[sindohte]

Discussion on the chapter - Of the Coming of Men into the West will officially begin on Monday 8/30.

Andreth will begin the discussion of this chapter.

Anyone wandering by this thread should feel free to raise questions or make comments.

Please try to keep the comments on this thread strictly related to discussion of the Silm.

[sindohte]

While out hunting with Maglor and Maedhros, Finrod Felagund went off by himself and during the evening near the springs of Thalos he discovers a group of men singing. This is a momentous event, because Finrod was the first Elf to see humans. He hides in the trees and waits for the humans to fall asleep before sneakng into their encampment. Finrod picks up a harp left there by the men and starts playing and singing. The humans wake up, but at first they think they are dreaming because they had never heard anything so beautiful before.

The men are so impressed by the sight of Finrod that they mistakenly think he is one of the Valar. Beor was the leader of this group and he and his comrades took Finrod for their lord and swore allegiance to the house of Finarfin. And once again since we are dealing with Tolkien, Finrod picks up a new name. He is called Nom, which means "wisdom" and the race of Elves are called Nomin, which means "the wise."

Finrod discovers that he has the ability to read the minds of the men and this allows him to interpret what they are saying by reading their thoughts. There is also the fact that Beor and his followers had interactions with the Dark Elves and had learned their language, which made it easier for Finrod to learn the language of Beor because his language was originally Quendi in origin.

The Eldar believed that Men were awakened by the rising of the Sun in Hildorien. While this new race of peoples was just getting started, Morgoth went to the east so he could try his hand at corrupting men. However Morgoth did not spend too much time working on this task, because he became worried about the Eldar actually getting their act together and uniting in order to kick his booty.

The Green-elves are not happy campers and ask Finrod to tell the humans to either go back to where they came from or to keep on moving further westward. And here is a line that I love from this chapter said by the Green-elves, "And thse folk are hewers of trees and hunters of beasts; therefore we are their unfriends, and if they will not department we shall afflict them in all ways that we can." (Gee, with a warm welcome like that who wouldn't want to stay?) So Beor and his followers move on and set up camp near Doriath for a year before Finrod wants to retrn to his home. Beor asks to follow his newfound friend home.

To skip ahead, the Haladin are the next group of men to come into Beleriand. Another group of men headed by Marach are the next to come into the region. Except for the Green-elves, the rest of the Eldar welcomed the arrival of the Atani, or the Second People, into the West. It became common practice for the sons of men to stay in the households of the various Elven kings and lords in order to learn their language and customs.

Thingol is not happy with the arrival of the humans and decrees that mortals are not allowed in his lands while he rules Doriath. Gee Thingol, can you say foreshadowing? Methinks your beloved daughter is going to fall in love with a hairy, unwashed human someday However, Melian has an idea about how things will turn out, so she just rolls her eyes at dear hubby.

Of course the race of Man starts grumbling about stuff and complaining about those high and mighty Elves they live around. Morgoth knows this is a good opportunity to stir things up and sends a group of Orcs to attack the Haladin. The chieftain of the Haladin and his son are killed. Haleth, who was the daughter of Haldad, then assumes the role of chieftain. She leads her people around to varous places, blah blah and finally they end up in Brethil.

Then there is more blah blah family tree stuff that made my eyes cross and I will do later.

The chapter ends with the death of Beor, who died of old ageafter living 390 years. His death was a revelation for the Eldar because it was the first time they witnessed how quickly the lives of mortals passed in comparison to their own.