Alqualondë
the Swan-haven; the city of the Teleri
Name and Position
Alqualondë — “the Swan-haven” — is the haven-city of the Teleri upon the shore of Aman, “where the waves beat on the walls” — the Quenta: “the haven of the swans… built by the Teleri at the gate” — it was founded by Olwë and his people when at last they crossed the sea, at the bay where the swans were harboured — its beauty: the quays and the swan-ships (the ships carved in the likeness of swans with golden beaks and eyes of jet), “the most beautiful of all the harbours” — the prayers of the sea-elves; Ossë’s love.
The Swan-ships
- The ships of the Teleri — with white wings — “built in the likeness of swans… their beaks were gold, their eyes jet” — the fleet that in later memory “the greatest fleet in the world” (the Teleri’s sea-craft and love of the shore). -
Their city-life: the Teleri — “the Elves of the Sea” — dwelled by the water, their song the sound of the waves, their love the moonlit fare; they “cared not for the landward cities of the Noldor” — the quiet beauty of the mariners’ quarter.
The First Kinslaying
The darkening of the haven: when Fëanor and his host, fleeing Aman, demanded the swan-ships, and Olwë refused, the Noldor fell upon their hosts, killing the Teleri upon their own quays and at the foot of the swans — the first Kinslaying. It happened at the “gates of Alqualondë”; the Doom of Mandos names it; and the ships themselves — built of the Teleri’s love and blood — carried the curse of the dead to Middle-earth, their burning at Losgar sealing the impiety.
Significance
Alqualondë is the beautiful wound of the age: the haven where the exploit of the Sea-elves turned to murder, the place of the first Elvish civil blood, and the memory (Olwë’s children, Eärwen’s kin, the outraged Teleri) that poisoned the Exiles’ welcome ever after. It remains the symbol of the “unforgiving” that the Kin-strife brings into the legend.