Galdor and his men were come now to the end nigh to where Thorn Sir falls into the abyss, and the others straggled, for all Tuor's efforts, back over most of the mile of the perilous way between chasm and cliff, so that Glorfindel's folk were scarce come to its beginning, when there was a yell in the night that echoed in that grim region. Behold, Galdor's men were beset in the dark suddenly by shapes leaping from behind rocks where they had lain hidden even from the glance of Legolas. It was Tuor's thought that they had fallen in with one of Melko's ranging companies, and he feared no more than a sharp brush in the dark, yet he sent the women and sick around him rearward and joined his men to Galdor's, and there was an affray upon the perilous path.
But now rocks fell from above, and things looked ill, for they did grievous hurt; but matters seemed to Tuor yet worse when the noise of arms came from the rear, and tidings were said to him by a man of the Swallow that Glorfindel was ill bested by men from behind, and that a Balrog was with them. Then was he sore afraid of a trap, and this was even what had in truth befallen; for watchers had been set by Melko all about the encircling hills. Yet so many did the valour of the Gondothlim draw off to the assault ere the city could be taken that these were but thinly spread, and were at the least here in the south. None- theless one of these had espied the company as they started the upward going from the dale of hazels, and as many bands were got together against them as might be, and devised to fall upon the exiles to front and rear even upon the perilous way of Cristhorn. Now Galdor and Glorfindel held their own despite the surprise of assault, and many of the Orcs were struck into the abyss; but the falling of the rocks was like to end all their valour, and the flight from Gondolin to come to ruin.
The moon about that hour rose above the pass, and the.gloom somewhat lifted, for his pale light filtered into dark places; yet it lit not the path for the height of the walls. Then arose Thorndor, King of Eagles, and he loved not Melko, for Melko had caught many of his kindred and chained them against sharp rocks to squeeze from them the magic words whereby he might learn to fly (for he dreamed of contending even against Manwe in the air); and when they would not tell he cut off their wings and sought to fashion therefrom a mighty pair for his use, but it availed not. Now when the clamour from the pass rose to his great eyrie he said: "Wherefore are these foul things, these Orcs of the hills, climbed near to my throne; and why do the sons of the Noldoli cry out in the low places for fear of the children of Melko the accursed?
Arise O Thornhoth, whose beaks are of steel and whose talons '. swords!" Thereupon there was a rushing like a great wind in rocky places, and the Thornhoth, the people of the Eagles, fell on those Orcs who had scaled above the path, and tore their faces and their hands and flung them to the rocks of Thorn Sir far below. Then were the Gondothlim glad, and they made in after days the Eagle a sign of their kindred in token of their joy, and Idril bore it, but Earendel loved rather the Swan-wing of his father. Now unhampered Galdor's men bore back those that opposed them, for they were not very many and the onset of the Thornhoth affrighted them much; and the company fared forward again, though Glorfindel had fighting enough in the rear. Already the half had passed the perilous way and the falls of Thorn Sir, when that Balrog that was with the rearward foe leapt with great might on certain lofty rocks that stood into the path on the left side upon the lip of the chasm, and thence with a leap of fury he was past Glorfindel's men and among the women and the sick in front, lashing with his whip of flame.
Then Glorfindel leapt forward upon him and his golden armour gleamed strangely in the moon, and he hewed at that demon that it leapt again upon a great boulder and Glorfindel after. Now there was a deadly combat upon that high rock above the folk; and these, pressed behind and hindered ahead, were grown so close that well nigh all could see, yet was it over ere Glorfindel's men could leap to his side. The ardour of Glorfindel drave that Balrog from point to point, and his mail fended him from its whip and claw. Now had he beaten a heavy swinge upon its iron helm, now hewn off the creature's whip-arm at the elbow. Then sprang the Balrog in the torment of his pain and fear full at Glorfindel, who stabbed like a dart of a snake; but he found only a shoulder, and was grappled, and they swayed to a fall upon the crag-top. Then Glorfindel's left hand sought a dirk, and this he thrust up that it pierced the Balrog's belly nigh his own face (for that demon was double his stature); and it shrieked, and fell backwards from the rock, and falling clutched Glorfindel's yellow locks beneath his cap, and those twain fell into the abyss.
Now was this a very grievous thing, for Glorfindel was most dearly beloved -- and lo! the dint of their fall echoed about the hills, and the abyss of Thorn Sir rang. Then at the death-cry of the Balrog the Orcs before and behind wavered and were slain or fled far away, and Thorndor himself, a mighty bird, descended to the abyss and brought up the body of Glorfindel; but the Balrog lay, and the water of Thorn Sir ran black for many a day far below in Tumladin. Still do the Eldar say when they see good fighting at great odds of power against a fury of evil: "Alas! 'Tis Glorfindel and the Balrog", and their hearts are still sore for that fair one of the Noldoli. Because of their love, despite the haste and their fear of the advent of new foes, Tuor let raise a great stone-cairn over Glorfindel just there beyond the perilous way by the precipice of Eagle-stream, and Thorndor has let not yet any harm come thereto, but yellow flowers have fared thither and blow ever now about that mound in those unkindly places; but the folk of the Golden Flower wept at its building and might not dry their tears.
Now who shall tell of the wanderings of Tuor and the exiles of Gondolin in the wastes that lie beyond the mountains to the south of the vale of Tumladin? Miseries were theirs and death, colds and hungers, and ceaseless watches. That they won ever through those regions infested by Melko's evil came from the great slaughter and damage done to his power in that assault, and from the speed and wariness with which Tuor led them; for of a certain Melko knew of that escape and was furious thereat.
Ulmo had heard tidings in the far oceans of the deeds that were done, but he could not yet aid them for they were far from waters and rivers -- and indeed they , thirsted sorely, and they knew not the way. But after a year and more of wandering, in which many a time they journeyed long tangled in the magic of those wastes only to come again upon their own tracks, once more the summer came, and nigh to its height" they came at last upon a stream, and following this came to better lands and were a little comforted.
Here did Voronwe guide them, for he had caught a whisper of Ulmo's in that stream one late summer's night -- and he got ever much wisdom from the sound of waters. Now he led them even till they came down to Sirion which that stream fed, and then both Tuor and Voronwe saw that they were not far from the outer issue of old of the Way of Escape, and were once more in that deep dale of alders. Here were all the bushes trampled and the trees burnt, and the dale-wall scarred with flame, and they wept, for they thought they knew the fate of those who sundered aforetime from them at the tunnel-mouth.
Now they journeyed down that river but were again in fear from Melko, and fought affrays with his Orc-bands and were in peril from the wolfriders, but his firedrakes sought not at them, both for the great exhaustion of their fires in the taking of Gondolin, and the increasing power of Ulmo as the river grew. So came they after many days -- for they went slowly and got their sustenance very hardly -- to those great heaths and morasses above the Land of Willows, and Voronwe knew not those regions. Now here goes Sirion a very great way under earth, diving at the great cavern of the Tumultuous Winds, but running clear again above the Pools of Twilight, even where Tulkas' after fought with Melko's self.
Tuor had fared over these regions by night and dusk after Ulmo came to him amid the reeds, and he remembered not the ways. In places that land is full of deceits and very marshy; and here the host had long delay and was vexed by sore flies, for it was autumn still, and agues and fevers fared amongst them, and they cursed Melko. Yet came they at last to the great pools and the edges of that most tender Land of Willows; and the very breath of the winds thereof brought rest and peace to them, and for the comfort of that place the grief was assuaged of those who mourned the dead in that great fall. There women and maids grew fair again and their sick were healed, and old wounds ceased to pain; yet they alone who of reason feared their folk living still in bitter thraldom in the Hells of Iron sang not, nor did they smile. Here they abode very long indeed, and Earendel was a grown boy ere the voice of Ulmo's conches drew the heart of Tuor, that his sea-longing returned with a thirst the deeper for years of stifling; and all that host arose at his bidding, and got them down Sirion to the Sea.
Now the folk that had passed into the Eagles' Cleft and who saw the fall of Glorfindel had been nigh eight hundreds -- a large wayfaring, yet was it a sad remnant of so fair and numerous a city. But they who arose from the grasses of the Land of Willows in years after and fared away to sea, when spring set celandine in the meads and they had held sad festival in memorial of Glorfindel, these numbered but three hundreds and a score of men and man-children, and two hundreds and three score of women and maid-children. Now the number of women was few because of their hiding or being stowed by their kinsfolk in secret places in the city. There they were burned or slain or taken and enthralled, and the rescue-parties found them too seldom; and it is the greatest ruth to think of this, for the maids and women of the Gondothlim were as fair as the sun and as lovely as the moon and brighter than the stars.
Glory dwelt in that city of Gondolin of the Seven Names, and its ruin was the most dread of all the sacks of cities upon the face of Earth. Nor Bablon, nor Ninwi, nor the towers of Trui, nor all the many takings of Rum that is greatest among Men, saw such terror as fell that day upon Amon Gwareth in the kindred of the Gnomes; and this is esteemed the worst work that Melko has yet thought of in the world. Yet now those exiles of Gondolin dwelt at the mouth of Sirion by the waves of the Great Sea. There they take the name of Lothlim, the people of the flower, for Gondothlim is a name too sore to their hearts; and fair among the Lothlim Earendel grows in the house of his father,~ and the great tale of Tuor is come to its waning.' Then said Littleheart son of Bronweg: 'Alas for Gondolin.' And no one in all the Room of Logs spake or moved for a great while. NOTES. Not of course the great journey to the Sea from the Waters of Awakening, but the expedition of the Elves of Kor for the rescue of the Gnomes (see I. 26). 2. A korin is defined in The Cottage of Lost Play (I. 16) as 'a great circular hedge, be it of stone or of thorn or even of trees, that encloses a green sward'; Meril-i-Turinqi dwelt 'in a great korin of elms'. 3. Ton a Gwedrin is the Tale-fire. 4. There is here a direction: 'See hereafter the Nauglafring', but this is struck out. 5. On Heorrenda see pp. 290ff, 323. A small space is left after the words 'it is thus' to mark the place of the poem in Old English that was to be inserted, but there is no indication of what it was to be. (In the following notes 'the original reading' refers to the text of Tuor A, and of Tuor B before the emendation in question.
It does not imply that the reading of Tuor A was, or was not, found in the original pencilled text (in the great majority of cases this cannot be said) .) 6. This passage, beginning with the words 'And Tuor entered that cavern...' on p. 149, is a late replacement written on a slip (see p. 147). The original passage was largely similar in meaning, but contained the following: Now in delving that riverway beneath the hills the Noldoli worked unknown to Melko who in those deep days held them yet hidden and thralls beneath his will.
Rather were they prompted by Ulmo who strove ever against Melko; and through Tuor he hoped to devise for the Gnomes release from the terror of the evil of Melko. 7. 'three days': 'three years' all texts, but 'days? ' pencilled above 'years' in Tuor B. The 'evolution' of sea-birds through Osse is described in the tale of The Coming of the Elves, I.123; but the sentence here derives from the original pencilled text of Tuor A. In the typescript Tuor C a blank was left here (see p. 147) and subsequently filled in with 'Ulmo', not 'Ainur'.
10. 13. 14. The original reading was: 'Thou Tuor of the lonely heart the Valar will not to dwell for ever in fair places of birds and flowers; nor would they lead thee through this pleasant land...'11. Tuor C adds here: 'with Ulmo's aid'.12. The reference to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears is a later addition to Tuor B. The original reading was: 'who alone escaped Melko's power when he caught their folk...' In Tuor A and B Vomnwe is used throughout, but this phrase, with the form Bronweg, is an addition to Tuor 8 (replacing the original 'Now after many days these twain found a deep dale'). The typescript Tuor C has here: ... that none, were they not of the blood of the Noldoli, might light on it, neither by chance nor agelong search. Thus was it secure from all ill hap save treachery alone, and never would Tur have won thereto but for the steadfastness of that Gnome Voronwe. 15. 16. 17. 18. In the next sentence Tuor C has 'yet even so no few of the bolder of the Gnomes enthralled would slip down the river Sirion from the fell mountains'. The original reading was: 'his speech they comprehended, though somewhat different was the tongue of the free Noldoli by those days to that of the sad thralls of Melko.'
The typescript Tuor C has: 'they comprehended him for they were Noldoli. Then spake Tur also in the same tongue...' The original reading was: 'It was early morn when they drew near the gates and many eyes gazed...' But when Tuor and Voronwe first saw Gondolin it was 'in the new light of the morning' (p. 158), and it was 'a day's light march' across the plain; hence the change:.' made later to Tuor B. 'Evil One': original reading 'Ainu'. This passage, from 'Rugged was his aspect...', is a replacement on a separate slip; the original text was: Tuor was goodly in countenance but rugged and unkempt of locks and clad in the skins of bears, yet his stature, was not overgreat among his own folk, but the Gondothlim,,- though not bent as were no few of their kin who laboured at ceaseless delving and hammering for Melko, were small and slender and lithe. 19. 20. In the original passage Men are declared to be of their nature taller than the Elves of Gondolin. See pp. 142, 2oo. 'come hither'. 'escaped from Melko' Tuor C. 'folk': original reading 'men'. This is the only place where 'men' in reference to Elves is changed. The use is constant in The Fall of Gondolin, and even occurs once in an odd-sounding reference to the hosts of Melko: 'But now the men of Melko have assembled their forces' (p. 183).
The passage ending here and beginning with the words 'Then Tuor's heart was heavy...' on p. 16z was bracketed by my father in Tuor B, and on a loose slip referring to this bracketed passage he wrote: (If nec[essary]): Then is told how Idril daughter of the king added her words to the king's wisdom so that Turgon bid Tuor rest himself awhile in Gondolin, and being forewise prevailed on him [to] abide there in the end. How he came to love the daughter of the king, Idril of the Silver Feet, and how he was taught deeply in the lore of that great folk and learned of its history and the history of the Elves. How Tuor grew in wisdom and mighty in the counsels of the Gondothlim. 22. The only narrative difference here from the actual text lies in the introduction of the king's daughter Idril as an influence on Tuor's decision to remain in Gondolin. The passage is otherwise an extremely abbreviated summary of the account of Tuor's instruc- tion in Gondolin, with omission of what is said in the text about the preparations of the Gondothlim against attack; but I do not think that this was a proposal for shortening the written tale.
Rather, the words 'If necessary' suggest strongly that my father had in mind only a reduction for oral delivery -- and that was when it was read to the Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920; see p. I47. Another proposed shortening is given in note 32. This passage, beginning 'Great love too had Idril for Tuor...', was written on a separate slip and replaced the original text as follows: The king hearing of this, and,finding that his child Idril, whom the Eldar speak of as Irilde, loved Tuor in return, he consented to their being wed, seeing that he had no son, and Tuor was like to make a kinsman of strength and consolation. There were Idril and Tuor wed before the folk in that Place of the Gods, Gar Ainion, nigh the king's palace; and that was a day of mirth to the city of Gondolin, but of (&c.) 3. The replacement states that the marriage of Tuor and Idril was the first but not the last of the unions of Man and Elf, whereas it is said in the Name-list to The Fall of Condolin that Earendel was 'the only being that is half of the kindred of the Eldalie and half of Men' (see p. 215).2 The phrase 'and that tale of Isfin and Eol may not here be told' was added to Tuor B. See p. 220. Original reading. "a name wrought of the tongue of the Gondothlim'. 25. The sapphires given to Manwe by the Noldoli are referred to in the 26. tale of The Coming of the Elves, I. 128. The original pencilled text of Tuor A can be read here: 'bluer than the sapphires of Sulimo'. The passage ending here and beginning with 'In these ways that bitter winter passed...' is inserted on a separate sheet in Tuor B (but is not part of the latest layer of emendation); it replaces a much shorter passage going back to the primary text of Tuor A: Now on midwinter's day at early even the sun sank betimes beyond the mountains, and lo! when she had gone a light arose beyond the hills to the north, and men marvelled (&c.) 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. See notes 34 and 37.
The Scarlet Heart: the heart of Finwe Noleme, Turgon's father, was cut out by Orcs in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, but it was regained by Turgon and became his emblem; see I. 241 and note 11. This passage describing the array and the emblems of the houses of the Gondothlim was relatively very little affected by the later revision of Tuor A; the greater part of it is in the original pencilled text, which was allowed to stand, and all the names appear to be original. The word 'burg' is used in the Old English sense of a walled and fortified town. The death of Ecthelion in the primary text of Tuor A is legible; the revision introduced a few changes of wording, but no more. This sentence, from 'and men shuddered', was added to Tuor B. On the prophecy see I. 172. Tuor B is bracketed from 'Now comes Tuor at their head to the Place of Wedding' on p. 186 to this point, and an inserted slip relating to this bracketing reads: How Tuor and his folk came upon Idril wandering distraught in the Place of the Gods. How Tuor and Idril from that high place saw the sack of the King's Hall and the ruin of the King's Tower and the passing of the king, for which reason the foe followed not after.
How Tuor heard tidings of Voronwe that Idril had sent Earendel and her guard down the hidden way, and fared into the city in search of her husband; how in peril from the enemy they had rescued many that fled and sent them down the secret way. How Tuor led his host with the luck of the Gods to the mouth of that passage, and how all descended into the plain, sealing the entrance utterly behind them. How the sorrowful company issued into a dell in the vale of Tumladin. 33. This is simply a summary of the text as it stands; I suppose it was a ' cut proposed for the recitation of the tale if that seemed to be taking too long (see note 21). This passage, from 'Here were gathered...', replaced in Tuor B the original reading: 'Here they are fain to rest, but finding no signs of . 34. 35. Earendel and his escort Tuor is downcast, and Idril weeps.' This was rewritten partly for narrative reasons, but also to put it into the past tense. In the next sentence the text was emended from 'Lamentation is there...' and 'about them looms...' But the sentence following ('Fire-drakes are about it...') was left untouched; and I think that it was my father's intention, only casually indicated and never carried through, to reduce the amount of 'historical present' in the narrative. 'for summer is at hand': the original reading was 'albeit it is winter'.
See notes 26 and 37. The original reading was: Now the Mountains were on that side seven leagues save a mile from Gondolin, and Cristhorn the Cleft of Eagles another league of upward going from the beginning of the Mountains; wherefore they were now yet two leagues and part of a third from the pass, and very weary thereto. 36. 37. 38. 39. 'Behold, his face shineth as a star in the waste' was added to Tuor B. This passage, from 'But after a year and more of wandering...', replaced the original reading 'But after a half-year's wandering, nigh midsummer'. This emendation depends on the changing of the time of the attack on Gondolin from midwinter to the 'Gates of Summer' (see notes 26 and 34). Thus in the revised version summer is retained as the season when the exiles came to the lands about Sirion, but they spent a whole year and more, rather than a half- year, to reach them. 'even where Tulkas': original reading: 'even where Noldorin and Tulkas'. See pp. 278 -- 9. The original pencilled text of Tuor A had 'Fair among the Lothlim grows Earendel in Sornontur the house of Tuor'.
The fourth letter of this name could as well be read as a u. Changes made to names in The Fall of Gondolin. Ilfiniol ( Elfriniol in the first three occurrences of the name in the initial linking passage, Ilfiniol so written at the fourth. (In The Cottage of Lost Play (I. 15) the Gong-warden of Mar Vanwa Tyalieva is named only Littleheart; in the Link to The Music of the Ainur his Elvish name is Ilverin < Elwenildo (I. 46, 52); and in the Link to the Tale of Tinuviel he is llfiniol < Elfriniol as here, while the typescript has Ilfrin (p. 7). In the head-note to the Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin he is Elfrith < Elfriniel, and this is the only place where the meaning of the name 'Littleheart' is explained (p. 148); the Name-list has an entry 'Elf meaneth "heart" (as Elfin Elben): Elfrith is Littleheart (see I. 255, entry llverin). In another projected list of names, abandoned after only a couple of entries had been made, we meet again the form Elfrith, and also Elbenil > Eltoenil. This constant changing of name is to be understood in relation to swiftly changing phonological ideas and formulations, but even so is rather extraordinary.) In the following notes it is to be understood, for brevity's sake, that names in Tuor B (before emendation) are found in the same form in Tuor A; e.g. 'Mithrim < Asgon in Tuor B' implies that Tuor A has Asgon (unchanged). Tuor Although sometimes emended to Tur in Tuor 8, and invariably written Tur in the typescript Tuor C, I give Tuor throughout; see p.148. Dor Lomin This name was so written from the first in Tuor B. Tuor A has, at the first three occurrences, Aryador > Mathusdor; at the fourth, Aryador > Mathusdor > Dor Lomin. Mithrim < Asgon throughout Tuor 8; Tuor C has Asgon unchanged. Glorfalc or Cris Ilbranteloth (p. 150) Tuor A has Glorfalc or Teld Quing Ilon; Tuor B as written had no Elvish names, Glorfalc or Cris Ilbranteloth being a later addition. Ainur As in the first draft of The Music of the Ainur (I.61) the original text of Tuor A had Ainu plural.
Falasquil At both occurrences (p. 152) in Tuor A this replaces the original name now illegible but beginning with Q; in Tuor B my mother left blanks and added the name later in pencil; in Tuor C blanks are left in the typescript and not filled in. Arlisgion This name was added later to Tuor B. Orcs Tuor A and 8 had Orqui throughout; my father emended this in Tuor B to Orcs, but not consistently, and in the later part of the tale not at all. In one place only (p. 193, in Thorndor's speech) both texts have Orcs (also Orc-bands p. 195). As with the name Tuor/Tur I give throughout the form that was to prevail. At the only occurrence of the singular the word is written with a k in both Tuor A and 8 ('Ork's blood', p. 165). Car Thurion < Gar Furion in Tuor B (Gar Furion in Tuor C). Loth < Los in Tuor B (Los in Tuor C). Lothengriol ( Losengriol in Tuor B (Losengriol in Tuor C).
Taniquetil At the occurrence on p. 161 there was added in the original text of Tuor A: (Danigwiel), but this was struck out. Kor Against this name (p. 161) is pencilled in Tuor B: Tun. See I. 222, II. 292. Car Ainion < Gar Ainon in Tuor B (p. 164; at the occurrence on p. 186 not emended, but I read Car Ainion in both places). Nost-na-Lothion ( Nost-na-Lossion in Tuor B. Duilin At the first occurrence (p. 173) < Duliglin in the original text of Tuor A. Rog In Tuor A spelt Rog in the earlier occurrences, Rog in the later; in Tuor B spelt Rog throughout but mostly emended later to Rog. Dramborleg At the occurrence on p. 181 < Drambor in the original text of Tuor A. Bansil At the occurrence on p. 184 only, Bansil > Banthil in Tuor B. Cristhorn From the first occurrence on p. 189 written Cristhorn (not Cris Thorn) in Tuor A; Cris Thorn Tuor B throughout. Bad Uthwen < Bad Uswen in Tuor B. The original reading in Tuor A was (apparently) Bad Usbran. Sorontur ( Ramandur in Tuor B. Bablon, Ninwi, Trui, Rum The original text of Tuor A had Babylon, Nirteveh, Troy, and (probably) Rome.
These were changed to the forms given in the text, except Nineveh > Ninwe, changed to Ninwi in Tuor B. Commentary on The Fall of Condolin. $ 1. The primary narrative. As with the Tale of Turambar I break my commentary on this tale into sections. I refer frequently to the much later version (which extends only to the coming of Tuor and Voronwe to sight of Gondolin across the plain) printed in Unfinished Tales pp. 17 -- 5I ('Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin'); this I shall call here 'the later Tuor.'. (i) Tuor's journey to the Sea and the visitation of Ulmo (pp. 14g -- 56). In places the later Tuor (the abandonment of which is one of the saddest facts in the whole history of incompletion) is so close in wording to The Fall of Condolin, written more than thirty years before, as to make it almost certain that my father had it in front of him, or at least had recently reread it.
Striking examples from the late version (pp. 23 -- 4) are: 'The sun rose behind his back and set before his face, and where the water foamed among the boulders or rushed over sudden falls, at morning and evening rainbows were woven across the stream'; 'Now he said: "It is a fay-voice," now: "Nay, it is a small beast that is wailing in the waste"'; '[Tuor] wandered still for some days in a rugged country bare of trees; and it was swept by a wind from the sea, and all that grew there, herb or bush, leaned ever to the dawn because of the prevalence of that wind from the West' -- which are very closely similar to or almost identical with passages in the tale (pp. 150 -- 1). But the differences in the narrative are profound. Tuor's origin is left vague in the old story. There is a reference in the Tale of Turambar (p. 88) to 'those kindreds about the waters of Asgon whence after arose Tuor son of Peleg', but here it is said that Tuor did not dwell with his people (who 'wandered the forests and fells') but 'lived alone about that lake called Mithrim [< Asgon]', on which he journeyed in a small boat with a prow made like the neck of a swan.
There is indeed scarcely any linking reference to other events, and of course no trace of the Grey-elves of Hithlum who in the later story fostered him, or of his outlawry and hunting by the Easterlings; but there are 'wandering Noldoli in Dor Lomin (Hisilome, Hithlum) -- on whom see p. 65 -- from whom Tuor learnt much, including their tongue, and it was they who guided him down the dark river-passage under the mountains. There is in this a premonition of Gelmir and Arminas, the Noldorin Elves who guided Tuor through the Gate of the Noldor (later Tuor pp. 21--2), and the story that the Noldoli 'made that hidden way at the prompting of Ulmo' survived in the much richer historical context of the later legend, where 'the Gate of the Noldor... was made by the skill of that people, long ago in the days of Turgon' (later Tuor p. 18). The later Tuor becomes very close to the old story for a time when Tuor emerges out of the tunnel into the ravine (later called Cirith Ninniach, but still a name of Tuor's own devising); many features recur, such as the stars shining in the 'dark lane of sky above him', the echoes of his harping (in the tale of course without the literary echoes of Morgoth's cry and the voices of Feanor's host that landed there), his doubt concerning the mournful calling of the gulls, the narrowing of the ravine where the incoming tide (fierce because of the west wind) met the water of the river, and Tuor's escape by climbing to the cliff-top (but in the tale the connection between Tuor's curiosity concerning the gulls and the saving of his life is not made: he climbed the cliff in response to the prompting of the Ainur).
Notable is the retention of the idea that Tuor was the first of Men to reach the Sea, standing on the cliff-top with outspread arms, and of his 'sea-longing' (later Tuor p. 25). But the story of his dwelling in the cove of Falasquil and his adornment of it with carvings (and of course the floating of timber down the river to him by the Noldoli of Dor Lomin) was abandoned; in the later legend Tuor finds on the coast ruins of the ancient harbour-works of the Noldor from the days of Turgon's lordship in Nevrast, and of Turgon's former dwelling in these regions before he went to Gondolin there is in the old story no trace. Thus the entire Vinyamar episode is absent from it, and despite the frequent reminder that Ulmo was guiding Tuor as the instrument of his designs, the essential element in the later legend of the arms left for him by Turgon on Ulmo's instruction (?he Silmarillion pp. 126, 238 -- g) is lacking.
The southward-flying swans (seven, not three, in the later Tuor) play essentially the same part in both narratives, drawing Tuor to continue his journey; but the emblem of the Swan was afterwards given a different origin, as 'the token of Annael and his foster-folk', the Grey-elves of Mithrim (later Tuor p. 25). Both in the route taken (for the geography see p. 217) and in the seasons of the year my father afterwards departed largely from the original story of Tuor's journey to Gondolin. In the later Tuor it was the Fell Winter after the fall of Nargothrond, the winter of Turin's return to Hithlum, when he and Voronwe journeyed in snow and bitter cold eastwards beneath the Mountains of Shadow.
Here the journey takes far longer: he left Falasquil in 'the latest days of summer' (as still in the later Tuor) but he went down all the coast of Beleriand to the mouths of Sirion, and it was the summer of the following year when he lingered in the Land of Willows. (Doubtless the geography was less definite than it afterwards became, but its general resemblance to the later map seems assured by the description (p. 153) of the coast's trending after a time eastwards rather than southwards.) Only in its place in the narrative structure is there resemblance between Ulmo's visitation of Tuor in the Land of Willows in a summer twilight and his tremendous epiphany out of the rising storm on the coast at Vinyamar.
It is however most remarkable that the old vision of the Land of Willows and its drowsy beauty of river-flowers and butterflies was not lost, though afterwards it was Voronwe, not Tuor, who wandered there, devising names, and who stood enchanted 'knee-deep in the grass' (p. 155; later Tuor p. 35), until his fate, or Ulmo Lord of Waters, carried him down to the Sea. Possibly there is a faint reminiscence of the old story in Ulmo's words (later Tuor p. 28): 'Haste thou must learn, and the pleasant road that I designed for thee must be changed.' In the tale, Ulmo's speech to Tuor (or at least that part of it that is reported) is far more simple and brief, and there is no suggestion there of Ulmo's 'opposing the will of his brethren, the Lords of the West'; but two essential elements of his later message are present, that Tuor will find the words to speak when he stands before Turgon, and the reference to Tuor's unborn son (in the later Tuor much less explicit: 'But it is not for thy valour only that I send thee, but to bring into the world a hope beyond thy sight, and a light that shall pierce the darkness').
(ii) The journey of Tuor and Voronwe to Gondolin (pp. 156 -- 8) Of Tuor's journey to Gondolin, apart from his sojourn in the Land of Willows, little is told in the tale, and Voronwe only appears late in its course as the one Noldo who was not too fearful to accompany him further; of Voronwe's history as afterwards related there is no word, and he is not an Elf of Gondolin. It is notable that the Noldoli who guided Tuor northwards from the Land of Willows call themselves thralls of Melko. On this matter the Tales present a consistent picture. It is said in the Tale of Tinuviel (p. 9) that all the Eldar both those who remained in the dark or who had been lost upon the march from Palisor and those Noldoli too who fared back into the world after [Melko] seeking their stolen treasury fell beneath his power as thralls. In The Fall of Condolin it is said that the Noldoli did their service to Ulmo in secret, and 'out of fear of Melko wavered much' (p. 154), and Voronwe spoke to Tuor of 'the weariness of thraldom' (pp. 156 -- 7); Melko sent out his army of spies 'to search out the dwelling of the Noldoli that had escaped his thraldom' (p. 166). These 'thrall-Noldoli' are repre- sented as moving as it were freely about the lands, even to the mouths of Sirion, but they 'wandered as in a dream of fear, doing [Melko's] ill bidding, for the spell of bottomless dread was on them and they felt the eyes of Melko burn them from afar' (Tale of Turambar, p. 77).
This expression is often used: Voronwe rejoiced in Gondolin that he no longer dreaded Melko with 'a binding terror' -- 'and of a sooth that spell which Melko held over the Noldoli was one of bottomless dread, so that he seemed ever nigh them even were they far from the Hells of Iron, and their hearts quaked and they fled not even when they could' (p. 159). The spell of bottomless dread was laid too on Meglin (p. 16g). There is little in all this that cannot be brought more or less into harmony with the later narratives, and indeed one may hear an echo in the words of The Silmarillion (p. 156): But ever the Noldor feared most the treachery of those of their own kin, who had been thralls in Angband; for Morgoth used some of these for his evil purposes, and feigning to give them liberty sent them abroad, but their wills were chained to his, and they strayed only to come back to him again.
