By Oshun
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Finally, we have reached the section where we are almost ready to sign-off on the history of Melian the Maia. This been hard to write because her life and times have intersected those of so many important protagonists of events of great importance accounted in The Silmarillion. For all practical intents and purposes she, although she is neither Elf nor Man, is the common antecedent of the Elves and Men whose story runs through The Silmarillion and reaches its culmination in The Lord of the Rings.
But, before we finish the narrative of that history, one aspect of the story of Melian, who is part of a group of primordial Spirits known as the Ainur who are capable of assuming a physical form, I have been urged to discuss the act of taking a corporeal form by one of these spirits. This discussion is particularly relevant in the case of Melian in light of the fact that she assumes the form of an Elf when she meets Thingol in that famous starlit forest. Not only does she maintain that physical form, but she retains it for an extended period of time—roughly several hundred years, from well before the rising of the Sun until the death of Thingol in the First Age.1
Most remarkably, she conceives and bears a child while inhabiting that shape. One of the clearest and most detailed explanations of the effects of the assumption of a physical form by any of the Maiar may be found the essay "Ósanwe-kenta," drafted by Tolkien circa 1959-60, relating to mind-to-mind communication among the Eldar and the Ainur (often referred to as mind-speak in fantasy fiction). In Note 5 at the end of that short article, Tolkien discusses the long-term effects of the assumption of a corporeal form:
Here Pengolodh adds a long note on the use of hröar by the Valar. In brief he says that though in origin a "self-arraying", it may tend to approach the state of "incarnation", especially with the lesser members of that order (the Maiar). "It is said that the longer and the more the same hröa is used, the greater is the bond of habit, and the less do the 'self-arrayed' desire to leave it. As raiment may soon cease to be adornment, and becomes (as is said in the tongues of both Elves and Men) a 'habit', a customary garb. Or if among Elves and Men it be worn to mitigate heat or cold, it soon makes the clad body less able to endure these things when naked". Pengolodh also cites the opinion that if a "spirit" (that is, one of those not embodied by creation) uses a hröa for the furtherance of its personal purposes, or (still more) for the enjoyment of bodily faculties, it finds it increasingly difficult to operate without the hröa.2
The Valaquenta describes the Maiar as "other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree."3 We are told in The Silmarillion that "in Middle-earth the Maiar have seldom appeared in form visible to Elves and Men."4 And yet when Thingol meets Melian she very much inhabits the corporeal form of a beautiful woman of the Eldar. We are not told in the texts why she chose this particular form. In The War of the Jewels one reads one of several accounts of the scene wherein we are presented with a physical description of Melian:
. . . standing beneath the stars, and a white mist was about her, but the Light of Aman was in her face. Thus began the love of Elwë Greymantle and Melian of Valinor. Hand in hand they stood silent in the woods, while the wheeling stars measured many years, and the young trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark.5
It is a Maia in a human/Eldarin form who captures Thingol's heart. Another detailed accounting of Maiar living in human forms are given in Tolkien's essay "The Istari": "for, strange indeed though this may seem, the Istari, being clad in bodies of Middle-earth, might even as Men and Elves fall away from their purposes and do evil, forgetting the good in the search for power to effect it."6 Assuming human flesh temporarily weakens these deific spirits. It is logical that the longer one inhabits a corporeal form the more vulnerable one becomes.
In the case of Melian, the act of giving birth might contribute to her commitment to said form. Giving birth is a huge thing. Those who have experienced a difficult childbirth might almost fear that the very act of carrying a fetus in the womb from conception to birth might cause a Maia to fear losing control and to abandon their form. Sauron, outclassed in his battle with Lúthien and Huan on the Isle of Werewolves, tries shape-shifting out of his dilemma, from his usual form to that of a werewolf, a snake and finally fleeing in the form of a vampire bat. There is no such escape in childbirth.
This point is reinforced in the same Ósanwe-kenta reference first cited above.
The things that are most binding are those that in the Incarnate have to do with the life of the hröa itself, its sustenance and its propagation. Thus eating and drinking are binding, but not the delight in beauty of sound or form. Most binding is begetting or conceiving.7
Carrying a child to full term involves biological processes that go beyond an act of will that assist the mother in hanging onto the fetus (high levels of the hormone progesterone, for example). Tolkien may or may not have schooled himself in the finer points of human reproduction but he did have a significant amount of practical experience as the father of four children.
The physical experience of making love, or requiring food for sustenance, or experiencing physical pain alters consciousness for an embodied Maia. In the Unfinished Tales essay on the Istari, this is pursued at some length. The Istari are said to have necessarily learned "much anew by slow experience, and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off, for which (so long as they remained true to their mission) they yearned exceedingly."8 This interestingly enough might almost be said to contradict the case of Melian who loved and was so drawn to the forests of Middle-earth that she left Aman of her own volition so that she might "in that time when the Quendi awoke beside the waters of Cuiviénen" depart from Valinor to come "to the Hither Lands, and there she filled the silence of Middle-earth before the dawn with her voice and the voices of her birds."9 One might assume when one reads of Melian and compares and contrasts what Tolkien has written of the Istari with what he writes of her that their circumstances and their places in the history of Arda are quite unique. However, their experiences of embodiment are similar.
The Istari were chosen by the Valar and sent clad in corporeal forms envisaged with an intent and a precise purpose. For example, "long they went about in simple guise, as it were of Men already old in years but hale in body, travellers and wanderers, gaining knowledge of Middle-earth. . . but revealing to none their powers and purposes."10 Whether such embodied spirits exist as an Elven Queen or wizard helpmates, they share certain bodily experiences. I cannot resist quoting Shakespeare's Richard II. Always capable of arguing both sides of a question, Richard II reminds his audience that although he considers himself a king by divine right, he admits that he is limited by mortal bounds of physical and emotional needs and suffers pain and hunger:
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king?11
Once Melian and the Istari have grown accustomed to their human forms, they also experience hunger and cold and a full range of emotional experiences just like the poor benighted Richard II and all of the rest of us.
Of course, another notable Maia in corporeal form who ensnares and holds the interest of readers is Sauron. He is neither a gentle, benign visitor enamored with the forests of Middle-earth, nor one of a body of emissaries of the Lords of the West tasked with a very specific assignment. He was a former Maia of Aulë who had long allied himself with Morgoth and filled the role of his chief lieutenant in Middle-earth during the First Age. He most spectacularly used his ability to inhabit and discard bodily forms at his own discretion when carrying out his nefarious deeds. Here is a terrific description from The Silmarillion: "a sorcerer of dreadful power, master of shadows and of phantoms, foul in wisdom, cruel in strength, misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled."12
But to return to the case of the Istari, it is fascinating to note that when the Valar made their plans to send emissaries to Middle-earth, they asked for volunteers, explaining that:
. . . they must be mighty, peers of Sauron, but must forgo might, and clothe themselves in flesh so as to treat on equality and win the trust of Elves and Men. But this would imperil them, dimming their wisdom and knowledge, and confusing them with fears, cares, and weariness coming from the flesh.13
Among those assembled to discuss this mission to Middle-earth, we recognize Curunír/Saruman of The Lord of the Rings in this account: prideful enough to easily rank himself, rightly or wrongly, as worthy opponent of Sauron and determined enough to take upon himself the required hardship of inhabiting a corporeal form. When chosen, Saruman is still at that time compliant enough to be willing to disguise his power and suffer personal, if temporary, diminishment in line with the effects of his disguise.
After two volunteers have been accepted, Olórin, who will take the name of Gandalf for this mission, arrives late to the meeting. Manwë asks after him, remarking that he wishes him to take the third available place on this team. Gandalf modestly replies, that he is "too weak for such a task, and that he feared Sauron. Then Manwë said that that was all the more reason why he should go. . . . But at that Varda looked up and said: 'Not as the third;' and Curumo [Saruman] remembered it."14 (Apparently, a bit of prescience on the part of Varda, while everyone else appears to assume that Saruman naturally ranks first among the company, she places her trust instead in Olórin.)
The three categories of assumed clothing or skins I have chosen as examples here are: 1) Melian who chooses an Eldarin form, which well suits her to serve as wife and queen consort to Thingol; 2) the Istari who are given "shapes weak and humble,"15 designed to enable them to persuade and encourage Elves and Men rather than to dominate or exert undue pressure upon them; and 3) Sauron who, as a virtuoso shape-shifter, fine-tunes his numerous carnal forms to aid him in fulfilling a variety of nefarious purposes in the service of Morgoth.
What we do not know about Melian's incarnation is whether she chose it with a purpose in mind when she catches sight of Thingol, or if she was in the habit of wandering through the starlit forest clad in the form of a fair Eldarin maid and, after encountering the appealing Elf-lord, decides on a whim to retain this form. Or, perhaps, she was nudged in that direction by a higher fate. Her choice fits rather neatly into the principal story thread that begins with the first union of Elves and Men. Her union with Thingol eventually leads to the birth of Dior the son of Beren and Lúthien, whose grandson Eärendil "as a representative of both Kindreds . . . is to find a sea-passage back to the Land of the Gods, and as ambassador persuade them to take thought again for the Exiles, to pity them, and rescue them from the Enemy."16
Melian did chose this human form, for the Eldar are after all human if quasi-immortal,17 and held onto this body through conception, childbearing, childbirth, and all of the major and minor inconveniences of pain, blood, sweat, and tears that are part of the human experience. Falling in love in human form is based not only on a spiritual and intellectual affinity but involves all kinds of messy and not completely predictable biological responses involving hormones, endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, and many more. Without inhabiting a human body and experiencing these processes, would one of Ainur even know what they were getting into? The experience would have changed Melian. She is no longer a pure spirit. Her transformation begins with the first moment of inhabiting a form that can smell the flowers and hear the birds evolving into the much more chaotic experience of forming a pair bond with Thingol. As noted in the above-referenced "Ósanwe-kenta" essay, the most binding of these states of incarnation are the ones which involve "begetting or conceiving."18 The only one amongst the Ainur we know to have conceived is Melian.
Further, raising a child involves grappling with a physical reality which is arguably both more and less complicated than falling in love, mating, and forming a spousal bond. Considering Lúthien's later deeds, one cannot imagine she was the easiest, most malleable child, although doubtless an endearing one—her story leads us to conclude that she was quick, smart, and attractive and that Melian was invested in a uniquely human maternal relationship with her offspring.
Following Melian's personal relationships, we see nothing if not commitment to that human/bodily experience. She deeply loves Thingol and is steadfast, patient, and loyal although he is often difficult. She suffers with and for Lúthien, but again perseveres and seeks to enable Beren and Lúthien in their quest instead of trying to stop them. (I cannot help remembering the 1980's (or was it '90's?) fascination with the Kahlil Gibran quote, "If you love someone let them go.") To sum up , Melian was a good wife and mother, but unlikely to have been perfect either, because one does not achieve the state of decent partner or good parent without a certain amount of trial and error, emotional pain, and, in the case of women, the physical pain and inconvenience that accompanies childbearing and nursing.
The reader can extrapolate more of Melian's bodily experiences and ongoing adaptations from what is written about the Istari. Melian's tale gives much intimation but does not give us any explicit details about what would have been involved in the assumption of a corporeal form for an extended period of time. The description of the Istari in Unfinished Tales gives us more but still not a lot:
For with the consent of Eru they sent members of their own high order, but clad in bodies as of Men, real and not feigned, but subject to the fears and pains and weariness of earth, able to hunger and thirst and be slain; though because of their noble spirits they did not die, and aged only by the cares and labours of many long years.19
Michael Martinez makes a point about Melian's procreation which seems reasonable. He says that "Tolkien does not seem to have figured out complete solutions to all these questions." However, "he does not appear to have ever contemplated removing Melian's procreation from the stories. The Children of Lúthien would always have a special heritage no matter what convictions he settled upon for the choices of the Ainur and the consequences of those choices."20
The later events of the tale of Thingol and Melian are hard to follow. Some (like me) might find them rough reading. In preparing this biography, I discovered there is a very good reason why this seems to the case. In The War of the Jewels, Christopher Tolkien notes:
It seemed at the time that there were elements inherent in the story of the Ruin of Doriath as it stood that were radically incompatible with 'The Silmarillion' as projected, and that there was here an inescapable choice: either to abandon that conception, or else alter the story. I think now that this was a mistaken view and that the undoubted difficulties could have been And should have be surmounted without so far overstepping the bounds of the editorial function.21
So, doing the best I can, the dramatically summarized version of the Ruin of Doriath is that sad doom-ridden Húrin of Children of Húrin fame shows up at the Halls of Menegroth with the famous Nauglamír of Finrod Felagund. He had come from wreckage of Nargothrond, laid waste by the dragon Glaurung, where he found Mîm the petty dwarf drooling over Finrod's treasures. Broken and enraged, Húrin exchanged angry words with Mîm and slew him, leaving with only the Nauglamír, "made for Finrod Felagund long years before by the craftsmen of Nogrod and Belegost, most famed of all their works in the Elder Days."22
Húrin is clearly near-insensible with rage and despair, but "Thingol was filled with wonder and grief when he looked on him, and knew that grim and aged man for Húrin Thalion, the captive of Morgoth; but he greeted him fairly and showed him honour."23 For once Thingol's pity outshone his pride. Húrin's despair and anger for the loss of his family, however, outweighed his capacity for any common courtesy, much less deference, he might have once been to muster to greet the Elven-king:
'Receive thou thy fee,' he cried, 'for thy fair keeping of my children and my wife! For this is the Nauglamír, whose name is known to many among Elves and Men; and I bring it to thee out of the darkness of Nargothrond, where Finrod thy kinsman left it behind him when he set forth with Beren son of Barahir to fulfill the errand of Thingol of Doriath!'24
Thingol understood the depth of Húrin's devastation, but it was finally Melian who succeeded in calming Húrin. She neither scolded nor condescended but stated the unembellished truth and Húrin was able to understand her. She said,
'Húrin Thalion, Morgoth hath bewitched thee; for he that seeth through Morgoth's eyes, willing or unwilling, seeth all things crooked. Long was Túrin thy son fostered in the halls of Menegroth, and shown love and honour as the son of the King; and it was not by the King's will nor by mine that he came never back to Doriath. And afterwards thy wife and thy daughter were harboured here with honour and goodwill; and we sought by all means that we might to dissuade Morwen from the road to Nargothrond. With the voice of Morgoth thou dost now upbraid thy friends.'25
The next part is a show-stopper, although I suppose one should not be surprised at this point, but after a fleeting moment of sorrow and pity for Húrin, Thingol begins to think of what a great idea it would to have the Nauglamír refashioned to hold his Silmaril. One cannot help but be filled with foreboding at the idea and forced to recall Melian's earlier prophetic words when Thingol first dared tie his fate to the Silmarils: "O King, you have devised cunning counsel. But if my eyes have not lost their sight, it is ill for you, whether Beren fail in his errand, or achieve it. For you have doomed either your daughter, or yourself. And now is Doriath drawn within the fate of a mightier realm."26
Thingol, however, will not be swayed from the idea of altering the magnificent necklace to hold his Precious. Who better for the job that the Dwarves from Nogrod who Thingol has called upon in the past to assist with metal and stonework. And the Dwarven craftsmen are drawn in by the spell cast by the Silmarils. When they have finished with the project, they refuse to return the Nauglamír with its newly mounted Silmaril to Thingol.27
They claimed the necklace had been made by their own craftsmen and given as a gift to dear old friend Felagund. And now that Finrod was dead, they had a right to reclaim the heirloom of their fathers. Familiar with its pull, Thingol recognizes the lust for a Silmaril when he encounters it. He refused to relinquish his claim to the necklace and his jewel:
In his wrath and pride he gave no heed to his peril, but spoke to them in scorn, saying: 'How do ye of uncouth race dare to demand aught of me, Elu Thingol, Lord of Beleriand, whose life began by the waters of Cuiviénen years uncounted ere the fathers of the stunted people awoke?' And standing tall and proud among them he bade them with shameful words be gone unrequited out of Doriath.28
Inflamed by his arrogance and disdain, the Dwarves killed him and took the Nauglamír and, with it, its Silmaril. The Elves of Doriath pursued them and killed most of them. They returned to Menegroth to a devastated Melian and presented her with the reclaimed Nauglamír. Meanwhile, the two surviving Dwarves returned to Nogrod, telling the story of slaying of their kin. The Dwarves of Nogrod marched upon Doriath vowing vengeance.
Melian sat paralyzed in grief for a long while beside Thingol:
[S]he knew that her parting from Thingol was the forerunner of a greater parting, and that the doom of Doriath was drawing nigh. For Melian was of the divine race of the Valar, and she was a Maia of great power and wisdom; but for love of Elwë Singollo she took upon herself the form of the Elder Children of Ilúvatar, and in that union she became bound by the chain and trammels of the flesh of Arda.29
In that human form she had borne Lúthien Tinúviel and gained tremendous power over the substance of Arda. She doubtless could feel that physical power ebbing. With her mastery over physical reality, the Girdle which had protected Doriath for so long could not hold. The protected land was left open to invaders. Through Mablung, she sent a message to Beren and Lúthien. She abandoned her home of so many years for Valinor and the Gardens of Lórien, where she could grieve and repair her battered spirit. The Dwarves of Nogrod arrived and defeated the disoriented and disorganized defenders of Doriath: "But the Dwarves were victorious, and the halls of Thingol were ransacked and plundered. There fell Mablung of the Heavy Hand before the doors of the treasury wherein lay the Nauglamír; and the Silmaril was taken."30
That is the end of Melian's story as told in The Silmarillion, but not the end of the tale of the Silmarils.
Author's Note: I want to thank Dawn Felagund for her usual perceptive close edit and copy check and Ignoble Bard for reading the ugly first draft. Transcript of "Ósanwe-kenta" was provided by sillimarilli. Given my very poor eyesight I am most appreciative. And, this month, I want to thank my grandson Alex who helped me find and review citations from heavy tomes, mainly The War of the Jewels. Not many thirteen-year-old boys would be willing to do this.
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Oshun's Silmarillion-based stories may be found on the SWG archive.
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