Of Meglin
I know love makes little sense sometimes, but how Aredhel ended up with Eol is a complete mystery to me. She left majestic Gondolin to visit her friends, the sons of Feanor, but ended up in Nan Elmoth. There, she marries Eol who forbids her to go out beneath the sun or visit the sons of Feanor who she had desired to see in the first place. She exchanges one bondage for another in the search for freedom–curious to say the least. Their ‘love-story’ (if you can call it that) is so off-kilter that it’s no great surprise that their relationship leads to total disaster for them both. Worse, their son, Maeglin, is a freak who falls in love with his first-cousin and becomes the “seed of darkness” in Gondolin. And yet., early on we know there’s something evil about his intentions since the thing that most interested him about Gondolin to begin with was that Turgon had no heir. Tolkien, never shy about foreshadowing the darkness/evil that is coming, introduces Maeglin, leaving us to wonder just what part exactly will he play in the fall of Gondolin (if that’s possible) or the rest of Beleriand.
Till next time, keep thinking,
mark-edmond
