Quote:
Originally Posted by Orphalesion
Yes I dispute this; Aredhel was born in Valinor, long before Gondolin was founded and was a fully grown woman by the time of Feanor's rebellion....
|
Cheers Orhpalesion,
That makes my comment about Aredhel and her 100 years, and making an inference about rates of elfy maturation, like Entwive wombs grow corn, because Aredhel unValinored her Eolisation, when Maeglin vomited the Silmaril...up...again...backwards
It has been a very long time since I re-read the Silmarillion--probably 15 years, and I got all tra la la lally, Goldberry Ungolients Lembas, and so, womb-ed elf children, about Aredhel
I just re-read "Of Maeglin", here's something interesting....
...but his father gave him no name until he was twelve years old. Then he called him Maeglin, which is sharp glance.
The Silmarillion, p. 160, paperback, Allen & Unwen, 1979 Edition (it's good 'n old, nice yellowed pages
Not this tells us definitively a great deal, but there was no reason to presuppose that we're to think of anything other than your 'average 12 year old' as we read this prose. Surely JRRT would have said something about differentials in maturation rates for this, were we supposed to think that Maeglin was 'younger' developmentally, than a human. Just a thought.
On an aside, I'm sorry, but how on Valinor can Maeglin be a 'Dark Elf'. The text says "he was kinsman of Thingol of Doriath!" And bangs on, several times, about Eol being proudly Telerin, cross, bothered and spitting chips about all the Noldor-ish Elfy things ruining his Telerin party. Though, he has dark hair! Ha? Telerin, and all that! Poor Maeglin, though. I mean, what chance have you got - ma is poisoned to death by a javelin, by dad, who was trying to kill Maeglin. Then, the Noldor-ish idea about 'justice' was to - um WHAT - TOSS EOL off the CLIFFS! OMG! Then, Maeglin gets his first cousin all increasingly weirded out coz he has the hots for Idril, who just gets weirder in her behaviour towards Maeglin, which weirds Maeglin out further and makes him all dark and--evil? Ha?
Sorry, Tolkien's got a few problems here. Maeglin is a product of perverse Elfy conventions, who think it's okay to toss relatives off cliffs, but who think Maeglin's a great weirdo for thinking what he did about his first cousin. I mean, Eru-have mercy! Maeglin wasn't socialised with his first couz and so, to his perspective, she's just a beautiful Elf. He wouldn't have the same kinds of feelings as would be expected for close co-rearing and growing together as children. Really! Those Elfy conventions were harsh and would have warped Maeglin, leaving him vulnerable for warping by Morgoth.