Paradise Lost notes
I've decided the best way to do this is
with ongoing notes because footnotes seem distracting for a story. Even then, a
lot of these are incomplete since I sometimes make use of things I read and
don't actually cite the source.
---
Finwe's children:
Feanor=Curufinwe=Feanaro=Kurufinwe Fayanaro
Findis
Fingolfin=Nolofinwe=Arakano
Irime=Irien=Lalwende=Lalwen
Finarfin=Arafinwe
Feanor's children:
(The k in Quenya was replaced with c, so the father-names of Feanor's children
are primarily shown with the c variant of the names given in XII. This also
represents Feanor's role as loremaster among the Noldor.)
Maedhros=Nelyafinwe=Nelyo=Maitimo=Russandol
Maglor=Canafinwe=Cano=Macalaure
Celegorm=Turcafinwe=Turco=Tyelcormo
Caranthir=Morifinwe=Moryo=Carnistir
Curufin=Curufinwe=Curvo=Atarince
Amrod=Ambarussa=Pityafinwe=Pityo=Ambarto
Amras=Ambarussa=Telufinwe=Telvo=Umbarto
Celebrimbor=Nelyacurufinwe=Nelcurvo=Feanarince=Narin=Narindo=Tyelperinquar=T
elperinquar
Fingolfin's children:
Fingon=Findekano=Finno=Elen-Nalta
Turgon=Turukano=Turno
Aredhel=Irisse=Ireth=Ar-Feiniel
Argon=Arakano=Arno
Idril=Itarille=Itaril
Earendil=Earnil=Ardamire
Finarfin's children:
Finrod=Findarato=Finto=Artafinde=Ingoldo=Felagund
Angrod=Angarato=Anto=Artanga
Aegnor=Ambarato=Aikanaro=Airo
Galadriel=Nerwende=Artanis=Altariel
Orodreth=Artaher=Arothir
---
Chapter 1
The names most commonly used in the Silmarillion are the names that I used in
the story. This is a Maedhros fic, but in order to portray what I want to
portray, it is also a Feanor fic. At one point or another, Feanor was beloved to
his people, and from his deeds came their greatest renown and their most
grievous woe.
When they speak, though, they don't refer to each other by the common Sindarin
names that we're familiar with. They usually use Quenya names. (See Names notes
above.)
The symbol of the House of Finwe is, inexplicably, the "winged sun."
The sun hadn't risen at that point in time, nor would it before Feanor's death
even, but that's the emblem that Tolkien created for Finwe. Perhaps the concept
of a sun or ball of light existed but not the sun as the main source of light
for the lands? Anyway, for more information about the emblems, see
http://www.forodrim.org/gobennas/heraldry/heraldry.htm. These are, indeed, from
Tolkien's sketches, but I never bought the artbook that has his sketches in it.
I am basing this on the footnote that Feanor was born 1169 in the Year of the
Trees, not 1179 (X. 92, 101). Finwe married Indis 1185 (X. 101). I am assuming
that Feanor started traveling and married soon after Finwe's second marriage,
especially since the Silmarillion states that "in his early youth he wedded
Nerdanel (S. 64)." I take "early youth" to mean much earlier than
50. At which point Maedhros was born soon after Feanor's marriage. In this
story, Maedhros and Fingolfin were both born in 1190 (X. 92).
My logic for the close ages of the sons of Feanor is this: If Finarfin can have
5 children in the span of 62 years (Finrod born 1300, Galadriel born 1362, about
a decade between each child), then it is quite possible and very probable that
Feanor's son were born in a relatively short span of time, with no more than a
decade or two between each child. Fingolfin seems to be a bit slower about
churning out children. By the way, saying Finarfin "had" 5 children
isn't quite right either. I hear that elves do not "possess" children,
thus the odd phrasing of children being added unto their family. For names of
the sons of Feanor, see Peoples of Middle Earth (XII. 352-3).
Luinsinda Mire=Quenya for blue-grey jewel
Mirefinwe=Quenya for Jewel of Finwe
Mindon Eldalieva=The Tower of Ingwe, the tallest tower in Tirion
Laurethoron=Quenya for Golden Eagle, "laure" is used to refer to
golden light, not golden metal, but in this case "golden" is referring
to the light of the eagle's eyes, not the golden metal feathers.
---
Chapter 2
One yen=144 years. This division of time makes more sense for the years of the
sun, which are shorter than the years of the tree. 1 year of the trees=9.582
years of the sun. More time stuff in Morgoth's Ring (X. 59). This time
difference will come into play later as well since I was using the Annals of
Aman for my timepoints, which are measured in the years of the trees. That means
the time between the death of the Two Trees (1495), the abandonment of Fingolfin
at Araman (1497), and the arrival of Fingolfin in Middle Earth (1500) is not a
total of 5 years but actually 48 years of the sun (X. 98-120).
I assumed that Fingolfin married Anaire when he was 50 (like Finarfin marrying
Earwen at 50, X. 93) and that Fingon was born a decade or two after that.
Six, the first game that Maedhros and Fingon played with the gold and silver
coins was Pente, except that they needed to line up six, not five, coins in a
row. The second game is Othello. It must seem pretty lame and I think I
explained the games poorly, but I needed to find some talents for Maedhros, and
the only way to demonstrate that he was good at strategy was through strategy
games since there are no wars or war games.
Yes, the timepiece is like a wind-up pocket watch. The face of the watch is like
ours because I'm not as inventive as Feanor, but instead of 60 minutes to the
hour, I figured that there would be 144 minutes in an hour. Elves tend to count
multiples of 12 up to 144 since there were originally 144 elves that awoke at
Cuivienen.
1 hour of the trees=144 minutes of the trees
1 hours of the sun=60 minutes of the sun
1 hour of the trees=7 hours of the sun
1 minute of the sun=2.92 minutes of the sun
I figured dividing their hour into 144 minutes would make it easier for me to
keep track of their time versus ours. I didn't bother giving them a second hand.
And I don't know the word for "minutes" in Quenya, if such a word does
exist at all.
Elen-nalta is the closest I could come up with for the Quenya form of the
Sindarin name Gil-galad. Gil-galad means "Star of Radiance." Star is
"elen" in Quenya. Since "galad" is the same root as the one
in Galadriel's name, the true Quenya form being "Naltariel," I chose
to use "nalta" (radiance, glittering reflection from jewels, glass,
polished metal, or water) over "silme" (starlight, the root in
"silmaril"). I suppose I could've shortened it to Elnalta, but I
wanted to preserve the hyphenated structure of Gil-galad's name. Undoubtedly,
Fingon had this epesse in mind for his son Ereinion and had helm, mail, and
shield overlaid with silver and set with a device of white stars fashioned for
his son. Ok, I must confess, I don't know if this will ever come into play in
the story.
---
Chapter 3
I had Amrod and Amras use the short form of their brothers' father-names because
the names are short. I know they preferred their mother-names, but when trying
to say the names quickly, I can see them falling back to the shortened
father-names. I have a Chinese name (PhoungPing), an affectionate version of my
Chinese name (PingPing), a shortened version of my Chinese name (Ping), an
English version of my Chinese name (Homping), a shortened English version of my
Chinese name (Homp), and an English name (Maria, which is sometimes changed by
friends or acquaintances to Mari, Mari-chan, Marie, Mary, or Mariah). All the
names get used at different times. I figured the sons of Feanor would be the
same way.
Caranthir is the fourth son; Curufin is the fifth son. I want to stick to the
Silmarillion set up when I can since I'll be bending it more than enough later.
Macalaure, Maglor's mother-name, means "forging gold." That's what
Feanor's referring to when he talks about the golden harp.
The Silmarillion states that Manwe had a scepter of sapphire made for him by the
Noldor. Although the Noldor as a group are cited, it seems obvious to me that
the Noldo who made the scepter must have been Feanor. Of the crafts that Feanor
might otherwise have created, only Manwe can imagine.
Miriel is also known as Firiel, which means "she who died" or
"she who sighed" (X. 250). I'm going by the idea that Miriel died soon
after Feanor's birth, not that she stayed alive long enough to raise him.
However, her body was preserved in sleep in Lorien for a while after she died,
and Finwe visited her. It seems reasonable to me that Feanor would have also
visited with Finwe. Since Feanor has a good memory, it's no surprise that he'd
remember how she looked. Miriel is supposed to have silver hair and dark eyes
(X.185). At first I thought about keeping her a more conventional Noldor, with
dark hair and dark eyes, because then questions of her kinship wouldn't come
into play, but I've decided to just go with the silver hair after realizing that
the wives were paralleling the Two Trees, with silver coming first and then gold
blooming next. Maybe she will be related distantly to Thingol after all since
silver/white hair seems to run in that family. Or maybe it won't come up at all.
Celegorm won Huan at the Celebration, and they'll ride together and follow
Orome's horn for a while during the Days of Bliss.
---
Chapter 4
In 1400 of the Years of the Trees, Melkor was released. He was free to roam
Valinor in 1410 (X.93).
Descriptions of the palantiri are in Unfinished Tales. There's a footnote
regarding a Master Stone.
Maedhros and Fingon are playing Abalone. Abalone is played on a hexagonal board.
Each player has 14 marbles. The object of the game is to eject six of the
opponent's marbles from the board. At his turn a player may move 1, 2 or 3 of
his marbles in any of the six possible directions, provided there is an adjacent
free space. Not more than three marbles of the same color may be moved in a
single maneuver. A move may not be for more than one space at a time. When
moving 2 or 3 marbles, they must all be moved into the same direction. In order
to push your opponent's marbles, a sumito must be set up. This means that your
marbles are numerical superior to your opponent's marbles. For example: 2 push 1
sumito, 3 push 2 sumito, 3 push 1 sumito. A marble is ejected when it's pushed
off the board. If you eject six of the opponent's marbles, you win the game.
More information is available here: http://www.abalonegames.com.
Fingon has again been nicknamed by Maedhros. Finno is simply a shortening of
Findekano. It also fits the format of the Quenya shortening of the names of the
sons of Feanor. The rest of the cousins can probably be nicknames in the same
way and still be differentiated, but I doubt it'll come up in this story.
Feanor is said to have asked for Galadriel's hair, but I find it ridiculous.
He's not the type to ask anything of anyone, save Nerdanel alone. But I can see
Curufin asking for strands of her golden hair. So I thought I'd take advantage
of Father and Son sharing the same name, Curufinwe. Fingon uses Atarinke to make
it clear that he's referring to the younger Curufinwe.
"Blood and darkness" is the curse that Maedhros used when the
Silmarils were stolen and Finwe slain (X. 293-4).
Elessar is most commonly translated as "Elf-stone," but it also means
"Star- stone" (Elen+sarn). Elves were people of the stars, Eldar, and
so the word elf and star are often interchangeable. We also see this in names
such as Elrond's. Elrond is translated as "Elf of the cave" or as
"Vault of stars." The poetic "el" instead of
"elen" is used to mean both elf and star (S. 449). "Sarn" is
stone (S. 456), no interesting history to add to that. I've chosen the meaning
of Elessar to be "Star-stone."
Feanor gave the elessar to Maedhros. Maedhros gave it to Fingon (XI.176- 7).
Elennar (Elen+nar) is then "Star-fire" and manages to preserve a
similarity in spelling to the Elessar. "Nar" means "fire" or
"flame" as in Narsil (S. 454).
---
Chapter 5
Feanor and Curufin are making rock candy. The "essence" of the gems is
nothing more than food coloring.
"Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea, and air, lay locked
within them [the Silmarils]" (S. 73). I think Iluvatar said the same thing
in the earlier versions of the Silmarillion. I'll have to check.
The Vanyar are also known as the Blessed Elves, the Spear-elves, the Elves of
the Air, the friends of the Gods, the Holy Elves, the Immortal, the Children of
Ingwe, the Fair Folk, and the White (X. 164).
The Noldor are also known as the Wise, the Golden, the Valiant, the Sword-
elves, the Elves of the Earth, Foes of Melkor, Skilled of Hand, Jewel- wrights,
Companions of Men, and Followers of Finwe (X. 164).
The Teleri are also known as the Foam-riders, Singers of the Shore, the Free,
the Swift, the Arrow-elves, Elves of the Sea, the Ship-wrights, Swanherds,
Gatherers of Pearl, Blue Elves, and the people of Olwe (X. 164).
---
Chapter 6
Most of the material for this chapter comes from the Silmarillion (Chapter 7: Of
the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor) and the Book of Lost Tales 1 (I.
141-2).
Feanor's mother's name is given as Mķriel Žerindė. Therinde is the phonetic
equivalent of the shibboleth of Feanor (XII. 331-40). The actual symbol is the
Latin capital letter thorn, Ž, but I used "th" instead because I
don't want uploading font problems. I'm sure you've noticed I drop most of the
fanciness to my letters, including diaresis, acute, and circumflex accents. No
apologies, I prefer it to strange squares and gibberish when I transfer my story
to other formats like ASCII.
---
Chapter 7
All the copper references are to Nerdanel's father, Mahtan. He was also known as
Urundil, "copper-lover," because he loved copper and set it above
gold.
"For Manwe was free from evil and could not comprehend it, and he knew that
in the beginning, in the thought of Iluvatar, Melkor had been even as he; and he
saw not to the depths of Melkor's heard, and did not perceive that all love had
departed from him for ever" (S. 70).
Sorry Glorfindel had no lines. I knew it to be a problem but I did it
consciously because I knew I'd write too much about Glorfindel if given a
chance.
Yup, their swords glow in the presence of evil creatures, i.e. Morgoth. See
Sting and Glamdring and Anduril.
Fingolfin and Feanor's words before the council of Finwe's lords are taken from
Silmarillion, p. 75-76. I did modify them slightly to read easier.
---
Chapter 8
The incidents with the play-acting spies are at last revealed. They are modeled
off the incident with Amlach, who had seemed to speak before Men in favor of
leaving Beleriand but then later had claimed to have not been present at the
debate. (S. 173-174)
"I have now a quarrel of my own with this Master of Lies, which will last
to my life's end" (S. 174). This is a straight quote from Amlach, who
entered the service of Maedhros after repenting. Yes, I chose him in particular
because of his later service to the son of Feanor.
The judgment of Mandos and Fingolfin's "I will release my brother" are
rehashed from the Silmarillion (S. 77).
Coraldu=tree-round=12 years. They can't have coranar ("sun-round")
since the sun hasn't arisen yet, but even if I wanted to use that, I'd say one
year. I'm not looking for an Elven long-year (yen) either. Really, what I'm
looking for is something that means "12-years" because Tolkien said
that Elves prefer to count in sixes and twelves. Well, I decided I'd just make a
word up for this. 1 coraldu=12 years. Plural form being coraldur. Aldu refers to
the Two Trees. Cor means ring or round.
Ingwe Ingweron is Ingwe's full name (XII. 340). His sons are Ingil, Ingwiel, and
Ingwion. These are taken from a variety of HoME sources. I'll look it up later.
Feanor is only 21 years older than Fingolfin and Maedhros? Well, yes, back to
the earlier notes, Feanor was born in 1169, and Fingolfin and Maedhros were both
born in 1190. See Chapter 1 notes.
"Aule named Feanor the greatest of the Eldar, and in potency that is true..
and the griefs that shall come ye shall weigh in balance, and they shall not
seem too heavy compared with the rising of the light when Valinor groweth
dim." (X.247)
"A darkness lies behind us, and we have turned our backs upon it, and we do
not desire to return thither even in thought" (S. 169).
---
Chapter 9
Not the conventional image of Formenos, but there's not enough said about
Formenos so I was free to be inventive.
Curufin's wife is Volaurel. Her father is one of the sons of Olwe, and her
mother is the daughter of Ingwe. I figured there'd be plenty of inbreeding among
the royalty of the Eldar. "Vola" means "rolling wave" in
Telerin, and Olwe himself is sometimes known as "Volwe," a pun.
"Laure" means "golden light" and refers to her Vanyarin
ancestry. And the "el" is just an ending for her name, meaning
"elf." Together, her name refers to the golden light of Laurelin upon
the waves of the Sea. Maybe I'll write the story of her and Curufin. She didn't
inherit the golden-hair of the Vanyar but instead has the silver-hair of the
Teleri. They married shortly after the banishment, early in 1490. Celebrimbor
was born a year later, which is quite remarkable since the Eldar usually wait
longer before having children.
Celebrimbor becomes a difficult one. His father name is Nelyacurufinwe, meaning
Third Curufinwe, shortened to Nelcurvo. His mother name is Feanarince, meaning
Little Feanor or Little Spirit of Fire, shortened to Narin. As you can see,
neither of his names can be adapted suitably in Beleriand, so he'll eventually
end up adopting the nickname Celebrimbor. Feanor also punned his name Narin. He
called Celebrimbor Narindo, "indo" meaning "heart," so
essentially called him "Heart of Fire" when he was pleased with what
he saw in his grandson. It shouldn't be a surprise. Feanor's fond of wordplay.
Melkor comes to feanor at Formenos in 1492 (X.97).
Some of the dialogue between Melkor and Feanor is taken from the Silmarillion
(S. 78-79).
Fingolfin and Feanor's words at the festival are also taken from the
Silmarillion (S.83).