Ainulindalë (Morgoth's Ring)

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The name Ainulindalë refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Ainulindalë (disambiguation).
Morgoth's Ring
Part One: Ainulindalë
Part Two: The Annals of Aman
Part Three: The Later Quenta Silmarillion
  1. The First Phase
    1. Of the Valar
    2. Of Valinor and the Two Trees
    3. Of the Coming of the Elves
    4. Of Thingol and Melian
    5. Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalië
    6. Of the Silmarils and the Darkening of Valinor
    7. Of the Flight of the Noldor
    8. Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
  2. The Second Phase
    1. The Valaquenta
    2. The Earliest Version of the Story of Finwë and Míriel
    3. Laws and Customs Among the Eldar
    4. Later Versions of the Story of Finwë and Míriel
    5. Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
    6. Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor
    7. Of the Darkening of Valinor
    8. Of the Rape of the Silmarils
    9. Of the Thieves' Quarrel
Part Four: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
Tale of Adanel
Part Five: Myths Transformed

The Ainulindalë is the first part of Morgoth's Ring, the tenth volume of The History of Middle-earth. It contains three different versions of the Ainulindalë written after the last version published in The Lost Road and Other Writings.

Synopsis

When he had just begun to write The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien rewrote the cosmological myth in what his son lettered as Ainulindalë B. Christopher assumed that his father didn't come back to the matter of the Elder Days until finishing The Lord of the Rings, but editing this new volume, he realized that Tolkien did work on the Ainulindalë before starting The Return of the King. He found a single torn sheet of a new version of the Ainulindalë from 1946 and two drafts of the Letter 115. This letter was probably written in 1948, to Katherine Farrer, the wife of the theologian Austin Farrer, answering her comments on the Legendarium. He had previously lent her some manuscripts, including a Round World Version of the Ainulindalë, which Christopher letters as C*, and the previous Ainulindalë B. Mrs. Farrer preferred the Flat World Version, answering Tolkien with great entusiasm:

I like the Flat World versions best. The hope of Heaven is the only thing which makes modern astronomy tolerable: otherwise there must be an East and a West and Walls: aims and choices and not an endless circle of wandering.

She even asked to read more about The Silmarillion, and Tolkien "was really very touched by [her] kind letter – and also excited",[1] although it took a long time for answering her, due he could not find some manuscripts to lend her. Thus, Tolkien rejected the Round World version of the Ainulindalë and wrote a new version directly from the version B. As Christopher summarizes:

  • Ainulindalë B, a manuscript from 1930s, lent to Katherine Ferrer in 1948 with the 'Flat World Version' written in it.
  • A new version, lost apart from a single torn sheet, written in 1946.
  • Ainulindalë C*, a typescript based on this last text, lent to Katherine Ferrer in 1948 with the 'Round World Version' written in it.
  • Ainulindalë C, made from version B, removing innovative elements of version C*.
  • Ainulindalë D, the last clean version, probably made not longer after version C.

Ainulindalë C

Ainulindalë D

Ainulindalë C*

References