Nimrodel

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Revision as of 05:04, 31 August 2008

The Song of Nimrodel

An Elven-maid there was of old, A shining star by day: Her mantle white was hemmed with gold, Her shoes of silver-grey.

A star was bound upon her brows, A light was on her hair As sun upon the golden boughs In Lórien the fair.

Her hair was long, her limbs were white, And fair she was and free; And in the wind she went as light As leaf of linden-tree.

Beside the falls of Nimrodel, By water clear and cool, Her voice as falling silver fell Into the shining pool.

Where now she wanders none can tell, In sunlight or in shade; For lost of yore was Nimrodel And in the mountains strayed.

The elven-ship in haven grey Beneath the mountain-lee Awaited her for many a day Beside the roaring sea.

A wind by night in Northern lands Arose, and loud it cried, And drove the ship from elven-strands Across the streaming tide.

When dawn came dim the land was lost, The mountains sinking grey Beyond the heaving waves that tossed Their plumes of blinding spray.

Amroth beheld the fading shore Now low beyond the swell, And cursed the faithless ship that bore Him far from Nimrodel.

Of old he was an Elven-king, A lord of tree and glen, When golden were the boughs in spring In fair Lothlórien.

From helm to sea they saw him leap, As arrow from the string, And dive into water deep, As mew upon the wing.

The wind was in his flowing hair, The foam about him shone; Afar they saw him strong and fair Go riding like a swan.

But from the West has come no word, And on the Hither Shore No tidings Elven-folk have heard

Of Amroth evermore.

Book 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings

Lore

Lost Elf-maiden of Lothlorien. Nimrodel was graceful and beautiful, with long hair that shone like golden mallorn leaves in sunlight. She was a Silvan Elf, or Wood-elf. Nimrodel spoke only the language of the Wood-elves even after Sindarin became the common tongue of Lothlorien.

Nimrodel loved Amroth, the King of Lothlorien and son to Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, but she refused to marry him. Amroth was a Sindarin Elf, and Nimrodel was unhappy that many Sindarin and Noldorin Elves had come to Lothlorien because she believed that they exposed her peaceful woods to the war and unrest of Middle-earth. She preferred to live apart from them and maintain the ways of the Wood-elves.

Nimrodel lived alone near the river that later bore her name. Her home was near the northwestern border of Lothlorien. She may have dwelled in a grotto - or small cave - by a waterfall, but when Orcs from the nearby Misty Mountains began encroaching on the forest she may have started living high in the branches of a tree. This may have inspired the creation of flets - platforms used as dwelling places in the trees by the Elves of Lothlorien.

In 1980, a Balrog awoke under the Misty Mountains, and the next year the Dwarves abandoned their realm of Khazad-dum which became a place of evil called Moria. Nimrodel was distraught and she fled alone from Lothlorien. She reached the eaves of Fangorn Forest but she found the trees there frightening and some of them - which may have been Huorns - moved to prevent her from entering the forest.

Amroth followed Nimrodel and found her near Fangorn. She promised to marry him if he could bring her to a land of peace. Amroth agreed to leave Lothlorien and go with Nimrodel to the Undying Lands. They set out for the Elf-haven of Edhellond on the Bay of Belfalas in the south. They were accompanied by other Silvan Elves from Lothlorien. One of Nimrodel's companions was an Elf-maiden named Mithrellas, who later wed the forefather of the Princes of Dol Amroth.

When they reached the White Mountains (Ered Nimrais), Nimrodel and Amroth became separated. Amroth reached Edhellond and waited for Nimrodel aboard their ship, but a storm swept the ship out into the bay. Amroth leaped overboard trying to return to land to find Nimrodel, but he drowned in the rough waters.

Nimrodel wandered for a while in the mountains until she came to the River Gilrain, which reminded her of the stream she had lived near in Lothlorien. She sat by a pool, listening to the water and looking at the stars reflected in it, and her heart was lightened. Nimrodel fell into a long, deep sleep. When she awoke, she came down from the mountains into Belfalas, but the ship was long gone and Amroth was lost. What became of Nimrodel afterwards is not known.

It was said that in springtime her voice could be heard singing in the falls of the River Nimrodel in Lothlorien, while the voice of Amroth came up the Anduin on the south wind.

Info Mun: Fallen PB: Diana Kruger