Sil-Ch 14. Q8
Wherein we find out just how much Thingol listens to Melian.
And Melian spoke then no more of these matters with Galadriel; but she told to
King Thingol all that she had heard of the Silmarils. 'This is a great matter,'
she said, 'greater indeed than the Noldor themselves understand; for the Light
of Aman and the fate of Arda lie locked now in these things, the work of
Fëanor, who is gone. They shall not be recovered, I foretell, by any power of
the Eldar; and the world shall be broken in battles that are to come, ere they
are wrested from Morgoth. See now! Fëanor they have slain, and many another, as
I guess; but first of all the deaths they have brought and yet shall bring was
Finwë your friend. Morgoth slew him, ere he fled from Aman.'
Portent alert. Does the foretelling that the power of the Eldar will not
recover the Sils spook Thingol? Why does she choose to remind him about Finwë
just now?
Then Thingol was silent, being filled with grief and foreboding; but at length
he said: 'Now at last I understand the coming of the Noldor out of the West, at
which I wondered much before. Not to our aid did they come (save by chance);
for those that remain in Middle-earth the Valar will leave to their own
devices, until the uttermost need.
Thingol voices distrust of the Valar, despite having been to Valinor. Now
it looks like his people have been abandoned, particularly since the Noldor
have decided to take matters into their own hands. This seems to be the
moment his doubt crystallizes.
http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/chapter_view.cfm?STID=1372&SPOrdinal=1
for an interesting essay on the character of Celeborn, a relative of Thingol,
and the Sindar temperment in general.
For vengeance and redress of their loss the Noldor came. Yet all the more sure
shall they be as allies against Morgoth, with whom it is not now to be thought
that they shall ever make treaty.'
But Melian said: 'Truly for these causes they came; but for others also. Beware
of the sons of Fëanor! The shadow of the wrath of the Valar lies upon them; and
they have done evil, I perceive, both in Aman and to their own kin. A grief but
lulled to sleep lies between the princes of the Noldor.'
Well, she tries to warn him that it isn't so simple, and that it is the wrath
of the Valar, not the ordinary workings of the Valar, that is the
problem. Why doesnt he listen to her?
And Thingol answered: 'What is that to me? Of Fëanor I have heard but report,
which makes him great indeed. Of his sons I hear little to my pleasure; yet
they are likely to prove the deadliest foes of our foe.'
'Their swords and their counsels shall have two edges,' said Melian; and
afterwards they spoke no more of this matter.
Tragic flaw alert: Thingol has fallen for the old "Misleading Prophecy"
trick, and also doesn't trust the Valar, who he thinks has left ME to twist in
the wind. Poor guy, how was he to know that there was a Plot Twist
coming? Sindarin elves and their tempers...
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