Finrod: 30-Day Character Study - Study Days by cuarthol

7. Affiliations, Part One.

Affiliations, Part One. Think about an important relationship your character has to another character in your verse. Spend at least a half-hour exploring that relationship in any way you choose. For example, you might read and research the other character, write or draw about their relationship, create meta or headcanons--your choice.

There are countless relationships that are given to Finrod.  Beyond mere family or incidental connections, he has a love, Amarië; Turgon, specifically noted as his friend; Bëor, who was so devoted to him he left his own people to live the rest of his life with Finrod; and his nephew, Orodreth, whom he named steward first of Minas Tirith and later of Nargothrond.

As I have said in previous days, Finrod is almost as defined by his relationships as he is by himself.  But today I think I will focus on his relationship with Andreth, because it offers so many counterpoints to his other relationships.

In the days of the peace before Melkor broke the Siege of Angband, Finrod would often visit Andreth, whom he loved in great friendship, for he found her more ready to impart her knowledge to him than were most of the Wise among Men
Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth - Morgoth’s Ring

Unlike Amarië, she was not his lover - rather she was the love of his brother, a love they were both denied.  Unlike Bëor she was not devoted to him nor did she abandon her people to follow him, rather challenging the way the Elves see themselves in regard to Men.  Unlike Turgon she is not really noted as a ‘friend’ though he loved her in friendship, nor is she a partner in great works as the Dwarves, nor kin and advisor such as Thingol.  Rather she seems to be an antagonist in a way, but a necessary one, and one which I think helps push Finrod’s thoughts in important ways.

She is not exactly a teacher, either, for there are some things she does not share with him, very pointedly does not share.  Things she feels are too sacred (though not in a spiritual sense) to her people to be spoken of to him yet.

In that she demonstrates she also does not quite fully trust him with the deepest lore of her people, but she trusts him enough, and loves him enough in return to both share with him and contend with him.

While the Athrabeth makes it seem as if the love between Aegnor and Andreth was one of “love at first sight” and then forever apart - as if they saw one another, fell in love, and then never so much as saw one another ever again - later in the text it sounds as if they must have spoken regularly.

As Finrod is leaving, Andreth bids him tell Aegnor:

‘Will he be there, bright and tall, and the wind in his hair? Tell him. Tell him not to be reckless. Not to seek danger beyond need!'
'I will tell him,' said Finrod. 'But I might as well tell thee not to weep. He is a warrior, Andreth, and a spirit of wrath. In every stroke that he deals he sees the Enemy who long ago did thee this hurt.’
Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth - Morgoth’s Ring

This seems to very clearly indicate that Aegnor and Andreth spoke together in perhaps a similar manner that she and Finrod do - speaking of the lore of the Edain and the wisdom passed down through the women.  Aegnor very clearly seems to see himself as battling against a foe that did such grievous injury to the woman he loves (that is, in the greater context of this writing, to steal her immortality and thus their happiness together).

However, if Finrod is only just now learning of this belief among Men that they were meant from the beginning never to die, then Aegnor must have learned this previously, and it is somewhat telling that he may have shared some small part of it with his brother, but not the whole of it.  Whatever Andreth shared with Aegnor, he was sensitive of the nature of this knowledge, that it was for him alone, not to be spoken of even with his kin.

Finrod has some sense of it, knowing that Aegnor continues to fight not merely due to the vengeance of the Noldor against the slayer of Finwë, but also now as a personal kind of vendetta against the Enemy who is now the cause of his (and her) grief.

Finrod and Andreth's relationship is one of many facets, for he is her king, but he speaks with her as one who is more an equal - as one who loves wisdom, seeking to learn from her as much as to teach.  He is Elda and she Adan, so they are reaching across wide chasms between their people's experiences and understandings.  And though perhaps in a different sense, they are very much friends with one another, and their shared love for Aegnor would certainly hace brought them closer, also.  Though she does challenge him on many points - not only his beliefs but his biases - he also challenges some of hers as well, and it serves to bring them both deeper understanding.

They offer something of a balance to one another - his is a knowledge that stretches back over two thousand years of his life, built on the knowledge of his forebears, and informed through direct fellowship with the Valar.  He may not be old in terms of the Eldar, but he is certainly older than the entirety of Men, and he has first-hand knowledge of many things, and second-hand knowledge of much more (his grandfathers being from Cuiviénen means he likely heard about it from those who was there.)

Hers is one of collective wisdom passed down through the wise of her people, and certainly neither Elves nor the Valar knew the dark history of Men after their awakening, nor fully understood their nature.  Because of this, Finrod does accept that even if she does not have personal knowledge of this history (that is, she was not yet alive to have witnessed these events first-hand and relies on oral traditions) that her wisdom and knowledge is valid.  While he does question her, he does not doubt that she speaks the truth of the Edain.  Though they do disagree on some points whether the truth passed down is always factual or if it has been itself influenced or corrupted by Morgoth.

I do actually have a piece of art I’d like to do for today, but not before the end of the day.  But when it’s done it’ll get uploaded to the eventual Art portion of this study.  I can’t imagine that Finrod’s only interaction with Andreth was contentious, they certainly would have had more easy-going or friendly interactions, and that is what I’ll try to capture in the art.

Link to art