[Anguirel]

More in-depth now.

My first thought is that this seems more of a poem than a chapter. If much of the Silmarillion is the bardic remebrance of wars and "toils in the north", then this forms a brief lyric interlude. You can imagine it being composed by Daeron.

Or perhaps by Melian herself, skilled in "songs of enchantment"? But I think I prefer the idea of Daeron.

I had forgotten that Melian was "akin" to Yavanna. It is a strange word to use, implying that this mere Maia has some blood-relationship to a Vala; a relic of the sexualised, "Classical" Ainur, of whom Melian is the only remnant in the published Silmarillion.

"He then forgot utterly all his people and all the purpose of his mind." Driven by "desire", Elwe becomes an irresponsible love-hero, like Amroth, and leaves behind kingship. Is this reprehensible or moving? Both, I suppose.

The silence of the meeting, which Aiwendil highlighted, is crucial and beautiful. "She spoke no word".

I like to romantically suppose that a spell was upon Melian as well as Elwe; that this was a chance-meeting, not an entrapment by Melian with the aim of providing a haven for the Elves...after all, she left Middle-Earth after her husband's death.