Morgoth's Ring (44 page)

This judgement is known as the 'Statute of Finwe and Miriel', for theirs was the first case, and it was on behalf of Finwe that Manwe's counsel was sought in this matter. Now Finwe, first Lord of the Noldor, had to wife Miriel who was called the Serinde, because of her surpassing skill in weaving and sewing, and their love was great for one another. But in the bearing of her first son Miriel was consumed in spirit and body, so that wellnigh all strength seemed to have passed from her. This son was Curufinwe, most renowned of all the Noldor as Feanaro (or Feanor),(1) Spirit-of-fire, the name which Miriel gave to him at birth; he was mighty in body and in all the skills of the body, and supreme among the Eldar in eagerness and strength and subtlety of mind. But Miriel said to Finwe: 'Never again shall I bear child; for strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Feanaro.'

Then Finwe was greatly grieved, for the Noldor were in the youth of their days and dwelt in the bliss of the Noontide of Aman, but were still few in number, and he desired to bring forth many children into that bliss. He said, therefore: 'Surely there is healing in Aman? Here all weariness can find rest.'

Therefore Finwe sought the counsel of Manwe, and Manwe delivered Miriel to the care of Irmo in Lorien.(2) At their parting (for a little while as he deemed) Finwe was sad, for it seemed a thing unhappy that the mother should depart and miss the beginning at least of the childhood days of her son. 'Unhappy it is indeed,' said Miriel, 'and I would weep if I were not so weary.

But hold me blameless in this, and in aught that may come after.

Rest now I must. Farewell, dear lord.' No clearer than this did she speak, but in her heart she yearned not only for sleep and rest, but for release from the labour of living. She went then to Lorien and laid her down to sleep beneath a silver tree, but though she seemed to sleep indeed her spirit departed from her body and passed in silence to the halls of Mandos; and the i

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maidens of Este tended her fair body so that it remained unwithered, yet she did not return.

Finwe's grief was great, and he went often to the gardens of Lorien and sitting beneath the silver willows beside the body of his wife he called her by her names. But it was of no avail, and he alone in all the Blessed Realm was bereaved and sorrowful.

After a while he went to Lorien no more, for it did but increase his grief. All his love he gave to his son; for Feanaro was like his mother in voice and countenance, and Finwe was to him both father and mother, and there was a double bond of love upon their hearts. Yet Finwe was not content, being young and eager, and desiring to have more children to bring mirth into his house. [He spoke, therefore, to Manwe >] When, therefore, ten years had passed, he spoke to Manwe, saying: 'Lord, behold! I am bereaved and solitary. Alone among the Eldar I have no wife, and must hope for no sons save one, and no daughter.

Must I remain ever thus? [For I believe not that Miriel will return again >] For my heart warns me that Miriel will not return again from the house of Vaire while Arda lasts. Is there not healing of grief in Aman?'

Then Manwe took pity upon Finwe, and he considered his plea, and when Mandos had spoken his doom as has been recorded,(3) Manwe called Finwe to him, and said: 'Thou hast heard the doom that has been declared. If Miriel, thy wife, will not return and releases thee, your union (4) is dissolved, and thou hast leave to take another wife.'

It is said that Miriel answered Mandos, saying: 'I came hither to escape from the body, and I do not desire ever to return to it.

My life is gone out into Feanaro, my son. This gift I have given to him whom I loved, and I can give no more. Beyond Arda this may be healed, but not within it.'

Then Mandos adjudged her innocent, deeming that she had died under a necessity too great for her to withstand. Therefore her choice was permitted, and she was left in peace; and after ten years the doom of disunion was spoken. [In the year following >) And after three years more Finwe took as second spouse Indis the fair; and she was in all ways unlike Miriel. She was not of the Noldor, but of the Vanyar, [of the kin >) sister of Ingwe; and she was golden-haired, and tall, and exceedingly swift of foot. She laboured not with her hands, but sang and made music, and there was ever light and mirth about her while the bliss of Aman endured. She loved Finwe dearly, for her heart had turned to him long before, while the people of Ingwe dwelt still with the Noldor in Tuna.(5) In those days she had looked upon the Lord of the Noldor, dark-haired and white-browed, eager of face and thoughtful-eyed, and he seemed to her fairest and noblest among the Eldar, and his voice and mastery of words delighted her. Therefore she remained unwedded, when her people departed to Valinor, and she walked often alone in the fields and friths of the Valar, [turning her thought to things that grow untended >] filling them with music. But it came to pass that Ingwe, hearing of the strange grief of Finwe, and desiring to lift up his heart and withdraw him from vain mourning in Lorien, sent messages bidding him to leave Tuna for a while and the reminders of his loss, and to come and dwell in the light of the Trees. This message Finwe did not answer, until after the doom of Mandos was spoken; but then deeming that he must seek to build his life anew and that the bidding of Ingwe was wise, he arose and went to the house of Ingwe upon the west of Mount Oiolosse. His coming was unlooked for, but welcome; and when Indis saw Finwe climbing the paths of the mountain (and the light of Laurelin was behind him as a glory) without forethought she sang suddenly in great joy, and her voice went up as the song of a lirulin in the sky.(6) And when Finwe heard that song falling from above he looked up and saw Indis in the golden light, and he knew in that moment that she loved him and had long done so. Then his heart turned at last to her, and he believed that this chance, as it seemed, had been granted for the comfort of them both. 'Behold!' he said. 'There is indeed healing of grief in Aman!'

In this way came to pass ere long the wedding of Finwe and Indis, sister of Ingwe. In Indis was proved true indeed the saying that 'the loss of one may be the gain of another.' But this also she found true: 'the house remembers the builder, though others may dwell in it after.' For Finwe loved her well, and was glad, and she bore him children in whom he rejoiced,*(7) yet the shadow of Miriel did not depart from his heart, and Feanaro had the chief share of his thought. The wedding of his father was not pleasing to Feanaro, and though it did not lessen his (* Five children she bore, three daughters and two sons, in this order: Findis, Nolofinwe, Faniel, Arafinwe, and Irime. Concerning the naming of the sons we have spoken above.)

love for his father, he had little love for Indis or her children, least of all for his half-brethren. As soon as he might (and he was wellnigh fullgrown ere Nolofinwe was born) he left his father's house and lived apart from them, giving all his heart and thought to the pursuit of lore and the practice of crafts. In those unhappy things which afterward came to pass and in which Feanaro was a leader, many saw the effects of this breach in the house of Finwe, judging that if Finwe had endured his loss and been content with the fathering of his mighty son, the courses of Feanaro would have been otherwise, and much sorrow and evil would never have been.

Thus it is that the cases in which remarriage of the Eldar can take place are rare, but rarer still are those who do this, even when it is permissible. For the sorrow and strife in the house of Finwe is graven in the memory of the Eldar.

[It is recorded by the Eldar that the Valar found this matter of Finwe strange, and debated much concerning it. For Finwe they could not accuse of any guilt, and the Statute that had been made for Finwe and Miriel was just and reasonable. Yet it was clear that many evils would have been avoided, [if either Miriel had been less faint, or Finwe more patient >] if it had not been made, or at least had not been used. This passage was later replaced as follows:] It is recorded by the Eldar that the Valar debated long the case of Finwe and Miriel, after the Statute was made, but not yet declared. For they perceived that this was a grave matter, and a portent, in that Miriel had died even in Aman, and had brought sorrow to the Blessed Realm, things which they before had believed could not come to pass. Also, though the Statute seemed just, some feared that it would not heal the death of grief, but perpetuate it. And Manwe spoke to the Valar, saying: 'In this matter ye must not forget that you deal with Arda Marred - out of which ye brought the Eldar.

Neither must ye forget that in Arda Marred Justice is not Healing. Healing cometh only by suffering and patience, and maketh no demand, not even for Justice. Justice worketh only within the bonds of things as they are, accepting the marring of Arda, and therefore though Justice is itself good and desireth no further evil, it can but perpetuate the evil that was, and doth not prevent it from the bearing of fruit in sorrow. Thus the Statute was just, but it accepted Death and the severance of Finwe and Miriel, a thing unnatural in Arda Unmarred, and therefore with reference to Arda Unmarred it was unnatural and fraught with Death. The liberty that it gave was a lower road that, if it led not still downwards, could not again ascend. But Healing must retain ever the thought of Arda Unmarred, and if it cannot ascend, must abide in patience. This is Hope which, I deem, is before all else the virtue most fair in the Children of Eru, [but cannot be commanded to come when needed: patience must often long await it.]'(8)

Then Aule, friend of the Noldor [added: and lover of Feanor], spake. 'But did this matter indeed arise out of Arda Marred?' he asked. 'For it seemeth to me that it arose from the bearing of Feanaro. Now Finwe and all the Noldor that followed him were never in heart or thought swayed by [Morgoth >] Melkor, the Marrer; how then did this strange thing come to pass, even in Aman the Unshadowed? That the bearing of a child should lay such a weariness upon the mother that she desired life no longer. This child is the greatest in gifts that hath arisen or shall arise among the Eldar. But the Eldar are the first Children of Eru, and belong to him directly. Therefore the greatness of the child must proceed from his will directly, and be intended for the good of the Eldar and of all Arda. What then of the cost of the birth? Must it not be thought that the greatness and the cost come not from Arda, Marred or Unmarred, but from beyond Arda? For this we know to be true, and as the ages pass it shall often be manifest (in small matters and in great) that all the Tale of Arda was not in the Great Theme, and that things shall come to pass in that Tale which cannot be foreseen, for they are new and are not begotten by the past that preceded them.'(9) [Added: Thus Aule spake being unwilling to believe that any taint of the Shadow lay upon Feanor, or upon any of the Noldor. He had been the most eager to summon them to Valinor.](10) But Ulmo answered: 'Nonetheless Miriel died. [And is not death for the Eldar an evil, that is a thing unnatural in Arda Unmarred, which must proceed therefore from the marring? Or if the death of Miriel doth not so, but cometh from beyond Arda, how shall death that is unnatural and evil be known from that which is a new thing and hath no reason in the past, unless the latter cause neither sorrow nor doubt? But the death of Miriel has brought both into Aman. This passage was later replaced as follows:] And death is for the Eldar an evil, that is a thing unnatural in Arda Unmarred, which must proceed therefore from the marring. For if the death of Miriel was otherwise, and came from beyond Arda (as a new thing having no cause in the past) it would not bring grief or doubt. For Eru is Lord of All, and moveth all the devices of his creatures, even the malice of the Marrer, in his final purposes, but he doth not of his prime motion impose grief upon them. But the death of Miriel has brought sorrow to Aman. / The coming of Feanaro must proceed certainly from the will of Eru; but I hold that the marring of his birth comes of the Shadow, and is a portent of evils to come. For the greatest are the most potent also for evil.

Have a care, my brethren, thinking not that the Shadow is gone for ever, though it is beaten down. Doth it not dwell even now in Aman, though you deem the bonds to be unbreakable?' [For Ulmo had dissented >] Thus Ulmo spake, who had dissented from the counsels of the Valar, when they brought Melkor the Marrer to Mandos after his defeat.(11) [Added: Also he loved the Elves (and Men afterwards), but otherwise than Aule, believing that they should be left free, however perilous that might seem.

Thus afterwards it was seen, that though he loved Feanor and all the Noldor more coolly, he had more mercy for their errors and misdeeds.]