More from the Lay of Leithian...

It has been some time now since I wrote about The Lay of Leithian. We had arrived at the moment where Thingol pronounces his cunning doom upon Beren, and thus was Doriath enmeshed within a greater doom, the dreaded Doom of Mandos. Tolkien continues:

Then Thingol's warriors loud and long

they laughed; for wide renown in song

had Fëanor's gems o'er land and sea,

the peerless Silmarils; and three

alone he made and kindled slow

in the land of the Valar long ago,

and there in Tûn [Túna] of their own light

they shone like marvellous stars at night,

in the great Gnomish hoards of Tûn,

while Glingal* flowered and Belthil's* bloom

yet lit the land beyond the shore

where the Shadowy Seas' last surges roar,

ere Morgoth stole them and the Gnomes

seeking their glory left their homes,

ere sorrows fell on Elves and Men,

ere Beren was or Lúthien,

ere Fëanor's sons in madness swore

their dreadful oath. But now no more

their beauty was seen, save shining clear

in Morgoth's dungeons vast and drear.

His iron crown they must adorn,

and gleam above Orcs and slaves forlorn,

treasured in Hell above all wealth,

more than his eyes; and might nor stealth

could touch them, or even gaze too long

upon their magic. Throng on throng

of Orcs with reddened scimitars

encircled them, and mighty bars

and everlasting gates and walls,

who wore them now amidst his thralls.

Then Beren laughed more loud than they

in bitterness, and thus did say:

''For little price do elven-kings

their daughters sell - for gems and rings

and things of gold! If such thy will,

thy bidding I will now fulfill.

On Beren son of Barahir

thou hast not looked the last, I fear.

Farewell, Tinúviel, starlit maiden!

Ere the pale winter pass snowladen,

I will return, not thee to buy

with any jewel in Elfinesse,

but to find my love in loveliness,

a flower that grows beneath the sky.''

And so, bowing before the King and Queen of the realm, he departed from the land of Doriath.

*Glingal and Belthil were the original names of ''Glingol'' and ''Bansil'' - again, two archaic forms for the Two Trees of Valinor, Laurelin and Telperion. Interestingly, Tolkien retained Glingal and Belthil late into the Legendarium, and they survive as the names of the two images, wrought by Turgon in Gondolin, of the Two Trees, a fair and poignant memory of ancient bliss in exile.