Meril was the wife of Felagund and the mother of Gil-galad, according to a version of the legendarium following the completion of The Lord of the Rings in c. 1950.
She was sent away by Felagund along their son Gil-galad (still a child) to her own folk in Eglorest during the Dagor Bragollach, due to Felagund fearing "that all strong places were doomed to fall at last before the might of Morgoth".[1]
Etymology
The name Meril is the Sindarin word for rose used as a name.[2][3]
Other versions of the legendarium
The War of the Jewels
Felagund's wife appears again (this time without a name) in a pencilled note near the opening of the Beren and Lúthien chapter of the Quenta Silmarillion:[1]
But foreseeing evil he commanded Orodreth to send away his son Gilgalad, and wife.
However, this note was struck out, and somewhat further in the Beren and Lúthien chapter (in the part referring to Orodreth's expulsion of Celegorm and Curufin) there appears another note wherein the unnamed wife[note 1] of Inglor "forsook the folk of Nargothrond and went with her son Gilgalad to the Havens of the Falas".[1]
This has Felagund's wife and son (Gil-galad) only leaving Nargothrond after the expulsion of Celegorm and Curufin (in F.A. 465)[4] or later.
The Peoples of Middle-earth
An otherwise unnamed wife of Finrod appears yet again (though not in any explicit association with Gil-galad) in a note from the late 1960s:[5]
During their dwelling in Nargothrond as refugees he had grown to love Finrod and ^ his wife, and was aghast at the behaviour of his father and would not go with him.
See also
Notes
- ↑ There was a blank space left for the name of Inglor/Felagund's wife in the note.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Two. The Later Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin (Chapter 15)", p. 242
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part One: The End of the Third Age: XI. The Epilogue", pp. 129-31
- ↑ Didier Willis, "Hiswelókë's Sindarin Dictionary", Jrrvf.com, accessed 4 February 2014
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part One. The Grey Annals": §182
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "Notes", note 7, pp. 317-8