and hunted from the sky by the Moon, and for a long while he wanders the sky as a fugitive star.9
[In this section again most of the changes (not those in notes 2 and 4) were hastily made in pencil.]
1 This sentence was changed to read:
At Sirion’s mouth Elwing daughter of Dior dwelt, and received the survivors of Gondolin.
2 growing old struck out.
3 Ylmir bids him to sail to Valinor struck out.
4 Maidros > Maidros and Maglor
5 Written in the margin: Maglor sat and sang by the sea in repentance.
6 My father first wrote Elwing cast herself into the sea with the Nauglafring, but changed it to Elwing cast the Nauglafring into the sea and leapt after it in the act of writing.
7 This sentence was changed to read:
Their son (Elrond) who is part mortal and part elfin and part of the race of Valar,
8 Húrin struck out, and Huor and of Beren written above, together with some illegible words. One might expect Through him the blood of Huor and of Beren his great-grandfathers, but the illegible words do not seem to be these. (Húrin was in fact Elrond’s great-great-uncle.)
9 The last sentence (He sails by the aid of their wings …) is an addition, but I think an addition made at the time of writing.
The march of Fionwë into the North is then told, and of the Terrible or Last Battle. The Balrogs are all destroyed, and the Orcs destroyed or scattered. Morgoth himself makes a last sally with all his dragons; but they are destroyed, all save two which escape, by the sons of the Valar, and Morgoth is overthrown and bound1 and his iron crown is made into a collar for his neck. The two Silmarils are rescued. The Northern and Western parts of the world are rent and broken in the struggle.2
The Gods and Elves release Men from Hithlum, and march through the lands summoning the remnants of the Gnomes and Ilkorins to join them. All do so except the people of Maidros. Maidros aided by many men3 prepares to perform his oath, though now at last weighed down by sorrow because of it. He sends to Fionwë reminding him of the oath and begging for the Silmarils. Fionwë replies that he has lost his right to them because of the evil deeds of Fëanor, and of the slaying of Dior, and of the plundering of Sirion. He must submit, and come back to Valinor; in Valinor only and at the judgement of the Gods shall they be handed over.
Maidros and Maglor4 submit. The Elves set sail from Lúthien (Britain or England) for Valinor.5 Thence they ever still from time [to time] set sail leaving the world ere they fade.
On the last march Maglor says to Maidros that there are two sons of Fëanor now left, and two Silmarils; one is his. He steals it, and flies, but it burns him so that he knows he no longer has a right to it. He wanders in pain over the earth, and casts himself into a pit.6 One Silmaril is now in the sea, and one in the earth.7
The Gnomes and many of the Ilkorins and Teleri and Qendi repeople the Lonely Isle. Some go back to live upon the shores of Faëry and in Valinor, but Côr and Tûn remain desolate.
1 Added here: by the chain Angainor
2 Added here: and the fashion of their lands altered (late pencilled addition).
3 aided by many men struck out.
4 and Maglor circled in pencil.
5 This sentence was changed to read:
The Elves march to the Western shore, and begin to set sail from Leithien (Britain or England) for Valinor.
6 casts himself into a pit > casts it into a fiery pit.
7 Added here: Maglor sings now ever in sorrow by the sea.
The judgement of the Gods takes place. The earth is to be for Men, and the Elves who do not set sail for the Lonely Isle or Valinor shall slowly fade and fail. For a while the last dragons and Orcs shall grieve the earth, but in the end all shall perish by the valour of Men.
Morgoth is thrust through the Door of Night into the outer dark beyond the Walls of the World, and a guard set for ever on that Door. The lies that he sowed in the hearts of Men and Elves do not die and cannot all be slain by the Gods, but live on and bring much evil even to this day. Some say also that secretly Morgoth or his black shadow and spirit in spite of the Valar creeps back over the Walls of the World in the North and East and visits the world, others that this is Thû his great chief who escaped the Last Battle and dwells still in dark places, and perverts Men to his dreadful worship. When the world is much older, and the Gods weary, Morgoth will come back through the Door, and the last battle of all will be fought. Fionwë will fight Morgoth on the plain of Valinor, and the spirit of Túrin shall be beside him; it shall be Túrin who with his black sword will slay Morgoth, and thus the children of Húrin shall be avenged.
In those days the Silmarils shall be recovered from sea and earth and air, and Maidros shall break them and Belaurin1 with their fire rekindle the Two Trees, and the great light shall come forth again, and the Mountains of Valinor shall be levelled so that it goes out over the world, and Gods and Elves and Men2 shall grow young again, and all their dead awake.3
And thus it was that the last Silmaril came into the air. The Gods adjudged the last Silmaril to Eärendel – ‘until many things shall come to pass’ – because of the deeds of the sons of Fëanor. Maidros is sent to Eärendel and with the aid of the Silmaril Elwing is found and restored. Eärendel’s boat is drawn over Valinor to the Outer Seas, and Eärendel launches it into the outer darkness high above Sun and Moon. There he sails with the Silmaril upon his brow and Elwing at his side, the brightest of all stars, keeping watch upon Morgoth.4 So he shall sail until he sees the last battle gathering upon the plains of Valinor. Then he will descend.
And this is the last end of the tales of the days before the days, in the Northern regions of the Western World. These tales are some of those remembered and sung by the fading Elves, and most by the vanished Elves of the Lonely Isle. They have been told by Elves to Men of the race of Eärendel, and most to Eriol who alone of mortals of later days sailed to the Lonely Isle, and yet came back to Lúthien,5 and remembered things he had heard in Cortirion, the town of the Elves in Tol Eressëa.
1 Against Belaurin was written Palúrien (cf. §1 note 1).
2 and Men struck out.
3 Added here:
But of Men in that last Day the prophecy speaks not, save of Túrin only.
