In Middle-earth, in Beleriand, the Elves that had remained behind took Elwë as their lord. These Elves were called the Sindar, and in their language, Elwë was called Elu Thingol. Under his guidance and that of Melian, the Sindar thrived to be the wisest and most skillful of the Elves in Middle-earth, and while Melkor was still chained and Valinor was its fairest and brightest, a daughter Lúthien was born to Thingol and Melian.
In the second age of Melkor’s captivity, the Dwarves came also into Beleriand and built great halls in the sides of Ered Luin, the Blue Montains, chiefly Nogrod and Belegost. The Eldar welcomed the Dwarves—surprised to find that they were not the only people to speak and make things with their hands—although few learned the Dwarvish language and fewer ventured into their halls. The Dwarves built a road across Beleriand, and the Dwarves and the Elves profited much from each other. Later, the Dwarves would form a stronger bond with the Noldor, whose work with gemstones they would prize above all else.
At this time also, Melian foresaw that the peace would not last forever, and Thingol paid the Dwarves to delve him an underground realm of caves called Menegroth. Under the guidance of Melian, the Elves and Dwarves worked together to create Menegroth in the likeness of Valinor, and it was the fairest dwelling east of the sea.
In the third age of Melkor’s captivity, the Dwarves reported to Thingol that the servants of Melkor lived still in the north and had begun to again roam the land. Uneasy at such reports, Thingol commissioned the Dwarves to make weapons for his people, and the Sindar learned much of the Dwarves, although they never surpassed them in skill, and the lands were free from evil once more.
In previous chapters, it was told of Lenwë’s people, who forsook the journey of the Elves at the great river Anduin and later migrated further north. Lenwë’s people were a woodland folk, and they did not have weapons of steel. Hearing of the might of Thingol’s realm, Denethor, son of Lenwë, gathered his people and brought them over the mountains and into Beleriand, where they were welcomed by Thingol and dwelt in the land of Ossiriand.
At this time also, Daeron devised the Cirth (runes), and the Dwarves praised it and learned it, and it spread throughout Middle-earth in the ensuing years, although Daeron’s own people—the Sindar—did not value it so much and used it little.
When Melkor and Ungoliant fled back to Middle-earth, his great cry at Lammoth was heard by the Sindar, and they knew that it portended death. By the power of Melian, Ungoliant was kept from entering Thingol’s realm, and Ungoliant dwelt in the mountains just north that were afterward called Ered Gorgoroth. In secret, Melkor also dispensed his armies of Orcs to attack Thingol and the Elves that lived scattered throughout Beleriand, sundering Thingol in the east from Círdan in the west. Thingol called for the aid of Denethor and the Elves of Ossiriand, and with the help of the Dwarves, the Orcs were stopped. Denethor, however, was killed in the onslaught, although his death was avenged by Thingol. In grief, the Elves of Ossiriand never took another king. The death of Denethor also frightened his people, and they never came forth into open war again but kept to themselves in secrecy in Ossiriand.
The attack upon Círdan in the west, however, was successful, and his people were driven to the edge of the sea. Thingol called as many of his people as he could into his realm, and Melian fenced the area against all intruders—called the Girdle of Melian—and the realm was called Doriath. Except in Doriath and the walled havens at Falas, the servants of Melkor roamed at will.
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