SUNRISE: Arin Etarácië

SUMMARY: At the first rising of Anar, four Elves ponder its significance.

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He had thought the silver globe that rose just as they reached the shores of Endórë had been spectacular as it cast its soft glow upon them, reminding them sorrowfully of the argent light of Telperion. Seven times the strange orb rose and set and Ñolofinwë pondered its significance even as he urged his people further eastward. Then just as Isil, as the Noldor were calling it, was setting in the east on the seventh day, a brighter, greater light rose in the west that left many cowering, fearing the wrath of the Valar. Ñolofinwë did not flinch, but gazed steadily into the new light, espying a Maia of fire in its midst.

So, he thought sardonically, the Valar were not as impotent as Fëanáro would have us believe. He turned to see his sons, Findacáno and Turucáno, together with their cousin Findaráto, approaching. Findacáno, the eldest of the three, was the first to speak.

"What can this mean, Atar?" he demanded. "Have the Valar decided only now to aid us with these lights, for surely Moringotto will cower in his fastness and dare not show himself?"

Ñolofinwë shook his head. "The Valar may have set these lights in the sky for our benefit," he said, "but I doubt me this is so. Nay, something more is afoot here if we can but see."

"I care not," Turucáno said, shaking his dark hair. "I wearied of the stars and welcome this new light. Look ye! Green! And there, yellow and blue and red. How I missed these." He sighed and bent down to pick one of the flowers that had bloomed suddenly under their feet as Arien conveyed the last fruit of Laurelin into the heavens, twirling it between his fingers, a somewhat silly smile on his face.

Ñolofinwë glanced at his nephew, now the leader of his brother Arafinwë’s people. Findaráto had not shown any emotion at the rising of Isil, and he was exhibiting even less emotion now. The death of Elenwë had hit him hard, harder than any had expected. Even Artanis had been unable to bring him out of his depression. Which reminded him....

"Where is Artanis?" he asked. "I would think she would have an opinion about all this."

Turucáno sighed. "She is helping Arelda with Itarildë, keeping her occupied. My daughter hath been somewhat troublesome since...." He shrugged, unwilling or unable to continue.

Ñolofinwë nodded, sorrow etched on his fair face at the pain his youngest child was experiencing, but he had no comfort to give him. All of them had suffered privation and loss on a scale unimaginable when they had set out from Tirion some four years before. Instead, he looked to Findaráto. "What are thy thoughts, Nephew? What thinkest thou of these great lights with which we have been blessed?"

Findaráto’s expression was unreadable, his voice neutral. "What think I?" He shook his head. "I think they have come too late for us, if they were ever meant for us to begin with, which I doubt."

"For whom have they been created, then?" Findacáno asked, giving his cousin a curious look.

Findaráto shrugged, not really caring. "Perhaps for these Apanónar Fëanáro mentioned."

The cousins grimaced but Ñolofinwë just nodded. "Perhaps thou’rt correct, Nephew. Yet, shall we not also benefit from them? As Findecáno hath said, it is likely that Moringotto will cower away in his fastness, giving us the advantage."

"Yea, but for how long?" Findaráto countered. "Moringotto walked under the Two Trees and never flinched from their Lights. Why would he do so now?"

"Thinkest thou these great lights that now shine upon us were born of the Two Trees?" Turucáno asked skeptically. "They are forever dead. The Valar said as much. We all were witnesses to that."

"From where else could they have come?" Findaráto asked with some heat, the first real emotion he had exhibited for some time. "Doth not Isil remind thee of Telperion with his silvery glow that casts all in purple shadows? And now look thou upon this fair land." He swept a hand around. "Doth it not have the seeming of Aman when Laurelin was in full bloom?"

"Findaráto is correct," Ñolofinwë said before either of his sons could offer a retort. "Let us not quibble over such details, but rather let us decide what the coming of this greater light portends for us."

They pondered Ñolofinwë’s words in silence. Findecáno gazed towards the mountains further to the east of their encampment. A large lake lay before them, and there were rumors that Fëanáro’s sons were settled somewhere on its northern shore. Turucáno kept his gaze on the yellow flower still in his hand, a wistful look on his face, and his atar suspected that he was thinking of Elenwë who had always loved to wear yellow flowers in her hair. Findaráto was staring back the way they had come and Ñolofinwë was at a loss as to what his nephew might be thinking.

It was Findaráto, though, who finally spoke, still gazing westward. "A people who walked in darkness have seen a great light... two, in fact. Whether they are a sign of the Valar’s mercy and forgiveness or they serve another purpose, we cannot deny that they are there and not to take advantage of them is folly." He turned to look at his uncle, his eyes smoldering with dark emotions. "Let us hence to the very gates of Angamando and give Moringotto our challenge."

Ñolofinwë looked to his sons and they both nodded in approval. Then he turned back to Findaráto. "As thou hast said, verily let us do."

Then he ordered his blue and silver banners unfurled and horns blown as the great host of the Noldor under him marched south of the lake and passed unopposed through the mountains unto the very gates of Angamando. And as Ñolofinwë smote upon the iron doors, standing next to him was his nephew, Findaráto, and the expression on his fair face under the watchful gaze of bright Anar was terrible to see.

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All words are Quenya:

Arin Etarácië: ‘Morning Hath Broken’ [etarácië, literally, ‘has broken forth (from the darkness)’].

Apanónar: Afterborn, a name for Men.

Arelda: Aredhel, the sister of Fingon and Turgon, wife of Eöl and mother of Maeglin.

Itarildë: Idril.

Moringotto: Morgoth.

Note: According to Tolkien’s timelines for the Silmarillion, the Noldor did not set out after Melkor immediately but took a Valian year (9.58 solar years) after the destruction of the Two Trees to gather their forces. The Time of Darkness lasted a total of five Valian years (47.9 solar years), thus the Elves under Ñolofinwë’s leadership spent most of the next four Valian years (approximately 38 solar years) crossing the Helcaraxë to Middle-earth. [See, for instance, The Lost Road, HoME V; in particular ‘The Later Annals of Valinor’].