Elwing
the white-winged; Luthien's niece; bearer of the Silmaril
Name and Lineage
Elwing — the daughter of Dior, Thingol’s heir, and of Nimloth of the Green-elves; the granddaughter of Beren and Lúthien. When the Second Kinslaying destroyed Doriath, Elwing — the keeper of her grandmother’s Silmaril (the jewel Beren and Lúthien had won) — was the only child of Dior to survive its ruin. The accounts of the sack vary: in the published Quenta, Elwing — the youngest, still a child — was borne away from Menegroth by loyal servants, while her twin brothers Eluréd and Elurín were left to perish in the forest; other versions of the tale (discussed by Christopher Tolkien in The War of the Jewels) differ on the children’s precise fate. In every form, Elwing alone escaped the fall of Doriath with the Silmaril, and found her way at last to the sea.
The Lady of the Havens
After wandering by the coastal waters, Elwing found the remnant refugees of Gondolin at the Havens of Sirion and married Eärendil; their sons Elrond and Elros were born there. She is “the lady of the white-clad” — “the most… beautiful of the women of that age, save Lúthien” — her beauty and her lineage (three-sided: the blood of Thingol and Melian, of Beren and Lúthien, of the Green-elves) made her the symbolic keeper of the blended kindreds.
- The Silmaril: she kept her grandmother’s jewel, “the light of the Two Trees”, and its glory shone from the havens across the sea — drawing down the wrath of the Sons of Fëanor (the Oath), who at the last attacked the Havens of Sirion (the third Kinslaying), slew many, and took the twins.
- The leap: As the Fëanorians closed in, Elwing — despairing, holding the Silmaril — cast herself into the sea; the Valar, it is said, in pity gave her the wings of a white bird, and she flew to Eärendil’s ship on the Vingilot, bearing the jewel: — the great legend of the. With Eärendil she sailed at last into the West, her Silmaril lighting the Vingilot as the morning star; she chose the fate of the Elves, and her sons were given the choice of the Half-elven.
Significance
Elwing is the bridge between the two great strands: she carries the Silmaril (the light of the Trees of Valinor, Teleri gold and Noldorin craft) from the wreck of Doriath to the sea that redeems — her leap and transformation are the pivot on which Eärendil’s voyage and the final intercession turn.