Twilight’s Daughters by Rhapsody

Twilight’s Daughters

Read Twilight’s Daughters

 

Years of the Trees, 1495

It was the most mundane task; to follow her as she left her path of destruction throughout these lands. Even though my master had nothing to do with this battle, for he commanded the fortress of Angband, he was curious all the same as to where Ungoliant would settle down. Such a creature with this kind of power, only one of the few to walk this earth that could overwhelm Morgoth if it was not for his servants... this even made my master nervous. Especially since his liege lord's cries could be heard behind the thick walls of his abode. With utmost caution, I tracked her from the river Sirion, making certain that I would not come too near of her. Her path was clear and her methods utterly destructive, leaving only a dreadful silence and bodies in her wake, from the west onto the east. From afar, I observed how this creature was warded off with a might I had yet not seen.  Once I came closer, my interest was most certainly drawn when I observed how the Maia I knew as Melian drew up a massive wall that even Ungoliant could not pass.

It was then that I realised where Estë's maiar had taken up her dwelling, and it made me curious as to why she would protect such a forest thusly. Their strife had left me to ponder about many things, especially on how this could be, given the threat Ungoliant had opposed towards Melkor himself. My memory of Melian was that of a gentle soul with a gift for healing, not such mighty sorcery that could rival any of us who served Melkor's cause. It was not my assignment to study Melian, and so I pressed onwards. Why the spider would choose to stay just below the mountain range was a mystery to me, but after some time I decided to withdraw from these lands filled with terror. I crossed the road to the south and, where I anticipated the same resistance met by Ungolianth, I could simply enter the woods that Melian protected. Once there, it seemed most logical to remain and observe awhile before I could bring a full report to my master.

As of this day, I still am not certain what made me stay in these green forests for so long. Maybe it was because it reminded me of forests of Oromë which was once our home, and the density and shelter the beeches did afford. Nay, it was more than that. Long ago, I took part in the greater music with my peers. As Surili, we contributed in our own way before the discord arose. Not all of us were turned, but those who were followed Mairon to this place where he took on a new name and gave us our new guises as well. I never regretted my decision, yet there was something here that awakened something I had hidden deep inside; my own discord.

The song of creation is a powerful one and it cannot be denied. Even when we chose otherwise, we simply followed our own song of creation. Perhaps that is what drew Ungoliant here and, perchance, also the reason why Melian would protect this forest so fiercely. This all would be very valuable information for my master, this much I knew. One day, I had to return, but for now, I watched and observed; my dreams challenged, my decisions made. Betimes I wished to cast aside my new raiment and take up the old, but I remembered all too well that it would not make me happy. As free as I might feel while taking flight, the demands placed upon me by them were a prison all of their own. Yet I longed to find my equilibrium, it was needed for, if Melian had managed to free herself from them without punishment and founded her own realm with that Grey Elf, then she must have been able to create something for herself.

I had not drifted that far off from my make-shift shelter in the forest to not hear the trees sing, and to spy how certain white flowers in their sparse clearings swayed softly to the subtle music one could hear. There was an enchantment placed upon this forest, and I could well imagine that this could be Melian's source of power. Thusly, I convinced myself to stay, to see if I could discover it cradle. I walked through the forest for days, and nature around me fell silent as my footsteps covered much ground. It seemed to hold its breath and it made me wonder what would happen if I dropped my enchanted raiment and would let go of my form for a fleeting moment. After all it was plausible that the darker magic it possessed would drown it out. As I experimented, it became clear that my cloak would mum all perceivable sound where it landed, whereas my mere dress beneath it would not. I kneeled to pluck one of these strange blooms and pondered this, for both had been given to me by my master and both would most surely possess a measure of magic.

The flower seemed so fragile, so light, as the starlight gave them a silvery sheen. It reminded me of Telperion's bloom of long ago and, if the rumour was correct, this was a pale remnant of what once was. Sighing deeply, I pressed the flower to my lips and sensed a small tremor in the ground. I thought naught of it since such a thing had occurred before. Seconds later, I saw how the flowers in the clearing swayed and started to open to the starlit sky. It was as sight to behold, yet I paid it little mind; as a thought took my attention.

"Who are you?"

The question startled me and I turned my head whence I thought the voice came from. All that I could perceive was a glimpse of someone moving behind the trees, fabric billowed behind it.

"Who are you?" I replied and flinched as a light finger touched upon my shoulder.

"You should not have done that. It disturbs them," she said, as a thrill shot through me when I felt a hand covering mine. Her touch was delicate, cool, as she stayed me. "Who are you?" She repeated.

I felt transfixed and forced myself to look up, wanting to shake off this strange hold that was placed upon me. Her eyes resembled the colour of the bloom that I held. "I am Thuringw..." I started, but she merely smiled as she shook her head to repeat once more, "Who are you?"

"As I said, I am..." I replied, cursing myself to be caught so unaware.

"No, not that. It is not you. I perceive that it is a mere guise. Yet, I think that I do know you."

"I do not know you..." I had gathered much information about these lands inhabitants, and I knew that I had never encountered a creature like this.

"Who are you?" She asked again, and this time her fingers moved deftly along my arm, pushing the fabric upwards. I could not help but to shiver. Why oh why had I removed my cloak? Why did it still pool on my lap and had I not been more cautious?

"I do not know." It was the most simple answer I could give, and truer than I had ever spoken.

"I think you do. You are much alike her this way, only diminished. Why?" More questions that I could not answer. Who did she think I was? And who was ‘her', and why would someone look like me? My mind raced, feverishly seeking answers. She waited patiently, her eyes flicked over my body and I wondered what she saw. Who am I? What answer could I give that would not come at a cost? There was no use to lie. Whatever insight she seemingly had would be to no avail. Conceivably I could invent an lie, but whatever for?

"I am a mere... messenger," I finally said and prepared myself for more questions. Instead, her lips quirked into a smile, one that I had seen before. Only then did I realise who stood before me; Melian's daughter.

"That you are, for I have seen you on tapestries in our dwelling." She paused as her head turned away. Then I heard it as well. The shrill sound of a flute and the voice of a child. "I must go," she announced. "I shall be back. Will you stay? I wish to know more of you and your kin." She did not wait for my reply, nor did I want to call her back, given the hold she had placed upon me. I shivered, not only from the cold but also from built up anticipation and perhaps... longing?

 

~*~

She stayed true to her word, although I spent those days resuming my watch over the Spider's Vale, as I called it. This time, I kept my mantle wrapped around me, never taking it off for such whimsical tests. I swore that I would never be caught off guard again, especially by her.

She made me feel vulnerable, weak, and if there was anything I had sworn to myself not to become again... I could not allow her to hold dominion over me. It had been so long since I made that bargain with Sauron. Offering him my service for a new start, in exchange for my soul. I should not forget that he gave me hope when all hope was gone. I felt bereft of my former life, after my fall from grace, after I disagreed with the outcome of the discordance in the Music. It was he who gave me strength to journey on, gave me the freedom to become who I was now. These things I must never forget, not even when that little witch would try to tell me otherwise.

Yes, I had grown angry over the days, and I decided to ward off the temptation she offered.

I could tell when she entered the forests again, as before the atmosphere changed, and it simply welcomed her. I kept my watch, observing the lands where Ungolianth resided. Whatever the Maia's daughter wanted from me, I would not leave my shelter.

Soon I perceived that she was close and alone. The flute that had accompanied her the last time was silent.

"I have returned," Lúthien spoke from below, her voice sounded calm. Too calm for me.

"That much is clear to me," I snarled, willing myself not to be lured again. "But why?"

"I was simply curious who you were and why a creature from our tapestry had come to life in our realm," she replied. It was a simple explanation to a complex matter.

"What tapestry? I doubt that your mother would have tapestries of the fallen on her walls." I held my tongue, just barely, and gazed down. I met her silver grey eyes, her long jet-black hair tumbled over her shoulders, and her deep blue dress revealed... I had to stop these thoughts!

"I do not believe that you have fallen that low."

I snorted at such a simple assessment; my anger got the better of me as I jumped down to meet her eye to eye, using my cloak to break my fall. It had the effect that I desired, and I watched as she quickly stepped backwards, her eyes wide.

"You do not know what it is like to be deprived of your own will, to be instructed to follow a desired path of another. If that was my fall, so be it," I seethed at her, crossing my arms in front of my chest to give a clear view of the claws.

"I never passed judgement over your fall, I perceived only that you are still the same as you once were without this guise." The fear was gone from her eyes and the gentleness that tricked me the first time had returned. "Do you not miss it?"

What was I to say to her, someone who was raised with the firm belief of the good Ainur? "No, I do not miss it. And you have plainly missed what I said so shortly before?"

"I have not," she simply answered, also folding her arms across her chest, taking a defiant pose. "I may have been be born to her, but I am not like her."

"You do not know what it was like...there." I tried to explain and sighed deeply.

"I do not think I passed judgement on what you are, I said only what I saw that day in the clearing of the forest of Neldoreth. A messenger, yes. A spirit of air who sat amongst my beloved Niphredils, and you are wondering as to why I felt so intrigued? That I felt this desire to return and to converse with you with none nearby waiting for me?"

"You speak of desire..." I started and I cursed myself for asking it of her. It was I who had to keep control here. "What is it that you desire of me?"

"To converse," Lúthien simply replied, yet this seemed an easy way out for her.

"Only to converse. You might have well used a bird for a messenger to converse with me. Nay, I do not believe you that you only have come to converse with me, about the trees and the flowers." I gestured about then took a step closer, glowering.

She held her ground and raised her chin instead. "Fine, yes, I do wish to know more about you. I thought that we could perhaps learn from each other before you leave these lands." Little did I know then how well we would eventually come to know one another.

~*~

We talked about many things. She shared much about her realm and her people and, in return, I told her as much as I could remember of life in the service of Manwë, taking away any fairy tale presumptions she might have had. With every visit, she was reluctant to leave after that and, even though she confirmed often that she loved living amongst her people, I could read between the lines that she longed for her own freedom as well. From time to time she would stay for days, and we spent many hours on the forest floor gazing up at the starry expanse above us. She knew her mythology well and I enjoyed her regaling the tales of what she had been taught by her father's kin; the journey to Valinor and Thingol's return to these lands. Sometimes, she would ask me questions about her mother in Aman, but I could not tell her much since I had left before her mother did. What I knew, I did share.

The telling of tales opened her up to me, and I do not think she realised how much she was actually sharing with me. From time to time, I wondered if she did it on purpose as an act of rebellion towards her parents. She could be so vulnerable, leaning close as we sat beneath a tree, her head resting on my shoulder. During these intimate moments, she guessed as to why her mother would leave the service of Vána and Estë to wander the realms here. I knew little of it, merely the rumours that buzzed around for so long. I wondered if she would ever ask her mother the same questions as she would ask me, and if I should impart her mother's complicated affairs in Aman to her. I decided not to and it remained a matter unspoken between us.

Betimes Lúthien spent her time dancing on the forest floor, enticing me to sing for her as I once did for both Varda and Manwë. Each time, I flat out declined, reminding her that at a certain time I refused to attune my voice to theirs. My days as one of the Surili were long behind me. Of course, she would plead me to do it for once, flirting shamelessly the last time she danced for me. As I watched her, I could not help to wonder how much her mother had taught her of the enchantment or, as I perceived it, how much of the magic was innate. Had Melian danced for Thingol as well? If so, what weakness did the elves have for them to fall for such an easy spell? One could easily cajole them into anything.

I started to miss her presence, after a time, and I knew that something was amiss when a patrol suddenly burst into this part of their realm, disturbing the comfortable silence that emanated. They did not find me of course, for I could take up any guise that I wished. What happened? It was then that I decided to make plans to return to Angband. I had gathered all the information needed for my master, and a bit more. Perhaps it would please him that I had gained the trust of someone so close to the heart of this realm. Knowing him, he would want to know if I had swayed her for our cause. Nay, the mere strategic details of this place would do. Reluctantly, I started to dismantle my small shelter up in the trees, being cautious not to leave many tracks behind me so that she would not be in more trouble later on. Whatever transpired between Lúthien and her parents, they must have found out that she had spent time with a stranger in these parts.

On the day that I had decided to leave, I heard someone thrashing through the thicket in a great hurry. The bushes Lúthien tore through protested against such a hasty protrusion.

"You did not leave!" she shouted as she ran towards me, her arms spread wide and her eyes reflecting the relief she felt upon seeing me still here.

"Nay, not as of yet. Although the day draws near when I must."

She looked so unhappy to hear this news and, like a lost cub she just stood there. It had been so long since I had seen her, and dark desire welled up within me. So much so that it made me want to throw all caution to the wind. After all, she was not alone; the way she looked around her warned me that some of the same guards who tried to find me weeks ago were here as well. For me, it felt now or never. I grabbed her wrist to pull her close as my living shield. To smell her scent and to perceive her warm body; it still was not good enough for me.

Lúthien looked at me, her eyes wide open. It was the first time since we met that I took initiative and it obviously surprised her. I could tell by the fluttering pulse, how her beautiful lips parted slightly and no word came. Then it was madness that seized me. I no longer could keep my longing for her at bay. It was only she and I, with Varda's stars twinkling above. I was drawn in by her eyes. This heady sensation of knowing that she was mine for the taking, hidden guards be damned. I held their princess and, if there was any wisdom present betwixt them, they would not interfere, for my claws would make a swift killing. Ah! The control! And I felt amazingly powerful. How on earth could I ignore the unspoiled beauty pressed so close against me?

"Thuringwethil, they know that..."

I swept upon my enchantress and kissed her. My lips captured her full ones and I seized all that she could give me. Ah, Eru! She is oh so perfect and pliant as I like my lovers to be. In my hunger, I tried to find a balance for I knew that she was a maiden still. I am both fierce and tentative, edging on the border of desperation, keeping myself in check, be it barely. There is so much more that I want of her, yet I did not wish to press her. She might be willing to give into my demands, or not. The excitement of teaching her this, to mark her thusly...

My tongue teased hers, and I tried to draw out a reaction. Oh so slowly she started to reciprocate and then our tongues danced together. How often had she not asked me to dance, and this surely was one, although not as innocent as she thought it would be. For now, it had to be more than enough for her since she melted into me on her own accord, our bodies pressed so close as it was meant to be. For me, this was just the mere beginning of what was to come. I kissed her deeply and I caught her soft moans with my mouth. She followed my lead eagerly and I suspected that it would not take long for her to yield fully to me. Who would have thought that she would be such easy prey? Yet, there was this nagging reminder that we stood here in the wide open. Despite that I held her very close for my own protection, it only needed a stupid and brazen elf that could lodge an arrow at us, claiming both our lives if the aim was not accurate.

I pulled away for my sanity's sake and she remained where she was, her chin nestled against my neck, and I simply relished in this moment of conquest. To feel her breath on my neck, her thigh moving between my leg. I was greatly aroused.

"You are not alone, are you?" I whispered in her ear. "I could give you a parting gift, but when I do so, we could be brutally interrupted."

As I wait for her answer, I could not help to wonder how she would look like and react if I were to strip away all of her layers, leaving her naked under the canopy, hidden away from the stars, only for me to see. What would it take for her to surrender to me, utterly and wholly, tethered upon the fine line of pain and pleasure?

 

"A gift?" she replied, and our eyes met. There was still so much innocence in her and that sweet temptation...

"If you wish. It will be something you will always remember me by." I offered, and I could tell that the seed of desire began to grow within her. Who could resist the thought of receiving a gift, even though I wondered if she would think of it as such, once I would be done with her. It was much too tempting for her, that much I gathered.

"I would like that," she conceded and snuggled close against me.

"As you wish."

I lifted my arms and wrapped my cloak about her, concealing her from the world and only for me to see. If all went well, we would blend into nature. I took my chances with this, fully aware that the guards would be alarmed. Yet I anticipated that they would not slash around wildly, nor knocking any arrows that would hurt her. They would however move to the place where we just stood, and I wanted us gone from it. Slowly I guided her to the old oak where we spent many hours together. It branches were low and ideal for climbing. This time, it would make a shelter for us, enough to conceal for two lovers who wanted to be left alone. If her guards would dash in, they would not find us. I breathed out a spell, and secured it. Lúthien blinked at first and then smiled at me, fully comprehending what I had done. The past months, she had wondered about my cloak as she would study it, but I never explained what it actually could do.

Once we both sat down, I lifted her chin and found her lips with mine once more. Ardour rose fiercely I realised that I could initiate her in the ways of lovemaking. I kissed her until her head tilted back with my seductive demands. She trembled slightly, but did not hesitate to help me as I unlaced her dress. When I lifted her dress over her head and urged her to lie down for me. Ah, she trusted me so! As she leaned back, she smiled and reached out for me, raising her head for another kiss. As I took her hand, I kissed it and placed it upon her belly. My hands wandered to her small breasts, easily cupping one in my hand. I stroked them through the thin fabric of her shift, kneaded  it gently while my thumb and forefinger rolled lightly over the nipple. She gasped in surprise, arching her back and against me. I told myself to be patient and we kissed once more, slowly this time, each exploring the other deliberately, drinking in each other's passion. It was oh so perfect to worship her so.

"Be prepared now," I whispered into her ear and my hand slid between her legs. I felt her shiver in anticipation. I could delay no longer, for we did not have much time. With her dress already gone, I lifted her undergarment, starting at her knees to find her naked and warm skin. Lúthien responded willingly to my silent journey. She parted her legs for me further, leaned up slightly to watch me intently. Her skin was so soft, my fingers slipped easily between her legs as I slid a finger up and down her mound against slight dampness. I moved my thumb and lightly pressed against her clit. A violent shiver passed through her and she moaned softly.

"This is it, a parting gift to remember," I informed her, not really waiting for her answer. She nodded, her eyes wide with excitement. It was the affirmation I needed, I pressed my thumb on her clit and plunged two fingers within, and took her maidenhead brutally. Yes, this was selfish on my part, but I wanted to make certain that she would never forget her first lover; this would remain her secret to keep until she would bind herself to a mate. She cried and then tensed, tears formed in her eyes, but I would not leave her in pain. I continued to gently massage and circle her womanhood. It distracted her from the discomfort and soon I felt the warmth of her wetness gather, the pulse of her desire building once more. I began to thrust gently, ensuring myself she would remember my gift well. Her breathing - already heavy - grew more laboured. She tensed around my fingers, and I drew my face away from her body for a moment to see her closed eyes and opened lips as she gasped with pleasure.

Only when she relaxed against me, I slipped a third finger within her folds and thrust harder this time, simulating the hardness she would feel of a future spouse. She rose into my touch. I relished in the feel of the softness of her breasts against my dress and trembling of her lips. I kissed her neck, then sucked on the skin, nipping lightly and considered marking her as mine. I continued my teasing of her clit with my thumb, then began stroking in circles. Her entire body grew tense, and my teeth met her skin as she let out a high pitched cry. As she arched violently against me, I allowed myself to gently bite her, being careful not to break the skin. As she peaked, I let her to ride out her wave of intense pleasure and removed my fingers slowly. She wept openly and my hand remained on her thigh leaving a bloody mark that showed the claimed innocence. My hand stayed there until her breathing returned to normal. I could have kissed away her tears as a true lover would, but I was not that one. Her first yes, but my motives were not fuelled by love. Nay, my wants were cast by darker desires that she did not understand. This was all I could give her; our only intimate moment. I held her in my arms and kissed her gently. It would be soon time for me to go.

"Remember, Lúthien. We are both twilight's daughters. We now share a memory none will ever understand. I might have claimed something that was not mine, but you have to understand that I do not regret taking it, for you were utterly willing to give it. I could have claimed much more, if I had given over to my darkest desires," I whispered in her ear as she opened her eyes.

"Should I be grateful then? That you will leave me alone, and with them, leaving all to guess as to what has just happened?" Lúthien answered in a rasping voice.

"Maybe you should, unless you wish me to corrupt you fully," I replied and stroked her neck. "That is what we are wont of to do. Be glad that I restrained myself."

She said nothing as she removed my hand from her belly. "You have given me a mere taste of what can be. You will leave me wondering of what could have been."

"Ah Lúthien." In the blindness of passion, I had forgotten that she was still so young.

"There is no time left for us. There is trust between us, but no time to let the love between us bloom, should we choose to nourish it. They are searching for us. You are as important to this realm as you would be to my lord. He would not allow me to keep you for myself. Nay, he would rather claim you instead."

"Will we meet again?" Lúthien finally asked as reality seemed to sink in. "What gift can I bestow upon you in return?"

I laughed bitterly. "If we meet again, you can impart your gift upon me, though, I doubt we ever will."

-* -

A long time passed since I heard of her again. I had left Angband long ago and had followed my master to his isle called Tol-in-Gaurhoth. At first, I liked the fortress, but I cared not so much for his experiment with werewolves. I made my dwelling nearby so that he could call upon me when needed.

To think that she had fallen for that straggler called Beren. He arrived here in the company of many elves and, except for him, one by one had been stripped of their lives. Perhaps Sauron thought Beren was special, I cared not. I wondered what she saw in him, remembering her interests long ago. I frankly doubted if he could even come close to bestowing the intensity of pleasure I had once given her. I sometimes dreamt of her and what might have been, if I had claimed her as mine in full. To take her innocence had felt satisfying at first, yet the thought of her corrupted, and to have her turn to meet my needs filled me with an unrequited longing. Of course, I had tried to seduce other elven maidens, yet none came close to her. None of those girls survived my attempts of corrupting them and the mercy I still had buried deep inside me made me end their lives quickly.

Instead, I had to make do with the memories of her and that afternoon when she gave herself willingly to me. I never expected that the day would arrive where she would stand before me again. I have to admit, she had managed to control her magic and was magnificent as ever. Only now, there was sadness in her eyes as she faced me, telling the large hound to stay back as she walked towards me. I was surprised how the mere sight of her could evoke such a strong reaction inside me. Even though I knew that matters were different between us now, I still could not resist walking towards her, to touch her skin and...

"I have come to require a boon of you. And to impart the gift I still owe you," Lúthien broke the silence in cool fashion. I halted in mid-step. The way she presented herself and how she addressed me; there was a clear warning to be perceived. She was so close... I still could finish it, I reasoned to myself.

"You once told me that we were both twilight's daughters. At first I did not understand what you meant by that, but I think I do now. It is not simply because I was born beneath the stars, or that you have chosen to remain in the twilight. We are both or the dark and the light. We were both placed on a different path by the Music itself. When I was so young and naïve, I thought that I knew you, that we were akin to one another. Perhaps once we were." Lúthien fell silent for a few moments, her head bowed. Lifting that beautiful face to me, her eyes were full of sadness. "You could have been swayed to embrace the light once more."

"Perhaps," I answered. "However, few would believe that you could have flourished in the darkness and at my side, if I allowed myself to take you fully."

"Understanding the evil as it is now..." Lúthien stepped closer and, for a moment we faced each other closely. "I am glad that you restrained yourself. For me, it was a lesson to learn, that there are grey areas in our lives where there is neither good nor evil. Just us. Just...being."

"Just us." I repeated temptingly. "We still could join as one," I greedily offered as thoughts of her in my arms, her final surrender to me, flashed through my mind.

"We could, yet you promised me that, if we were to meet again, it would be me who could impart a gift upon you,." he replied calmly and unclasped a dark cloak that she wore upon her shoulders. "I know it will be a fitting gift, and that it will grant you all you have desired. If you chose to accept it." She held it out to me.

"A cloak?" I replied in disbelief. "You should know that what I do and have desired is you and you alone."

"Then you should have claimed me then." There was no argument to defeat that logic.

"There is a part of me that still loves you and wants you to be who you once were. This," Lúthien said as she stepped behind me, "will free you of your burdens."

I had forgotten that she could easily enchant me if I let my guard down. Her hands skimmed my neck tenderly and she placed a kiss just beneath an ear. A moan tumbled out of my mouth and I wished that she would seduce me. I felt my outer garb slide down my back and I shivered in the cold. Without it, I felt so naked, that layer that made me Thuringwethil. In its place, I felt a thick fabric wrapped around me, a cloak that felt so heavy and yet, not. Suddenly, I felt so tired and the last thing I knew was that I was pulled into a deep dream...

 

~*~

Epilogue

I eventually came to know that the mantle placed upon my shoulders was woven from Lúthien's own hair and had put me in a deep sleep. In this enchanted slumber, I dreamt of many things and was finally freed from the burdens that I had carried for so long. Eventually, the cloak was taken from me, but as Namó explained, I was too far away to notice. Lúthien's spell had been very powerful. It had left me utterly helpless and unable to maintain the tainted raiment that housed my spirit. When the call came in my dream, I answered immediately, since I anguished long for the place that was once my true home. I willingly faced my trial; not so much for what I had done for both Sauron and Melkor, because the Valar showed forgiveness for that. Moreso, I had to atone for the lives I had taken to create a companion that would fulfil my darkest needs. I accepted my punishment gladly and, until my time is completed in Námo's halls, I shall consider if I wish to join the maidens of Air once more.

 

---

Chapter End Notes

Author notes:

 Important dates to know: Lúthien is born in the year 1200 (Years of the Trees, Second Age of Chaining of Melkor) in the Forests of Neldoreth. The story takes place in the year 1495 (years of the trees), shortly after Melkor and Ungoliant have arrived in Beleriand, had their fight & discussion and Ungoliant flees into the direction of Doriath where she is warded off by Melian. Only in the year 1497 Years of the Trees after the First battle of Beleriand the girdle of Melian is set.

There isn't much known of Thuringwethil. Only the following we know:

"She [Thuringwethil] was the messenger of Sauron, and was wont to fly in vampire's form to Angband; and her great fingered wings were barbed at each joint's end with an iron claw", Of Beren and Luthien, The Silmarillion. "By the counsel of Huan and the arts of Lúthien he [Beren] was arrayed now in the hame of Draugluin, and she [Lúthien] in the winged fell of Thuringwethil", and that Huan had acquired this fell from Tol-in-Gaurhoth at a time after the destruction of Sauron's tower, "He [Huan] turned aside therefore at Sauron's isle, as they ran northward again, and he took thence the ghastly wolf-hame of Draugluin, and the bat-fell of Thuringwethil".

Nothing is written, in canon that Lúthien fought Thuringwethil, nor is it clear whether she was killed by Huan or that she died when Tol Sirion fell . One might assume that since she served Sauron, and that she was one of the fallen maiar given her shape-shifting abilities (HOME states that she took on the form of a vampire) that every one of the Ainur has. In my view she has been  corrupted into his service given that she is one of his messengers. The Book of Lost Tales 2 offers you more insight. On page 297 it is said:

Lúthien's naming herself Thuringwethil to Morgoth (line 3954) is notable. In The Silmarillion (p. 178) the bat-fell which Huan brought from Tol-in-Gaurhoth was that of Thuringwethil. "she was the messenger of Sauron, and was wont to fly in vampire's form to Angband', whereas in the Lay (lines 3402 ff.), as I have noticed (p. 284), 'the bat-wings are only said to be such as bear up Thu's messengers, and are not associated with a particular or chief messenger'. It seems possible that in the Lay Lúthien devised this name ('she of hidden shadow') as a riddling description of herself, and that this led to the conception of the bat-messenger from the Wizard's Isle to Angband named Thuringwethil; but there is no proof of this. 

This made me wonder what inate ability Thuringwethil must have had before she was corrupted into Sauron's service. The same book offers a magnificent citation in the Lay of Leithian:

more strange and fair
than sylphine maidens of the Air
whose wings in Varda's heavenly hall
in rhythmic movement beat and fall.
--The Lay of Leithian, J.R.R. Tolkien

The lays of Beleriand (HOME III) gives you more insight who they were:

With them [Manwe and Varda] came many of those lesser Vali who loved them and had played nigh them and attuned their music to theirs, and these are the Manir and the Suruli, the sylphs of the airs and of the winds. (The Lays of Beleriand, The coming of the Valar, page 137 and page 306)

It made wondering about the following: how did Lúthien know how to dance as a Suruli and who were those fallen maiar, where did they go. And if Thuringwethil wasn't necessarily a vampire, how could she fly as a messenger? In my mind it made sense that Thuringwethil, before her fall was one of the Suruli.

It is very plausible that Lúthien saw Thuringwethil on one of the tapestries given that:

And as the years passed Melian and her maidens filled the halls with woven hangings wherein could be read the deeds of the Valar, and many things that had befallen in Arda since its beginning, and shadows of things that were yet to be. That was the fairest dwelling of any king that has ever been east of the Sea.

From The Silmarillion, Chapter 10 "Of the Sindar"

Thuringwethil's cloak gave the wearer the chance to disguise themselves, that much is clear in canon (see the quote above). It made me wonder why she would use such a garb, what rainment beneath did she wanted to guise? Also going by the assumption that she is one of the Ainur, with her cloak gone and Lúthien's spell placed upon her disabled her ability to take on a form.

As for Lúthien's cloak: from the Silmarillion, of Beren and Lúthien.

‘It is told in the Lay of Leithian how she escaped from the house in Hírilorn; for she put forth her arts of enchantment, and caused her hair to grow to great length, and of it she wove a dark robe that wrapped her beauty like a shadow, and it was laden with a spell of sleep. Of the strands that remained she twined a rope, and she let it down from her window; and as the end swayed above the guards that sat beneath the house they fell into a deep slumber.'

That must have been quite a cloak to cause such an effect. Reading to those relevant parts of History of Middle-earth and the Silmarillion was very inspiring for this story as you can tell.