Ainulindalë (Rúmil's work)

The name Ainulindalë refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Ainulindalë (disambiguation).

The Ainulindalë was the creation story of Arda, as written by Rúmil the Loremaster. Like with most of the work of Rúmil, Pengoloð the Sage expanded it with his words.

History

The Ainulindalë or The Music of the Ainur was written by Rúmil of Túna in the Elder Days, and was later spoken to Ælfwine by Pengoloð in Tol Eressëa, in an imprecise context. Pengoloð recited to him the Ainulindalë as Rúmil wrote it, in which it is narrated the Creation of the Ainur, their Great Music, the Vision of Ilúvatar, the Creation of Ëa, the entry of the Valar into Arda and the First War with Melkor. When Pengoloð finished, he paused for a while, until Ælfwine asked him about the Valar and their ancient wars before the coming of the Elves. Thus, Pengoloð adds to Rúmil's work what he has heard among the loremasters of the Noldor. He tells him about the coming of Tulkas, the Spring of Arda, the destruction of the Two Lamps, the creation of Valinor and Utumno, and the descriptions of the main Valar.

True-life history

The development of the Ainulindalë from the earlier version to the published in The Silmarillion differs very much from the other writings of the Legendarium, as Christopher Tolkien explains:

In later years the Creation myth was revised and rewritten over and over again; but it is notable that in this case only and in contrast to the development of the rest of the mythology there is a direct tradition, manuscript to manuscript, from the earliest draft to the final version: each text is directly based on the one preceding. Moreover, and most remarkably, the earliest version, written when my father was 27 or 28 and embebbed still in the context of the Cottage of Lost Play, was so evolved in its conception that it underwent little change of and essentian kind. There were indeed very many changes, which can be followed stage by stage through the successive texts, and much new matter came in; but the fall of original sentences can continually be recognized in the last version of the Ainulindalë, written more than thirty years later, and even many phrases survived.