Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silmarillion, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Unity vs. Division
Fate, Doom, and Free Will
Pride and Arrogance
Greed, Jealousy, and Obsession
Inevitable Loss
Myth and Memory
Summary
Analysis
Aredhel accompanies Turgon to Gondolin but, after two hundred years, wants to leave. Turgon eventually allows her, though he doesn’t want anyone who knows about Gondolin to live outside its walls. He sends her with an escort to take her to their brother Fingon, but she leads them to find Fëanor’s sons instead.
Aredhel is safe in Gondolin, isolated from the rest of Beleriand, but she also feels trapped by both the walls and her brother and longs to see her old friends. She insists on rejoining the world rather than being shuffled from one fortress to the next.
Themes
The guards of Doriath direct her around the Girdle of Melian to find Celegorm. On the way, she becomes separated from her companions and, after searching for them, carries on without them. The region is full of Ungoliant’s creatures and the companions return to Gondolin, assuming that Aredhel is dead. Aredhel is welcomed to Celegorm’s home, but he isn’t there, and she becomes restless and departs again. She wanders into Nan Elmoth (the forest where Melian and Thingol met) where a Dark elf, Eöl, lives.
Aredhel is friends with her cousins, the sons of Fëanor, and, like them, she is both stubborn and proud. Rather than waiting for the protection of a traveling companion, she sets off again on her own after reaching Celegorm’s house. She thought she wanted to reunite with her friends, but it seems that after spending so long in Gondolin, she simply wants to wander.
Themes
Eöl blames the Noldor for the return of Morgoth and the killing of the Teleri but is friendly with the dwarves, often traveling to their mountains and learning metalwork from them. Seeing Aredhel passing through the forest, he sets enchantments to prevent her from leaving and drives her towards his house. When she arrives, tired from traveling, he welcomes her, and they eventually marry.
Eöl lives alone, away from other elves, an indication that he thinks differently from others in some way and is likely (like Morgoth) rebellious and misanthropic. His entrapment of Aredhel confirms his dishonesty, if not his outright wickedness.
Themes
Aredhel isn’t unwilling to be married, but Eöl forbids her from seeking sunlight or meeting any of the Noldor. They have a son, who Eöl names Maeglin, meaning Sharp Glance, because Maeglin can “read the secrets of hearts.” He grows up much like his father—reticent and powerful—but prefers his mother, who tells him stories of her family. Maeglin wants to discover where Turgon lives and meet the Noldor, but Eöl forbids it, and the trust between them is broken.
Eöl is manipulative, jealous, and controlling. He hates the Noldor, yet he marries one and forces her to deny her family. Though the narrator doesn’t clarify, Eöl behaves like someone who has fallen victim to Morgoth’s influence and therefore become suspicious and possessive.
Themes
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While Eöl is at a feast with the dwarves, Maeglin urges his mother to guide the two of them to Gondolin, and they depart. Eöl returns early and pursues them, catching up in time to see them pass through the gates into Gondolin, where Turgon welcomes them. The guards capture Ëol and bring him to Turgon.
Aredhel would rather return to Gondolin, where at least she has the freedom to move freely around the city and see her family, than remain with Eöl, subject to all his restrictions. Eöl, however, despite his anger and suspicion towards Aredhel and Maeglin, doesn’t want them beyond his reach and control.
Themes
Turgon greets Eöl and tells him that he’s free to live in Gondolin but can’t ever leave. Eöl refuses to remain in Gondolin and demands that Maeglin leave with him. When Turgon insists that Eöl’s choice is to stay or die, Eöl chooses death and attempts to kill Maeglin. Aredhel jumps in front of him, taking the blow, and dies that night from the poisoned wound. Eöl is sentenced to death and, before he’s thrown from the walls of the city, he curses Maeglin to die the same way.
When denied what he wants (his son and wife), Eöl turns to violence—if he can’t possess Maeglin, he’ll kill him to prevent him from living happily in Gondolin. Eöl is bitter enough in his defeat, when he fails to kill Maeglin, to curse him instead. Eöl tried to teach his son to be like him and succeeded in many ways. Now, as many of their vices are the same, their deaths will be the same, too.
Themes
Though Turgon’s daughter Idril mistrusts him, Maeglin is loved by the people of Gondolin. When Turgon finally leaves the city and marches to war, Maeglin accompanies him. Maeglin is in love with Idril but can’t marry her because they’re cousins and because she doesn’t love him. Guessing his feelings, Idril likes him less, and sees something “crooked” in him—what the elves later call the curse of Mandos. Over the years, Maeglin’s love turns to bitterness, and he seeks power in other places.
Though Maeglin appears helpful and friendly, he is very like his father in his possessiveness. When Idril doesn’t love him in return, he turns to other outlets for his emotion—violence, manipulation, and power-seeking. The elves, considering the story after its completion, call Maeglin’s affection for Idril and subsequent behavior a result of the curse of the Noldor, implying that his actions will lead him to loss and betrayal.
Themes
