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24 Against this sentence there is a pencilled question-mark in the margin. See note 23 and the Commentary, p. 131.

25 ‘And Níniel conceived’ was added in pencil later. See Commentary, p. 135.

26 ‘and the captain of these was Mîm the dwarf’ added afterwards in pencil. See Commentary p. 137.

27 The word tract may be read as track, and the word hurt (but with less probability) as burnt.

28 As it stands this sentence can hardly mean other than that the people thought that the men were fighting among themselves; but why should they think such a thing? More likely, my father inadvertently missed out the end of the sentence: ‘betwixt the seven, Turambar and his comrades, and the dragon.’

29 Turambar refers to Glorund’s words to him before the caves of the Rodothlim: ‘O Túrin Mormakil, who wast once named brave’ (p. 86).

30 These words, from ‘even he who…’, were added later in pencil. Úrin may also be read as Húrin.

31 From this point to the end of Eltas’ tale the original text was struck through, and is followed in the manuscript book by two brief narrative outlines, these being rejected also. The text given here (from ‘Yet it is said…’) is found on slips placed in the book. For the rejected material see the Commentary, pp. 135–7.

32 Throughout the final portion of the text (that written on slips, see note 31) the king’s name was first written Tinthellon, not Tintoglin (see note 3).

33 ‘Elves’: original reading ‘men’. The same change was made below (‘Now therefore when those Elves approached’), and a little later ‘men’ was removed in two places (‘his folk laughed’, ‘Úrin caused his followers to bear the gold’, p. 114); but several occurrences of ‘men’ were retained, possibly through oversight, though ‘men’ is used of Elves very frequently in the Tale of Turambar (e.g. ‘Beleg and Flinding both stout men’, p. 80).

34 This sentence, from ‘But none had come nigh…’, was added later in pencil.

35 This sentence, from ‘Then did Úrin fiercely…’, was added later, replacing ‘Then said Úrin: “Yet had you such a heart…”’

36 This sentence, from “What meanest thou…”, replaces the original reading “Begone, and take thy filth with thee.”

Changes made to names in

The Tale of Turambar

Fuithlug Nienóri At the first occurrence (p. 71) my father originally wrote Nyenòre (Nienor). Afterwards he struck out Nyenòre, removed the brackets round Nienor, and added -i, giving Nienori. At subsequent occurrences the name was written both Nienor and Nienóri, but Nienor was changed to Nienóri later throughout the earlier part of the tale. Towards the end, and in the text written on slips that concludes it, the form is Nienor. I have given Nienóri throughout.

Tinwelint < Tinthellon (p. 72, twice). See p. 69 and note 3. Tinwelint < Tinthellon also in the concluding portion of the text, see note 32.

Tinwelint < Tintoglin throughout the tale, except as just noted (where Tinwelint < Tinthellon in passages added later); see p. 69.

Gwedheling < Gwendeling at all occurrences (Gwendeling unchanged at p. 76, but this is obviously an oversight: I read (Gwedheling in the text). In the Gnomish dictionary the form Gwendeling was changed to Gwedhiling; see p. 50.

Flinding bo-Dhuilin < Flinding go-Dhuilin This change, made at the occurrence on p. 78, was not made at p. 82, but this was clearly because the form was missed, and I read bo-Dhuilin in both cases; the same change from go- to bo- in the Tale of Tinúviel, see p. 51. The form Dhuilin is taken by the name when the patronymic is prefixed (cf. Duilin p. 79).

Rodothlim < Rothwarin at every occurrence.

Gurtholfin < Gortholfin at the first occurrences, but from p. 90 Gurtholfin was the form first written.

Commentary on

The Tale of Turambar

§ 1. The primary narrative

In commenting on this long tale it is convenient to break it into short sections. In the course of this commentary I frequently refer to the long (though incomplete) prose narrative, the Narn i Hîn Húrin, given in Unfinished Tales pp. 57ff., often in preference