The formulation at the time of the Lost Tales (see I. 235) was that Qendi was the original name of all the Elves, and Eldar the name given by the Gods and adopted by the Elves of Valinor; those who remained in the Great Lands (Ilkorins) preserved the old name, Qendi. There also appear now the terms ‘Light-elves’, ‘Deep-elves’, and ‘Sea-elves’ (as in The Hobbit, chapter 8); the meaning of ‘the Elves proper’, applied to the first kindred, is clear from the Quenta (p. 85): ‘the Quendi … who sometimes are alone called Elves.’
Inwë of the Lost Tales now becomes Ingwë, with the Gnomish equivalent Ing which appears in the alliterative poems, as does Gnomish Finn (in The Flight of the Noldoli). Elwë (Elu) is in the rôle of the later Olwë, leader of the third kindred after the loss of Thingol. In the Tale of Tinúviel Tinwelint (Thingol) was indeed originally called Tinto Ellu or Ellu, but in the tales of The Coming of the Elves and The Theft of Melko, by later changes, Ellu becomes the name of the second lord of the Solosimpi chosen in Tinwelint’s place; see II. 50.
Notably absent from the account in S are the initial coming of the three Elvish ambassadors to Valinor, and the Elves who did not leave the Waters of Awakening, referred to in Gilfanon’s Tale (I. 231): the Ilkorins are here defined as those who were lost on the great march into the West. On these omissions see the commentary on §2 in the Quenta, p. 168.
Other omissions in S are the two starmakings of Varda (see p. 168) and the chain Angainor with which Morgoth was bound (see S §18 note 1).
In the tale of The Coming of the Elves the island on which the Gods were drawn to the western lands at the time of the fall of the Lamps was the island on which the Elves were afterwards ferried, becoming Tol Eressëa (see I. 118, 134); now, the isle on which the Gods dwelt (see the commentary on §1) is again the isle of the Elves’ ferrying. But in The Silmarillion there is no connection between the Isle of Almaren and Tol Eressëa.
In the story of the ferrying features of the final narrative emerge in S: the first two kindreds to arrive at the shores of the sea are ferried together on this island, not separately as in the tale; and the love of the sea among the Teleri (Solosimpi) began during their waiting for Ulmo’s return. On the other hand the old story of Ossë’s rebellious anchoring of Tol Eressëa still survives (see I. 134); but the position of the island after its anchoring has now shifted westwards, to the Bay of Faërie, ‘whence the Mountains of Valinor could dimly be seen’: contrast the account in the tale, where Ulmo had traversed ‘less than half the distance’ across the Great Sea when Ossë waylaid it, and where ‘no land may be seen for many leagues’ sail from its cliffs’ (see I. 120–1, and my discussion of this change, 1. 134). In the tale, Ossë seized and anchored Tol Eressëa before its journey was done because he ‘deemed himself slighted that his aid was not sought in the ferrying of the Elves, but his own island taken unasked’ (I. 119); in S his jealousy is indeed mentioned, but also his love of the singing of the Teleri, which was afterwards a prominent motive. Ossë’s making of the seabirds for the Teleri (Solosimpi) was retained, though afterwards lost.
In the tale the gap in the Mountains of Valinor was not made by the Valar for the sake of the Elves, nor was the hill of Kôr raised for them: they had existed since distant days, when ‘in the trouble of the ancient seas a shadowy arm of water had groped in toward Valinor’ (I. 122). In the passage in S can be seen the origin of that in The Silmarillion (p. 59). Here in S Côr is the hill and Tûn is the city built upon it (though in §2 there is a reference to Elves dwelling ‘in Côr’); see III. 93.
On the ‘invention’ of gems by the Noldoli see I. 138. The especial love of Mandos ‘the wise’ for the Noldoli is found neither in the Lost Tales nor in The Silmarillion, and may seem an improbable attribute of that Vala: cf. The Coming of the Elves, I. 117: ‘Mandos and Fui were cold to the Eldar as to all else.’
The passage concerning the Noldorin princes, added to the text of S (though probably after no great interval), is the origin of the passage in The Silmarillion (p. 60) which begins in the same way: ‘The Noldor afterwards came back to Middle-earth, and this tale tells mostly of their deeds …’ For the details of names and relations in this passage see the Note at the end of this section of the commentary.
The story of the coming of the Teleri (Solosimpi) to Valinor from Tol Eressëa comes in S, in essentials, almost to the form in The Silmarillion (p. 61); for the very different account in the tale see I. 124–6. In S, however, it was Ylmir (Ulmo) not Ossë who taught them the craft of shipbuilding, and this of course reflects the difference still underlying: for here Ylmir was still, as in the tale, eager for the coming of the Third Kindred to Valinor, whereas in The Silmarillion he had himself bidden Ossë make fast the island to the sea-bottom, and afterwards only ‘submitted to the will of the Valar’. – The name Ylmir – almost certainly the Gnomish form – appears in the Lay of the Children of Húrin, see III. 93; but the form Óin for Uinen is not found elsewhere.
Note on the Noldorin princes
Fingolfin as the son of Finwë (Finn) and father of Turgon emerges first in the Lay of the Fall of Gondolin (III. 146–7), and is present in the second version of the Lay of the Children of Húrin (only by emendation in the first) (III. 137). That Fëanor was Fingolfin’s brother is deducible from the alliterative Flight of the Noldoli (ibid.), but from S, as originally written in this section, it is seen that Fëanor was at first the second, not the elder son. Here in S Finwë’s third son Finrod first emerges: the mention of him, and his sons, in a note to the Lay of the Children of Húrin (III. 80) is certainly later, as is his first appearance in the Lay of Leithian (III. 191, 195).
The seven sons of Fëanor with the same name-forms as here in S have appeared in the Lay of the Children of Húrin (III. 65, 86); the naming of Damrod and Díriel together in S suggests that they were already twin brothers.
Of the sons of Fingolfin Turgon of course goes back to the Lost Tales, where he was the son, not the grandson, of Finwë; the other son Finweg appears in the Lay of the Children of Húrin, where the emendation to Fingon (see III. 5, 80) is later than S – and the Quenta, where he was still Finweg in the text as first written.
The sons of Finrod first emerge here, and as the inserted passage in S was first written Orodreth was apparently the eldest son; Angrod was Anrod; and Felagund was Felagoth. Felagoth occurs as an intervening stage between Celegorm and Felagund in the A-text of the Lay of Leithian (III. 169, 195).
In this section again S moves at a step close to the essential structure of the narrative in The Silmarillion, though there are important features not yet present. I have discussed previously (I. 156–8) the radical differences between the tale of The Theft of Melko and the story in The Silmarillion, and it will be seen that it was with S that almost all these differences entered: there is thus no need to repeat the comparison again here. But various more minor matters may be noticed.
The quarrel of the Noldorin princes has as yet none of the complexity and subtlety that entered into it afterwards with the history of Míriel, the first wife of Finwë and mother of Fëanor; the quarrel is in any case treated with great brevity.
It
