Meril-i-Turinqi

From Tolkien Gateway
The name Meril refers to more than one character, item or concept. For a list of other meanings, see Meril (disambiguation).
Meril-i-Turinqi
Teler
Sandrine Gestin - Meril.jpg
"Meril" by Sandrine Gestin
Biographical Information
Other namesMeril-i-Turinqui (Q)
Gwidhil-i-Durinthi, Gwithil-i-Durinthi (G)
TitlesLady of the Isle
PositionQueen of Tol Eressëa
LocationTol Eressëa (Kortirion)
LanguageQenya
Language of the Gods[1]
BirthBefore the March of Liberation
Family
ParentageUnknown (granddaughter of Ingil)
Physical Description
GenderFemale
GalleryImages of Meril-i-Turinqi

Meril-i-Turinqi was the Lady of Tol Eressëa, according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales.[2]

Meril dwelt in a white house inside a great korin of ancient elms, near Ingil's tower.[3] She was of great beauty and accompanied by Elven maidens.[4]

History[edit | edit source]

Early history[edit | edit source]

Meril was one of the Inwir, the royal clan of the Teleri,[5] being a great-granddaughter of Inwë, the King of all the Eldar. However, she was also akin to the Solosimpi, and had long ago seen the Bay of Faëry.[6]

Following the March of Liberation and the war with Melko, Ingil son of Inwë, her grandfather, led the remaining Elves and Gnomes to Tol Eressëa, where they built the city of Koromas, later known as Kortirion due to the great tower that Ingil built.[7] Later, Ingil returned to Valinor,[6] and eventually Meril became the Lady of the Isle.

At some point after the March of Liberation, when the Olórë Mallë was blocked and the children of Men could no longer visit Valinor in their sleep, one man nonetheless managed to find his way to the West and sought the Elves' help, to which Meril responded by asking Lindo, an Elf of Tol Eressëa, to devise a plan.

Afterwards, Lindo and his wife Vairë built the Cottage of Lost Play in Kortirion, from which the remaining children of Men that stayed with the Elves went to the Great Lands and comforted the Mannish children living there.[8]

Arrival of Eriol[edit | edit source]

Around the 5th century AD, Eriol, a Mannish mariner, arrived to Tol Eressëa. After visiting many places on the island, including the Cottage of Lost Play, Littleheart son of Voronwë brought him to Meril's house, where Eriol requested to taste limpë, a magic Elven drink, seeking kinship and fellowship with the Elves.

Meril denied, telling him that it is dangerous for a mortal Man to do so, as Ilúvatar made his Children different, and drinking limpë would erase his old desires but awake new ones; she also warned him that he would one day long for his lands again.[4] To explain better she told him the stories of the Chaining of Melko[9] and the Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr.[10]

Some time after, Meril visited the Cottage of Lost Play during a festival, before Eriol went to Tavrobel, where Littleheart told the tale of the Fall of Gondolin.[11]

The Faring Forth[edit | edit source]

According to one outline for the continuation of the Lost Tales, the disastrous Faring Forth, the great expedition to the Great Lands for the rescue of the Lost Elves, was instigated prematurely by Eriol himself against Meril's command, who, longing for his home, returned to the Great Lands and "preached" of the Faring Forth. Thus, due to Eriol's impatience and recklessness, the Faring Forth was doomed to fail.[12]

Nothing else is known about Meril, or her fate after the Faring Forth.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The name Meril-i-Turinqi is Qenya for "Queen of Flowers", being a combination of meril ("flowers") + i ("the") + turinqi ("queen").[13]

An alternative spelling of the name was Meril-i-Turinqui.[3]

An earlier Qenya form of the name was Veril-i-Turinqi.[14]

Other names[edit | edit source]

The Gnomish cognate for Meril-i-Turinqi is Gwidhil-i-Durinthi[15] (changed from Gwedhil) or Gwithil-i-Durinthi.[16]

Earlier Gnomish versions of the name include: Miril-i-durwin,[17] Gwedhil Turlin,[18][note 1] and Gwidhil (Gwedda) Durinthir[19] (with Gwedda being a diminutive of Gwidhil, later changed to Gwetha).[16]

Genealogy[edit | edit source]

Inwë
 
 
 
 
Ingil
 
 
 
 
unknown
child
 
 
 
 
MERIL-I-TURINQI

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

Early legendarium[edit | edit source]

In an earlier text in the Qenya Lexicon, the role of Meril-i-Turinqi was instead given to Erinti, at that time imagined as the Vala of love, music, beauty and purity who, like Meril in the later texts, lived in a korin of elms in the center of Tol Eressëa.[20]

Later legendarium[edit | edit source]

According to John Garth, the character of Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings might have been inspired by Meril-i-Turinqi.[21]

In one text from the later legendarium, the name Meril appears as the name of the wife of Felagund and the mother of Gil-galad.[22]

Notes

  1. Gwedhil Turlin was changed from Turlith to Turing to Turingwith to Gwethil Turingwith and then to the final form.

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "II. The Music of the Ainur", Commentary on the Link between The Cottage of Lost Play and The Music of the Ainur, pp. 51-2
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "VIII. The Tale of the Sun and Moon", p. 175
  3. 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "IV. The Chaining of Melko", p. 95
  4. 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "IV. The Chaining of Melko", pp. 96-7
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "II. The Music of the Ainur", Commentary on the Link between The Cottage of Lost Play and The Music of the Ainur, p. 50
  6. 6.0 6.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "V. The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr", p. 129
  7. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "I. The Cottage of Lost Play", p. 16
  8. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "I. The Cottage of Lost Play", pp. 19-20
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "IV. The Chaining of Melko", p. 98
  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "V. The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr", p. 113
  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "III. The Fall of Gondolin", pp. 144-5
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 14, p. 294
  13. Paul Strack, "ᴱQ. Meril-i-Turinqi f.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 1 May 2022)
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon", in Parma Eldalamberon XII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. xx
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part I, entry "Meril-i-Turinqi"
  16. 16.0 16.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 46
  17. J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Alphabet of Rúmil & Early Noldorin Fragments", in Parma Eldalamberon XIII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Heraldic Devices of Tol Erethrin", p. 95
  18. J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Alphabet of Rúmil & Early Noldorin Fragments", in Parma Eldalamberon XIII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Early Chart of Names", p. 99
  19. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", in Parma Eldalamberon XV (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Names and Required Alterations", p. 7
  20. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon", in Parma Eldalamberon XII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 36
  21. John Garth, Tolkien and the Great War, "Part three", 12. Tol Withernon and Fladweth Amrod, p. 228
  22. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Two. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin (Chapter 15)", p. 242