young to lift the Helm, and being in any case too unhappy to heed it on account of his mother’s refusal to leave Hithlum. This was the first of his sorrows (328); in the Narn (p. 75) the second.

The account of Túrin’s character in boyhood (341 ff.) is very close to that in the Tale (II. 74), which as I have noted before (II. 121) survived into the Narn (p. 77): the latter account indeed echoes the poem (‘he learned much lore’, ‘neither did he win friendship easily’). In the poem it is now added that in weaving song / he had a minstrel’s mastery, but mirth was not in it.

An important new element in the narrative enters with the companionship of Beleg and Túrin (wearing the Dragon-helm, 377) in warfare on the marches of Doriath:

how Beleg the ageless was brother-in-arms

to the black-haired boy from the beaten people.

(416–17)

Of this there is no mention in the Tale at all (II. 74). Cf. my Commentary, II. 122:

Túrin’s prowess against the Orcs during his sojourn in Artanor is given a more central or indeed unique importance in the tale (‘he held the wrath of Melko from them for many years’), especially as Beleg, his companion-in-arms in the later versions, is not here mentioned.

In the poem the importance to Doriath of Túrin’s warfare is not diminished, however:

for by him was holden the hand of ruin

from Thingol’s folk, and Thû feared him (389–90)

We meet here for the first time Thû, thane most mighty / neath Morgoth Bauglir. It is interesting to learn that Thû knew of Túrin and feared him, also that Morgoth ordered Thû to assault Doriath: this story will reappear in the Lay of Leithian.

In the story of Túrin and Orgof the verses are very clearly following the prose of the Tale, and there are many close likenesses of wording, as already noted. The relation of this scene to the later story has been discussed previously (II. 121–2). Orgof still has Gnome-blood, which may imply the continuance of the story that there were Gnomes among Thingol’s people (see II. 43). The occasion of Túrin’s return from the forest to the Thousand Caves (a name that first occurs in the poem) becomes, as it seems, a great feast, with songs of Valinor – quite unlike the later story, where the occasion is in no way marked out and Thingol and Melian were not in Menegroth (Narn p. 79); and Túrin and Orgof were set on high / near the king and queen (i.e. presumably on the dais, at the ‘high table’). Whether it was a rejection of this idea that caused my father to bracket lines 461–3 and mark them with an X I cannot say. The secret songs of the sons of Ing referred to in this passage (421) are not indeed songs of the sons of Ing of the Ælfwine history (II. 301 ff.); this Ing is the Gnomish form of Ingwë, Lord of the First Kindred of the Elves (earlier Inwë Lord of the Teleri).^*

The lines concerning Orgof dead are noteworthy:

his hour had come

that his soul should seek the sad pathway

to the deep valley of the Dead Awaiting,

there a thousand years thrice to ponder

in the gloom of Gurthrond his grim jesting,

ere he fare to Faërie to feast again.

(544–9)

With this compare the tale of The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor (I. 76):

There [in the hall of Vê] Mandos spake their doom, and there they waited in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until such time as he appointed when they might again be born into their children, and go forth to laugh and sing again.

The name Gurthrond (< Guthrond) occurs nowhere else; the first element is doubtless gurth ‘death’, as in the name of Túrin’s sword Gurtholfin (II. 342).

There remain a few particular points concerning names. At line 366 Hithlum is explained as the name of Dorlómin among Men:

of dark Dorlómin with its dreary pines

that Hithlum unhappy is hight by Men.

This is curious. In the Lost Tales the name of the land among Men was Aryador; so in the Tale of Turambar (II. 70):

In those days my folk dwelt in a vale of Hisilómë and that land did Men name Aryador in the tongues they then used.

In the 1930 ‘Silmarillion’ it is specifically stated that Hithlum and Dorlómin were Gnomish names for Hisilómë, and there seems every reason to suppose that this was always the case. The answer to the puzzle may however lie in the same passage of the Tale of Turambar, where it is said that

often was the story of Turambar and the Foalókë in their [i.e. Men’s] mouths – but rather after the fashion of the Gnomes did they say Turumart and the Fuithlug.

Perhaps then the meaning of line 366 is that Men called Hisilómë Hithlum because they used the Gnomish name, not that it was the name in their own tongue.

In the following lines (367–8)

the Shadowy Mountains

fenced them from Faërie and the folk of the wood.

This is the first occurrence of the name Shadowy Mountains, and it is used as it was afterwards (Ered Wethrin); in the Lost Tales the mountains forming the southern fence of Hithlum are called the Iron Mountains or the Bitter Hills (see II. 61).

The name Cuinlimfin of the Waters of Awakening (note to line 450) seems to have been a passing idea, soon abandoned.

Lastly, at line 50 occurs (by emendation in B from Côr) the unique compound name Corthûn, while at 430 the city of Côr was emended to the city of Tún; see II. 292.