‘Sharp Glance’
Elves
> Maeglin
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One of the characters that certainly marked the
history of Beleriand,
especially negatively, is Maeglin, son of Eöl. The father was a
Dark Elf, an able blacksmith, that had taken as wife Aredhel, the
beautiful sister of King Turgon.
The name Maeglin,
meaning "Sharp
Glance", was given to him him when he was twelve by his father,
who saw that the eyes of the child were more penetrating than his and
realized that he had excellent ability in seeing into the heart of
others, perceiving excitements and purposes. In the meantime he
received a secret name from Aredhel, to whom he was very
affectionate. She called him Lómion,
meaning "Son of Twilight",
which was quite accurate because Eöl moved himself (and his
family) in Nan Elmoth’s darkness. There, Maeglin learned the art of
metallurgy that would prove very useful later in Gondolin:
"Often he went
with Eöl to the cities of the
Dwarves[…]and there he learned eagerly what they would teach, and above
all the craft of finding the ores of metals in the mountains."
-Silmarillion
Although taciturn and solitary, Maeglin's words held
a power capable of shaking bystanders and of winning against his
opponents. This ability matched that of the Noldor, the kinsmen of his
mother, of whom she often narrated tales only when the father was far
away,
because he was openly antagonistic towards the Noldor, believing they
were
assassins: people that had exterminated his people. Maeglin, being of
Noldor stock, showed often his impetus in battle and his princely
charisma, talents he would be distinguished for later on.
After becoming adult, all the desires transmitted to
him by his mother detonated,
with his memories of her people, and he did not hide his desire to
go to Gondolin.
One time that the father was away, Maeglin took the
initiative and spoke to his
mother of his intention to abandon the darkness of Nan Elmoth forever,
so he said to her:
"Why shall we not
seek for Gondolin? You shall
be my guide, and I will be your guard."
They departed, riding
towards the Hidden Rock.
They were unaware that Eol had suspected for a long
time that they might do this, and that he followed
them furtively, with even more hatred in his heart for the Noldor. He
was bent on
bringing home these people that in his own way he loved.
Eol entered Gondolin and was received in a worthy
way by the sovereign,
Turgon, but Eol manifested all his anger because he was not allowed to
go
out from the kingdom; he abandoned life and chose death for
him and for Maeglin. This went awry, as Maeglin was saved to the
detriment of
the mother who died by the hit of Eol's poisoned javelin.
From this moment
Maeglin became darker and said nothing in front of his father,
who predicted he would die the same manner of death. Eol was then
launched over
the cliffs where the city in the Caragdûr abyss was placed, and
bumped three times on the way down.
Ascended to
prestige among the Gondolindrim for his greed of
knowledge and his ability, Maeglin did not open his heart to anyone and
few people were able to understand his contorted spirit, with the
exception of Idril, the daughter of the king. In his heart Maeglin
loved
her, but understanding that it was an impossible love he bent all
his genius towards increasing his personal power, but the malevolence
was
borne in his soul.
After having shown great boldness in the Nirnaeth
Arnoediad, and after having assumed the command of one of the
most
important among the twelve Gondolin Lineages, that of the Mole, he was
captured by a battalion of orcs while he was walking
defenceless, and was deported to Angband. It was because of his hate
towards Tuor
that he had distinguished himself in front of the eyes of the king and
above all of his daughter Idril, and therefore it came easy to him to
betray Gondolin to save his own life, performing one of the most
ominous gestures in all the Tolkienian cycle. Then he delivered the
city into the hands of the enemy,
for he accepted the order to return among the people that trusted him
to help from
inside the city the army that was coming to exterminate everybody and
destroy a powerful kingdom. This deed shows how this great character
definitely turned towards
wickedness, the same as his dead father.
During the siege he met Tuor,
his rival, who wanted to have his wife Idril and their little son,
Eärendil, returned, who Maeglin had with him. The clash was bloody
and he saw the
deadly Eöl prophecy come true: Maeglin ended falling in the abyss
and, as Eol prophesied,
his body bumped three times against the walls before the final fall
into
the underlying flames.
So a great elf has been lost. He was
great
both in military and technical art, but he had been upset by the will
of Fate, that decides everything.
Reference: Silmarillion
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