Your Take On Eöl & Maeglin

[Nikkolas]

Apart from Feanor and his more despicable children, these are probably the two most infamous elves.

Eöl at the very least tends to be vilified quite a lot online from what I can see. There s apparently another telling of the story between him and Maeglin's mother where he outright rapes her or forces her or something. But that isn't in The Silmarillion so i don't care about it. Based just on The Sil, he was initially not such a bad guy as far as I'm concerned. He liked his solitude and disliked other elves and that was it. He used some manner of enchantment to lead Aredhel to him but there's nothing at all to even vaguely suggest he forced her to stay with him. She fell in love with him of her own free will and they were happy for a time.

Then he kinda went overboard with his possessiveness but my main point is that often he is painted as always having been some kind of a monster and I don't see it.

Maeglin meanwhile gets an unfair rap with the whole "the only Elf ever to turn to Morgoth" thing. But ya know, I'd still take him over Feanor. It took literal torture by the hands of the most evil being ever to exist to break him, even if he had seeds of lust already planted within. Moreover, it was desire for a woman that prompted his actions and I can understand that infinitely more than desire for jewels.

And of cours all of that came after being orphaned in a rather dramatic and obviously taumatizing way.

So that's my two cents. How about you? Do you view them as black-hearted villains or more greyish antagonists?

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by Nikkolas

Eöl at the very least tends to be vilified quite a lot online from what I can see. There s apparently another telling of the story between him and Maeglin's mother where he outright rapes her or forces her or something. But that isn't in The Silmarillion so i don't care about it. Based just on The Sil, he was initially not such a bad guy as far as I'm concerned. He liked his solitude and disliked other elves and that was it. He used some manner of enchantment to lead Aredhel to him but there's nothing at all to even vaguely suggest he forced her to stay with him. She fell in love with him of her own free will and they were happy for a time.

This is pretty much how I felt when I first read the silmarillion, he does come across as a bit manipulative but not altogether evil, I think some of the negative connotations come with his later actions in Gondolin, and I think by that time, his character had maybe become 'more evil' than before,
but not a main antagonist.

[Inziladun]

Eöl to me is a pretty unsympathetic character just because of his surliness. Based on the story as told in The Silmarillion, Aredhel was by no means forced into marriage with him though, even though he did manipulate her path in the woods to draw her to him.

Ultimately, I think the "judgement" on him was not unfavorable, at least from the point of view of the Valar. I base that on the fact that his uttered curse of Maeglin "Here may you yet die the same death as I", seems to have been fulfilled, as Maeglin was slain by falling himself. Maybe that says Maeglin was judged to have committed the greater evils of the two.

[Andsigil]

I've always thought of Eol as a hermit who's more misanthropic than evil (his attempted crime of passion at Gondolin, notwithstanding).

Maeglin's rap was deserved. He was jealous and lusted after his first cousin (!). He also wilted under pressure when facing Morgoth, where others like Hurin didn't (probably because his heart was already so tainted).

[Morthoron]

Eol has always been one of my favorite Tolkien characters. Quite different than the insufferable Noldor, and a character that Tolkien actually imbued with a distinct persona, unlike most of the tediously perfect Elves in his works.

Tolkien may not have liked his creation morally (and nearly every character Tolkien dislikes morally finds a nasty end), but like Milton's Lucifer being far more real and living than the Archangel Michael in Paradise Lost (the great William Blake slyly noted that Milton was "of the Devil's party without knowing it."), Tolkien obviously found creating Eol more interesting than most of the generic elves he portrayed, even editing out the rape of Aredhel to more of a seductiion so that Eol would not appear utterly evil.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Tolkien may not have liked his creation morally (and nearly every character Tolkien dislikes morally finds a nasty end), but like Milton's Lucifer being far more real and living than the Archangel Michael in Paradise Lost (the great William Blake slyly noted that Milton was "of the Devil's party without knowing it."), Tolkien obviously found creating Eol more interesting than most of the generic elves he portrayed, even editing out the rape of Aredhel to more of a seductiion so that Eol would not appear utterly evil.

Good one, I like the Milton's Lucifer reference! And I think you are quite right. The other day I thought of Gollum, and how he is a fantastic character. Utterly corrupted, but still with a core of humanity left deep inside, and his fascinating persona comes out vividly in the books. The members of the fellowship (with the exception of Sam) are actually quite dull as characters I think. But Gollum, he's an amazing fictional character, Tolkien must have loved writing those parts.

And yeah I like Eöl too, as a character he also comes out vividly. Feels like I understand how he thinks, and it makes sense from his point of view, though he really isn't a pleasant fellow, is he? Maeglin is a cool character too. Morally he really is detestable. Ungrateful son, ungrateful foster-son, traitor to all. But still, you can feel for him, he had some rough times.