Mîms Klage / The Complaint of Mim the Dwarf

[Estelyn Telcontar]

German-American bilingual here, reading this with interest, though alas, with little time for thought and contemplation right now. Thanks, Huinesoron, for sharing this with us! I will try to answer as much as possible as soon as possible...

edit: I would say the line you bracketed is simply a list - "rings (for greedy fingers) and moons and stars and artless ornaments (for the breasts of proud ladies)". Moons and stars are popular designs for jewelry even nowadays, and Elves, should they have been the recipients, would have appreciated them even more than other races.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by The Complaint of Mim, the Dwarf, Part 5

But now I am old and bitter, and in my refuge in the wild mountains I must begin the work anew, seeking to catch the echoes of my memories before they are lost forever. Ah! my work is still good; yet it is haunted now. Their freshness is gone; a veil lies between me and the things I have seen and wrought, as if they were lights and shapes scattered in a mist of tears. I can glimpse still what I once created, but not that which I once saw. I am dangerous they say, full of hate and malice, old Mim, the petty-dwarf. If you touch me, I will bite with blackened teeth or stab you in the dark, and none can heal the wound from my knife. None dare to come near me; but shoot arrows at me from a distance if I dare to show my face to the Sun. It was not always so, and it is not good that it is so now. The course of the world is become crooked and precarious, deceit goes about, things creep up out of dark places, and under my fingers grows fear instead of joy. If I could but forgive, it might still be possible to shape a leaf, a flower with dew upon it, as it once shone beside Tarn Aeluin, when I was young and felt for the first time the cleverness of my fingers. But Mim cannot forgive. The embers still smoulder in his heart. Tink-tonk, tonk-tink! No time to think!

The retranslation is complete; I've put the whole thing in a document just to have it together.

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

edit: I would say the line you bracketed is simply a list - "rings (for greedy fingers) and moons and stars and artless ornaments (for the breasts of proud ladies)". Moons and stars are popular designs for jewelry even nowadays, and Elves, should they have been the recipients, would have appreciated them even more than other races.

I suppose that works. I was thrown by the fact that the other jewellery (gems, rings, ornaments) is described straightforwardly and negatively, and then suddenly we have what seems to be a positive description in the middle. In the consolidated version I've tweaked the commas but am happy to accept your point.

So what can we say about Mim? He first began to craft in Dorthonion, by Tarn Aeluin; for a long period he devoted himself to making naturalistic crafts out of his memories; he secured them in a great chest decorated with dragons. Someone (monsters or people) came and stole everything, leaving him with only a few tools and his poisoned dagger, and burning him out; he retreated to a deep hole and stewed. He then tried to remake his treasures, but found his memories faded, and his craft weakened by his inability to forgive.

Interestingly, Mim's own view of himself is wildly at odds with everyone else's, and with his behaviour in this very poem. He wants to believe that he was a pure artist until right before the events of the poem - but he carries a poisoned dagger, and fills his treasures with magic that drives men mad. He was never as nice as he likes to think he was.

(I should note that NoME 3.VII - The Founding of Nargothrond (1969) gives a different account of Mim's early years - it has him as the chieftain of the Petty Dwarves of Narog, helping Finrod build Nargothrond and then attempting to murder him. It's not clear how this fits in with his youth by Tarn Aeluin in the poem, or with his known death 400 years after Nargothrond was finished - that would make him very old indeed for a dwarf! Perhaps the chieftain was his grandfather?)

hS

[Findegil]

I have ordered the Book and read that text myself. Easy for a native German. Having some experience with the Schütz translations, I have many doubts if by retranslating we would find anything even near to the original. Schütz was not very good at rhyme. It is clear, that in the 26 lines of poetry he took many liberties and nonetheless would not even try to take up rhythm, flow or even kind of rhymes used in the original. As an example, the word 'sand' in the second line cries out 'none Tolkien!' to me. I wouldn't be surprised if reading the original we would not find the information that the cave did have a sand flour. But as that is only my personal impression, please take it only as warning.

So what can we say about Mim? He first began to craft in Dorthonion, by Tarn Aeluin; ...

That is not so clear. The text says that he always worked from memory. Therefore this only assures that he had been in Dorthonion in his youth and that what he saw there inspired him deeply. And from the context we as well can say that these were days of peace in Dorthonion, so well before the Dagor Bargolach.

... for a long period he devoted himself to making naturalistic crafts out of his memories ...

I don't agree fully to 'naturalistic'. Mîm himself makes in the later text a very clear distinction between the things that inspired his craft and the artefacts that he produced. He says that he still can memories the artefacts he made but no longer the things that inspired them and I at least think this is part of his issue of remaking anything.

About Mîm's life as given in NoME: Taking aside the 400 years for a moment, I would rather say the story lines work very well together: Young Mîm wanders around in the peaceful Beleriand before Finrod founded Nargothrond. As he visits Dorthonion where Finrod's brothers ruled at this time, the two might have meet there. Finrod planning to build Nargothrond would than naturally ask a Dwarf he did know before hand for help. For how that relationship was than poisoned there are a lot of candidates:
- Finrod, seeing how big a task it was, asking the Dwarves from the Ered Luin as well for help and since these dismissed the Petty-Dwarves that might be enough.
- Maybe Mîm was only early involved in the planning and when it became clear that Finrods plans were made for the enlargement of the halls of Nulukkhizdīn, driving the Petty-Dwarves out of their old home the relation shifted.
- Or he came late and assumed that they had found the halls of Nulukkhizdīn deserted, and only when he found out that they had driven out the Petty-Dwarves by force he tried to take revenge upon Finrod.

The 400+ years are an issue, but not a big one:
- On the one hand we know that at least on first generation Dwarf was very long lasting: Durin I., the Deathless. He died 'before the end of the Elder-days', which means from the context during the First Age of the sun, having outlifed all the long years of the Stars since the awakening of the Dwarves. So it might be that Tolkien saw a decline in longevity for the Dwarves and planed much longer time for the earlier generations to which Mîm might have belonged.
- If we assume that Mîm was of the line of the 7 chieftains, than we are told that in these lines from time to time Dwarves were born that were so similar to the chieftains of old that they got the same name. So for example Mîm II. could have been the helper of Finrod and Mîm III. would then be the host of Tuirn later to be killed in Nargothrond.

At this point we might consider anew when Mîm does utter this ‘Klage’: I find it rather forced to connect the plundering of Bar-en-Danwedh by the Orcs to the story as told in Mîm's Klage. In CoH Mîm is not sleeping on his chest of treasures and the attack of the Orcs is not a surprise for him. Thus if the Mîm of Mîm's Klage and Mîm from CoH are one and the same person, I would assume that the Mîm from CoH is a somewhat recovered version from the earlier Mîm of Mîm's Klage: In CoH he is described as poor, old, isolated and bitter against the world outside that has wronged him and his folk in many ways. When caught by Androg Mîm did even bit him, like Mîm reports of himself in his 'Klage'. As well CoH reports that the Men shot arrows at Mîm and his sons. And we learn in CoH that Mîm from time to time works in his smithy, all by himself, as we would expect from a person haunted by a back story like told in the 'Klage'. So my best guess is, that what we have in ‘Mîm’s Klage’ is a report of one of Túrin’s men of what he heard when at one day Mîm came out of his smithy (for a time, because the ‘Tink-tonk, tonk-tink! No time to think!’ suggest that he is going back to work) during a fruitless try in his craft. And the friendship that Mîm develops to Túrin might be the response to his ‘It was not always so, and it is not good that it is so now.’ from the ‘Klage’.

One last point: 'Complaint' does not sound fully right as translation of german 'Klage' in this context. I would rather take 'Lament'. ('Dirge' would fit from the sense as well, but does not sound a bit like Tolkien for me.)

Respectfully
Findegil

[Val Balmer]

I recently wrote an article in Italian on Mim's Klage.

My goal was to (try to) build both an internal and external chronlogy for this text, based on the clues given in the text.


Here's the english version of it: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?c...lmu8eeT5VJGiUX

Of course there's a lot of speculation and I know several other possibilities are plausible but...Let me know what you think about it.

[gondowe]

I would like to give my opinion regarding Mîn in relation to all the information we have about him.

Regarding whether they are all the same Mîm, from the point of view of the information we have and making the verosimility relevant, I do not think that Tolkien would have thought of a different Mîm on each case. And in the case of a Petty Dwarf, a Dwarf of more than 500 years It would not seem plausible to me.

A possible historical line that I propose would be (please correct me if I forget something):

-An indefinite time after Nargothrond is complete in FA102, Mîm becomes the young leader of the Petty Dwarves and later attempts to assassinate Finrod (say in FA250).
-He is expelled and goes to Dorthonion.
-When the Beörians are given Ladros in FA410 he has to leave and goes to Amon Rûdh (who he already knew).

So, when Mîm die in 502 (been very old and possibly near to his natural end) would be more or less 300-350 years old.

Of course this line would be a mythical adaptation to be able to make a plausible composition of his story.

In relation to the moment of the Klage, I agree with Findegil that a possible one would be after stablised the friendship between Túrin and him.

Greetings

[Arvegil145]

Originally Posted by gondowe

I would like to give my opinion regarding Mîn in relation to all the information we have about him.

Regarding whether they are all the same Mîm, from the point of view of the information we have and making the verosimility relevant, I do not think that Tolkien would have thought of a different Mîm on each case. And in the case of a Petty Dwarf, a Dwarf of more than 500 years It would not seem plausible to me.

I'd just like to point out that according to 'The Making of Appendix A', 'Durin's Folk' in The Peoples of Middle-earth (p. 284), the Dwarves originally lived longer than in the later ages:

Dwarves of different 'breeds' vary in their longevity. Durin's race were originally long-lived (especially those named Durin), but like most other peoples they had become less so during the Third Age.

Of course, this passage is talking about the Longbeards, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that the trend of reduced longevity is found in other clans as well, even if originally they weren't as long lived as Durin's Folk.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Arvegil145

I'd just like to point out that according to 'The Making of Appendix A', 'Durin's Folk' in The Peoples of Middle-earth (p. 284), the Dwarves originally lived longer than in the later ages:

Of course, this passage is talking about the Longbeards, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that the trend of reduced longevity is found in other clans as well, even if originally they weren't as long lived as Durin's Folk.

I like this explanation; it's tidy, makes all the "Mim" references refer to Mim himself, and best of all, uses actual Tolkien text.

There's two tentative bits of evidence to support it. First, Azaghâl of Belegost rules for over 200 years - the Dragon-Helm was forged for him as Lord of Belegost after Glaurung's first appearance, and he dies in the Nirnaeth, still fighting fit. Allowing for a childhood (in which he was not king) and old age (in which he couldn't have led them to battle), that gives him a minimum natural lifespan of 350 years, possibly much longer. That would support long-lived Beleriandic dwarves.

Secondly, and even more tentative... the poem "The Hoard" is said to be inspired by the tales of Mim and company. The dwarf in it is described like this:

But his eyes grew dim and his ears dull
and the skin yellow on his old skull;
through his bony claw with a pale sheen
the stony jewels slipped unseen.

That sounds properly ancient, not just "normal lifespan of a dwarf" ancient. If it can be applied to Mim (a big 'if'!), then he seems to have lived past his natural end.

Actually, he also calls himself "old" in Mim's Klage. We still don't know when that is: Findegil makes a good point that it doesn't fit with the attack on Amon Rudh, Val Balmer suggests the expulsion from Nargothrond, and I'm now thinking it could be the Beorians arriving in Dorthonion, driving him out to the south. In any case, it seems to be quite some time before his death, so he would be very old by the time Hurin encountered him in Nargothrond.

hS

PS: re the English title - this thread says it's probably Tolkien's own title.

EDIT: this thread discusses the source of the (German) title, in "Mimes Klage(ge)sang", from Wagner's Ring cycle. It appears (untitled) in the early part of the Siegfried libretto, in which Mime complains a lot. The way he speaks resonates strongly with Tolkien's Complaint:

Zwangvolle Plage! Müh’ ohne Zweck!
Heart-breaking bondage! Toil without end!

hS

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Allowing for... old age (in which he couldn't have led them to battle)

Not necessarily; Dain II was over 250 when he died axe in hand at the siege of Erebor.