Unfinished Tales - J. R. R. Tolkien [148]
It may be noted here that the absence of any indication to the contrary in The Lord of the Rings had led commentators to the natural assumption that Galadriel and Celeborn passed the latter half of the Second Age and all the Third in Lothlórien; but this was not so, though their story as outlined in ‘Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn’ was greatly modified afterwards, as will be shown below.
Amroth and Nimrodel
I have said earlier (p. 302) that if Amroth were indeed thought of as the son of Galadriel and Celeborn when The Lord of the Rings was written, so important a connection could hardly have escaped mention. But whether he was or not, this view of his parentage was later rejected. I give next a short tale (dating from 1969 or later) entitled ‘Part of the Legend of Amroth and Nimrodel recounted in brief’ .
Amroth was King of Lórien, after his father Amdír was slain in the Battle of Dagorlad [in the year 3434 of the Second Age]. His land had peace for many years after the defeat of Sauron. Though Sindarin in descent he lived after the manner of the Silvan Elves and housed in the tall trees of a great green mound, ever after called Cerin Amroth. This he did because of his love for Nimrodel. For long years he had loved her, and taken no wife, since she would not wed with him. She loved him indeed, for he was beautiful even for one of the Eldar, and valiant and wise; but she was of the Silvan Elves, and regretted the incoming of the Elves from the West, who (as she said) brought wars and destroyed the peace of old. She would speak only the Silvan tongue, even after it had fallen into disuse among the folk of Lórien; 12 and she dwelt alone beside the falls of the river Nimrodel to which she gave her name. But when the terror came out of Moria and the Dwarves were driven out, and in their stead Orcs crept in, she fled distraught alone south into empty lands [in the year 1981 of the Third Age]. Amroth followed her, and at last he found her under the eaves of Fangorn, which in those days drew much nearer to Lórien. 13 She dared not enter the wood, for the trees, she said, menaced her, and some moved to bar her way.
There Amroth and Nimrodel held a long debate; and at the last they plighted their troth. ‘To this I will be true,’ she said, ‘and we shall be wedded when you bring me to a land of peace.’ Amroth vowed that for her sake he would leave his people, even in their time of need, and with her seek for such a land. ‘But there is none now in Middle-earth,’ he said, ‘and will not be for the Elven-folk ever again. We must seek for a passage over the Great Sea to the ancient West.’ Then he told her of the haven in the south, where many of his own people had come long ago. ‘They are now diminished, for most have set sail into the West; but the remnant of them still build ships and offer passage to any of their kin that come to them, weary of Middle-earth. It is said that the grace that the Valar gave to us to pass over the Sea is granted also now to any of those who made the Great Journey, even if they did not come in ages past to the shores and have not yet beheld the Blessed Land.’
There is not here the place to tell of their journey into the land of Gondor. It was in the days of King Ea¨rnil the Second, the last but one of the Kings of the Southern Realm, and his lands were troubled. [Ea¨rnil II reigned in Gondor from 1945 to 2043.] Elsewhere it is told [but not in any extant writing] how they became separated, and how Amroth after seeking her in vain went to the Elf-haven and found that only a few still lingered there. Less than a ship-load; and they had only one seaworthy ship. In this they were now preparing to depart, and to leave Middle-earth. They welcomed Amroth, being glad to strengthen their small company; but they were unwilling to await Nimrodel, whose coming seemed to them now beyond hope. ‘If she came through the settled lands of Gondor,’ they said, ‘she would not be molested, and might receive help; for the Men of Gondor are good, and they are ruled by descendants of the Elf-friends of old