Chapter 11 Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor It is told that after the flight of Melkor

the Valar sat long unmoved upon their thrones in the Ring of Doom; but they were not idle, as Fanor declared in the folly of his heart. For the Valar may wor k many things with thought rather than with hands, and without voices in silence they may hold council one with another . Thus they held vigil in the night of Valinor, and their thought passed back beyond E and forth to the End; yet neither power nor wisdom assuaged their grief, and the knowing of evil in the hour of its being. And they mourned not mo re for the death of the Trees than for the marring of Fanor: of the works of Melkor one of the most evil. For Fanor was m ade the mightiest in all parts of body and mind, in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, i n strength and in subtlety alike, of all the Children of Ilvatar, and a bright flame was in him. The works of wonder for the g lory of Arda that he might otherwise have wrought only Manw might in some measure conceive. And it was told by the Van yar who held vigil with the Valar that when the messengers declared to Manw the answers of Fanor to his herald s, Manw wept and bowed his head. But at that last word of Fanor: that at the least the Noldor should do deed s to live in song for ever, he raised his head, as one that hears a voice far off, and he said: 'So shall it be! Dear-boug ht those songs shall be accounted, and yet shall be well-bought. For the price could be no other. Thus even as Eru spoke to us shall beauty not before conceived be brought into E, and evil yet be good to have been.' But Mandos said: 'And yet remain evil. To me shall Fanor come soon.' But when at last the Valar learned that the Noldor had indeed passed out of Aman and were come back into Middle-earth, they arose and began to set forth in deeds those counsels which th ey had taken in thought for the redress of the evils of Melkor. Then Manw bade Yavanna and Nienna to put forth all their powers of growth and healing; and they put forth all their powers upon the Trees. But the tears of Nienna availed not to heal their mortal wounds; and for a long while Yavanna sang alone in the shadows. Yet even as hope failed and her so ng faltered, Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver, and Laurelin a single trait of gold. These Yavanna took; and then the Trees died, and their lifeless stems stand yet in Valinor, a memorial of vanished joy. But the flower and the fruit Yavanna gave to Aul, and Manw hallowed them, and Aul and his people made vessels to hold them and preserve their radiance: as is said in the Narsili on, the Song of the Sun and Moon. These vessels the Valar gave to Varda, that they might become lamps of heaven, outshin ing the ancient stars, being nearer to Arda; and she gave them power to traverse the lower regions of Ilmen, and set th em to voyage upon appointed courses above the girdle of the Earth from the West unto the East and to return. These things the Valar did, recalling in their twilight the darkness of the land s of Arda; and they resolved now to illumine Middle-earth and with light to hinder the deeds of Melkor. For they rem embered the Avari that remained by the waters of their awakening, and they did not utterly forsake the Noldor in ex ile; and Manw knew also that the hour of the coming of Men was drawn nigh. And it is said indeed that, even as the Val

ar made war upon Melkor for the sake of the Quendi, so now for that time they forbore for the sake of the Hildor, the Aftercomers, the younger Children of Ilvatar. For so grievous had been the hurts of Middle-earth in the war upon Utumn o that the Valar feared lest even worse should now befall; whereas the Hildor should be mortal, and weaker than th e Quendi to withstand fear and tumult. Moreover it was not revealed to Manw where the beginning of Men should be , north, south, or east. Therefore the Valar sent forth light, but made strong the land of their dwelling. Isil the Sheen the Vanyar of old named the Moon, flower of Telperion in Valinor; and Anar the Fire-golden, fruit of Laurelin, they named the Sun. But the Noldor named them also Rna, the Wayward, and Vsa, the Heart of Fire, that awakens and consumes; for the Sun was set as a sign for the awakening of Men and the waning of the Elves, but the Moon cherishes their memory. The maiden whom the Valar chose from among the Maiar to guide the vessel of the Sun was named Arien, and he that steered the island of the Moon was Tilion. In the days of the Trees Arie n had tended the golden flowers in the gardens of Vna, and watered them with the bright dews of Laurelin; but Tilion was a hunter of the company of Orom, and he had a silver bow. He was a lover of silver, and when he would rest he for sook the woods of Orom, and going into Lrien he lay hi dream by the pools of Est, in Telperion's flickering beams; a nd he begged to be given the task of tending for ever the last Flower of Silver. Arien the maiden was mightier than h e, and she was chosen because she had not feared the heats of Laurelin, and was unhurt by them, being from the beginni ng a spirit of fire, whom Melkor had not deceived nor drawn to his service. Too bright were the eyes of Arien for eve n the Eldar to look on, and leaving Valinor she forsook the form and raiment which like the Valar she had worn there , and she was as a naked flame, terrible in the fullness of her splendour. Isil was first wrought and made ready, and first rose into the realm of the star s, and was the elder of the new lights, as was Telperion of the Trees. Then for a while the world had moonlight, and many things stirred and woke that had waited long in the sleep of Yavanna. The servants of Morgoth were filled wit h amazement, but the Elves of the Outer Lands looked up in delight; and even as the Moon rose above the darkness i n the west, Fingolfin let blow his silver trumpets and began his march into Middle-earth, and the shadows of his ho st went long and black before them.