Sinti Snowbeard! The herald of Yule cheer! The spirit of the mountain! The gift-giver extraordinaire! You haven’t heard of him before? Well, that is hardly a surprise: us Dwarves have jealously kept his legend as a secret for far too long. But in the spirit of Yule, I think it is about time us Dwarves finally reveal to the surface world the wonderful legend of Sinti Snowbeard.
His legend begins in the distant past, far before the birth of Durin, and even beyond the memory of most elves. His legend also begins in the most unlikely of places: the dark pits of Utumno. The last place any sane person would expect there to be Yule cheer! For those of you who don’t know, Utumno was the first stronghold of the first Dark Lord. A very dark and evil place, needless to say. Well, in the darkest pit of Utumno there dwelt a Maiar spirit by the name of Sinti. And he loved to make beautiful things out of gold and jewels, much like his former master Aule. But unlike Aule, he didn’t want to share his works with anyone. He wanted to keep them all to himself! So that is why he betrayed his master Aule and pledged his service to the first Dark Lord, as the first Dark Lord promised him a dark, solitary cave where he could hide all of his treasures and be alone all the time, as long as he occasionally sent a work of tribute to the soon-to-be lord of all Arda. A fair deal! Or at least it seemed to be for Sinti.
But as anyone with good sense would know, it was a most unwise wager: the first Dark Lord was defeated in the Battle of the Powers and the stronghold of Utumno was laid low. Sinti was captured by the Host of the West. He pleaded for mercy before his former master Aule. And Aule, being the wisest and greatest among the Valar, saw it fit to grant to his request, but only upon one condition: Sinti had to give away all of his hoarded treasures to the newly awakened elves, so that he may learn humility and generosity. Sinti fiercely cursed his ill luck, but begrudgingly agreed to these terms.
And so the first Yule holiday began! Sinti went among the elves when they first arrived at Valinor, freely giving to them his ancient treasures as gifts. But something changed in the heart of old Sinti. He had assumed the elves would be too dim-witted to properly appreciate the beauty of his works. But when he saw the look of joy and wonder on their faces as they marveled at his works, and thanked him profusely for his kindness, Sinti began to doubt his previous assumptions. Sinti slowly began to like giving away his treasures…no, he began to LOVE it! The joy his gift-giving created was far greater than anything he had physically wrought. His treasures, while good and beautiful, were merely physical. Sinti learned that joy was immaterial and eternal. Without joy, his treasures had no real value. For what is value if not a measure of how much joy a given product or service brings?
So once his treasure hoard was exhausted, Sinti returned to Aule and meekly asked if he could extend the punishment. Could you believe it!? Aule let forth such a boisterous laugh that sometimes it is said that you could still hear this laugh upon the tallest peaks of Middle-Earth! Ho ho ho! And Sinti would mimic this laughter upon his later gift-giving expeditions. Ho ho ho! So Aule deemed that Sinti had truly learned his lesson. Sinti was fully and absolutely forgiven for his past crimes! And reinstated into the forces of good of Arda. It was the first Yule miracle! Aule gladly granted Sinti leave to continue the punishment, with the only limitation that he only did so once a year so as not to spoil the Children of Ilúvatar with his gifts. Ha! Aule didn’t want the elves to become like the old Sinti. And so this one time a year would be the holiday of Yule.
In the northernmost mountain of the Pelóri, Sinti built his workshop where he would continue to make countless treasures to give as gifts to the peoples of Middle-Earth. This workshop was called the Joyforge. And Yavanna, Aule’s beloved spouse, created a special breed of goats for Sinti that could fly! This way Sinti could travel from Aman to Middle-Earth to deliver his gifts: upon a flying sleigh pulled by magical goats. Many long years passed, and Sinti worked so fervently to make delightful gifts at the Joyforge that his beard quickly began to grow long and turn white. And so Aule gave him the name “Snowbeard”, as his beard looked as white and soft as snow! But despite the amusing title, Sinti still had too much work to do! So he began to enlist the help of Noldor elves to assist him with the production of gifts. This is why Sinti is known to have elven helpers.
But then some unfortunate events involving a particularly grumpy elf named Fëanor transpired, leaving there to be a distinct shortage of Noldor elves in Valinor to help Sinti with his work. This Fëanor hated Yule, and once even went so far as to try to steal it for himself! So what was Sinti to do? There were very few peoples who could rival the skill of the Noldor. This is when the Dwarves came in to save Yule! With the help of his master Aule, Sinti began to choose especially honorable Dwarven souls from that special place set apart in the Halls of Mandos designated for Dwarven souls. Aule would then fashion new bodies for these Dwarven souls to work as helpers to Sinti in the Joyforge. To start that whole “Remaking of Arda” thing a little early!
And these Dwarves proved to be far more skilled in their work than the Noldor! So much so that when many of the Noldor began to return to Valinor Sinti didn’t bother to bring them back to the Joyforge. The Dwarves were just so much better. And this is why the legend of Sinti Snowbeard has been largely forgotten by the elves, even though they knew of him first: they are jealous! Now you may ask, how do us Dwarves know of the totally true legend of Sinti Snowbeard? Well, Aule told Durin, and Durin shared this legend with all of his descendents. But we have kept this legend secret, both because of our own jealous inclinations but also so as not to further upset our relations with the elves. But now as the wounds between the Dwarves and elves begin to heal, and a newfound friendship between our peoples begins to blossom, it is time to bring this wonderful tale back into the light of the surface.
And what better way to do that than to meet Sinti Snowbeard himself! Rumor has it that he will be visiting the Dwarven Yule Market on December 16th to spread Yule cheer. So come and bring lots of coin to spend on gifts to give to your friends and family! As just as Sinti Snowbeard had to give up all his treasures for the spirit of giving, so should you! The holiday of Yule depends on it!
This legend was written by Frimsi Gembeard in collaboration with Passerose Lightfoot
