Morgoth's Ring (48 page)

(+ [footnote to the text] Miriel Serinde: that is Byrde Miriel (Miriel the Broideress): quoth AElfwine.)

the labour of living. She went then to Lorien and laid her down to sleep beneath a silver tree; but though she seemed to sleep, her spirit indeed departed from her body and passed in silence to the keeping of Mandos, and abode in the house of Vaire.(4) The maidens of Este tended her fair body so that it remained unwithered, but she did not return.

$9 Finwe lived in sorrow; and he went often to the gardens of Lorien, and sitting beneath the silver willows beside the body of his wife he called her by her names. But it was of no avail, and Finwe alone in all the Blessed Realm was bereaved of joy.

After a while he went to Lorien no more, for it increased his grief to see the fair form of Miriel that would not hear his call.

All his love he gave now to his son; for Feanor in childhood was like his mother in voice and countenance, and Finwe was to him both father and mother and there was a double bond of love upon them.

$10 Yet Finwe was not content, being young and eager; and he still desired to have more children to bring mirth into his house. When, therefore, twelve years had passed he went again to Manwe. 'My Lord,' he said, 'behold! I am bereaved. Alone among the Eldar I have no wife, and must hope for no sons save one, and for no daughter. Whereas Ingwe and Olwe beget many children in the bliss of Aman. Must I remain ever so? For my heart warns me that Miriel will not return again ever from the house of Vaire.'

$11 Then Manwe was moved with pity for Finwe; but because this seemed to him a great matter, and the coming of death (albeit of free will) into the Blessed Realm a grave portent not lightly to be judged, he summoned the Valar in Council, and bade the chieftains and loremasters of the Eldar also to be present. Of the long debate of the Valar the Eldar wrote a record. This they called Namna Finwe Miriello, the Statute of Finwe and Miriel,(5) and it was preserved among the books of their Law; for in the debate many matters concerning the Eldar, their fate in Arda, and their death and re-birth, were examined and judged. For the Valar were greatly concerned to see that their labour for the guarding of Valinor was unavailing, if any thing, living or unliving, was brought thither out of Middle-earth, and they perceived now more clearly how great was the hurt that Melkor of old had done to the substance of Arda, so that all those who were incarnate and drew the sustenance of their bodies from Arda Marred, must ever be liable to grief, to do or to suffer things unnatural in Arda Unmarred. And this marring could not now be wholly undone, not even by Melkor repentant; for power had gone forth from him and could not be recalled, but would continue to work according to the will that had set it in motion. And with this thought a shadow passed over the hearts of the Valar, presage of the sorrows which the Children should bring into the world.

$12 But when all was said, Manwe commanded Mandos to speak and announce his judgement. Then Mandos stood upon the Doom-hill and said:

'It is the way of Life that Iluvatar hath ordained for you, his children, as ye know well, that the life of the Quendi shall not end until the end of Arda; and that they shall take each one spouse only and have no other in their life, while Arda endureth.

But herein no account is taken of Death, which cometh from the marring of Arda. This doom is, therefore, now made by the right of lawgiving that Iluvatar committed to Manwe.

When the spirit of a spouse, husband or wife, shall for any cause pass into the keeping of Mandos, then the living may be permitted lawfully to take another spouse, if the former union be dissolved for ever.

$13 'How shall a marriage be ended for ever? By the will of the Dead, or by the doom of Mandos. By the will of the Dead, if they refuse ever to return to the life of the body; by the doom of Mandos, if he will not permit them to return. For a union that was for the life of Arda is ended, if it cannot be resumed within the life of Arda.

$14 'We say "by the will of the Dead", for it would be unjust that the Living should for their own purposes confine the Dead in Mandos, denying to them all hope of return. It is also unjust that the Dead by refusal of life should compel the Living to remain solitary until the End; and therefore we have declared that in such case the Living may take another spouse. But understand well that if this be done, then the refusal of life by the Dead shall be irrevocable, and they shall never again return to life in the body. For none among the Quendi shall have two spouses at one time awake and alive.

'This is the doom of Namo Mandos in this matter.'

$15 When Mandos had spoken thus, the Eldar who were present asked'. 'How then shall the will or the doom be known?'

It was answered: 'Only by recourse to Manwe, and by the pronouncement of Mandos. For who among the Living can discover the will of the Dead, or presume the judgements of Mandos?'

$16 Then Manwe called Finwe to him, and said: 'Thou hast heard the doom that has been declared. If Miriel, thy wife, will not return, your (6) marriage is ended, and thou hast leave to take another wife. But this is permission, not counsel. For the severance cometh from the marring of Arda; and those who accept this permission accept the marring, whereas the bereaved who remain steadfast belong in spirit and will to Arda Unmarred. This is a grave matter upon which the fate of many may depend. Be not in haste!'

$17 Finwe answered: 'I am in no haste, My Lord, and my heart has no desire, save the hope that when this doom is made clear to Miriel, she may yet relent and set a term to my bereavement.'

$18 Vaire with whom Miriel dwelt made known to her the doom,(7) and spoke also of the sorrow of Finwe. But Miriel answered: 'I came hither to escape from the body, and I do not desire ever to return to it, My life has gone out into Feanor, my son. That gift I have given to him whom I loved. I can give no more. Beyond Arda this may be healed, but not within it.'

$19 Then Vaire said to Mandos: 'The spirit of Miriel hath dwelt with me, and I know it. It is small, but it is strong and obdurate: one of those who having said this will I do make their words a law irrevocable unto themselves. Unless constrained, she will not return to life or to Finwe, not though he should wait until the ageing of the world.'(8)

$20 But Mandos said: It is not lawful for the Valar to constrain the Dead to return'; and he summoned the spirit of Miriel to appear before him. 'Thy will must rule in this matter, spirit of Miriel, once wife of Finwe,' he said. 'In Mandos thou shalt abide. But take heed! Thou art of the Quendi, and even if thou refuse the body, thou must remain in Arda and within the time of its history. The Eldar are not as the Valar. Their spirits are less strong to stand than thou deemest. Do not wonder, then, if thy will should change in time, and this doom which thou takest upon thyself become grievous to thee. Yea, and to many others!'

$21 But the spirit of Miriel remained silent. Mandos therefore accepted her choice, and she went then to the Halls of Waiting appointed to the Eldar and was left in peace.*(9) Nonetheless Mandos declared that a space of twelve years should pass between the declaration of the will of the Dead and the pronouncement of the doom of disunion.

$22 During that time Feanor dwelt in the care of his father.

Soon he began to show forth the skills in hand and mind of both Finwe and Miriel. As he grew from childhood he became ever more like Finwe in stature and countenance, but in mood he resembled Miriel rather. His will was strong and determined, and he pursued all his purposes both eagerly and steadfastly.

Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force.

$23 It came to pass that after three years more Finwe took as second wife Indis the fair. She was in all ways unlike Miriel.

She was not of the Noldor but of the Vanyar, being the sister of Ingwe; and she was golden-haired and tall and exceedingly swift of foot. She did not labour with her hands, but made music and wove words into song; and there was ever light and mirth about her while the bliss of Aman lasted.

$24 She loved Finwe dearly; for her heart had turned to him long before, while the Vanyar still dwelt with the Noldor in Tuna. In those days she had looked upon the Lord of the Noldor, and he seemed to her fairest and noblest of the Eldar, dark-haired and white of brow, eager of face but with eyes full of thought; and his voice and mastery of words delighted her.

Therefore she remained unwedded when her people removed to Valinor, and she walked often alone in the friths and fields of the Valar, filling them with music.

$25 Now Ingwe, hearing of the strange grief of Finwe, and desiring to lift up his heart and withdraw him from vain mourning in Lorien, had sent messages bidding him to leave Tuna for a while, and to come and dwell for a season in the full light of the Trees. Finwe thanked him but did not go, while there was yet hope that Miriel would return. But when the doom of Mandos was spoken, it came into his heart that he must seek to build his life anew. 'Maybe, there is healing in the light of Laurelin and hope in the blossom of Telperion,' he said.

'I will take the counsel of Ingwe.'

(* [footnote to the text] But it is said that after a time she was permitted to return to the house of Vaire, and there it was her part to record in web and broidery all the histories of the Kin of Finwe and the deeds of the Noldor.)

$26 Therefore one day, when Feanor was far abroad walking in the mountains in the strength of his youth, Finwe arose and went forth from Tuna alone, and he passed through the Kalakiryan, and went towards the house of Ingwe upon the west slopes of Oiolosse. His coming was unheralded and unforeseen; and when Indis saw Finwe climbing the paths of the Mountain, and the light of Laurelin was behind him as a glory, without forethought she sang suddenly in great joy, and her voice went up as a song of the lirulin * in the sky. Then Finwe heard that song falling from above, and he looked up and saw Indis in the golden light, and he knew in that moment that she loved him and had long done so. Then his heart turned at last to her; and he believed that this chance, as it seemed, had been granted for the comfort of them both. 'Behold!' he said. 'There is indeed healing of grief in Aman!'

$27 In one year from their meeting upon the Mountain Finwe, King of the Noldor, wedded Indis, sister of Ingwe; and the Vanyar and Noldor for the most part rejoiced. In Indis was first proved true the saying: The loss of one may be the gain of another; but this saying also she found true: The house remembers the builder, though others may dwell in it after. For Finwe loved her dearly, and was glad again; and she bore him five children whom he loved;+(10) yet the shadow of Miriel did not depart from the house of Finwe, nor from his heart; and of all whom he loved Feanor had ever the chief share of his thought.

$28 The wedding of the father was not pleasing to Feanor; and though it did not lessen the love between them, Feanor had no great love for Indis or her children. As soon as he might he lived apart from them, exploring the land of Aman, or busying himself with the lore and the crafts in which he delighted. In those unhappy things which later came to pass, and in which Feanor was the leader, many saw the effect of this breach in the house of Finwe, judging that if Finwe had endured his loss and had been content with the fathering of his mighty son, the courses of Feanor would have been otherwise, and great sorrow and evil might have been prevented. Yet the children of Indis (* [footnote to the text] The lark.)

(+ [footnote to the text] Findis, Fingolfin, Finvain, [Finarphin >]

Finarfin and Faniel: three daughters, and two sons (Fingolfin and Finarfin).)

were great and glorious, and their children also; and if they had not lived, the history of the Eldar would have been the poorer."

NOTES.

1. See Note (i) following Laws and Customs and my father's comment on it, pp. 250 - 1.

2. In FM 2 it is said, following Laws and Customs p. 236, that Miriel gave the name Feanaro to her son 'at birth', and at this point a long footnote is added on the subject of name-giving: According to the custom of the Eldar. In addition to their 'true names', which were their father-name and their chosen name, they often received other or 'added names'. Of these the most important were the mother-names. Mothers often gave to their children special names of their own choosing, the most notable of which were 'names of insight'. In the hour of birth, or on some other occasion of moment, a mother might give to her child a name that referred to dominant features of its nature as she perceived it, or that came of foresight and referred to its special fate. Names of this kind might become more widely used than the father-name (which was often only the name of the father repeated or modified); and if the child adopted a mother-name as a 'chosen name', then it became also a 'true name'. Curufinwe took Feanaro as his chosen name. Feanor is the form that this name took in the later speech of the Exiled Noldor.