The Deep Places of the World
| Finduilas of Dol Amroth | ||
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Finduilas of Dol Amroth is about as tragic as her First Age namesake. Actually, her father, Adrahil II, seems to have had something of an obsession with the original Finduilas: his other daughter, Finduilas' elder sister, was named Ivriniel, after the Pools of Ivrin - and therefore after the nickname Gwindor gave Finduilas, Faelivrin.
Why did Adrahil attempt to disguise his reasons for his elder child's name, but abandon such deception for Finduilas? We might almost suppose a disapproving relative. While his father, Angelimir, lived until 2977 - well after Finduilas' birth - we know nothing of his mother. Might she have been from a family which disapproved of the legends of the Elder Days - perhaps even a family who traced their descent back to Harondor, the Umbar-influenced southern province of Gondor which had been finally taken by the Haradrim in 2885. If she were the same age as Angelimir, she would have been some 22 years of age at the time - plenty of time for her to have picked up on the cultural, Black Numenorean influenced (though of course not actively evil) prejudices of her homeland. Finduilas lived in an era of tension in Gondor. Twenty years before her birth, the kingdom had finally been forced to abandon most of Ithilien, while Harondor - as mentioned - had fallen fifty-odd years previously; in 2951 - the year after her birth - Sauron openly declared himself in Mordor. The Corsairs of Umbar were an ever-present threat to Dol Amroth - up until 2980, when a certain 'Thorongil' of Gondor (or Aragorn, as we later know him) burned their fleet. But by that time, Finduilas was no longer in the city. In 2976, she was wed to Denethor, son of the Ruling Steward, and moved to Minas Tirith. The following year, her grandfather - the man who must surely have arranged such an advantageous marriage - died, leaving her father as Prince of Dol Amroth - and thus unable to visit his daughter. Finduilas, who had grown up in a Sindarin-speaking city by the sea, was now stranded, cut off from her family, speaking Westron in the shadow of the mountains. Her new husband was twenty years older than her - at the time of their marriage, 46 to her 26 - and he seems to have been rather eager to beget an heir. Certainly there were only two years between their marriage and the birth of Boromir, indicating conception around a year after the wedding. Denethor was wise, noble, and proud - but while we are told he was deeply in love with Finduilas, we can't really imagine him whispering sweet nothings to her. Her husband's older sisters were around twice Finduilas' age, so unless her own sister travelled to Minas Tirith with her - unlikely, since in most cultures, the older sibling marries first, suggesting Ivriniel was already wed - Finduilas would have no real peers. Instead, she turned to her books - the same books of ancient lore and tales that her younger son would later come to love. In this, she perhaps grew closer to her father-in-law: Ecthelion named his son after a famous elf of the First Age, Denethor of Ossiriand, and may well have shared Findulias' birth-father's interest in the Elder Days. In 2983, Faramir was born, leaving Finduilas weakened - and the following year, Ecthelion died. Denethor now became more and more consumed by the affairs of the city and kingdom, leaving little time for his wife - and he certainly wouldn't have been interested in sharing tales out of the Elder Days with her (neither Boromir nor Faramir bear elven names). The shadow of Mordor hung heavy on her heart, bringing to mind the darkness of Morgoth which ultimately consumed Beleriand. She pined for the Sea - and perhaps, in part, this came from her knowledge that the only escape from darkness, for the Eldar at least, lay to the West. With only a tiny splinter of elven blood, Finduilas could never hope to sail the Straight Road - but the Sea would still be, to her mind, a defence, a shield, a last resort. Finduilas grew weaker and weaker. Boromir, now a grown child, would have spent his time with his father, in training to become the next Steward. Only Faramir was left for Finduilas to read her stories to, and to share her dreams - including, perhaps, that famous image of a great wave overcoming the land. And as she felt her death approaching, could she have resisted going back to that story she must have heard during her childhood - and must also have avoided from then on - the Lay of the Children of Hurin, with its heartbreaking account of her namesake's betrayal and death? Their stories were so different - but they had come, as Finduilas surely realised, to the same place. The House of Hurin had brought ruin upon them both - for the line of the Stewards bore the same name as Turin's father. And, somewhere in the dusty libraries of Minas Tirith, I can imagine you would find a scroll, carefully rolled, bearing the story of Turin and Finduilas in a fair hand - with one passage lightly underlined: "And this last I say to you: she alone stands between you and your doom. If you fail her, it shall not fail to find you. Farewell!" | ||
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