Descendents of Finwë Part 12: Aredhel

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

Aredhel

Potted History
*Also known as Irisse (HoME Vol. 12)

In Valinor
She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brothers; and when she was grown to full stature and beauty she was tall and strong, and loved much to ride and hunt in the forests. There she was often in the company of the sons of Fëanor, her kin; but to none was her heart's love given. Ar-Feiniel she was called, the White Lady of the Noldor, for she was pale though her hair was dark, and she was never arrayed but in silver and white.

Trapped
Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, the White Lady of the Noldor, daughter of Fingolfin, dwelt in Nevrast with Turgon her brother, and she went with him to the Hidden Kingdom. But she wearied of the guarded city of Gondolin, desiring ever the longer the more to ride again in the wide lands and to walk in the forests, as had been her wont in Valinor: and when two hundred years had passed since Gondolin was full-wrought, she spoke to Turgon and asked leave to depart. Turgon was loath to grant this, and long denied her; but at the last he yielded, saying: 'Go then, if you will though it is against my wisdom, and I forebode that ill will come of it both to you and to me. But you shall go only to seek Fingon, our brother; and those that I send with you shall return hither to Gondolin as swiftly as they may.'

But Aredhel said: 'I am your sister and not your servant, and beyond your bounds I will go as seems good to me. And if you begrudge me an escort, then I will go alone.'

Then Turgon answered: 'I grudge you nothing that I have. Yet I desire that none shall dwell beyond my walls who know the way hither: and if I trust you, my sister, others I trust less to keep guard on their tongues.'

And Turgon appointed three lords of his household to ride with Aredhel, and he bade them lead her to Fingon in Hithlum, if they might prevail upon her. 'And be wary,' he said; 'for though Morgoth be yet hemmed in the North there are many perils in Middle-earth of which the Lady knows nothing.' Then Aredhel departed from Gondolin, and Turgon's heart was heavy at her going.

But when she came to the Ford of Brithiach in the River Sirion she said to her companions: 'Turn now south and not north, for I will not ride to Hithlum; my heart desires rather to find the sons of Fëanor, my friends of old.' And since she could not be dissuaded they turned south as she commanded, and sought admittance into Doriath. But the march-wardens denied them; for Thingol would suffer none of the Noldor to pass the Girdle, save his kinsfolk of the house of Finarfin, and least of all those that were friends of the sons of Fëanor. Therefore the march-wardens said to Aredhel: 'To the land of Celegorm for which you seek, Lady, you may by no means pass through the realm of King Thingol; you must ride beyond the Girdle of Melian, to the south or to the north. The speediest way is by the paths that lead east from the Brithiach through Dimbar and along the north-march of this kingdom, until you pass the Bridge of Esgalduin and the Fords of Aros, and come to the lands that lie behind the Hill of Himring. There dwell, as we believe, Celegorm and Curufin, and it may be that you will find them; but the road is perilous.'

Then Aredhel turned back and sought the dangerous road between the haunted valleys of Ered Gorgoroth and the north fences of Doriath; and as they drew near to the evil region of Nan Dungortheb the riders became enmeshed in shadows, and Aredhel strayed from her companions and was lost. They sought long for her in vain, fearing that she had been ensnared, or had drunk from the poisoned streams of that land; but the fell creatures of Ungoliant that dwelt in the ravines were aroused and pursued them, and they hardly escaped with their lives. When at last they returned and their tale was told there was great sorrow in Gondolin; and Turgon sat long alone, enduring grief and anger in silence.

But Aredhel, having sought in vain for her companions, rode on, for she was fearless and hardy of heart, as were all the children of Finwë; and she held on her way, and crossing Esgalduin and Aros came to the land of Himlad between Aros and Celon where Celegorm and Curufin dwelt in those days, before the breaking of the Siege of Angband. At that time they were from home, riding with Caranthir east in Thargelion; but the people of Celegorm welcomed her and bade her stay among them with honour until their lord's return. There for a while she was content, and had great Joy in wandering free in the woodlands; but as the year lengthened and Celegorm did not return, she became restless again, and took to riding alone ever further abroad, seeking for new paths and untrodden glades. Thus it chanced in the waning of the year that Aredhel came to the south of Himlad, and passed over Celon; and before she was aware she was enmeshed in Nan Elmoth.

Eöl, though stooped by his smithwork, was no Dwarf, but a tall Elf of a high kin of the Teleri, noble though grim of face; and his eyes could see deep into shadows and dark places. And it came to pass that he saw Aredhel Ar-Feiniel as she strayed among the tall trees near the borders of Nan Elmoth, a gleam of white in the dim land. Very fair she seemed to him, and he desired her; and he set his enchantments about her so that she could not find the ways out, but drew ever nearer to his dwelling in the depths of the wood. There were his smithy, and his dim halls, and such servants as he had, silent and secret as their master. And when Aredhel, weary with wandering, came at last to his doors, he revealed himself; and he welcomed her, and led her into his house. And there she remained; for Eöl took her to wife, and it was long ere any of her kin heard of her again.

It is not said that Aredhel was wholly unwilling, nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was hateful to her for many years. For though at Eöl's command she must shun the sunlight, they wandered far together under the stars or by the light of the sickle moon; or she might fare alone as she would, save that Eöl forbade her to seek the sons of Fëanor, or any others of the Noldor. And Aredhel bore to Eöl a son in the shadows of Nan Elmoth, and in her heart she gave him a name in the forbidden tongue of the Noldor, Lómion, that signifies Child of the Twilight; but his father gave him no name until he was twelve years old. Then he called him Maeglin, which is Sharp Glance, for he perceived that the eyes of his son were more piercing than his own, and his thought could read the secrets of hearts beyond the mist of words.

there was awakened in Aredhel a desire to see her own kin again, and she marvelled that she had grown weary of the light of Gondolin, and the fountains in the sun, and the green sward of Tumladen under the windy skies of spring; moreover she was often alone in the shadows when both her son and her husband were away.

Escape
Aredhel was glad, and looked with pride upon her son; and telling the servants of Eöl that they went to seek the sons of Fëanor they departed and rode away to the north eaves of Nan Elmoth. There they crossed the slender stream of Celon into the land of Himlad and rode on to the Fords of Aros, and so westward along the fences of Doriath.

Aredhel and Maeglin came to the Outer Gate of Gondolin and the Dark Guard under the mountains; and there she was received with Joy, and passing through the Seven Gates she came with Maeglin to Turgon upon Amon Gwareth. Then the King listened with wonder to all that Aredhel had to tell; and he looked with liking upon Maeglin his sister-son, seeing in him one worthy to be accounted among the princes of the Noldor.

Aredhel said: 'Alas! Eöl has followed us, even as I feared. But with great stealth was it done; for we saw and heard no pursuit as we entered upon the Hidden Way.' Then she said to the messenger: 'He speaks but the truth. He is Eöl and I am his wife, and he is the father of my son. Slay him not, but lead him hither to the King's judgement, if the King so wills.'

Then Eöl looked into the eyes of King Turgon, and he was not daunted, but stood long without word or movement while a still silence fell upon the hall; and Aredhel was afraid, knowing that he was perilous. Suddenly, swift as serpent, he seized a javelin that he held hid beneath his cloak and cast it at Maeglin, crying:
'The second choice I take and for my son also! You shall not hold what is mine!'

But Aredhel sprang before the dart, and it smote her in the shoulder; and Eöl was overborne by many and set in bonds, and led away, while others tended Aredhel. But Maeglin looking upon his father was silent.

It was appointed that Eöl should be brought on the next day to the King's judgement; and Aredhel and Idril moved Turgon to mercy. But in the evening Aredhel sickened, though the wound had seemed little, and she fell into the darkness, and in the night she died; for the point of the Javelin was poisoned, though none knew it until too late.

Comments

Aredhel

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Aredhel is a very intriguing female character of Tolkien's. Because of my recent interest in her story, I need to know how old she is in relation to Celegorm and Curufin, her two great friends. I am getting the impression that since she is quite a bit younger than her brothers (how much younger, though?) then she is also quite a bit younger than C & C as well. Either that, or C & C are also a lot younger than Fingon and Turgon. I have asked Dawn Felagund for her ideas on how many years separated Celegorm and Curufin as well. I would just like to know in order to picture them better while I am writing about them. (Btw, I have the outline written for my story, but I want to visualize the characters vis a vis their ages.)

Re: Aredhel

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

If you want to use the 'Annals of Aman' as sun years (as almost everyone seems to do!), then Aredhel (b. 1362) is 62 years younger than Turgon (b. 1300), and I would guess that Turgon is 50-60 years younger than Fingon - making Fingolfin's a properly spaced Elven family according to LaCE!

Celegorm is likely to be older than Aredhel, but Curufin could be a similar age, or even younger, since he is Feanor's fifth child, whereas Aredhel is Fingolfin's third, and Feanor is only 21 years older than Fingolfin. There are very few constraints on the ages of Feanor's children, only that Maedhros could not have been born before 1220, and the twins could not have been born after 1445.

If you would prefer to have a timescale in line with the one that you used for your other stories (The HoME 5 version, wasn't it?), then I can work that out for you if you would like me to.

IIRC Dawn has constructed a timeline all of her own because she found the 'Annals of Aman' did not fit the story in AMC, so you could follow her example and ignore HoME altogether!

Re: Aredhel

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Lois!! Dawn has kindly sent me her timeline and I've decided to basically use it, but I didn't know how old to make Aredhel when my story starts, so the information you gave me here allows me to see her as approximately the same age as Curufin. It's not such an important thing except that I like to visualize my characters as real people when I begin writing a story as I imagine that they're all standing or doing other things all around me as I'm writing about them. So thank you very much for this information!

Re: Aredhel

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

Glad I could help! (also slightly envious that you have actually seen Dawn's timeline - If you hadn't noticed I'm a timeline fanatic; they come second only to maps!)

I'm too much of a canatic to toss out the 'Annals of Aman' altogether in my fic, but that might well be a disadvantage, as it does limit what I can write.

Re: Aredhel

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I could stick to canon I would. It also makes me a bit uncomfortable to have to steer away from that, and if at all possible I would stick to it, but sometimes for the sake of a story some things have to be changed. It would be less confusing also if Tolkien hadn't decided to change so much of his own canon himself. And no, don't toss out the 'Annals of Aman'. That would definitely be a disadvantage! And we need timeline fanatics! Without you I would have written so many things that would not make any sense! (Well, not that they do anyway, but you know what I mean.)

Re: Aredhel

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

but sometimes for the sake of a story some things have to be changed.

That's exactly what I meant - you put the story first, whereas I put the canon first, which means that my fic writing is necessarily more limited. I seem to be consitutionally incapable of ignoring Tolkien's timeline, even when I could improve a story by so doing. It's probably because my original stories tend to be historical fiction, in which fitting events on a real historical timeline is very important.

It would be less confusing also if Tolkien hadn't decided to change so much of his own canon himself.

Yes, but if he hadn't we'd be stuck with the 'Lost Tales' version, which in most aspects, IMO, is nowhere near as good as the later versions. Sometimes the earlier versions are better - I like Galadriel the Rebel who wanted a realm of her own much better than Galadriel the Saint.

Without you I would have written so many things that would not make any sense! (Well, not that they do anyway, but you know what I mean.)

Thanks - but I always think your stuff makes sense to start with!