Tolkien's final First Age timeline

[Huinesoron]

A rather nice coincidence is that in its default settings, the Interactive Timeline answers a question I had about the House of Finwe, which is: where are all the great-grandkids? By his latest comments, nearly half of his grandkids were married in Aman (Maelor Curufin Caranthir, Finrod Angrod, Turgon - 6 out of 15), but between them they only produced at most three children of their own (Idril, Celebrimbor, Orodreth). 1 > 5 > 15 > 3 is an incredibly weird family tree.

The default settings for the timeline give a really clear answer: the Quendi didn't have children in times of trouble, and Melkor begins to make trouble right about when they would be expected to start. Celebrimbor is born less than 200 years before Melkor's release; Orodreth and Idril end up being those rare children who are born in troubled times.

Which makes sense for both of them, because that's their own story: Orodreth had two children in Beleriand, and Idril actually had her son after the Nirnaeth, living in the one place in the world Morgoth wanted to find more than any other.

Equally, looking at the marriages which didn't produce children: Finrod is known to be foresighted, and Caranthir only marries 30 years before the "bliss of Aman is dimmed" by Melkor's meddling. The real outlier is Maelor, who should certainly marry first, and on the timeline has nearly a thousand years to start a family. Perhaps he had foresight of his own - or perhaps he was simply too invested in his musical arts to want to spend any effort on the art of child-raising.

It is a coincidence, and it goes away as soon as you change any of the relevant settings - but I quite like it.

hS