![]() |
Idril the Traitor
I stumbled upon a rather interesting bit of text about the fall of gondolin. (as it is told in The Book of Lost tales)
Quote:
I am however questioning her way to go about it! When a person forms his own private guard and his followers starts encouraging others to rally behind him in case of the kings death, it starts to look like the preparations for a "Coup d'état". Through history many people have been executed for less. . . So is it just me or was this a very clumsy way of preparing for the worst? Did Idrill (and Tuor) not take a very big risk by acting as they did, could they not have isolated Maeglin politically, make him loose the kings favor or just work on having the loyalty of the other houses of Gondolin? |
Quote:
That fear of Maeglin was certainly merited, as jealousy of Tuor was one of his primary motivations for betraying Gondolin to Morgoth. If he was willing to do that, who knows what he might have done if he had learned of a plot to shut him out of Turgon's favour? |
Quote:
Now Tuor was held in high regard with the king, if he could improve his position with the king even more, then he might not have to plot, but simply use his influence to limit Maeglin's power. Instead they chose a path that could lead to total destruction, if Maeglin had found out what Idril had done and used the information right, he could have isolated them or worse. |
Quote:
|
I have always admired Idril. Given that the preparations were largely in the event of Turgon's death and she was the rightful heir - or mother of the heir if a woman was considered unfit :rolleyes: I think coup d'etat is not quite the situation. I do see that it could look bad especially since Turgon's weakness was his faith in the strength of Gondolin.
I have always thought of Idril as wise and resourceful and motivated by the good of her people. Tolkien's blondes are so much more interesting than the brunettes :Merisu: |
Quote:
Given the expectation (justified) that *Maeglin* might resort to violence, I see nothing treasonable in forming a bodyguard. |
I do not doubt that Idril's intentions where pure, it is how her actions looked in the eyes of others that I have my doubts over.
I do realise that en feudal societies the nobility was the sword weilding class and that it was not uncommon to keep some number of armed men. How many was kept varies greatly. . . Gondolin however does not strike me as a typical feudal society.It seems like the nobility of Gondolin is without land, atleast compared to the land possesing nobility of europe. In many respects it was this land that enabled the nobility to keep an armed force and to contribute to countrys army. It is clear that the different leaders of Gondolin had followers, but I don't seem to recal it being normal with a body guard and so to me it still seems that Idril's actions must have seem drastic. Of course she was the rightful heir as Mith points out and that might have made it look less suspicous, although righful heirs have been known to usurp the throne before time. |
^^ I don't think Idril was thought of as Turgon's heir. One of the stories that Maeglin's mother told him according to the Silmarillon is that Turgon had no heir. I don't believe that it is expressly stated but that phrase seemed to imply that Turgon's lack of a successor was one of the things that Maeglin found interesting about Gondolin and may have motivated him to go there.
With respect to Rune's original question, I think that Idril did the best that she could in the circumstances. Turgon did not want to leave, not merely because of Maeglin's counsel but because he himself had fallen into the trap of loving too well the work of his hands. Perhaps Idril had already tried a more direct approach, trying to get her father to listen to Tuor's warning and having failed at that she went to plan B. |
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:24 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.