Arda Kompendium

Morwen

Eledhwen; the lady of Dor-lómin; the mother of Túrin

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Name and Nature

Morwen — called Eledhwen, “elf-fair” (for her beauty was like an Elf-maid’s) — the wife of Húrin, the daughter of Baragund of the house of Bëor. She was “proud and brave” — the Quenta:; she loved her husband and children with a fierce, high, silent love, and endured the age’s enemies with the bitterness and pride of her line.

The Doom

Upon the House

  • When Húrin went to the Nirnaeth (and fell captive), and the Easterlings seized Dor-lómin, Morwen held the lordship of the house in his absence — “the lady of the house of Húrin” — she endured the hard servitude of the Swarthy Men, sheltering her children.
  • The sending forth of Túrin: In the depth of the winter, for the child’s good, she sent the young Túrin away to the safety of Doriath (where Thingol fostered him), keeping the younger daughter Nienor and mourning the lost Lalaith. It is the crucial, cruel kindness of the tale — the sending that sets the doom in motion.
  • The seeking of Húrin: When no news came, Morwen — restless and proud to the last — set out into the easterly lands — to seek tidings of her husband, and (per the Narn) perished or vanished in the wilds, “she was found” — she died at last beside the mound of the fallen — the text: in the aftermath of Túrin’s fate, Morwen came at last to the stones of his tomb at the cove — and passing — she died by the tomb of her son, “the third of the children of Húrin” — the accounts vary; her fate is inextricable from the ruin.

Significance

Morwen is the great grieving mother of the mythology: proud, beautiful, unbending, whose love propels the tragedy (her sending of Túrin, her search for Húrin) and whose brightness the Curse of Morgoth tarnishes slowly. The Narn i Chîn Húrin begins and ends with her — the tale’s first and last mourner.

Verknüpfte Seiten

HúrinBëorTúrinNienorLalaithDor-lóminHouse of BëorThe Curse of MorgothConcordance — A to ZThe Sack of NargothrondNarn i Chîn HúrinLay of the Children of HúrinSadorBaragund
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
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