By Robinka
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Let us suppose that we, Tolkien fans all over the world, announce a contest to reveal the unhappiest Silmarillion character. I could probably hear the wheels in our collective brain grind from the effort, and the competition would be fierce. However, if there could be any hint as to the potential winner, there is a character who was actually named the Unhappy, and that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is our character of the month this time round.
Gorlim the Unhappy is first mentioned in The Silmarillion as one of the "nine faithful servants"2 of Barahir3 the Lord of Ladros, who remained along his side, with Beren and Barahir's nephews, after the tragic events of the Dagor Bragollach (the Battle of Sudden Flame), the fourth battle of the First Age.
Morgoth pursued Barahir's people to death, until very few remained. Then, Barahir's wife Emeldir4, who was later known as the Manhearted, gathered the women, the elderly, and the children of the House of Bëor and led them, with great loss and through unbelievable hardship, from Dorthonion to Brethil.
As for Barahir and his companions:
... outlaws without hope they became, a desperate band that could not escape and would not yield, for their dwellings were destroyed, and their wives and children captured, slain, or fled. ... Barahir and his men were hunted like wild beasts ...5
But they managed to withdraw to the revered and hallowed-by-Melian-herself lake of Tarn Aeluin and, as it is said in The Silmarillion:
... they made their lair there, and Morgoth could not discover it. But the rumour of the deeds of Barahir and his companions went far and wide; and Morgoth commanded Sauron6 to find them and destroy them.7
Among the faithful men there was our Gorlim, son of Angrim.8 Before the war with Morgoth, he had owned a small patch of land and woods, and he had lived there with his beloved wife Eilinel, "and their love was great, ere evil befell."9 We do not know either when he was born, or when he had married Eilinel, assumingly a woman of the House of Bëor.10
Gorlim went to war, leaving his wife behind, and when he came back home, he found it plundered and destroyed, and no Eilinel to be seen anywhere. He fled to join Barahir's outlaws, and among them, he was "the fiercest and most desperate."11 He could not be sure what had happened to his wife, whether she was already dead or taken captive. So from time to time, he secretly departed the safety of the lair at Tarn Aeluin and returned to his forsaken house, looking for the slightest indication as to what might have transpired and hoping that he could reunite with the woman he loved. Those secret trips, however, were soon known to the servants of Morgoth.
Gorlim went straight into the trap set by Sauron.
One evening, he came back to his house and saw Eilinel at the window. It seemed to him that she was lamenting that he had abandoned her. But when he cried out to her, she disappeared, and he was caught by Sauron's servants and brought into their camp. Ensnared by the evil charm, Gorlim was then tortured to reveal Barahir's dwelling, but he said nothing despite the torment he went though.
Seeing that the captive was uncooperative, to put it mildly, Sauron's servants presented a deal to him, in which Gorlim would be released and reunited with his wife if he told the truth about Barahir's hiding place. Exhausted by pain and still hoping to see his wife, Gorlim yielded.
He was brought before Sauron:
'I hear now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?'
And Gorlim answered that he should find Eilinel again, and with her be set free; for he thought that Eilinel also had been made captive.
Then Sauron smiled, saying: 'That is a small price for so great a treachery.'13
That moment showed the true extent of Sauron's cruel trickery, because when Gorlim said all he knew about Barahir and his outlaws, Sauron told him the truth – Eilinel was long dead and all Gorlim could see was "a phantom devised by wizardry to entrap him."14
Barahir's hiding place was revealed and Sauron fulfilled his promise that Gorlim would indeed be reunited with his wife – in death – and Gorlim died with the knowledge that his disgrace was for nothing. Morgoth's servants slew almost all of Barahir's men, save for Beren who was far afield, sent by his father on a dangerous errand.
Yet, Gorlim could not find peace in his afterlife, and to atone for his deed, he appeared as a spectre in Beren's dream, confessing his betrayal and asking Beren to warn his father:
'Gorlim I was, but now a wraith
of will defeated, broken faith,
traitor betrayed. Go! Stay not here!
Awaken, son of Barahir,
and haste! For Morgoth's fingers close
upon thy father's throat; he knows
your trysts, your paths, your secret lair.'15
But it was already too late, and Beren could only bury his father's body.
And so ends the sad story of Gorlim the Unhappy, of whose happy life we know little to nothing. Yet, that is the case of many characters, not only in The Silmarillion because bad news sells better than good. We can only hope that wherever the spirits of mortal men go after death, Gorlim and Eilinel are there together.
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A lifelong president of the fanclub of Beleg Cúthalion, Robinka (also known as Binka) has a healthy dose of admiration for the Grey Folk of Doriath, but approaches the Noldor with reverence. She is a proud owner of a T-shirt with the caption: "Beleg lives! I don't care what Túrin says.". Binka lives in Poland with her husband and a rescued dog. Her path in the fandom is rocky, but nothing short of adventurous.
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