The Silmarillion in The Lord of the Rings: Part One

My weathered Tolkien.  The first edition of The Silmarillion (1977) and my 1975 boxed set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  All four volumes originally fit inside the box.  That has not been possible for many years.

 

Note: All quotes and page references are from my 1975 Ballantine paperback edition.

I realized a new year resolution recently by re-reading The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy for what is a least the ninth time.  A prelude, I finished The Hobbit last year but didn't follow through with reading the rest until this past spring and summer.  I kept it going in the background as I read other books, returning to it regularly, moving another chapter or two onward each time.  

Several new things struck me with this reading and I will attempt to flesh them out over a few essays.  My primary reason for this rereading was to pay more attention to how many references there are to the stories of The Silmarillian.  From past readings I knew there were many but I had never read the whole four-volume work with Tolkien's grander story at the forefront of my mind.  This first essay will deal with the glimpses Tolkien gives us to the happenings in Middle-earth (and beyond) contained in his masterwork, The Silmarillion.
 

The Hobbit was a children's book written before Tolkien began his “later” work on The Silmarillion (when most of the final stories solidified).  Consequently, there are few details or references to the “grander” history of Middle-earth.  By far, the most important reference to that history regards the finding of Beater and Biter, two blades forged by the Elves in Gondolin especially feared by goblins (Orcs in LOTR).  

As I have posted before, the Fall of Gondolin is one of Tolkien's earliest written stories and, unlike almost everything else in The Silmarillion, it was never completely revised.  He literally wrote much of it in the trenches of World War One and it remained unchanged so it would have been relatively clear in his mind when he wrote The Hobbit in the 1930's.  

Glamdring the Foe-hammer (aka Beater) becomes Gandalf's mighty sword throughout the rest of The Hobbit and the whole trilogy.  It is with that sword that the wizard later fights the Balrog in LOTR.  Likewise, the smaller blade, a large knife to humans, becomes a central part of the whole trilogy.  Biter, as Orcs (goblins) called it, was known as Orcist among Elves.  Bilbo himself changes the name to Sting when he slays a giant spider with the blade about halfway through The Hobbit.  This becomes Frodo's sword in the trilogy, of course.

So, from the beginning, Gondolin loomed large in Tolkien's mind and was certainly solid enough to be a significant reference in The Hobbit.  Otherwise, the prelude book only makes vague remarks about earlier times.  Partly, this is because these past times had little to do with Bilbo's adventure beyond the two Elven blades and the still at this point mysterious ring.  But it is more likely that at the time Tolkien saw little connection between Hobbits and his larger tales.  Moreover, those tales were not anywhere close to being finalized and were, therefore, not as suitable to mention as was Gondolin.

In fact, the first referral about the past regards the whole story itself.  Tolkien informs the reader that this story took place in earlier times (that is, the Third Age).  “...one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green and the hobbits were still numerous and prosperous...” (page 17)  This reveals Tolkien's nostalgia for the past and his distaste for “progress” which he saw as degrading the natural world.

Tolkien attributes the evils of technology to the goblins (Orcs) themselves.  “It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them, and also not working with their own hands more than they could help; but in those days and those wild parts they had not advanced (as it is called) so far.” (page 70)  The “as it is called” is Tolkien's protest against progress and his remembrance of how technology led to the mass death of World War One.

In referring to the fact that goblins had not ventured out of their places for purposes of war, Tolkien parenthetically writes: “...which I am glad to say has not happened in a long while,” referring to comparative peace which remained over much of the Third Age while Sauron recovered from his demise at the end of the Second Age.

When the Eagles initially appear in the story, he refers to them as “the ancient race from northern mountains.” (page 108)  While not reflecting anything in The Silmarillion specifically, this helps to set the story within a bit of depth.  This is taken further when Bilbo first gazes upon Smaug's great hoard, Tolkien makes him speechless for he had no adequate words  “since men changed the language that they learned from the elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.” (page 206)

This last quote is significant.  It reinforces Tolkien's nostalgic belief that “progress” made things worse and that the world was more “wonderful” once than it is today.  It also reflects Tolkien's deep knowledge of philology and the fact that the Elven languages are the foundation for all of his fantastic tales.   

These vague references to the past are, as I said, without solidity except for the regular  mention (four times) to Gondolin.  Tolkien became far more detailed about events in The Silmarillion once we get to the trilogy proper.  This is largely because, by the time he finished the trilogy some years after The Hobbit the rest of The Silmarillion was coming into sharper focus in the author's mind.
 

The Fellowship of the Ring is littered with references to all three ages.  Mentioned in passing are: the Eldar Days, the Second Age, Númenor, Eregion, Angmar, Doriath, Nargothrond, Eressëa, Anarion, the Dunadain, Elendil, Isildur, Gil-galad, Ancalagon the Black, the House of Finrod, Elwing, Dior, Eärendil, the Battle of Dagorlad, Silvan Elves, and Nimrodel, among others.  Most of these are mentioned only in passing, without any explanation.  

As in The Hobbit, Tolkien made vague references to the past in order to give the story more depth, implying a largely forgotten, historical hue within which the characters of Middle-earth live.  With The Fellowship of the Ring the references are still mostly in passing but now they are more defined with the names, events and places of The Silmarillion.  The first-time or casual reader will have no idea of who or what any of this means.

The enigmatic Tom Bombadil hints at some of the significant events of The Silmarillion.  During one of the seemingly endless happy tales with which he regales the hobbits, the little folk completely lose track of what Tom is talking about.  “When they caught his words again they found that he had now wandered into strange regions beyond their memory and beyond their waking thought, into times when the world was wider, the seas flowed straight to the western shore; and still on and back Tom went singing out into ancient starlight, when only the Elf-sires were awake...'When the Elves passed westward, Tom was already here, before the seas were bent.  He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside.'” (page 182)

Here Tom is referring to the “flat” Middle-earth that existed up to the end of the Second Age when Aman was "removed" and "the seas were bent."  The Dark Lord is Melkor, mightiest of the Valar.  It is a highly significant event in The Silmarillion but there is no further mention of it in the trilogy.  According to Tolkien's son, Christopher, the use of the word “Outside” here is a bit puzzling.  “It seems then that either Bombadil must in fact refer to Morgoth's return from Valinor to Middle-earth, in the company of Ungoliant and bearing the Silmarils, or else that my father had already at this date developed a new conception of the earliest history of Melkor.” (page 139)

Regardless, this is more substance from Tolkien's underlying grand, fluid mythology than we have read so far.  But even this pales in comparison with how much Tolkien gives us of the story of Beren and Lúthien, which is central to both LOTR and The Silmarillion, the ultimate love story between extraordinary persons, between mutual attraction, between races, between immortality and mortality.

Much of the chapter “A Knife in the Dark” is devoted to the history of Middle-earth.  Strider says:  “The Men of the West did not live here; though in their latter days they defended the hills for awhile against the evil that came out of Angmar.  This path was made to serve the forts along the walls.  But long before, in the first days of the North Kingdom, they built a great watch-tower on Weathertop, Amon Sûl they called it...It is told that Elendil stood there watching the coming of Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance.” (page 250)

Gandalf taught Frodo the lore and he teaches his fellow hobbits as they make camp.  “Gil-galad was the last of the great Elf-kings of Middle-earth.  Gil-galad is Starlight in their tongue.  With Elendil, the Elf-friend, he went to the land of - ”  Strider interrupts.  He suggests they not speak of such things until they get to Rivendell.

Instead, Tolkien treats us to one of the most beautiful passages of the novel.  Strider tells the hobbits “the tale of Tinúviel.”  The wonderful meeting of Beren and Lúthien is then told in what Tolkien describes as a “chant” which contains nine stanzas the last one reading:

“Long was they way that fate them bore,
O'er stony mountains cold and grey,
Through halls of iron and darkling door
And woods of nightshade morrowless,
The Sundering Seas between them lay,
And yet at last they met once more,
And long ago they passed away
In the forest singing sorrowless.”

“Strider sighed and paused before he spoke again.  'That is a song,' he said, 'in the mode that is called ann-thennath among the Elves, but is hard to render in our Common Speech, and this is but a rough echo of it.  It tells of the meeting of Beren son of Barahir and Lúthien Tinúviel...In those days the Great Enemy, of whom Sauron of Mordor was but a servant, dwelt in Angband in the North, and the Elves of the West coming back to Middle-earth made war upon him to regain the Silmarils which he had stolen.” (page 260)

First off, the stanza itself is a pretty accurate outline of the story of Beren and Lúthien as told in The Silmarillion.  Of course no one reading LOTR would understand any of the symbolism but the basic story is there.  I had never noticed what a spendid synopsis it is (if you know what it means) in prior readings.

But, Strider goes on to mention the Silmarils, which are far more marvelous than the trilogy ever reveals.  Nevertheless, there is actually quite a lot of information about The Silmarillion contained in this passage.  Strider proceeds to give the hobbits (and the reader) an overview of what the nine stanzas mean, which is all known to readers of The Silmarillion.  

Then he concludes: “So it is that Lúthien Tinúviel alone of the Elf-kindred has died indeed and left the world, and they have lost her whom they most loved.  But from her the lineage of the Elf-lords of old descended among Men.  There live still those of whom Lúthien was the foremother, and it is said that her line shall never fail.  Elrond of Rivendell is of that Kin.  For of Beren and Lúthien was born Dior Thingol's heir; and of him Elwing the White who Eärendil wedded, he that sailed his ship out of the mists of the world into the seas of heaven with the Silmaril upon his brow.  And of Eärendil came the Kings of Númenor, that is Westernesse.” (page 261)

Nowhere else in the novel does Tolkien delve so deeply into the story of The Silmarillion.  These details are all true of the chapter “Of Beren and Lúthien” which was published about 25 years after “A Knife in the Dark” (but actually written by Tolkien before the trilogy was finished).  You can get a feel for the complexity of the plot within the overarching work of which LOTR is but a small part.  Hobbits, for example, are only mentioned in two sentences at the end of The Silmarillion whereas, of course, they are the focal point for the popular story.  

At Weathertop they are attacked by the Ringwraiths that night, of course.  Frodo puts on the Ring and tries to defend himself but he is badly wounded.  But before his wound, when he charges he bravely yells “O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!” a classic cry from The Silmarillion.  Legolas will echo it, but for very different reasons, at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring.  Sam and others say it throughout the rest of the novel.

In “The Council of Elrond” much of the Second Age of The Silmarillion is summarized in about 4 pages by Elrond himself, who was alive then, after all.  But there is one subtle moment when he goes further back to the First Age.  In speaking of Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sitting Sun (later named Minas Tirith), “There in the courts of the King grew a white tree, from the seed of that tree which Isildur brought over the deep waters, and the seed of that tree before came from Eressëa, and before that out of the Uttermost West in the Day before days when the world was young.

“But in the wearing of the swift years of Middle-earth then line of Meneldil son of Anarion failed, and the Tree withered, and the blood of the Númenoreans became mingled with lesser men.” (page 321)

This touches of another thread holding The Silmarillion together beyond the story of Beren and Lúthien.  The white tree lineage goes all the way to back to a timeless expanse before even the First Age.  Here Tolkien mentions Eressëa which is in Aman and we are squarely into another central aspect to the narrative in The Silmarillion, the Light of the Two Trees, although LOTR does not really explain any of this.  It just gives the story fantastic depth in time to match its tremendous emotional depth.

That last part is an excellent example of Tolkien's nostalgia for a “wonderful” past being weakened by decadent “progress.”  Like the Elves, Tolkien felt himself living in a world that was becoming less magical, less beautiful and that made him sad; a sadness that he completely interjects into the Elven characters throughout the story and in the Part-elven too, Aragorn.  This comes from the fading away of things as articulated in this passage, which is how Tolkien viewed modernity.  Another example of this comes a few pages later when Elrond, still in the council, explains about the Three Rings of Power wielded by the Elves.  These powers are wonderful and magical but they are tied to the One Ring.

“Some hope that the Three Rings, which Sauron has never touched, would then become free, and their rulers might heal the hurts of the world that he has wrought.  But maybe when the One has gone, the Three will fail, and many fair things will fade and be forgotten.  That is my belief.” (page 352)  This reveals the sadness of Tolkien – and of the Elves.  Unfortunately, to do what is needed and destroy the ring will inevitably result in a diminishing of the world, in this case, the diminishing of the Elves ability to maintain the few remaining glimpses of timeless and magical beauty on Middle-earth.  This is generally why the Elves are leaving Middle-earth throughout the story.  The Fourth Age, the Age of Men, is dawning.  The old magic no longer has power.  

The coming of the Balrog of Morgoth in Moria certainly harkens back to when there were many such monstrosities at the Fall of Gondolin.  And this too reveals Tolkien's penchant for the diminishment of humanity.  Whereas there were many dragons and Balrogs in the First Age, almost all of them eventually slain, in the telling of LOTR there was but one dargon, who rules a whole region of Middle-earth; one Balrog was all Gandalf could handle, apparently killing him.  The powers of old have faded along with the extent of the old threat.  For all his power, Sauron is but a taste of past evil's strength.

But it is in Lothlórien where we physically enter into the last remnant of the First Age (partly, it may be inferred, due to the power of the Three Rings).  Frodo's reaction: “...it seemed to him that he had stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Eldar Days, and was now walking in a world that was no more.  In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lórien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world.” (page 453)

“Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not fade or change or fall into forgetfulness.  When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlórien.” (page 455) The flowers are significant, though without The Silmarillion the reader won't know why.  

Elenor was given by the Elves as a gift to Númenor in the Second Age.  Niphredil is a small flower that first bloomed when Lúthien was born in the First Age.  Here we abruptly find ourselves immersed in a glorious world, a last remaining glimpse, as it was some 10,000 years ago.  Of course, here is where we find Galadriel, the singular character that goes all the way back to the time before the First Age and is followed throughout The Silmarillion.

Galadriel laments about the past, “the fall of Nargothrond and Gondolin” which were part of “the long defeat” from her Elven perspective to time.  Readers unacquainted with The Silmarillion will not know what she is talking about, of course, but Tolkien uses this deep past to render the beauty of Lothlórien more magical in addition to conveying the general sadness of the Elves.  (The reference is outlined in Appendix A at the end of the novel, giving the reader some general notion of its meaning.)

She also gives richer context to what is at stake with Frodo's quest.  “For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy.  Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away.” (page 472)  Unfortunately, the evil magic of Sauron is inexorably linked via the Three Rings to the wondrous magic of Lothlórien and Rivendell and, indeed, all of the Elves upon Middle-earth in the late-Third Age.  

Galadriel and Elrond both know what is coming, whether or not Frodo succeeds in destroying the One Ring.  All memory of the great First Age has already faded, now its remnants will vanish as well.  And that is the best-case outcome.  Through the Elves, Tolkien gives the reader a complex mix of emotions where glory is faded but not quite gone.  And yet, it must pass away entirely if Sauron is to be defeated.  Such is the fate of the Elves.  The glory they still maintain can no longer be untangled from the evil that must be vanquished.  This is one of the most existentially self-conflicted situations in all of world literature.

(to be continued)