Tolkien Encyclopedia > Mankind > Firiel
Firiel of Númenor
Firiel was a maiden in Númenor, the daughter
of Orontor, who had sailed away into the West on an errand only few
knew the purpose of, though others guessed at it. Was Firiel privy to
the knowledge? If not, she may have guessed. Even as her father had,
she retained her beliefs in Eru and the West.
As the Lost Road
recounts, Firiel’s years without a father in the house of Elendil,
leader of the Faithful of Númenor, were fraught with dangers to
those who resisted Sauron and Ar-Pharazon the king. These perils also
threatened Firiel herself, as is shown by Herendil Elendilyon’s
(Elendil’s son’s) response to her singing an ‘even-song’ in Quenya that
spoke of Eru and the Valar: ‘“She
should not sing that song out of a window,” said Herendil, breaking the
silence. “They sing it otherwise now. Melko(r) cometh back, they say,
and the king shall give us the Sun forever.”’
Elendil ‘loved Orontor’; Firiel ‘was dwelling in his house because Orontor had departed.’
It is also said of Orontor’s departure: ‘Men
said he was on a long voyage. Others said that he had fled the
displeasure of the king. Elendil knew that he was on a mission from
which he might never return, or return too late.’
If it is true that Orontor ‘had fled the displeasure of the king’, then this might endanger Elendil and his household as much as that the Elf-friend was ‘a leader in this matter.’ On that he is a leader, Elendil says, ‘And I have counted the peril, both for me and for thee and all whom I love.’
That there was peril is undoubted; ‘…already men had begun to fear (the night)’; ‘”There
is a shadow, but it is the shadow of the fear of Death, and the shadow
of greed. But there is also a shadow of darker evil. We no longer see
our king. His displeasure falleth on men, and they go out; they are in
the evening, and in the morning they are not. The open is insecure;
walls are dangerous. Even by the heart of the house spies may sit. And
there are prisons, and chambers underground. There are torments; and
there are evil rites. The woods at night, that once were fair–men would
roam and sleep there for delight, when thou wert but a babe–are now
filled with horror. Even our gardens are not wholly clean, after the
sun has fallen. And now even by day smoke riseth from the temple:
flowers and grass are withered were it falleth. The old songs are
forgotten or altered; twisted into other meanings.”
“Yea: that one learneth day by day,” said Herendil.’
Also ‘…the dark is no longer wholesome in this land. Let us go home. I
must tell and ask you much this evening–behind closed doors,
where maybe thou wilt feel safer.”’And ‘Herendil got suddenly to his
feet, and went to the window. “It is cold, father,” he said; “and the
Moon is gone. I trust the garden is empty. The trees grow too near to
the house.” He drew a heavy embroidered cloth across the window, and
then returned, crouching by the fire, as if smitten by a sudden chill.’
The danger to Elendil and his household is especially expressed by Herendil’s words: ‘”Thou
art mad,” said his son, turning at last up on his side and facing
Elendil, with dread and fear in his eyes. “Do not say such things to
me! They might, they might…”
“Who are they, and what might they do?” said Elendil, but a chill fear passed from his son’s eyes to his own heart.
"Do not ask, and
do not speak–so loud!" Herendil turned away, and lay prone with his
face buried in his hands. "Thou knowest it is dangerous–to us all.
Whatever he be, Sauron is mighty, and hath ears. I fear the dungeons.
And I love thee, I love thee."'
Other than this information on the setting of her
life, nothing is known about Firiel, save that 'Firiel was fair' in the
Lost Road. Never again does
she appear connected with Númenor's downfall, although the name
reaccurs: Firiel Fairbairn, grand-daughter of Samwise; Firiel Queen of
Arnor (direct descendant of Anárion grandson of Elendil); and
the character Firiel in The Last Ship, the final poem of the Adventures of Tom Bombadil. (However, the Firiel in The Last Ship
could relate, closer than others, to Firiel of Númenor; the poem
tells how the maiden Firiel refuses passage on the last Elven ship
sailing from the world known to men, because she was bound to her Earth
and was its daughter. Her name, 'Firiel', means 'mortal maid', which
may explain why Tolkien chose it.) Another use of the name appears in
the Etymologies (where the name is given its meaning) as a 'later name of Lúthien.' This seems to refer to when Lúthien became mortal. The name also appears in Morgoth’s Ring,
as the later name of the Elf Míriel upon becoming the weaving
handmaiden of Vairë after her return to Mandos, and as a passing
name of one of Elendil’s sons in Sauron Defeated.
However, it is possible the Queen of Arnor's
connection to Elendil may go back to Firiel whom Elendil had taken in.
It is possible; but the Lost Road,
in which Firiel of Númenor appears, was never completed, and
there are no other certain traces of the daughter of Orontor, he who
journeyed into the West.
References:
Part One: The Fall of Númenor and the Lost
Road, III The Lost Road, ii The Númenorean Chapters, The Lost Road and Other Writings. The History of Middle-earth 5.
Part Three: "The Etymologies", The Lost Road and Other Writings
16 "The Last Ship", The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Sauron Defeated
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