FA 52 – 70
*Okay, so first of all, I’ve been revamping my movie timeline and I think you’ll like it, though I admit all the titles kind of suck. Here, for your pleasure, are the first two movies in the series; I’ll unveil the rest as we go.
*MOVIE #1: The Silmarillion: The Father of All – from the Creation of Ea to the Long Journey of the Elves to Valinor
*MOVIE #2: The Silmarillion: The Making of the Jewels – from Feanor’s creation of the Silmarils to Fingon’s rescue of Maedhros from Morgoth’s tower
*Okay, so the next two chapters of the Silmarillion; that would be chapters 14 & 15. According to the timeline I'm using these two chapters take place during a span of years from FA 52 - FA 70. This would place them during that time of peace after the Mending of the Noldor and after Turgon and Finrod have their visions, but before the Second Great Battle.
*Also, the Mending of the Noldor? I've copyrighted that.
*Chapter 14, Of Beleriand and Its Realms is . . . well . . . if you're a surveyor or something you might enjoy this chapter.
*Three pages into this chapter, we get our first map. With determination in my eyes, I skip right over it.
*Not-Quite-Astonishing Prose Alert:
*"Upon the left hand of Sirion lay
East Beleriand, at its widest a hundred leagues from Sirion to Gelion and
Ossiriand; and first, between Sirion and Mindeb, lay the empty land of Dimbar
under the peaks of the Crissaegrim, abode of eagles. Between Mindeb and the
upper waters of Esgalduin lay the no-land of Nan Dungortheb; and that region
was filled with fear, for upon its one side the power of Melian fenced the
north march of Doriath, but upon the other side the sheer precipices of Ered
Gorgoroth, Mountains of Terror, fell down from high Dorthonion."
*Gee, you don't say?
*"Gelion was a great river; and he
rose in two sources and had at first two branches; Little Gelion that came from
the Hill of Himring, and Greater Gelion that came from Mount Rerir. From the
meeting of his arms he flowed south for forty leagues before he found his
tributaries; and before he found the sea he was twice as long as Sioron, though
less wide and full, for more rain fell in Hithlum and Dorthonian, whence Sirion
drew his waters, than in the east. From Ered Luin flowed the six tributaries of
Gelion: Ascar (that was after named Rathloriel), Thalos, Legolin, Brilthor,
Duilwen, and Adurant, swift and turbulent streams, falling steeply from the
mountains; and between Ascar in the north and Adurant in the south, and between
Gelion and Ered Luin, lay the far green country of Ossiriand, the Land of Seven
Rivers."
*Whatever you do, don't forget: more rainfall in Hithlum than in the east. This
will be of great significance later when Frodo is deciding whether or not to
take his poncho with him on his journey to Mount Doom.
*Yeah, this chapter is only nine pages. And I have read worse. And it is a part of the format Tolkien's using. The Mabinogion had one section that was seventy pages of just descriptions of people's clothes and weapons. But still, yeah, this is not scintillating or anything. Even when you know what Tolkien is doing, it’s still not fun.
*Chapter 15, Of the Noldor in Beleriand, is better. After Turgon finishes Gondolin, Ulmo visits him one more time and tells him that Gondolin will be the last stronghold of the Noldor to fall, but, due to Mandos' curse on the Noldor for their arrogance in leaving Valinor, it will eventually fall. A visitor will come to warn of great peril and from that visitor, Ulmo says, hope will once again rise for the Noldor. Turgon makes a sword and a suit of armor at Ulmo's directions for this visitor and lays it in store.
*Turgon takes his people from Nevrast where they had been living and removes them to Gondolin. For 350 years, they'll be hidden in Gondolin; they will not venture forth until, well . . . until.
*So, while Galadriel is staying with Thingol and Melian, Melian pesters her about why the Noldor left Valinor until finally Galadrial spills the beans, the Silmarils, the Kinslaying, the Burning of the Boats, the Curse of Mandos, the whole frigging ugly ordeal.
*Thingol is a little upset that no one's thought to tell him all this. There's a slight break between the Noldor and the Sindar as Thingol is understandably piqued that the Noldor killed all those innocent Teleri over on the other shore. Thingol reads Finrod the riot act and sends him back to his caves.
*Galadriel, to close chapter fifteen, asks Finrod why he hasn't taken a wife and in flash of prophetic insight, Finrod says that he knows that he will one day have to swear and fulfill a dreadful oath and thus he can take no wife.
*Finrod's girlfriend isn't too happy about that. She's currently shacked up with a dwarf somewhere I think. Frankly, I think the whole “dreadful oath” thing was just an excuse. I mean, that’s where I’m coming from.
*So, it would require some juggling of the timeline for the third movie in my proposed series to end like I think it should, but I think it would be good. In the actual history, Thingol finds out about the Kinslaying before the Second Great Battle, the Fingolfin skirmish and Glaurung's appearance.
*But I think the third film should start with Finrod and Turgon getting their visions, progress with their building efforts, the exodus of Turgon's people, the Second Great Battle, the Fingolfin skirmish, the Glaurung battle and then end on a great big downer with Thingol discovering from Galadriel about the Kinslaying and his half-hearted break with the Noldor.
*Thus where the second movie ended with the Mending of the Noldor and the third would start with the joining of the Noldor and Sindar, the third one would end with the Sundering of the Noldor and Sindar. A nice downbeat ending, no?
*So, here’s MOVIE #3: The Silmarillion: The Two Visions – from Ulmo’s prophecies to Finrod and Turgon to Thingol’s break with the Noldor
*So, aside from a lot of information about blades of grass and stuff in chapter fourteen, chapter fifteen basically informs us that Galadriel has a big mouth. I mean, that thing is huge.
J.R.R. Tolkien
*Next time, Chapter XVI, Of Maeglin, and a great little story for the fourth movie. Or the first half of the fourth movie. Or maybe the second half, if I want to really juggle things around. We'll talk later about that.
