Of Eöl, Aredhel, and Maeglin

Eöl the Dwarf-friend invited to a Dwarven feast and he went leaving his son Maeglin and wife Aredhel alone. Together they rode to the edge of the woods seeking sunlight which Eöl shunned. Maeglin persuaded (though it did not take much) his mother to leave the woods forever and go to Gondolin. They told Eöl's servants they were leaving to visit the sons of Fëanor and left.  Eöl returned from the feast sooner than expected and was filled with wrath. He pursued them through the sunlight which he hated. And so it was that Eöl was captured by Curufin, one of the sons of Fëanor. A tense conversation takes place between the two as Eöl told of his errand to aid his son and wife, the White Lady of Gondolin, in their visit. Curufin laughed and Eöl learned they did stop to visit but were headed to elsewhere (Gondolin Eöl guessed).

Curufin bid Eöl leave, the sooner the better for he had no love for him. Eöl, feigning politeness thanked his kinsman for the help. Curifin then looked angrily at Eöl and responded, "'Do not flaunt the title of your wife before me...For those who steal the daughters of the Noldor and wed them without gift or leave do not gain kinship with their kin. I have given you leave to go. Take it, and be gone'" (p. 136, The Silmarillion). Curufin did forewarn Eöl though that should he continue his pursuit he would likely never return. Eöl rode on filled all the more with hatred for the Noldor. He espied Maeglin and Aredhel on the secret path to the outer gate of Gondolin. The people of Gondolin were overjoyed at the return of Aredhel and her brother listened in wonder to her tales. Maeglin bowed before Turgon taking him as King and Lord. The reunion was short lived as the gate guards brought a message of a captured Dark Elf, claiming Aredhel as wife, caught trying to gain entrance to the Hidden City.

Eöl was brought before Turgon and his court. Amazed at the vastness and beauty of Gondolin (as was Maeglin) it filled Eöl with more hatred. Turgon treated him with honor and as kin, rose to take his hand, and offered him citizenship in Gondolin, though he could never leave for he knew the secret ways in as was the law of the land. All that knew the way to the City could not depart. Eöl could contain his anger no longer. Defying Turgon's law, Eöl claimed the land belonged to his kin, the Teleri, whom the Noldor killed in the Kinslaying. He demanded his wife and son be returned, though he acknowledged Turgon's claim on Aredhel because they were brother and sister. Maeglin, he insisted, must depart with him, "Maeglin, Son of Eöl! Your father commands you. Leave the house of his enemies and the slayers of his kin, or be accursed!" (p. 137, The Silmarillion). Maeglin remained silent. Turgon pointed out that Eöl's land remained free only by the swords of the Noldor, but not wanting to debate said simply, "'This choice only is given to you: to abide here, or to die here; and so also for your son'" (p. 137, The Silmarillion).

For a long while Eöl only stared at Turgon and said nothing. Suddenly Eöl produced a hidden javelin, hurling it at Maeglin and shouted, "'The second choice I take and for my son also!'" (p. 138, The Silmarillion). Aredhel lept in front of Maeglin and was struck in the shoulder. Still Maeglin was silent. The next day Eöl was to be judged; Aredhel and Idril, Tugon's daughter, pleaded for mercy, but unbeknownst to all the dart was poisoned and Aredhel died in the night. No mercy was offered and Eöl was to be thrown off a high precipice along the mountains. Maeglin watched, saying nothing still. Eöl's last words were to curse his son before he was thrown to his death.

Idril was greatly troubled and no longer trusted her kin. Maeglin prospered greatly, teaching the people mining as he'd learned from the Dwarves, and he became like a mighty prince of the Noldor. He shirked no duty, silently carrying it out, with intentions to gain more power and influence. He taught mining to the Elves of Gondolin and helped to create strong weapons of war (referenced by Gandalf in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey indirectly). None knew Maeglin's heart save Idril. He loved Idril's beauty, however they were too close of kin for Elven marriage law and even if that were not so she did not love him. She perceived a crooked thing in him. So he watched, waited, and his love turned to darkness. "Thus it was in Gondolin; and amid all the bliss of that realm, while its glory lasted, a dark seed of evil was sown" (p. 139, The Silmarillion).

It would seem to me that Maeglin is not so different from his father. Wanting a woman he should not have. And what of Eöl and Aredhel--the husband kills the wife in a fit of rage? That crooked thing Idril perceived seems to always follow the Noldor. It's like the curse of sin that lives in all of humanity now. Try as we might we cannot escape it; I cannot escape it. Sin, selfishness, lust, pride, anger, and jealousy (to name a few) hound my choices seemingly choking the good I want. And so we will see this curse haunt Elves and Men for years as Tolkien portrays that inner struggle so well. Yet the hope we have in our lives is that of Jesus, His incarnation, His death, His burial, and His resurrection and the promise He brings for new life. New life now so that we are not enslaved to the sin any longer.

Middle-earth timeline: First Age, 400
Today's reading comes from: The Silmarillion, pages 136-139