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==Other Versions of the Legendarium==
==Other Versions of the Legendarium==
In note 9 of Tolkien's essay "Quendi and the Eldar", another draft of Eöl's story appears, dated to have been written in 1959-1960.  In this version, he is an Avar who had once been of the Second Clan (Ñoldor).  That makes him a first generation Elf.  Eöl's marriage is a little different in this story as well.  He found "the sister of King Turgon, astray in the wild near his dwelling, and he took her to wife by force: a very wicked deed in the eyes of the Eldar."<ref name="Quendi">{{WJ|Quendi}}, p. 409</ref> In this case, the deeds of the father lends some background support to Maeglin's desire to posses his first cousin, Idril, even if it is by force.   
In note 9 of Tolkien's essay "Quendi and the Eldar", another draft of Eöl's story appears, dated to have been written in 1959-1960.  In this version, he is an Avar who had once been of the second clan of Elves, the [[Noldor|Ñoldor]].  That would make him a first generation Elf.  Eöl's marriage is a little different in this story as well.  He found "the sister of King Turgon, astray in the wild near his dwelling, and he took her to wife by force: a very wicked deed in the eyes of the Eldar."<ref name="Quendi">{{WJ|Quendi}}, p. 409</ref> In this case, the deeds of the father lends some background support to Maeglin's desire to possess his first cousin, Idril, even if it was by force.   


However, that incident contradicts his late 1950s writing on the Eldar included in his essay "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar" which states that another's spouse cannot be forced<ref group="note" name="Laws">{{MR|Laws}}, Note 5: "But among all these evils there is no record of any among the Elves that took another's spouse by force; for this was wholly against their nature, and one so forced would have rejected bodily life and passed to Mandos." And, on p. 210: "Even when in after days, as the histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them.(5)"</ref> and implies that acts of lust are very rare because an Elf can reject bodily life.<ref group="note" name="Laws"/> This conflict of what it meant when Eöl took Aredhel to wife is ameliorated in ''The Silmarillion'' with the simple explaination that Aredhel was not "wholly unwilling" nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was "hateful to her for many years."<ref name="SilmMaeglin"/>  
However, that incident contradicts his late 1950s writing on the Eldar included in his essay "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar" which states that another's spouse cannot be forced.<ref group="note" name="Laws">{{MR|Laws}}, Note 5: "But among all these evils there is no record of any among the Elves that took another's spouse by force; for this was wholly against their nature, and one so forced would have rejected bodily life and passed to Mandos." And, on p. 210: "Even when in after days, as the histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them.(5)"</ref> It clearly implies that acts of lust are very rare and that an Elf can reject bodily life to thwart sexual assault.<ref group="note" name="Laws"/> This conflict of what it meant when Eöl took Aredhel to wife is ameliorated in ''The Silmarillion'' with the simple explanation that Aredhel was not "wholly unwilling" nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was "hateful to her for many years."<ref name="SilmMaeglin"/>  


This essay on the Eldar also clarifies the idea that once Idril married Tuor, for example, Maeglin should have relinquished his desire for her because he could not physically have her regardless of Morgoth's promise. It also is exemplified in another brief tale circa 1958 of [[Melkor]] attempting to marry and then ravish the maia [[Arien]].<ref group="note">{{MR|Myths}}, "Aren [Arien], a maiden whom Melkor endeavoured to make his spouse (or ravished); she went up in a flame of wrath and anguish and her spirit was released from Eä, but Melkor was blackened and burned, and his form was thereafter dark, and he took to darkness.”</ref>  Among the Eldar, and apparently among the Ainur, marriage could not be forced as it was among some Men (see [[Aerin]]).  
This essay on the Eldar also clarifies the idea that once Idril married Tuor, for example, Maeglin should have relinquished his desire for her because he could not physically have her regardless of Morgoth's promise. However, by this point, Maeglin was a darkened Elf.<ref name="Quendi"/> It also is exemplified in another brief tale circa 1958 of [[Melkor]] attempting to marry and then ravish the maia [[Arien]].<ref group="note">{{MR|Myths}}, "Aren [Arien], a maiden whom Melkor endeavoured to make his spouse (or ravished); she went up in a flame of wrath and anguish and her spirit was released from Eä, but Melkor was blackened and burned, and his form was thereafter dark, and he took to darkness.”</ref>  Among the Eldar, and apparently among the Ainur, marriage could not be forced as it was among some Men (see [[Aerin]]).


==Etymology==
==Etymology==

Revision as of 15:45, 28 November 2015

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Eöl
Sinda
Elena Kukanova - Destiny.jpg
"Destiny" by Elena Kukanova
Biographical Information
Other namesDark Elf
LocationNan Elmoth
BirthDuring the Years of the Trees
DeathF.A. 400
Gondolin
Notable forforging of Anglachel (Gurthang) and Anguirel; inventing galvorn
Family
SpouseAredhel
ChildrenMaeglin
Physical Description
GenderMale
HeightTall
ClothingGalvorn
WeaponryJavelin and Anguirel
GalleryImages of Eöl
"You are of the house of Eöl, Maeglin, my son, and not of the Golodhrim. All this land is the land of the Teleri, and I will not deal nor have my son deal with the slayers of our kin, the invaders and usurpers of our homes. In this you shall obey me, or I will set you in bonds."
The Silmarillion, Of Maeglin


In The Silmarillion, Eöl, known as the Dark Elf, was a Sinda of the First Age. It is said that he belonged to the kin of Thingol.[1][note 1] Tolkien does have other renditions of this character that include references to him as an Avar and even as a "darkened Elf".[note 2]

Usually the reference of a Dark Elf simply refers to an Elf who has not seen the light of Aman, but the concept of a darkened Elf would be one that may have been corrupted by Morgoth.[2] Tolkien liked this concept as an explanation for his superb and insidious smith-craft, which was written in a margin note of Eöl's story[2], but he chose instead to consider him more likely acquainted with the Dwarves.[note 3]


History

Eöl was of the kin of King Elu Thingol. But, he was "restless and ill at ease in Doriath,"[3] and when the Girdle of Melian was raised around the kingdom, he left to dwell in the dark forest of Nan Elmoth, east of Doriath. He loved the night and twilight under the stars. He had little love for the Noldor whom he blamed for the return of Morgoth.

He was unique among the Elves of old because he befriended the Dwarves. Their travels into East Beleriand followed two roads, and the northern way would bring them close to Nan Elmoth. There he would meet with them. Eöl was interested in learning from them, and he shared a rare friendship with the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost in the Blue Mountains. As a guest in their mansions, he developed his great skill in metalwork while they learned "much of what passed in the lands of the Eldar" from him.[3]

Eöl was a skilled craftsman and a master sword-smith.[4] Among his greatest works were the two swords made from the iron of a meteorite, Anglachel and Anguirel. Anglachel he gave to Thingol as a begrudged payment for dwelling in Nan Elmoth[5], and it would later become the sword borne by Beleg, and after him, Túrin Turambar. Eöl also devised the strong yet supple, jet-black metal known as galvorn, from which he forged the armor that he used when traveling abroad.

In the early fourth century of the First Age, Eöl saw Aredhel, the sister of Turgon the King of Gondolin, near the borders of Nan Elmoth. She was very fair and he desired her. Aredhel had become separated from her companions, and Eöl used his enchantments to draw her deeper into the woods, unable to find a way out, until she came, weary with wandering, to his home. He showed himself and welcomed her. She entered his home willingly and stayed. He took her to wife, and in F.A. 320 bore him a son. The child's mother-name was Lómion, but his father gave him the name of Maeglin.

In the summer of F.A. 400, Eöl traveled into the Blue Mountains for a midsummer feast with the Dwarves of Nogrod, and he returned home to find that his wife and son had left two days earlier. Mounting a horse, he gave chase. Along the way he was waylaid and taken before Curufin who unkindly counseled him to stop his chase predicting his death, should he continue. He eventually discovered his wife and son at the Ford of Brithiach. Realizing that Aredhel was returning to Gondolin with his son, Eöl followed them. He found his way to the Dry River, and that secret way led him to the gates of Gondolin itself. There he was captured and taken to the King.

Turgon at first welcomed Eöl as a kinsman, but under the King's law one who had found the way to the Hidden City was not permitted to leave. Eöl refused to acknowledge the law or the right of the Noldor to "seize realms or to set bounds" and claimed the land as Teleri.[3] He blamed the Noldor for bringing war to a peaceful land.

Turgon pointed out that the borders of Eöl's own "sunless woods", Nan Elmoth, were defended by Noldor swords, and if it were not for their presence, he would be a thrall in the pits of Angband. Eöl was left one choice: abide in Gondolin or die. The same choice was left for his son, who chose to stay.

Enraged at the humiliation and the loss of his freedom, Eöl chose death, for himself and his son, and cast a javelin, which he had hidden beneath his cloak, at Maeglin. Aredhel stepped in front of her son, and she was struck in the shoulder. Though the wound was treated and seemed minor, no one knew the point of the javelin had been poisoned until it was too late, and she died. Eöl was executed for this heinous crime, thrown off the high cliff of Caragdûr. Before he was cast down, he cursed his son to share the same fate.[3]

Other Versions of the Legendarium

In note 9 of Tolkien's essay "Quendi and the Eldar", another draft of Eöl's story appears, dated to have been written in 1959-1960. In this version, he is an Avar who had once been of the second clan of Elves, the Ñoldor. That would make him a first generation Elf. Eöl's marriage is a little different in this story as well. He found "the sister of King Turgon, astray in the wild near his dwelling, and he took her to wife by force: a very wicked deed in the eyes of the Eldar."[4] In this case, the deeds of the father lends some background support to Maeglin's desire to possess his first cousin, Idril, even if it was by force.

However, that incident contradicts his late 1950s writing on the Eldar included in his essay "Laws and Customs Among the Eldar" which states that another's spouse cannot be forced.[note 4] It clearly implies that acts of lust are very rare and that an Elf can reject bodily life to thwart sexual assault.[note 4] This conflict of what it meant when Eöl took Aredhel to wife is ameliorated in The Silmarillion with the simple explanation that Aredhel was not "wholly unwilling" nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was "hateful to her for many years."[3]

This essay on the Eldar also clarifies the idea that once Idril married Tuor, for example, Maeglin should have relinquished his desire for her because he could not physically have her regardless of Morgoth's promise. However, by this point, Maeglin was a darkened Elf.[4] It also is exemplified in another brief tale circa 1958 of Melkor attempting to marry and then ravish the maia Arien.[note 5] Among the Eldar, and apparently among the Ainur, marriage could not be forced as it was among some Men (see Aerin).

Etymology

The meaning of the name Eöl is unknown, and also to which language it pertains. The word is neither Quenya nor Sindarin.[2] It has been suggested that the name could be an Avarin word.[6] In a further note about Eöl's name, Tolkien wrote, "it isn't really absolutely necessary that names should be significant."[2]

Genealogy

Fingolfin
Y.T. 1190 - F.A. 456
 
Anairë
b. Y.T.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aredhel
Y.T. 1362 - F.A. 400
 
EÖL
d. F.A. 400
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Maeglin
F.A. 320 - 510
 
 

See Also

Notes

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Editorial Notes [to Quendi and Eldar]", Note 33: "It is curious that - as in the original text of Maeglin, where he was 'of the kin of Thingol' - in my father's very late work on the story Eöl becomes again 'one of the Eldar' (p. 328), though consumed with hatred of the Noldor; whereas here (p. 409) he is a Mornedhel (one of the Avari), and moreover of the aboriginal Second Clan."
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "Of Dwarves and Men", 62. [In Quendi and Eldar (XI.377) there is a reference to Avari 'who had crept in small and secret groups into Beleriand from the South', and to rare cases of an Avar 'who joined with or was admitted among the Sindar'; while in that essay Eöl of Nan Elmoth was an Avar (XI.409 and note 33).]
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Four. Quendi and Eldar", Note 9: "Eöl was a Mornedhel, and is said to have belonged to the Second Clan (whose representatives among the Eldar were the Ñoldor).^33 He dwelt in East Beleriand not far from the borders of Doriath. He had great smith-craft, especially in the making of swords, in which work he surpassed even the Ñoldor of Aman; and many therefore believed that he used morgul, the black arts taught by Morgoth. The Ñoldor themselves had indeed learned much from Morgoth in the days of his captivity in Valinor; but it is more likely that Eöl was acquainted with the Dwarves, for in many places the Avari became closer in friendship with that people than the Amanyar or the Sindar."
  4. 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Three. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: (II) The Second Phase: Laws and Customs among the Eldar", Note 5: "But among all these evils there is no record of any among the Elves that took another's spouse by force; for this was wholly against their nature, and one so forced would have rejected bodily life and passed to Mandos." And, on p. 210: "Even when in after days, as the histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them.(5)"
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Five. Myths Transformed", "Aren [Arien], a maiden whom Melkor endeavoured to make his spouse (or ravished); she went up in a flame of wrath and anguish and her spirit was released from Eä, but Melkor was blackened and burned, and his form was thereafter dark, and he took to darkness.”

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Three. The Wanderings of Húrin and Other Writings not forming part of the Quenta Silmarillion: III. Maeglin"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Three. The Wanderings of Húrin and Other Writings not forming part of the Quenta Silmarillion: III. Maeglin", p. 320
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Maeglin"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Four. Quendi and Eldar", p. 409
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Túrin Turambar"
  6. Helge Fauskanger, "Avarin: All Six Words" at Ardalambion (accessed 19 December 2010)