Morgoth's Ring

Free Morgoth's Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien

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Authors: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
which can only in part be called a new version, does not extend, contradict, or clarify the 'new cosmology' in any respect - that is to say, as D
    was originally written. The alteration in §24 of 'they went down into the Halls of Aman' to 'they came down into the fields of Arda' only makes this particular passage more coherent: for Arda had now been established, and it was to the conflict in Arda that those other spirits came. The change in §23 of 'in the midst of the vast halls of the World' to 'in the midst of the vast halls of Aman' is presumably not significant, since the one is clearly equivalent to the other (see p. 28).
    With additions and corrections to the text, however, a new element enters: Ea . This was the word that Ilúvatar spoke at the moment of the Creation of the World: ' Ea! Let these things Be!'; and the Ainur knew that 'Ilúvatar had made a new thing, Ea, the World that Is' (§20). In §23, where the reading of C 'the vast halls of the World' had become in D 'the vast halls of Aman', 'Aman' was replaced by 'Ea'.
    The failure to change 'the Halls of Aman' to 'the Halls of Ea' in §15 was obviously an oversight. The later meaning of 'Aman', the Blessed MORGOTH`S RING - AINULINDALË - Version D - 38

    Realm, appears in an addition to the text in §32.
    There can be no doubt that Ea , the Word of Creation that is also the word for the World Created, functions here as did Aman ; the 'Being' that the word contained and brought forth was the 'new World... globed amid the Void' that the Ainur had seen in vision (§11), and which now they saw as a light far off, 'as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame' (§20), and into which those of them who wished descended.
    But it is perfectly explicit that the Ainur, created by Iluvatar (§1), dwelt in
    'fair regions' that Ilúvatar had made for them (§10); some of them remained 'beyond the confines of the World' (§21) - and Tulkas heard 'in the far heaven' of the War in Arda. How then can the word Ea be defined in the list of '1951 alterations' (p. 7) as
    'Universe of that which Is'? This expression can surely not be made equivalent to
    'the World that Is' (§20). Must not the ' Universe of that which Is' contain ' Ea , the World', and the Ainur who saw it created?

    Other points arising from differences between C and D, and from emendations made to D, are referred to under the paragraphs in which they occur:

    §31 The omission of the words 'of the Noldor' after 'loremasters' was probably made because Pengoloð is expressly a Noldo: cf. §36, where D has 'whom we Noldor name Elbereth'.
    In the substantially revised latter part of this paragraph (p. 32; C text p.
    17) the names of the Lamps are changed again, from Foros and Hyaras to Forontë and Hyarantë , and by early emendation they reach at last the final forms Illuin and Ormal (as given in the list of '1951 alterations', p. 7). Now it
    'is specifically Yavanna who planted seeds in Middle-earth; and it is Aulë who made the Lamps - but this was told in both the earlier and later Annals of Valinor (IV.263, V.110), and indeed goes back to the original Music of the Ainur (I.69).
    In the correction made to the passage about the first growth in Arda under the light of the Lamps the narrative is brought back to the older tradition concerning the first flowers (yet 'grasses' already appeared); see p. 22 note 17.
    'Almaren in the Great Lake', as in the 1951 list (p. 7), now replaces 'Almar in a great lake'.
    §32 Aman , in an addition to the manuscript, now acquires its later meaning. - The account of the assault on Melkor by the Valar coming forth from Valinor is slightly extended in D: they came 'with a great host', and Melkor 'lay hid until they had departed', then 'returned to his dwelling in the North', where he built Utumno.
    §36 The late change of 'she it was who wrought the Stars' to 'she it MORGOTH`S RING - AINULINDALË - Version D - 39

    was who wrought the Great Stars' is notable: the suggestion must be

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