silwritersguild | Back to Middle Earth Month: Parting

Today's selections conclude this week's theme on endings. And what ending is more poignant than the parting of loved ones? Whether the parting of beloveds, friends, or kin, these stories capture our imaginations like no other.

The Exile of the Noldor is one of the most dramatic partings in The Silmarillion, and today's post opens with two selections from this era. Hrymfaxe's "Helcaraxë" illustrates the estrangement of a whole people, and Ellie's excerpt from "Raven Hair and Silver Eyes" shows the parting of a family after the Kinslaying at Alqualondë. Robinka writes of the separation of friends--Beleg and Túrin--and Ranger1 considers why Melian departed from Doriath.

As one of the most enduring of the exiled Noldor, Celebrimbor experienced his share of separations. Oshun's "A Mother's Lament" tells of when he was parted from his mother in Aman, while Noliel's excerpt from "Thicker Than Water" looks at his estrangement from his father many centuries later. Rhapsody the Bard's "Torn asunder" portrays the pain of an Elf-Man union that was not specially privileged by Ilúvatar and the Valar. In Isil Elensar's "Final Parting," Amrod's wife remembers him after his death in Doriath. And Dawn Felagund's excerpt from "Droplets" considers one of the many partings faced by Elrond: his final goodbye to his brother Elros.

Today's selections may be found at http://www.silmaril lionwritersguild .org/b2mem2008/ parting.php .

This concludes this week's focus on endings. Next week, on Monday, we will wrap up Back to Middle-earth Month: The Circles of the World with writing and artwork about fate.