Nerdanel by Dawn Felagund

Nerdanel

Some years ago, I wrote an essay on Nerdanel in which I observed that she is mentioned only four times in the published Silmarillion, unimpressive statistics that in no way account for her considerable popularity among fan fiction writers. Here again, I find myself writing about Nerdanel but with a slightly different purpose: less an accounting of her popularity and more a review of what Tolkien said about her character (quite a bit more than made it into the published Silmarillion), how she has been treated in the editing and compilation of Tolkien's posthumous texts, and why she is an important character to the legendarium, despite scarcely appearing in it.

The Famous Four: What the Published Silmarillion Says of Nerdanel

The account of Nerdanel's character in the published Silmarillion is distressingly minimal. She is mentioned a bare four times in the text. Her marriage to Fëanor accounts for two of those mentions in a paragraph that spans the entirety of their relationship:

While still in his early youth he wedded Nerdanel, the daughter of a great smith named Mahtan, among those of the Noldor most dear to Aulë; and of Mahtan he learned much of the making of things in metal and in stone. Nerdanel also was firm of will, but more patient than Fëanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them, and at first she restrained him when the fire of his heart grew too hot; but his later deeds grieved her, and they became estranged. Seven sons she bore to Fëanor; her mood she bequeathed in part to some of them, but not to all.¹

Later in the same chapter, she is mentioned again in reference to Fëanor, her husband:

For Fëanor was driven by the fire of his own heart only, working ever swiftly and alone; and he asked the aid and sought the counsel of none that dwelt in Aman, great or small, save only and for a little while of Nerdanel the wise, his wife.²

And when Fëanor starts to really wild, we are told that

Bitterly did Mahtan rue the day when he taught to the husband of Nerdanel all the lore of metalwork that he had learned of Aulë.³

From these scant mentions, we can nonetheless glean important information about her character. Her temperament is Noldorin in her stubbornness, but she is also inclined to patience and a desire to understand others. She resists the Noldorin tendency to want to control things. And perhaps most importantly, she exerts an uncharacteristic influence on the notoriously headstrong Fëanor: the same who, when faced with a messenger of Manwë, not only refused to heed what he said but ended up spinning his own tapestry of eloquence so sublime that the messenger ended up bowing down to him .⁴ It is significant that, alone of all the people of Aman--the exalted Ainur, his kingly father and the other monarchs of the Eldar, his teacher Mahtan--that he sought the advice of his wife Nerdanel.

Nerdanel emerges from her meager depiction in the published Silmarillion as a character surrounded by more questions than answers, questions that practically compel fanworks about her, a compulsion that fanworks creators have happily obliged. Firstly, these "famous four" mentions in the text--especially Fëanor’s uncharacteristic trust in Nerdanel’s advice and their prodigious seven sons--allude to a profound and passionate relationship between her and Fëanor. She refuses, however, to be forced into the mold of the unquestioningly loyal and loving wife. Despite the deep love that seems to have existed between her and Fëanor, she ultimately leaves him. Here, we have a character with her own moral compass and the courage to hold to those convictions.

The trajectory of the marriage of Nerdanel and Fëanor, sketched out in a meager paragraph, nonetheless wants for detail. How did they meet? What attracted them to each other? What deeds upset her so grievously that she was willing to end her marriage over them? What of her relationship with her children? Nerdanel herself wants for detail, and while we learn of her temperament in the published Silmarillion, we see little else of her beyond her relationship to other (male) characters. Where did her moral compass point? Who was she as a person, not merely as a wife, mother, and daughter? Turning to the History of Middle-earth answers some--though not all--of these questions.

Artisan and Explorer: Nerdanel in The History of Middle-earth, Part 1

The History of Middle-earth (HoMe) series compiles most of Tolkien's drafts and other unpublished writings that became his published books. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, the series gives fans and scholars of his father's work unprecedented access to "check his work" in how he put together the published Silmarillion.

To many fanworks creators, the HoMe function largely as a repository of unpublished details about the characters, details that are ripe for plundering for stories and art. There is sometimes peril in weighing details gleaned from the HoMe equally (although the same could be said of parts of the published Silmarillion) since Tolkien revised and rejected details over the course of his decades of work on The Silmarillion. What is interesting about Nerdanel, however, is how much more is said about her in the HoMe, and how these details largely stand--based on the evidence presented in the HoMe themselves--as intended by Tolkien to have been included in the published Silmarillion.

Fëanor and his sons first appeared in the earliest version of The Silmarillion found in The Book of Lost Tales,⁵ begun in 1916-1917 while Tolkien was just twenty-five years old and serving in World War I.⁶ Much of this material, however, is clearly unformed, often appearing in outline form and showing only the rudiments of the story that would form the backbone of The Silmarillion, itself named after Fëanor's creations. Nerdanel is absent from the story at this time; if Tolkien had any thoughts about the wife of Fëanor and mother of his sons, he does not reveal it here.

After completing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien renewed his efforts on The Silmarillion. In 1951 or 1952, a typescript copy of the Later Quenta Silmarillion 1 was made.⁷ Some years later, Tolkien revised this document in what is called the Later Quenta Silmarillion 2 (LQ2). Based on his father’s letters, Christopher Tolkien estimates that the typescript of this revised draft was made in 1958.⁸ With the exception of minor changes, the chapter "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" went unaltered save one major addition to the text: the introduction of Nerdanel.

To place Nerdanel's arrival into the big picture of the evolution of The Silmarillion, her appearance in this document means that she first appeared in the story about forty years after Fëanor and their sons. In the intervening years, Tolkien wrote and published The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The story, by this point, is largely in its finalized form. Changes we see at this later stage tend to focus more on developing that story and the world in which it is set rather than making major alterations to plot and character.

Tolkien has a habit of naming the wives of important male characters but providing very little information about those women. Even among the Valar, about half of the women do almost nothing in the story and are usually introduced as the "wife of" their husband and little else.⁹ Tolkien could have done that with Nerdanel, but he didn't. Instead, he wrote nearly a full page about this formerly nonexistent woman. The passage about Nerdanel in LQ2 is so singular among his writings that I would be remiss not to include it in its entirely here, despite its length:

While still in early youth Fëanor wedded Nerdanel, a maiden of the Noldor; at which many wondered, for she was not among the fairest of her people. But she was strong, and free of mind, and filled with the desire of knowledge. In her youth she loved to wander far from the dwellings of the Noldor, either beside the long shores of the Sea or in the hills; and thus she and Fëanor had met and were companions in many journeys. Her father, Mahtan, was a great smith, and among those of the Noldor most dear to the heart of Aulë. Of Mahtan Nerdanel learned much of crafts that women of the Noldor seldom used: the making of things of metal and stone. She made images, some of the Valar in their forms visible, and many others of men and women of the Eldar, and these were so like that their friends, if they knew not her art, would speak to them; but many things she wrought also of her own thought in shapes strong and strange but beautiful .

She also was firm of will, but she was slower and more patient than Fëanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them. When in company with others she would often sit still listening to their words, and watching their gestures and the movements of their faces. Her mood she bequeathed in part to some of her sons , but not to all. Seven sons she bore to Fëanor, and it is not recorded in the histories of old that any others of the Eldar had so many children. With her wisdom at first she restrained Fëanor when the fire of his heart burned too hot; but his later deeds grieved her and they became estranged.¹⁰

We learn so much here about Nerdanel that elevates her above the mere "wife of Fëanor." Even the passages in The Silmarillion that characterize her best--describing her patience and temperance--receive elaborate detail here about how she listened and watched in her attempt to understand people . In contrast, other (male) characters in The Silmarillion--characters with much larger roles than Nerdanel--are called "the wise" without a similar wealth of evidence. Whereas the published Silmarillion identifies Fëanor alone as the student of Mahtan and assigns awe-inspiring skill to the all-boys club of Aulë, Mahtan, and Fëanor (saying nothing of Nerdanel), here Nerdanel also becomes a student of her father and a skilled artisan in her own right. No longer is she the pie-eyed daughter watching her father's exceptional student at his work; now she and Fëanor are side by side in the workshop. She is no silk-clad princess presented to him at court but as close to an equal as there can be for the greatest craftsman of the Elves. That their companionship grew into love is a relatively uncontroversial inference to make.

Tolkien's description of Nerdanel as "not among the fairest of her people" is an interesting characterization choice as well. Women with leading roles in the legendarium are almost unequivocally described as beautiful: Varda,¹¹ Galadriel,¹² Aredhel,¹³ Idril,¹⁴ Morwen,¹⁵ and of course, Lúthien.¹⁶ Heroism or virtue and physical beauty are close companions in Tolkien's imagination, but Nerdanel shatters the mold, possessing physical characteristics so unremarkable as to be remarked upon . Yet he also removes all doubt about the seven sons; just in case readers thought such fecundity commonplace among the Elves, he notes that "it is not recorded in the histories of old that any others of the Eldar had so many children."¹⁷ That their marriage was based on both mutual respect and sexual attraction is strongly implied.

LQ2 contains a few other details that illuminate Nerdanel's character. Firstly, we learn that her name was original Istarnië,¹⁸ containing the Quenya root ista-, meaning knowledge.¹⁹ Presumably, her epithet "the wise" was similarly inspired or perhaps even derived from this rejected name. Secondly, we learn further details about the estrangement of Nerdanel and Fëanor and receive further proof of her independent mind. When after his banishment, Fëanor retreats to Formenos,

Nerdanel would not go with him, and she asked leave to abide with Indis, whom she had ever esteemed, though this had been little to the liking of Fëanor.²⁰

This passage is remarkable for two reasons. To begin with, it establishes which of Fëanor’s deeds grieved her and initiated their estrangement, namely his threat of violence toward his half-brother Fingolfin and his accusation that Fingolfin sought to "usurp my place and the love of my father, and [become a] master of thralls" to the Noldor.²¹ Furthermore, we receive evidence of Nerdanel's "firm[ness] of will" in her decision to not only separate from Fëanor but to stay with Indis despite his disapproval.

Consider the tendency of the Noldor to get swept into a cause--just or not. They often seem especially prone to the inertia exerted by a particularly strong personality, evidenced in the oath of the Fëanorians and the willingness of the Noldor to follow Fëanor from Valinor. Fëanor urges them on with undue haste, "fearing lest in the cooling of their hearts his words should wane and other counsels yet prevail."²² In Middle-earth, we see again and again in politics and in battle a Noldorin tendency to impetuosity, especially when compelled by a cult of personality.

But Nerdanel actively resists this. Tolkien infers a relationship built on both respect and passion and then ends it because Nerdanel, at the least, refuses to be compelled.

LQ2 introduces a singular character in Nerdanel: a remarkably modern female character; one who is defined by her personality, intelligence, and skills; who is independent and willful; who occupies but is not constrained by the roles of wife and mother; who is an equal partner in her marriage but also unwilling to put the satisfaction of her partner above her own values.

Sibyl and Disciple: Nerdanel in The History of Middle-earth, Part 2

Nerdanel does not appear again in Tolkien's writings until at least a decade later in an essay on Quenyan philology that Christopher Tolkien has titled The Shibboleth of Fëanor and dates to no earlier than 1968.²³ Nerdanel's appearance in the Shibboleth nonetheless introduces new details to her characterization and provides additional evidence for traits described in LQ2.

Nerdanel's appearance in this essay occurs as part of one of Tolkien's more controversial writings, at least among creators of Silmarillion-based fanworks. As part of a discourse on the mother-names of Nerdanel's sons, Tolkien spends the most time on the mother-names of her youngest sons, the twins Amrod and Amras:

The two twins were both red-haired. Nerdanel gave them both the name Ambarussa--for they were much alike and remained so while they lived. When Fëanor begged that their names should at least be different Nerdanel looked strange, and after a while said: 'Then let one be called … Umbarto. but which, time will decide.'²⁴

The name Umbarto means "Fated," and

Fëanor was disturbed by this ominous name … and changed it to Ambarto--or in some versions thought Nerdanel had said Ambarto, using the first element as in Ambarussa… . But Nerdanel said: 'Umbarto I spoke; yet do as you wish. It will make no difference.'²⁵

The ultimate outcome of this story is that, during the burning of the ships, the twin called Umbarto/Ambarto²⁶ is left onboard, unbeknownst to Fëanor, and is killed. Elven mothers are said to have prophetic abilities where the naming of their children is concerned,²⁷ and Nerdanel here is given a measure of that foresight. Earlier in Shibboleth, Tolkien strongly implies that Maglor's mother-name of Makalaurë was prophetic in nature, referring to his skill playing the harp.²⁸ But this scene seems in excess of recognizing a child's nature at the moment of birth and approaches premonition of future events that haven’t begun to be set in motion yet. Such foresight is not casually assigned in the legendarium, and foresight is an important part of the story arcs of prescient characters like Galadriel and Finrod Felagund. It is interesting to ponder what direction Tolkien's thoughts may have been taking when he placed Nerdanel in such esteemed company and with such a rare gift.

At the same time, Nerdanel behaves with a blasé acceptance of fate that again sets her apart from others of the Noldor. Even in Fëanor's immediate insistence upon changing Umbarto to Ambarto, we see an apparent Noldorin conviction that fate can be overturned by one's choices--even a choice as seemingly small as the name of a child, as though calling the stars something other than bright will cause them to cease shining. This fundamental difference in philosophy seems to have contributed, at least in part, to the rupture in their marriage. After telling of Nerdanel's foresight, Shibboleth adds:

Later, as Fëanor became more and more fell and violent, and rebelled against the Valar, Nerdanel, after long endeavouring to change his mood, became estranged. (Her kin were devoted to Aulë, who counselled her father to take no part in the rebellion. 'It will in the end only lead Fëanor and all your children to death.') She retired to her father's house; but when it became clear that Fëanor and his sons would leave Valinor for ever, she came to him before the host started on its northward march, and begged that Fëanor should leave her the two youngest, the twins, or one at least of them. He replied: 'Were you a true wife, as you had been till cozened by Aulë, you would keep all of them, for you would come with us. If you desert me, you desert also all of our children. For they are determined to go with their father.' Then Nerdanel was angry and she answered: 'You will not keep all of them. One at least will never set foot on Middle-earth.' 'Take your evil omens to the Valar who will delight in them,' said Fëanor. 'I defy them'. So they parted.²⁹

Once again, we see evidence of Nerdanel's foresight, but what is more interesting here is the implication that the cause of Nerdanel and Fëanor's estrangement, while certainly motivated in part by his deeds, also seems partly rooted in a fundamental difference in how they viewed self-determination. Fëanor, we know, believed that the rebellion of the Noldor would lead to their betterment: "In Aman we have come through bliss to woe. The other now we will try: through sorrow to find joy; or freedom, at the least."³⁰ Nerdanel's perspective is very different. She does not see rebellion as a path to blissful self-governance, and her claim comes not from her own reasoning but on the strength of Aulë's authority.

When Nerdanel first appeared in LQ2, the concept that her father Mahtan was a disciple of Aulë was also in place. (Mahtan also debuted in LQ2, alongside his daughter.) In the Shibboleth, Tolkien appears to be developing this idea and expounds more fully on what it means to be "among those of the Noldor most dear to the heart of Aulë":

Nerdanel's father was an 'Aulendil' [> 'Aulendur'], and became a great smith. He loved copper, and set it above gold." In a note on the term Aulendur, Tolkien states, "'Servant of Aulë': sc. one who was devoted to that Vala. It was applied especially to those persons, or families, among the Ñoldor who actually entered Aulë's service, and who in return received instruction from him.³¹

The relationship between Aulë and the family of Mahtan extends beyond that of mere master and apprentice in a craft to apparently include counsel concerning politics and the governance of one's family.³² Fëanor's choice of wording that Nerdanel had been "cozened by Aulë" suggests that this counsel was seen as an overstepping of boundaries. Nerdanel, however, was keeping a familial convention in her recognition of Aulë's special authority. Fëanor, we know, could be rather fickle when it came to loyalty to kinsmen; it seems very possible that he understood Nerdanel's loyalty on neither count.

Fëanor is a character defined in a large part by his disregard for authority. If his willingness to take only Nerdanel's advice reflects on her character, it reflects on his as well, especially in whom his trust omits: all of the Ainur--including Aulë--and the great kings of the Eldar, including his father. Fëanor's disdain of such venerable counsel speaks either to his overinflated pride or the very skepticism that likely also produces his brilliance,³³ depending on how you interpret his character. In comparison, Nerdanel's willingness to accept the authority and counsel of Aulë must have seemed, to Fëanor, as much an impassable breach within their marriage as his deeds toward Fingolfin seemed to her. We have in Nerdanel a character with a much attenuated view of the self-determination so widely regarded among the Noldor.

And the Requisite Discussion of Hair Color

… the first and last of Nerdanel's children had the reddish hair of her kin …³⁴

 

Some years ago on a Yahoo! mailing list, someone asked for information on Nerdanel. Being as she was one of my favorite characters in my absolute favorite Silmarillion family, I immediately jumped at the chance to share the information about her that I'd gathered over the years. One fact I shared was her red hair.

Another fan gently challenged me on this. I keenly remember flying to my books and rereading every reference to Nerdanel, certain that the passage was right there that said she was red-haired. But it wasn't. The closest was the quotation that opens this section, from the Shibboleth--but Tolkien takes care here to use the word "kin" when the easier and more obvious source for Maedhros's and Amras's red hair is their mother. That he phrased this as he did suggests that he had a different mental image in mind for Nerdanel.

And indeed that seems to be the case. An issue of Vinyar Tengwar includes an unpublished note from Tolkien identifying Nerdanel's hair color as brown.³⁵ The Shibboleth makes note that Nerdanel had a "ruddy complexion" but, again, carefully avoids mention of red hair.³⁶

Nonetheless, the Tolkien fandom loves a red-haired Nerdanel. Fanon depicted her as red-haired a decade ago when I allowed it to color my own memory of the texts so thoroughly that I would have put money on it as "canon" and confidently quoted it to another fan as such. And today, when I looked at the most popular images on Tumblr tagged #nerdanel, every single one within the first twenty results shows her as red-haired except for a piece done in grayscale.³⁷

It is rare when the Tolkien fandom--a fandom that loves its canon minutia if ever there was one--breaks so unequivocally and without comment or drama from the canon in favor of something that is pure fanon. Nerdanel's fanonically red hair marks her as distinct, connects her to several of her children in terms of appearance, and associates her with a physical trait that, in our modern world, has alternatingly been derided as unattractive and celebrated as ethereally beautiful, or identified as suggestive of personality flaws within the bearer. It is easy to see how fans find a connection between red hair and what Tolkien tells us of Nerdanel, and finds this connection appealing.

So What Happened? The Excision of Nerdanel from the Published Silmarillion

I've now spent well over four thousand words writing about a character who is mentioned four times in the published Silmarillion. Most of the evidence supporting this essay comes not from that published text, however, but from the unpublished History of Middle-earth drafts.

The HoMe series is a fraught gift for creators of Tolkien-based fanworks. These twelve volumes contain a wealth of information about Tolkien's characters and world, yet much of that information is contradictory, has been explicitly rejected by Tolkien, or its status is unclear. What of all that we learn of Nerdanel in the HoMe, particularly the content in LQ2 that was part of one of the late drafts that Christopher Tolkien drew from in compiling The Silmarillion? Surely there is a footnote hidden in the depths of these texts rejecting this extraordinary passage about an exceptional woman artist who captured the heart of fiery Fëanor and yet never over the course of his slow tumble into ruin compromised her own values?

In his monograph on the construction of The Silmarillion, Douglas Charles Kane devotes a page of analysis to the passage about Nerdanel in LQ2, concluding that there is no evidence that Tolkien intended to reject or cut this passage, making its omission in the published text "one of the most blatant examples of how Christopher's changes appear to weaken an important female character."³⁸ Kane finds that Christopher Tolkien had an editorial tendency to cut "extraneous" material about women in The Silmarillion that then caused those characters to be flattened or weakened in the published text. He identifies at least eight women subjected to this editorial diminishment, including Nerdanel, and finds this the foremost type of editorial change imposed by Christopher Tolkien.³⁹

Tolkien has received much criticism from both fans and scholars concerning the dearth of women in his books and the ways in which they are depicted. Kane's findings suggest that, where The Silmarillion and Nerdanel in particular are concerned, at least some of that blame rests with Christopher Tolkien. In Nerdanel, we have a rare example of a woman who could have easily been dismissed as a mere wife and mother, left undeveloped and unnamed, like many wives and mothers in Tolkien's books, but who was written as a strong and interesting character that bucks the trend of Tolkien's women as heart-stoppingly beautiful paragons of perfection. Nerdanel is not particularly beautiful and achieves what she does on the strength of her own accomplishments. She is married to the greatest of the Eldar, yet her identity burns brightly and independently of his, and she stands as a rare example of a Noldo who chooses to remain in Aman and yet unquestionably retains her integrity and courage . It is a shame that this singular character among the women of Arda was unwritten as she was in the published text.

The Rescue of She Who Needs It Not

There is nothing about Nerdanel's character that implies she would have ever required rescue by Fëanor or anyone else. Yet with the diminishment of her character in the published Silmarillion, she was left in an uncharacteristically enfeebled state: a character easily overlooked and forgotten. It is probably telling that, in a pub trivia event after a Tolkien studies conference I once attended, simply knowing the name of "the wife of Fëanor" was considered trivial enough to challenge a room full of Tolkien scholars.

In 2006, I looked at the popularity of female Silmarillion characters on three fan fiction archives and found that Nerdanel was the most frequently written Silmarillion woman on all three archives, even though she had a tiny fraction of mentions in the text compared to women like Lúthien and Aredhel. At the time, I concluded that her popularity could be explained by the way Tolkien depicted her character, largely in the HoMe texts:

The degree of attention paid to Nerdanel in the fan fiction community seems defiant of the fact that she is mentioned only four times in the published Silmarillion. However, even as fans can't help but wonder about the woman strong enough to subdue the brilliant and destructive Fëanor, it seems fairly clear that J.R.R. Tolkien dabbled with the same and painted a far more detailed portrait of Nerdanel than appeared in his published and much-trimmed Silmarillion. Drawing upon not only what made it to publication in The Silmarillion but also J.R.R. Tolkien's notes on this extraordinary woman, it becomes easier to understand Nerdanel's allure of a character of strength, wisdom, and independence quite unlike any other in The Silmarillion.⁴⁰

My opinion on this has not changed. However, knowing now as I did not then that Nerdanel was unfairly unwritten in the published Silmarillion, I'd go a step further and assert that creators of fanworks have rescued Nerdanel from the margins where she was pushed by the editorial decisions of Christopher Tolkien . For Nerdanel’s popularity has not diminished. In 2017 and thus far in 2018,⁴¹ she has remained the most written-about female character on the SWG. Of the 658 stories written and updated in 2017 and 2018, Nerdanel appears in about nine percent of them. In considering this data, it is worth remembering that this is a character mentioned a mere four times in the published text. Nor is it her appeal as a blank-slate character: a named, canonical woman with little enough known about her to allow for a high degree of authorial freedom. Eärwen and Indis—mentioned three and six times, respectively, in the published Silmarillion--enjoy only a fraction of Nerdanel’s popularity among Silmarillion fanfiction authors. The chart below shows the number of stories published or updated on the SWG archive in 2017 and thus far in 2018 for each of the characters I looked at in my 2006 study, with the addition of Galadriel.

 

Character	# of Stories
Nerdanel	58
Galadriel	45
Lúthien Tinúviel	32
Aredhel	23
Míriel Serindë	17
Indis	16
Eärwen	15
Haleth	12

 

 

Fanfiction authors, it seems, are drawing on more than just those four tiny mentions in the published Silmarillion. The only female characters to come close to Nerdanel are Lúthien and Galadriel, assertive women whose actions drive the narrative. Nerdanel’s popularity suggests that fanfiction authors see her similarly, likely on the basis of the HoMe material, as a woman whose role surpasses that of a mere adornment to the stories of her husband and sons. In publicizing and popularizing the passages from the HoMe that describe her more fully and in painting a character consistent with the woman Tolkien seemed to have wanted to see within the pages of his Silmarillion, fanworks creators have pulled her back from the brink and restored her as an important character to the early history of the Noldor. It is poetic justice that most of those fanworks creators are also women.

Conclusion

Nerdanel is the rare character who is triply interesting. She is an intriguing anomaly among Tolkien’s female characters, possessing both a name and steadfast will and talents of her own, yet not physically beautiful. Her textual history is an apt, if frustrating, case study in how easily and casually women’s roles were reduced under Christopher Tolkien’s editorship. And her longstanding outsized role in the Silmarillion fanworks community illustrates how fanfiction writers have drawn inspiration from her story with enough force to rescue her from the editorial dustbin in a fitting example of woman artists rescuing one of their own.

And it’s not hard to see why Nerdanel compels the imaginations of so many. She’s easily relatable to many fanfiction writers, the majority of whom are women: defined by her skills and her fortitude, not her looks. It is her temperament and talents that capture the affections of Fëanor, and for a while, she is the only one able to influence him. Their marriage seems to be one of passion, and it is inferring the depth of their love for each other that seasons Nerdanel’s story with the bittersweet and sorrowful. It is her steadfast adherence to her ethical compass that allows her to avoid not only the downfall of the rest of her family but to take her place among the unwavering heroes of Tolkien’s legendarium.

 

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Author's Note: My sincerest gratitude to Oshun, who read the first draft of this essay and made many helpful suggestions for revisions. Not only does she write scholarship-quality bios nearly every month but gets stuck editing on her rare month off! Thank you for all that you do, not just for this one piece but for our community.

 

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Works Cited

1. The Silmarillion, "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor."
2. Ibid.
3. The Silmarillion, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor."
4. The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor."
5. The History of Middle-earth, Volume I: The Book of Lost Tales 1, Of the Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr: Fëanor first appears as the artificer of the Silmarils though not the son of Finwë. His sons appear later in the same volume, in The Tale of the Sun and Moon.
6. The History of Middle-earth, Volume I: The Book of Lost Tales 1, "Foreword."
7. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion, introductory remarks to "The First Phase."
8. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion, "Note on Dating."
9. Dawn Felagund, "The Inequality Prototype: Gender, Inequality, and the Valar in Tolkien’s Silmarillion," The Heretic Loremaster, July 2018, accessed 1 August 2018.
10. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II), "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor," §46c.
11. The Silmarillion, Valaquenta, "Of the Valar."
12. The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië."
13. The Silmarillion, "Of Maeglin."
14. The Silmarillion, "Of the Noldor in Beleriand."
15. The Silmarillion, "Of Túrin Turambar."
16. The Silmarillion, "Of the Sindar."
17. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II), "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor," §46c.
18. Ibid.
19. The History of Middle-earth, Volume V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, The Etymologies, entry for IS-.
20. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II), "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor," §53d.
21. Ibid., §52f.
22. The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor."
23. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, introductory remarks.
24. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, "The names of the Sons of Fëanor with the legend of the fate of Amrod."
25. Ibid.
26. Shibboleth is unclear which twin Tolkien intended to suffer this fate, with Tolkien seeming to be of two minds on this matter. See Christopher Tolkien's commentary at the end of The Shibboleth of Fëanor and just prior to "Notes."
27. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Laws and Customs among the Eldar, "Of Naming."
28. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, "The names of the Sons of Fëanor with the legend of the fate of Amrod."
29. Ibid.
30. The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor."
31. The History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II), "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor," §46c. Slightly modified, this description was borrowed into the published Silmarillion, "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor": "among those of the Noldor most dear to Aulë."
32. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, Note 61.
33. Consider that gifted children very frequently challenge authority.
34. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, "The names of the Sons of Fëanor with the legend of the fate of Amrod."
35. J.R.R. Tolkien, "From The Shibboleth of Fëanor," Vinyar Tengwar 41 (2000): 40. Please note that I do not own a copy of this journal but am using a reference provided on Tolkien Gateway and Wikipedia. However, given how easy it is to do what I have just done and pluck a reference one cannot confirm for oneself and thus propagate misinformation, I want to be exceedingly clear that this is what I have done, lacking the original source.
36. The History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, "The names of the Sons of Fëanor with the legend of the fate of Amrod."
37. "Nerdanel," Tumblr, accessed December 27, 2016.
38. Douglas Charles Kane, Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2009), 80.
39. Ibid., 252.
40. Dawn Felagund, "A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in Canon and Fandom," Silmarillion Writers' Guild, 2006, accessed December 27, 2016.
41. Data was collected from the SWG archive on June 22, 2018.