Of starlit Beleriand...

It has been a while now since I posted about The Silmarillion, and so I shall continue my ridiculously long ''synopsis'' (it has long ceased to be one!).

Since matters have been somewhat focused upon the Eldar in Valinor during Melkor's captivity, I shall return now to the matters that I prefer to treat - that of the Grey Elves (my favourite kindred) of Beleriand before the return of the Dark Lord. Since the Vanyar, Noldor and many of the Telerin hosts had departed from the western shores of Middle-earth, those that remained (except for the mariners along the coastlands, under their lord Círdan the Shipwright - who incidentally, at the time of The Lord of the Rings was probably the oldest Elf still extant in Middle-earth) dwelt rather in the woods and the hills, than by the sea, which filled them with sorrow for their departed kin, and they named themselves the Eglath, the Forsaken.

Now, as has been told, Elwë Singollo wandered long years before into the enchanted woods of Nan Elmoth, and there was spellbound by the Maia Melian, most beautiful of the Maia (conjectural) and stood with her while long years were measured by the wheeling of the stars above. And the Teleri who sought for him found him not; but then he came forth from the woods with Melian, and he appeared to them as the lords of the Maiar, for he was tall, and grey-haired and his wisdom had increased. Then, the Teleri gathered about him in joy, and they dwelt then in the woods of Neldoreth and Region (pronounced ''reg-ee-on'') in the midst of Beleriand, and the land had peace for long ages. Elu Thingol Elwë was named anew in the tongue of that land, and the Sindar his people became, the Grey Elves of starlit Beleriand; and under the lordship of Thingol and the teaching of Melian, they became the wisest and most skilled of all the Elves of Middle-earth. Thingol never saw the light of the Two Trees again (well in a sense he did, but that comes many thousands of years later) but in the light of the face of Melian he was long content. And it came to pass that in the First Age of the Captivity of Melkor, there came forth into the world Lúthien the fair, the most beautiful of the Children of Ilúvatar that was, or shall ever be, and the white flowers of Neldoreth, the niphredil, opened at her coming to greet her.

During the Second Age of the Captivity of Melkor, there came over the Blue Mountains the Dwarves, and the Sindar were amazed, for they had thought that they were the only beings to speak with words or to make with hands. Their mansions were east of Beleriand in the Blue Mountains, and they were called Nogrod and Belegost in the Sindarin tongue. When the Second Age of the Captivity of Melkor was drawing to an end, Melian counselled Thingol that the peace of Arda would not long endure, and so Thingol called upon the Dwarves of Belegost; and together the Elves and Dwarves fashioned the subterranean halls of Thingol, Menegroth, the Thousand Caves, which was said to be the fairest dwelling of any king east of the Great Sea. Of those caves, this is said in The Silmarillion:

''...and Elves and Dwarves together, each with their own skill, there wrought out the visions of Melian, images of the wonder and beauty of Valinor beyond the Sea. The pillars of Menegroth were hewn in the likeness of the beeches of Oromë, stock, bough, and leaf, and they were lit with lanterns of gold. The nightingales sang there as in the gardens of Lórien; and there were fountains of silver, and basins of marble, and floors of many-coloured stones. Carven figures of beasts and birds there ran upon the walls, or climbed upon the pillars, or peered among the branches entwined with many flowers. And as the years passed Melian and her maidens filled the halls with woven hangings wherein could be read the deeds of the Valar, and many things that had befallen in Arda since its beginning, and shadows of things that were yet to be.''

But soon the Dwarves were unquiet amidst the peace of Beleriand, and they spoke darkly to Thingol concerning the lands beyond the Blue Mountains, where many of their kindred yet dwelt in Khazad-dûm, and many wild Elves yet wandered. And they spoke of shadow-shapes that stalked the woods, and Wolves, and fell beasts that haunted the primeval hills, and that the Elves were filled with fear. And they spoke also of the ancient Orcs - but though they knew not what what these creatures were, for they were furtive and did but smell out the ways of the land, they thought that they were wild Elves who had become evil in the wild - a shrewd guess, as the Wise afterwards declared. And so the Dwarves fashioned for Thingol great store of weapons, and the armouries of Menegroth were well stocked in those days - and because of the skill of the Dwarves, the hauberks and swords rusted not, but remained as though they were new-burnished.

Now, as the years passed, one Denethor, son of Lenwë, lord of the Nandorin Elves, passed over the Blue Mountains and came into Ossiriand, fleeing the fell beasts east of the mountains, and they dwelt by those rivers in peace. Nothing much else of note happened for the rest of the age, but it soon ended, for in the far north of the world befell the battle of Morgoth and Ungoliant, and the great cry of Morgoth was heard all throughout Beleriand; and though the Elves knew not what it was, they heard then the herald of Woe. And when Morgoth returned to Angband, he reared above its doors the reeking towers of Thangorodrim of molten slag from his vast subterranean furnaces, and he sent forth hosts of the Orcs, bred long in the dark by Sauron, and they assailed King Thingol. Dear-brought was the victory of the Elves in this First Battle of the Wars of Beleriand, for Denethor came hastening from Ossiriand with a host armed with bows, but upon the hill of Amon Ereb he was slain, and the Green Elves returned in sorrow to Ossiriand and went never forth to war. Few of the Orcs returned to Angband, and the Green Elves were avenged, but now Beleriand was a land of fear and darkess, and only in Doriath (the realm of Thingol) and in the Havens by the Sea was there a watchful peace.

After the First Battle, Thingol summoned all the wandering Elves to come and dwell in Doriath because of the danger of the wide lands about, and Melian wove about that land an unseen wall of shadow and enchantment, the Girdle of Melian, that none could pass save by her will, or the will of the King; unless someone should come with a greater power. But later, and with no warning, there came to the west shores of Middle-earth Fëanor with the hosts of the Noldor, and there at Losgar, he burned the ships of the Teleri.

I think that the period between the birth of Lúthien and the return of Morgoth is my favourite in the history of Middle-earth. Beleriand was dark and peaceful, with the unclouded stars shining overhead. I often dream of it.