It was the year of the sun 473. A great battle was ending. A wounded Easterling soldier lay among the scattered corpses of Elves, Edain, Easterlings, Orcs, and Dwarves, the aftermath of a successful rearguard action by the forces of Lord Maedhros in the Gap of Maglor. He is slowly bleeding to death, awaiting his fate and pondering things. He is of a house allied with the House of Bor, and has paid for that alliance. He laments his fate, curses the Valar, and mourns the fate of the lords he had followed, babbling to himself about things he knows to be true, things he wants to be true, things he hopes are true…
"Happy are you now, exalted ones, sitting on your lofty throne?
The exiled Noldor has lost the war against one
Who once was one of your own!
The Northern Prophesy now drinks its fill
Of tears unnumbered and a sea of blood
Beleriand will soon drown in a flood
Of pain and misery that the dark lord will unleash
And few will ever again know the bliss of peace!
For the exiles and their allies
Your cold words left no other destiny.
The Aman Teleri now must be free
Of the grief they suffered so long ago!
The vile Noldor "murderers and robbers"
Have now fallen forever under doom's shadow!
The Noldor will now face the same
Hurt and despair they had wrought
When at Alqualonde they had fought
To despoil the mariners of Olwe.
Surely now, there is no limit to the dark lords mirth!
How many Hildor, Quendi and Naugrim skulls
Will now adorn his mighty hearth
In his throne room below Thangorodrim?
Who is now left to plot and strive and dream
To bring about the downfall of Morgoth?
Justice the Teleri may have gotten, but at what cost?
Who in Beleriand now will take up the sword?
And fight on for a cause now forever lost?"
"Why must you be so cruel?
Can you not show the exiles and their allies some mercy?
Not all in this battle were guilty of the crimes of Alqualonde!
From that high mountaintop this how can you fail to see?
When the battle hung in balance
Where were the eagles of Manwe?
O watchful guardians of North, what held you back?
Courage you have, strength you do not lack
Surely you could have beaten back Morgoth's last attack!
What has made you battle shy?
With the Eagles aid we could have won a victory
That would have saved countless innocents
Who surely now will pay the price of our defeat
Etched into fate by the Valar curse
And spawned by Noldor pride and Easterling treachery
Unless salvation comes through some miraculous feat.
Oh mighty Valar, once an Eagle had saved an exiled prince
Little direct aid to the exiles you have given since
Could you not but decree this small mercy
That the Eagles speed to our aid to redress the treachery
That swelled Angband's might and forever marred Atani Pride
The Eagles could have turned the tide and the Eldar would win day
How could that be worse then what is now upon us?
Or does your keen eyes see a worse fate if the Noldor had won this War?
How can that be so? How can you let that be?
Once spoken, is there no lifting the curse?"
"Why the Atani join with the exiles, does the all knowing Valar ever ask?
Because of that friendship Men now are brought to task!
Painfully your voices in the wind and water now whispers
"For that allegiance to the exiles must you pay the price with blood and tears
For any who follow Feanor or his seven fallen sons
This is what our pitiless doom always demands!
As the Atani chose to ignore our warning and thus rebelled against us
Joined the exiles in their doomed quest
Knowing well the fate they would never best
So you now number among those damned by the curse.
And with the Noldor you must suffer
What the Northern Prophesy has to offer
A bounty of pain, false hope, misery and despair."
The joys of life now fade as a life full of strife
Wraps around the damned like a shroud!
Like the house of Feanor, the Valar are also bound
By the doom spoken in the wastes of Aman
And also by the music they had played
Beyond time, before Arda had been made.
To all beings still opposing Morgoth in Beleriand
To the doomed no direct aid the Valar can lend
Until some fated event or some omen comes!"
"But why must that be so?
What else could we mortals have done?
Where was the Valar when Men first awoke?
Did you ever come to show us the way?
Or keep Men from going astray?
For the firstborn your bounty once knew no end!
For the Mortals what aid did the Valar send?
The firstborn get to live among you
Yet none of you ever came among us!
You treat us like we are tainted by some curse!
Who was there guiding our path?
The grim Naugrim and the care free Avari!
The Powers left us to our own devices
To live our lives according to our virtues and vices
Never telling us the choices
We can or would be called to make!
So how are we to know right from wrong?
How could we trust the words of those who let one of their own
Make war unmolested on hapless innocents?
Beings who sit and watch safely from afar
When our lives could have been snuffed away
As the dark lord did as he willed
Who was there trying to block his way?
It was the exiled Noldor and their struggle
That had sheltered us from certain doom.
Should we have questioned what they have done or why they war
Or join the ongoing struggle?
Or question their motives and deeds sitting afar – just like the Valar?
Oh mighty Valar, you should know in Hildor hearts
There is but one answer,
Join those who with blood and guts
Had kept danger away from our doors
Because that is the path of honor.
Or do we flee before the horror that devours
All that we hold dear?
And yet you never came to us
To warn us of what should not be
Help us to clearly see
This would cause our downfall
With those already doomed by your decree."
"No epilogue marking their success will follow
The shocking prelude Feanorians had sung
At Alqualonde when their journey had barely begun
At the beginning of the quest so noble fated to be full of sorrow
It is like trying to touch the sky, without wings trying to fly
Or reaching to sail among the Valar lit stars!
Win a war against one who had once sat among the Valar?
Their grief and hate has driven the seven sons far
Down the path of misery and madness!
In the path of vengeance Valar cursed fate can be such a cruel mistress
Dangling the nectar of success in front, giving but a sip of what might be
To the forsaken travelers in an endless desert seeking a miracle
To save their souls from a fate far worse then death
From a doom sworn in haste, then cursed into certain fate
Which now will pursue the seven sons to Namo and his hall's gate
Who, never knowing when the cause was lost
Push on towards their goal at whatever the cost
Finding but a mirage, drawing them on
Keeping them in pursuit after all hope has gone
Fanning the ambers of hope into a roaring flame
So the thirst for success eggs them to seek far and wide
Then when all seems possible, they can but taste their dream
intoxicating them, filling their parched hearts
With a whiff of the sweet taste of success
And as they begin to feel the relief
To be free of their eternal burden and grief
At that moment they find to their distress
Their works shattering, their path again twisting
Throwing them in a pit of dark despair once again.
They again and again find the curse at play
Making them do things foul, dark and cruel
Matching the deeds of the dark lord
But who in Arda has the strength to fight
The will of the noble Valar?
What else can the doomed Seven do?
Know their deeds may be evil but some good may come too
From their blood, toil and tears?
Hope that if the Valar is cruel that the One may hear
And find ways to show mercy and interfere
For the fallen ones on a fools quest?
Oh Valar do not forget the one who gave all that now you rule!
He need but think and all you hold dear will forever change
To the all mighty I now pray, do not let the seven go astray!
Courage, hope and foresight you give to my lords
So their deeds now hasten the dark ones fall! Show the proud ones who it is who is king of all! It is the one, not the wise fool Manwe or the arrogant Melkor!"
Shape the future so when the dark one meets his end
My lords also have a vital part to play!
Just like the Valar make their deeds fail,
Make Morgoths doom come because the seven had failed."