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Old 02-24-2006, 02:53 PM   #52
Lalwendė
A Mere Boggart
 
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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Lalwendė is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Lalwendė is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Aredhel most closely links to Eowyn. Both are women confined within their realms who wish to do more. Aredhel, like Eowyn, grows in age and eventually realises that she is in fact imprisoned in her 'safety'; we only see Aredhel as one representative of those who might have felt restricted, but it is likely that there would have been others who wished to go beyond the walls of the city. Aredhel even declares to Turgon that she is not his 'slave'. Defiant she may be, but Turgon has no moral 'right' to keep his people from leaving Gondolin. Therein lies the difference between Theoden and Turgon; the former gives his niece a duty to do which she derelicts, the latter only seeks to needlessly confine.

Attempting to keep a body of people in confinement was a doomed venture from the outset. Either you insist that people stay and become a despot and little better than a prison warder to a body of people who have committed no crime, or you let them leave if they wish and face the very real risk that they will reveal the location of this hideout. Either way, you are going to lose.

Eol's reaction to Turgon was entirely expected, and one of the things that I dislike about Turgon is that he did not anticipate such an event occurring when he decided to go ahead with the foundation of Gondolin. Eol was driven to find his wife and child (who he treated as 'possessions' much in the same way that Turgon treated his sister as a 'possession') and furthermore was taunted by another of the Noldor while he sought her. An Elf faced with a superior power who have come to dominate his home, who has lost his wife and child, it is not surprising that he reacted as he did.

He is then told he will be confined to this 'prison' for good. His actions in attempting to kill his family must have been an act of desperation; they would escape confinement but would be reunited in the Halls of Mandos. I am not saying this is right you understand, but a likely consequence of misguided notions.

Eol is then put to death, which although being wrong, even in terms of Tolkien's world, is also inevitable. He could not be kept in Gondolin as he would be a loose cannon, and he cannot be released as he would reveal its location.

I like how all the tales of the Noldor are tales which show us how the Elves, who so many idolise, are not infallible and perfect beings - but expressed by Tolkien almost entirely without moral didacticism, leaving it up to us to argue. . The stories of Turgon are just one example of a flawed Elf, Feanor is much worse. But I enjoy the tales of Feanor much more and find him more thrilling as a character, perhaps because his 'badness' is expressed in terms of action as opposed to politics.
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