The Book of Lost Tales - J. R. Tolkien [176]
of Nielluin [Sirius] too, who is the Bee of Azure, Nielluin whom still may all men see in autumn or winter burning nigh the foot of Telimektar son of Tulkas whose tale is yet to tell.
In the Gnomish dictionary it is said (I.256) that Gil rose into the heavens and ‘in the likeness of a great bee bearing honey of flame’ followed Telimektar. This presumably represents a distinct conception from that referred to above, where Ingil ‘went long ago back to Valinor and is with Manwë’ (I. 129).
With the reference to Fionwë’s slaying of Melko ‘in the end’ cf. the end of The Hiding of Valinor (I.219):
Fionwë Úrion, son of Manwë, of love for Urwendi shall in the end be Melko’s bane, and shall destroy the world to destroy his foe, and so shall all things then be rolled away.
Cf. also the Tale of Turambar, p. 116, where it is said that Turambar ‘shall stand beside Fionwë in the Great Wrack’.
For the prophecies and hopes of the Elves concerning the Rekindling of the Magic Sun see pp. 285–6.
The outline in C continues and concludes thus (again with some very slight and insignificant editing):
(5) Longer ages elapse. Gilfanon is now the oldest and wisest Elf in Tol Eressëa, but is not of the Inwir—hence Meril-i-Turinqi is Lady of the Isle.
Eriol comes to Tol Eressëa. Sojourns at Kortirion. Goes to Tavrobel to see Gilfanon, and sojourns in the house of a hundred chimneys—for this is the last condition of his drinking limpë. Gilfanon bids him write down all he has heard before he drinks.
Eriol drinks limpë. Gilfanon tells him of things to be; that in his mind (although the fairies hope not) he believes that Tol Eressëa will become a dwelling of Men. Gilfanon also prophesies concerning the Great End, and of the Wrack of Things, and of Fionwë, Tulkas, and Melko and the last fight on the Plains of Valinor.
Eriol ends his life at Tavrobel but in his last days is consumed with longing for the black cliffs of his shores, even as Meril said.
The book lay untouched in the house of Gilfanon during many ages of Men.
The compiler of the Golden Book takes up the Tale: one of the children of the fathers of the fathers of Men. [Against this is written:] It may perhaps be much better to let Eriol himself see the last things and finish the book.
Rising of the Lost Elves against the Orcs and Nautar.6 The time is not ready for the Faring Forth, but the fairies judge it to be necessary. They obtain through Ulmo the help of Uin,7 and Tol Eressëa is uprooted and dragged near to the Great Lands, nigh to the promontory of Rôs. A magic bridge is cast across the intervening sound. Ossë is wroth at the breaking of the roots of the isle he set so long ago—and many of his rare sea-treasures grow about it—that he tries to wrench it back; and the western half breaks off, and is now the Isle of Íverin.
The Battle of Rôs: the Island-elves and the Lost Elves against Nautar, Gongs,8 Orcs, and a few evil Men. Defeat of the Elves. The fading Elves retire to Tol Eressëa and hide in the woods.
Men come to Tol Eressëa and also. Orcs, Dwarves, Gongs, Trolls, etc. After the Battle of Rôs the Elves faded with sorrow. They cannot live in air breathed by a number of Men equal to their own or greater; and ever as Men wax more powerful and numerous so the fairies fade and grow small and tenuous, filmy and transparent, but Men larger and more dense and gross. At last Men, or almost all, can no longer see the fairies.
The Gods now dwell in Valinor, and come scarcely ever to the world, being content with the restraining of the elements from utterly destroying Men. They grieve much at what they see; but Ilúvatar is over all.
On the page opposite the passage about the Battle of Rôs is written:
A great battle between Men at the Heath of the Sky-roof (now the Withered Heath), about a league from Tavrobel. The Elves and the Children flee over the Gruir and the Afros.
‘Even now do they approach and our great tale comes to its ending.’
The book found in the ruins of the house of a hundred chimneys.
That