The next camp of the Gnomes was ‘by Sirion’ (which here first appears); and here the Gnomes first met the Ilkorins—A adding that these Ilkorins were originally of the Noldoli, and had been lost on the march from Palisor. The Gnomes learned from them of the coming of Men and of the Battle of Palisor; and they told the Ilkorins of the tidings in Valinor, and of their search for the jewels.

Now appears for the first time Maidros son of Fлanor (previously, in the tale of The Theft of Melko, the name was given to Fлanor’s grandfather, p. 146, 158). Maidros, guided by Ilkorins, led a host into the hills, either ‘to seek for the jewels’ (A), or ‘to search the dwellings of Melko’ (B—this should perhaps read ‘search for the dwellings of Melko’, the reading of C), but they were driven back with slaughter from the doors of Angamandi; and Maidros himself was taken alive, tortured—because he would not reveal the secret arts of the Noldoli in the making of jewels—and sent back to the Gnomes maimed. (In A, which still had Nуlemл rather than Fлanor die in the Waters of Asgon, it was Fлanor himself who led the host against Melko, and it was Fлanor who was captured, tortured, and maimed.)

Then the Seven Sons of Fлanor swore an oath of enmity for ever against any that should hold the Silmarils. (This is the first appearance of the Seven Sons, and of the Oath, though that Fлanor had sons is mentioned in the Tale of the Sun and Moon, p. 192.)

The hosts of Melko now approached the camp of the Gnomes by Sirion, and they fled south, and dwelt then at Gorfalon, where they made the acquaintance of Men, both good and bad, but especially those of Ermon’s folk; and an embassy was sent to Tъvo, to Tinwelint (i.e. Thingol, see p. 132), and to Ermon.⁹ A great host was arrayed of Gnomes, Ilkorins, and Men, and Fingolma (Nуlemл) marshalled it in the Valley of the Fountains, afterwards called the Vale of Weeping Waters. But Melko himself went into the tents of Men and beguiled them, and some of them fell treacherously on 1the rear of the Gnomes even as Melko’s host attacked them; others Melko persuaded to abandon their friends, and these, together with others that he led astray with mists and wizardries, he beguiled into the Land of Shadows. (With this cf. the reference in the tale of The Coming of the Elves to the shutting of Men in Hisilуmл by Melko, p. 118.)

Then took place ‘the terrible Battle of Unnumbered Tears’. The Children of Ъrin* (Sons of Ъrin, A) alone of Men fought to the last, and none (save two messengers) came out of the fray; Turgon and a great regiment, seeing the day lost, turned and cut their way out, and rescued a part of the women and children. Turgon was pursued, and there is a reference to ‘Mablon the Ilkorin’s sacrifice to save the host’ Maidros and the other sons of Fлanor quarrelled with Turgon—because they wanted the leadership, A—and departed into the south. The remainder of the survivors and fugitives were surrounded, and swore allegiance to Melko; and he was wrathful, because he could not discover whither Turgon had fled.

After a reference to ‘the Mines of Melko’ and ‘the Spell of Bottomless Dread’ (the spell that Melko cast upon his slaves), the story concludes with ‘the Building of Gondolin’ and ‘the estrangement of Men and Elves in Hisilуmл, owing to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears’: Melko fostered distrust and kept them spying on each other, so that they should not combine against him; and he fashioned the false-fairies or Kaukareldar in their likeness, and these deceived and betrayed Men.¹⁰

Since the outlines at this point return to mere headings for the tales of Tinъviel, Tъrin, etc., it is clear that Gilfanon’s Tale would have ended here.

The History of the Exiled Gnomes

according to the later outline

The Gnomes sojourned in the Land of Shadows (i.e. Hisilуmл), and had dealings with the Shadow Folk. These were fays (C); no one knows whence they came: they are not of the Valar nor of Melko, but it is thought that they came from the outer void and primeval dark when the world was first fashioned. The Gnomes found ‘the Waters of Mithrim (Asgon)’, and here Fлanor died, drowned in the Waters of Mithrim. The Gnomes devised weapons for the first time, and quarried the dark hills. (This is curious, for it has been said in the account of the Kinslaughter at Alqaluntл that ‘so first perished the Eldar neath the weapons of their kin’, p. 165. The first acquisition of weapons by the Eldar remained a point of uncertainty for a long time.)

The Gnomes now fought for the first time with the Orcs and captured the pass of the Bitter Hills; thus they escaped out of the Land of Shadows, to Melko’s fear and amazement. They entered the Forest of Artanor (later Doriath) and the Region of the Great Plains (perhaps the forerunner of the later Talath Dirnen, the Guarded Plain of Nargothrond); and the host of Nуlemл grew to a vast size. They practised many arts, but would dwell no longer in settled abodes. The chief camp of Nуlemл was about the waters of Sirion; and the Gnomes drove the Orcs to the foothills of the Iron Mountains. Melko gathered his power in secret wrath.

Turgon was born to Nуlemл.

Maidros, ‘chief son of Fлanor’, led a host against Angband, but was driven back with fire from its gates, and he was taken alive and tortured—according to C, repeating the story of the earlier outline, because he would not reveal the secret arts of jewel-making. (It is not said here that Maidros was freed and returned, but it is implied in the Oath of the Seven Sons that follows.)

The Seven Sons of Fлanor swore their terrible oath of hatred for ever against all, Gods or Elves or Men, who should hold the Silmarils; and the Children of Fлanor left the host of Nуlemл and went back into Dor Lуmin, where they became a mighty and a fierce race.

The hosts of Tareg the Ilkorin (see p. 237) found the Gnomes at the Feast of Reunion; and the Men of Ermon first saw the Gnomes. Then Nуlemл’s host, swollen by that of Tareg and by the sons of Ermon, prepared for battle; and messengers were sent out North, South, East, and West. Tinwelint alone refused the summons, and he said: ‘Go not into the hills.’ Ъrin and Egnor* marched with countless battalions.

Melko withdrew all his forces and Nуlemл believed that he was afraid. The hosts of Elfinesse drew into the Tumbled Lands and encamped in the Vale of Fountains (Gorfalong), or as it was afterwards called the Valley of Weeping Waters.

(The outline D differs in its account of the events before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears from that in the earlier ones, here including C. In the earlier, the Gnomes fled from the camp by Sirion when Melko’s hosts approached, and retreated to Gorfalon, where the great host of Gnomes, Ilkorins, and Men was gathered, and arrayed in the Valley of the Fountains. In D, there is no mention of any retreat by Nуlemл’s hosts: rather, it seems, they advanced from the camp by Sirion into the Vale of Fountains (Gorfalong). But from the nature of these outlines they cannot be too closely pressed. The outline C, which ends here, says that when the Gnomes first encountered Men at Gorfalon the Gnomes taught them crafts—and this was one of the starting-points, no doubt, of the later Elf-friends of Beleriand.)

Certain Men suborned by Melko went among the camp as minstrels and betrayed it. Melko fell upon them at early dawn in a grey rain, and the terrible Battle of Unnumbered Tears followed, of which no full tale is told, for no Gnome will ever speak of it. (In the margin here my father wrote: ‘Melko himself was there?’ In the earlier outline Melko himself entered the camp of his enemies.)

In the battle Nуlemл was isolated and slain, and the Orcs cut out his heart; but Turgon rescued his body and his heart, and it became his emblem.¹¹ Nearly half of all the Gnomes and Men who fought there were slain.