J.R.R. Tolkien The Unfinished Tales Of M

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Orcs are as different as is the light of Aman from the darkness of Angband."
But some thought, nonetheless, that there had been a remote kinship, which
accounted for their special enmity. Orcs and Dr�gs each regarded the other as
renegades. [Author's note.] In
The Silmarillion the Orcs are said to have been bred by Melkor from captured
Elves in the beginning of their days (p. 50; cf. pp. 93-4); but this was only
one of several diverse speculations on the origin of the Orcs. It may be noted
that in
The Return of the King
V 5 a laughter of Gh�n-buri-Gh�n is described: "At that old Gh�n made a
curious gurgling noise, and it seemed that he was laughing." He is described
as having a scanty beard that "straggled on his lumpy chin like dry moss," and
dark eyes that showed nothing.
6
It is stated in isolated notes that their own name for themselves was
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Drughu
(in which the gh represents a spirantal sound). This name adopted into
Sindarin in Beleriand became Dr� (plurals Dr�in and Dr�ath), but when the
Eldar discovered that the Dr�-folk were steadfast enemies of Morgoth, and
especially of the Orcs, the
"title"
adan was added, and they were called Dr�edain (singular Dr�adan), to mark both
their humanity and friendship with the Eldar, and their racial difference from
the people of the Three Houses of the Edain. Dr� was
then only used in compounds such as Dr�nos "a family of the Dr�-folk,"
Dr�waith "the wilderness of the Dr�-
folk." In Quenya
Drughu became R�, and R�atan, plural R�atani. For their other names in later
times (Wild
Men, Woses,P�kel-men) see pp. 400-1 and note 14.
7
In the annals of N�menor it is said that this remnant was permitted to sail
over sea with the Atani, and in the peace of the new land throve and increased
again, but took no more part in war, for they dreaded the sea. What happened
to them later is only recorded in one of the few legends that survived the
Downfall, the story of the first sailings of the N�imenóreans back to
Middle-earth, known as
The Mariner's Wife
. In a copy of this written and preserved in Gondor there is a note by the
scribe on a passage in which the Dr�edain in the household of
King Aldarion the Mariner are mentioned: it relates that the Dr�edain, who
were ever noted for their strange foresight, were disturbed to hear of his
voyages, foreboding that evil would come of them, and begged him to go no
more. Bu they did not succeed, since neither his father nor his wife could
prevail on him to change his courses, and the Dr�edain departed in distress.
From that time onward the Dr�edain of N�menor became
restless, and despite their fear of the sea one by one, or in twos and threes,
they would beg for passages in the great ships that sailed to the
North-western shores of Middle-earth. If any asked "Why would you go, and
whither?" they answered: "The Great Isle no longer feels sure under our feet,
and we wish to return to the lands whence we came." Thus their numbers
dwindled again slowly through the long years, and none were left when
Elendil escaped from the Downfall: the last had fled the land when Sauron was
brought to it;. [Author's note.]
There is no trace, either in the materials relating to the story of Aldarion
and Erendis or elsewhere, of the presence of Dr�edain in N�menor apart from
the foregoing, save for a detached note which says that "the Edain who at the
end of the War of the Jewels sailed over sea to N�menor contained few remnants
of the Folk of
Haleth, and the very few Dr�edain that accompanied them died out long before
the Downfall."
8
A few lived in the household of H�rin of the House of Hador, for he had dwelt
among the Folk of Haleth in his youth and had kinship with their lord.
[Author's note.] On the relationship of H�rin to the Folk of Haleth see
The Silmarillion p. 158. It was my father's intention ultimately to
transform Sador, the old serving-man in
H�rin's house in Dor-1ómin, into a Dr�g.
9
They had a law against the use of all poisons for the hurt of any living
creatures, even those who had done them injury save only Orcs, whose
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poisoned darts they countered with others more deadly. [Author's note.]
Elfhelm told Meriadoc Brandybuck that the Wild Men used poisoned arrows (
The Return of the King
V 5), and the same was believed of them by the inhabitants of Enedwaith in the
Second Age (p. 400). At a later point in this essay something is told of the
dwellings of the Dr�edain, which it is convenient to cite here. Living among
the Folk of Haleth, who were a woodland people, "they were content to live in
tents or shelters, lightly built round the trunks of large trees, for they
were a hardy race. In their former homes, according to their own tales, they
had used caves in the mountains, but mainly as store-houses, only occupied as
dwellings and sleeping-
places in severe weather. They had similar refuges in Beleriand to which all
but the hardy retreated in times of storm or bitter winter; but these places
were guarded and not even their closest friends among the Folk of Haleth were
welcomed there."
10
Acquired according to their legends from the Dwarves. [Author's note.]
11
Of this story, my father remarked: "The tales, such as
The Faithful Stone
, that speak of their transferring part of their 'powers' to their artefacts,
remind one in miniature of Sauron's transference of power to the foundations
of the Barad-d�r and to the Ruling Ring."
12
"At each turn of the road there were great standing stones that had been
carved in the likeness of men, huge and clumsy-limbed, squatting cross-legged [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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