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Old 11-14-2003, 04:45 PM   #1
azalea
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CH. 16: "Of Maeglin"

I did a bunch of reading of HoME as research for this ch., but sadly it was so long ago that the notebook I took notes in about it is in the depths of the mess in my office, so I won't be giving that info today. However, I will edit my post when I find it (I'll do a thorough search this weekend) so as to share that info too. I would look for it now, but I want to go ahead and get this posted.

One thing I DO remember is that his name was originally spelled Meglin, but I don't remember why it was changed (I bet some of you linguist-types could shed some light there ).

Also, before I begin the intro proper, I'll post a link to this thread, which contains discussion about this chapter, Eol in particular.

This chapter gives the history of Maeglin and how he became a citizen of Gondolin. It begins by describing how Aredhel, who has come with Turgon to the Hidden Kingdom, wants to go wandering. Turgon is unhappy with her wish to go out of the realm, not only because of the possible danger to her, but also because he fears that one of her company will divulge Gondolin's location. He agrees to let her go to Hithlum and seek Fingon, but she wants to find the sons of Feanor. However, when her company reaches Doriath, she is told they may not pass through, but must go around.
She then becomes separated from the group as they try to go around, because the company "became enmeshed in shadows" near Nan Dungortheb.
What exactly does this look like -- becoming enmeshed in shadows? Is this physically getting lost in the dark, or is there an element of psychological enchantment?
This passage also mentions poisoned streams like the ones described in Mirkwood (although there the person just falls asleep, probably because having it be deadly would be too much for a children's book). I wonder what it is that causes the streams to be poisoned -- is it just the natural result of their proximity to evil, or are the streams intentionally made to be this way by the villians?
Then it describes there being fell creatures of Ungoliant -- are these spiders, again like in Mirkwood, or are they just a variety of evil critters?

The rest of the company returns to Gondolin and tells Turgon of her being lost.
[I think these passages describing Aredhel's wandering really help to describe the size of ME. Sometimes it's hard to imagine what it would look like to be there travelling from place to place, and passages like these help me to do that.]
Anyway, she rides on and finds Celegorm's people, but he is away, and she gets bored waiting for his return, so she takes to riding far out of that land in the course of her exploring. She then becomes enmeshed in the dark forest of Nan Elmoth.

[continued]
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