Silmarillion - Chapter 04 - Of Thingol and Melian

[Aiwendil]

A very short chapter, if an important one. The fact that Elwe remains in Middle-earth will of course have significant repurcussions later in the story.

The meeting of Elwe and Melian in some ways prefigures the meeting of Beren and Luthien – note, for example, the mention of nightingales. But we have here also the strange element of the ‘spell’ laid on Elwe; they stand there for ‘long years’ and the trees ‘grew tall and dark before they spoke any word.’ It’s an unusual and, I think, very striking image.

I’ve always wondered about Melian’s motivation here. To her is always attributed a great power of foresight. Did she intentionally lure Elwe to her? Did she perhaps have some knowledge of the later importance of the Sindar in the history of Beleriand? Or was their meeting as much a matter of chance on her part as on Elwe’s? We learn in Tolkien’s essay ‘Osanwe-kenta’ that the act of conceiving and bearing a child tends to tie a Maia to a single physical form. It is therefore a very significant decision on Melian’s part to wed an Elf.

The story of Thingol’s meeting with Melian first entered in the ‘Book of Lost Tales’ phase and was retained more or less unchanged thereafter. It was only in the 1950s revision, though, that it was given its own chapter. This is in itself an interesting decision, considering its brevity.

Additional reading
‘Osanwe-kenta’ in Vinyar Tengwar 39