Maglor by polutropos

Maglor

Singer and warrior. Slayer of kin and saviour of children. Driven by doom and haunted by regret. A poet of his times. A wanderer. Maglor is a character of contradictions, conflicts, and mystery. It is no wonder that this second son of Fëanor has captured the imagination of so many readers of The Silmarillion. Relegated to the background for much of the narrative, he comes to the fore, prominently and memorably, in the last years of the First Age—only to wander away in sorrow from the pages of history.

To tell the story of Maglor's life, this biography weaves together three threads of inquiry. The first is a compilation of the narrative facts of the published Silmarillion, extracting the tale of Maglor from the sweeping history of the Elder Days. The second is a study of the many alternate versions of the "Silmarillion" legends that went into the creation of the published book, examining how Maglor's character grew and changed over time.¹ The last thread is discussion of some historical and literary parallels for topics of special relevance to Maglor's character: namely, music, oaths, and exile. All three threads run throughout the biography, which follows a chronological structure from birth to disappearance.

Throughout this biography, The Silmarillion (italicised) refers to the text edited by Christopher Tolkien and published in 1977. The "Silmarillion" (in quotations, unitalicised) refers to the entire body of Tolkien's writings (stories, poems, annals, narratives, essays, and letters) on the history and mythology of his legendarium. While each of these texts is briefly introduced when first mentioned, some readers may wish to refer to Table 1 at the end of the biography, which provides a chronology and details of the all texts discussed.

I. "Young when Laurelin yet bloomed"²: From Valinor to Losgar

Maglor was the second son of Fëanor and Nerdanel. No precise dates exist for the birth years of the sons of Fëanor, but given Fëanor was born in Year of the Trees 1169³ and he wedded Nerdanel early in his youth, Maglor was likely born into the blissful Noontide of Valinor before the end of the captivity of Melkor.

A list of the names of the sons of Fëanor in The Shibboleth of Fëanor, a 1968 essay on a matter of linguistic history and its relation to the "Silmarillion" histories, reveals that his father gave Maglor the name Kanafinwë, meaning "strong-voiced Finwë" (connected to Elvish root KAN, which in Quenya has the sense of "command", as in "to issue orders"). Nerdanel gave him the name Makalaurë, likely meaning "forging gold" and, if so, probably a "prophetic name" referring to his skill with the harp, the sound of which was "golden".⁴ Maglor is a Sindarized form of his mother-name.

We can surmise that Maglor, along with his father and his brothers, spent much of his life in Valinor apart from the children and grandchildren of Indis, for it is said that Fëanor and his sons never resided in one place for long, but travelled around Aman, "even to the borders of the Dark and the cold shores of the Outer Sea, seeking the unknown."⁵ They were also often guests of the Vala Aulë.

The Silmarillion offers no indication that Fëanor's sons, aside from Curufin the father of Celebrimbor, had families of their own. However, one note on a 1969 essay states that, in addition to Curufin, Maglor and Caranthir were married.⁶ Nothing is said about the identity of Maglor's or Caranthir's spouses in that essay or elsewhere. They may have been wed in Valinor, but the note leaves open the possibility of marriage to anyone, at any time, in any place.

In the events leading up to the Darkening of Valinor, Maglor and his brothers are among the few, with Finwë, to whom Fëanor willingly shares the sight of the Silmarils; they are armed with sword and shield from Fëanor's secret forge; and they may even have hearkened to the words of Melkor designed to sow dissension and unrest among the Noldor.⁷

Following Fëanor's confrontation with Fingolfin, the sons of Fëanor live with their father at Formenos during his exile, but they do not go with him when he is summoned to a feast of Taniquetil to reconcile with Fingolfin. Nonetheless, they manage to survive Melkor and Ungoliant's destructive visitation to Formenos. The Silmarillion does not explain how the sons of Fëanor get from Formenos to the square in Tirion where they swear the oath, but in The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II)—a text written in the 1950s when Tolkien returned to the "Silmarillion" after the completion of The Lord of the Rings—they are out hunting when the Two Trees are destroyed. Discovering that Finwë has been slain and the Silmarils stolen, Maedhros with his brothers hastens to the Ring of Doom to deliver the message.⁸

For the remainder of the flight of the Noldor, Maglor follows his father and brothers: swearing the oath to retrieve the Silmarils; taking part in the kinslaying at Alqualondë; journeying up the coast of Araman, where they desert the people of Fingolfin and Finrod; and finally coming to Beleriand, where he participates in the burning of the ships at Losgar.

II. Instability, Peace, and Defeat: Beleriand

High King Maglor?: Mithrim

Fëanor claims his father's kingship for himself, but after his death, The Silmarillion never states who ruled the Noldor until Maedhros waives his claim, allowing Fingolfin to rule uncontested. It is not even clear that Maedhros either claimed to be or was regarded as king after Fëanor, but he behaves like a ruler—persuading his brothers to pretend to treat with Morgoth and leading a force to the parlay himself. But after Maedhros's capture, the sons of Fëanor as a group make the decisions: first, to draw back and fortify the camp at Hithlum, then not to accept Morgoth's terms for Maedhros's release.

As the next-eldest son, would Maglor have been king or king regent while Maedhros was captive? According to the Grey Annals (which deal with the events of Beleriand) Maedhros is captive for three Tree years and five Sun years.⁹ It seems improbable that the Fëanorians were leaderless for so long a time, but The Silmarillion does not offer enough detail to confirm that Maglor had more authority, either in name or in practice, than any one of his siblings.

The passage concerning the message Morgoth sent to the sons of Fëanor is copied almost exactly from the Quenta Silmarillion of 1937,¹⁰ the last version of the "Silmarillion" that Tolkien wrote before turning his attention to The Lord of the Rings—with one minor difference. The Quenta Silmarillion passage reads: "Morgoth held [Maedhros] as hostage and sent word to Maglor that he would only release his brother if …"¹¹ This implies that Maglor had some sort of authority, but in the published Silmarillion, the phrase "to Maglor" is absent. But even using this text as evidence that Maglor was the leader of the Fëanorian Noldor, the nature of his leadership position is vague. Was he crowned King of the Noldor? If not, was he formally made king regent, or was he only de facto leader in a time of instability? If nothing else, the ambiguity provides ample room for creators of transformative works to explore possibilities.

"...and here in one place the hills failed altogether"¹²: The Long Peace

After the rescue and recovery of Maedhros, Maglor removes to northeastern Beleriand with the rest of his brothers. In the twentieth year of the Sun, Fingolfin gathers Elves from across Beleriand at the pools of Ivrin for the Feast of Reuniting. Maedhros and Maglor, with warriors under their command, are the only sons of Fëanor to attend.

For the first four and a half centuries of the First Age, Maglor holds the open plain between the hill of Himring to the west and an extension of the Ered Luin mountain range to the east. His presence there was apparently notable enough that the region is only ever referred to as Maglor's Gap. Presumably, Maglor oversaw the cavalry who kept continuous watch on the plains between Beleriand and Angband. Early in the third battle, Dagor Aglareb, enemy forces break through Maglor's Gap, but they are quickly hunted down and destroyed while the armies under Fingolfin and Maedhros win a decisive victory.

Following the Dagor Aglareb, Maglor holds the Gap for nearly four hundred years more, during the Long Peace. In this time Morgoth twice sends his forces against the western frontier, but The Silmarillion says nothing of any assaults on the Fëanorians. It is telling that when Morgoth sends a force against Hithlum, he is said to have chosen Fingolfin as his target for he "knew of the vigilance of Maedhros."¹³ Thus, though they held the more geographically vulnerable stretch of the northern frontier, the Fëanorians under Maedhros seem to have been formidable foes. Placed in charge of the region most prone to attack, Maglor was likely rarely at rest, ensuring a constant watch on the plains of Ard-galen.

It was not all warfare and toil, however. At least once Maedhros and Maglor manage to get out on a hunting trip with Finrod—a minor but interesting detail that suggests at least amicable relations between the two of them and their half-cousin.¹⁴

From Bad to Worse: Dagor Bragollach to the Second Kinslaying

In the year 455 of the First Age, the Siege of Angband is broken in the catastrophic Dagor Bragollach. Morgoth sends his most formidable weapon, Glaurung father-of-dragons, against Maglor's Gap. The Fëanorian cavalry are overwhelmed and the land destroyed. Maglor flees with what remains of his riders, eventually ending up with Maedhros at Himring. The enemy also breaks through the Pass of Aglon to the west of Himring and Celegorm and Curufin flee to Nargothrond. Maedhros retakes Aglon, but Maglor's Gap to the east remains open and vulnerable. Following the Bragollach, Maedhros and Maglor hold one of the last strongholds in the north.

In preparation for an offensive against Morgoth—the battle that will come to be known as Nirnaeth Arnoediad—the Fëanorians make moves to build their strength. Among these is the formation of alliances with two groups of Easterlings: Ulfang and his three sons under Caranthir, and Bór and his sons under Maedhros and Maglor. Morgoth hoped to turn both houses of Easterlings against the Fëanorians, and indeed the treachery of Ulfang's sons is a major factor in the devastating outcome of the Nirnaeth, but the sons of Bór remain faithful to their lords and slay two of Ulfang's sons themselves. Maglor avenges the treason of Uldor by slaying him as he approaches Maedhros' standard, but the battle itself is lost and the Fëanorians are driven into southern Beleriand.

In the Earliest Annals of Beleriand (c. 1930-37) and the 1937 Quenta Silmarillion, it is Caranthir, not Maglor, who slays Uldor.¹⁵ This version of events is arguably the more satisfying, Caranthir's quarrel with Uldor being more personal. It is only possible to speculate on why Tolkien made this change—to make Maglor look better? to make Caranthir look worse?—but the slaying of Uldor ends up being one of Maglor's most significant deeds in the first five centuries of the First Age.

For the next three decades, the sons of Fëanor and their people wander "as leaves before the wind"¹⁶ among the Green-elves of Ossiriand. Lúthien now wears a Silmaril on the isle of Tol Galen and the oath of the sons of Fëanor sleeps for a time. But when news reaches them that Lúthien's son Dior has the Silmaril in Doriath, Celegorm rallies his brothers to act. They attack Menegroth and deal the final blow to the Kingdom of Doriath, but are unsuccessful in obtaining the Silmaril. Besides participating, Maglor does nothing worthy of note during this assault, but one early, transitory version of the sack of Doriath has him playing a very interesting role.

Beginning in 1926, Tolkien wrote a "Sketch of the Mythology" to give a reader background to his Lay of the Children of Húrin. Tolkien himself called this text the "Original Silmarillion" and continued to revise it through to 1930 when he wrote a new version, the Qenta Noldorinwa (referred in the History of Middle-earth and in this biography as the Quenta). In the first draft of the "Sketch," the sons of Fëanor successfully get their hands on the Silmaril in Doriath, but promptly slay each other quarrelling over it until only Maglor is left alive!¹⁷ Christopher Tolkien notes in his commentary that his father changed this soon after writing, and it is not integrated into the narrative that follows¹⁸ (which is compatible with The Silmarillion: four sons of Fëanor survive and some of the people of Doriath escape with Elwing and the Silmaril). It is interesting all the same that, at least in passing, Tolkien chose Maglor as the sole survivor of the House of Fëanor's brutal near-self-destruction. This version of Maglor must have been rather ruthless to come out on top of that contest.

To return to linguistics, as any discussion of Tolkien's works must, Maglor of the first five centuries of the First Age is perhaps best summarised by the meanings of his names: Makalaurë the gold cleaver, with its etymological relationship to swords and battle,¹⁹ and Kanafinwë the strong-voiced with connections to "crying out" in the way of a commander.²⁰ He is a mighty warrior and competent leader in his own domain. Outside of it, he seems content to follow the lead of others, whether that be Fëanor, Maedhros, or Celegorm. Nothing suggests strife between him and his siblings or other relatives; if anything, he is on better terms with them than most.

III. Interlude: Maglor and Music

From the first time he is named right through to his final moment in The Silmarillion, Maglor is connected with singing and music. The next section pauses the chronicle of his life to consider this fundamental aspect of his character.

While the Noldor are recognised for their preeminence in craftsmanship and lore, skill in music is typically associated with the Teleri—yet Maglor, a Noldo, is singled out four separate times for excellence in music and singing: when first introduced, he is "Maglor the mighty singer, whose voice was heard far over land and sea"²¹; when it is said that, in comparison to the Noldor, the Sindar "had the fairer voices and were more skilled in music,"²² Maglor is mentioned as an exception; and he is twice compared to Daeron of Doriath, the only minstrel east of Valinor who surpassed him in skill. He is also the composer of Noldolantë and, perhaps most memorably, meets the tragic fate of "singing in pain and regret beside the waves."²³

Step aside, Ivárë, there's a new harper by the sea: the evolution of Maglor as a singer

As essential as music is to his identity, Maglor was not imagined as a singer from the very beginning. The first time he and the other sons of Fëanor are given names is in the Tale of the Nauglafring (1917-19), one of the Lost Tales. There, Maglor is named only to be immediately slain in the sack of Doriath. In the Lay of the Children of Húrin (1918-1925), he receives the epithet "swift," and in the incomplete poem The Flight of the Noldoli (1925), he is "mighty".²⁵ These crumbs of characterisation are suggestive of someone strong and athletic—a warrior—but not someone possessing any particular creative talent.

Maglor seems to have first become a singer (with an immediate promotion to one of the very best) around the time of the composition of The Lay of Leithian (1925-1931), the second version of the Beren and Lúthien story. In the earliest version, The Tale of Tinúviel (1917), the "three most magic players of the Elves" are Dairon (Daeron), Tinfang Warble, and "Ivárë who plays beside the sea."²⁶ In the rough draft of the Lay of Leithian, these three again appear as the three greatest, but beside Ivárë's name is written "Maglor".²⁷ As Christopher Tolkien points out in his commentary, at the time of writing Maglor had already been used as the name of one of Fëanor's sons in Tale of the Nauglafring; we can assume this is the same character.²⁸

This is one of two mentions of Maglor in the Lay, both of which refer to his singing by the sea: where he replaces Ivárë, Maglor is "​​… he who harps upon / the far forgotten beaches and dark shores"²⁹ (lines dateable to 1925, though not known when "Maglor" was written beside "Ivárë")³⁰; and later, he is "Maglor the mighty who like the sea with deep voice sings yet mournfully" (line dateable to 1928 at the latest).³¹ Both mentions refer to Maglor in the present tense—inherited from Ivárë—implying that he lives, if not in the literal present, then at least in the imagined present of the poem.³²

The "Sketch of the Mythology", which Tolkien was working on concurrently with the Lay of Leithian, also first connects Maglor with music by emendation to the original. The first of these is amid a list of the sons of Fëanor, where Maglor is "a musician and mighty singer whose voice carried far over hill and sea"³³—phrasing that remains virtually unchanged in subsequent prose versions of the "Silmarillion." The second is a note in the margin about Maglor singing by the sea in the aftermath of the third kinslaying.³⁴ The third is his fate, also alluded to the Lay of Leithian, of singing "in sorrow by the sea."³⁵ The dates of these texts strongly suggest that Maglor's endless wandering and his characterisation as a singer arose simultaneously in the evolution of the "Silmarillion"—all around the time when the name Ivárë was replaced by Maglor.

As the "Silmarillion" and its characters continued to evolve, more details on Maglor as a singer and composer emerged. We learn in the Lay of Leithian that he is a harper,³⁶ and he is still associated with the harp in The Shibboleth of Fëanor, written in 1968.³⁷ Also in the Shibboleth, we learn from a footnote that, despite Fëanor's passion for linguistics, "his sons were too occupied in war and feuds to pay attention to such matters, save Maglor, who was a poet, and Curufin ..."³⁸ More than just a musician and singer, Maglor, at least by this point, was being imagined as someone with related interests and talents in language and poetry. Maglor's multifaceted role as singer, poet, and chronicler of his times, in the tradition of many mediaeval cultures, is most evident in his being the composer of one of the great songs of the legendarium.

"...that Maglor made ere he was lost"³⁹: Noldolantë

The earliest evidence of a song about the kinslaying at Alqualondë is the poem, mentioned above, that Tolkien began and never finished called "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor" (1925). Like the other Lays referenced in the "Silmarillion" itself, it is reasonable to connect this aborted project with a song mentioned in the 1937 Quenta Silmarillion called "Flight of the Gnomes", in which the tale of the kinslaying "is sadly told."⁴⁰ But it was not until the 1950s, when Tolkien was undertaking revisions of the "Silmarillion" material, that the song (specifically, "lament") became the Noldolantë, the "Fall of the Noldor", of Maglor.⁴¹

It is interesting to speculate on the change from "flight" to "fall", and from "song" to "lament". What could the revised title and specification of genre imply in terms of the scope, themes, or tone of the poem? The Noldolantë, like "Flight of the Gnomes", is only ever brought up in the context of the first kinslaying. It is not evident what other events, if any, it recounted. "Flight" limits the scope somewhat to the events from the Darkening up until the arrival in Beleriand, but "fall" is more ambiguous. Some readers imagine a Noldolantë that includes many other events of the First Age, and the possibility is not ruled out by its title.

The connotations of the word "fall" are also intriguing. If we take "fall" to mean a fall from goodness or innocence, as it seems we should, what does it mean for the Noldor to mark the kinslaying at Alqualondë (assuming that was indeed its main subject) as the downward turn in their moral trajectory as a people? And what kind of poem would it have been, given the bard who composed it was among the main agents of the very "fall" it narrates? In this context, what does it mean to define the genre of the song as a lament? What does it say about Maglor, who went on to participate in two more kinslayings? By casting Maglor as one of the chroniclers of his own story, as a source for the very same histories that we are reading about him, Tolkien certainly added a fascinating dimension to his character.

"... named only after": Was Maglor only second-best?

The various texts above leave no doubt that Maglor was one of the best at his art, but in the published Silmarillion, it is Daeron of Doriath who is "greatest of all the minstrels of the Elves east of the Sea, named even before Maglor son of Fëanor"⁴²; and the point is emphasised again later, where Maglor is "mighty among the singers of old, named only after Daeron of Doriath."⁴³ However, the source text from which the second quotation was drawn says only that Maglor was "the mightiest of the singers of old"⁴⁴ with no mention of Daeron.

The clause about Maglor being not the mightiest, but only second-best, is an editorial revision by Christopher Tolkien, presumably to make this text agree with the previous statement about Daeron being the greatest minstrel (which is drawn from a different source).⁴⁵ But why cannot Daeron be the greatest minstrel and Maglor the mightiest singer?⁴⁶ In the Lay of Leithian Recommenced, an incomplete 1950s rewrite, it is said of Daeron: "no other player has there been … save Maelor [Maglor], son of Fëanor …"⁴⁷ Here, they seem to be equals; two great musicians in a class of their own.

"Mighty singer": Maglor as bard and warrior

Maglor's endless wandering and lamentation might initially invoke images of a melancholy poet archetype. Take a closer look at the whole of Maglor's character, however, and it is clear that he was no languishing minstrel but a skilled and dangerous bard and warrior.

As oshun writes in the SWG biography of Maedhros:

[Maglor's] characterization as a singer and warrior calls to mind early medieval Northern tradition: The scops of Anglo-Saxon courts and the skalds that attended the Norse kings. As poets and musicians, they not only served as living records of their people's history but interpreted current events and thus wielded the power to make and unmake kings. It is near-impossible to imagine the original composers of Beowulf or the Norse sagas wilting behind closed doors to write about battles they never witnessed. Rather, they were on the field of battle, muddied and bloodied right alongside the soldiery. Harp in one hand and sword in another, Maglor ranks most easily among their numbers.⁴⁸

One such skald was Egil Skallagrimsson (c. 910-990), a historical figure who is also the subject of the Icelandic poem Egil's Saga. Egil, recognised by everyone in the Saga (including himself) as an eminently talented poet, is boastful, ambitious, deceitful, and violent.⁴⁹ Like other skalds, one of his main genres is praise poetry, which he uses to advance his ambition, get out of tough situations, and, of course, shamelessly aggrandise himself. He is also a singer of battle songs, such as this one that he launches into as he and his companions debate whether or not to attack and plunder the town of Lundr:

Wolf-battening warrior,
Wield we high gleaming swords.
In snake-fostering summer
Such deeds well beseem.
Lead up to Lundr:
Let laggards be none!
Spear-music ungentle
By sunset shall sound.⁵⁰

In the battle itself, Egil and his followers are the first to enter the town and Egil himself charges straight to the gate.⁵¹ It is but one example, but it underlines the point in oshun's quotation above: that one of the bardic traditions with which Tolkien was most familiar features characters who are both skilled poets and fierce warriors, proud and bold, and certainly not beyond moral reproach.

In Hindu tradition, bards are also individuals with diverse and far-ranging roles in their societies that are not limited to quietly composing and performing poetry. Similar to the Norse skalds, Hindu bards—in addition to being highly influential as educators, messengers, and minstrels—recited praise poetry to warriors as they rode into battle.⁵²

Regardless of the traditions that may or may not have influenced Tolkien as an author, viewing the "Silmarillion" and its characters through the lenses of various literary and historical traditions can be a fruitful pathway to new insights. In this case, both the Norse and the Hindu bardic traditions are illuminating comparators for the ways in which they consolidate the roles of poet and warrior—a confluence of identities that come to define Maglor's character in the "Silmarillion".

IV. The Big Four Maglor Moments: From the Third Kinslaying to the Sea

Up until this point in Maglor's biography, he has been waiting in the wings, or at most following Maedhros's lead, while his brothers commanded the stage of the First Age drama.⁵³ In the first twenty-three of The Silmarillion's twenty-four chapters, we learn of one significant deed attributed solely to Maglor and three unique facts about him: he killed Uldor, he was a great singer, he wrote the Noldolantë, and he held Maglor's Gap. In the conclusion to the story, and the last known years of Maglor's life, he steps into a much more prominent role.

For the sons of Fëanor who survive the second kinslaying, the years leading up to the end of the First Age are a rapid descent into ruin. The Silmaril, which they failed to gain in the sack of Doriath, is at the Havens of Sirion with Elwing, the now-grown daughter of Dior. But when the "oath unfulfilled returned to torment"⁵⁴ the sons of Fëanor, Maedhros sends messages to the Havens demanding the return of the Silmaril. These fail to persuade Elwing and her people. Thus Maedhros, Maglor, Amrod, and Amras lead an assault against the Havens—the third and cruellest of the kinslayings. As in Doriath, the Fëanorians win the battle but it is a hollow victory. Amrod, Amras, and many of the Fëanorian followers die (some fighting against their lords). Elwing casts herself into the sea with the Silmaril.

In The Silmarillion, all four brothers, with Maedhros as their leader, seem equally committed to the attack on the Havens. But in both versions of the Annals of Beleriand (1930-37), Damrod and Díriel (Amrod and Amras) are the brothers who lead the attack, with Maedhros and Maglor only participating reluctantly.⁵⁵

In the aftermath of the third kinslaying, we come to four pivotal moments that make up the remainder, and most significant portion, of Maglor's biography. We will review each individually, including discussion of alternate versions and some comparative analysis, and then consider how they come together to shape his character.

"And he cherished them…": Pity for Elrond and Elros

When a report reaches Elwing and Eärendil that their young sons,⁵⁶ Elrond and Elros, have been taken captive by the Fëanorians, they fear that they will be killed. In an unexpected turn of events,

… Maglor took pity upon Elros and Elrond, and he cherished them, and love grew after between them, as little might be thought; but Maglor's heart was sick and weary with the burden of the dreadful oath.⁵⁷

As such a pivotal moment for his character, it is difficult to imagine a Maglor who does not foster Elrond and Elros.⁵⁸ But over the course of the development of the "Silmarillion", Tolkien moved between Maedhros and Maglor as the brother who takes the children into his care.

In the earliest versions of this event, Maedhros is the saviour of Elrond (at this point Elros did not exist).⁵⁹ It was by way of an emendation to a rewrite of the conclusion of the Quenta (1930) that Tolkien gave this role to Maglor instead,⁶⁰ and it is the same in both versions of the Annals of Beleriand.⁶¹ However, one version of the roughly sketched annals of the end of the First Age, The Tale of Years (1950s), suggests that Tolkien was not decided on the matter. Here, Elrond and Elros are "fostered with care" by Maedhros as in the earliest versions.⁶² The core of the story, however, remains the same: a Fëanorian fosters the son(s) of Eärendil and Elwing.

One of Tolkien's letters, from 1958, tells a different story. The twins—now infants rather than children—are carried off by the sons of Fëanor and left in a cave, where they are later found.⁶³ The fact that no names are given as to which sons of Fëanor carry them off or who finds them makes it difficult to interpret, but given it is explicitly the sons of Fëanor who carry them off, it is improbable that it is also the sons of Fëanor who find them.⁶⁴ Had Tolkien reconciled this version with the larger narrative of the "Silmarillion", it seems that the fostering of Elrond and Elros by either Maedhros or Maglor would not have been an element of the story.

The circumstances surrounding Maglor's "taking pity" on Elrond and Elros, and the relationship between the three of them afterwards, are vague. What would have happened to them had Maglor not "taken pity" on them?⁶⁵ Their time together was long enough for love to grow between them, but how long, and what were the circumstances of their parting? Was Maedhros involved in their care? Where were they?⁶⁶ Both frustratingly and tantalisingly, there are no clear answers to these questions.

"Then let us be glad": A Silmaril appears in the sky

At some point between the sack of Sirion and the beginning of the War of Wrath, Eärendil and Elwing sail to Valinor to seek the aid and pardon of the Valar. With the Silmaril on his brow, Eärendil is lifted to the sky with his ship Vingilot and appears above Middle-earth as a star. In the first instance of direct speech attributed to Maglor in the entire Silmarillion, he and Maedhros react to seeing the new star:

Maedhros spoke to Maglor his brother, and he said: 'Surely that is a Silmaril that shines now in the West?'

And Maglor answered: 'If it be truly the Silmaril which we saw cast into the sea that rises again by the power of the Valar, then let us be glad; for its glory is seen now by many, and is yet secure from all evil.'⁶⁷

Maglor emerges from this brief exchange as the voice of hope and optimism, an attitude that informs our reading both of his pity for Elrond and Elros prior to this and his stance later in the debate with Maedhros about whether or not to attempt the fulfilment of their oath.

"Less evil shall we do in the breaking": The debate of Maedhros and Maglor

Of the War of Wrath, it is said that "none of the Elves who had dwelt and suffered"⁶⁸ in Beleriand join with the host of the Valar in the north of Middle-earth, implying that Maedhros and Maglor are at least not part of the main offensive in the cataclysmic and protracted contest that eventually leads to the overthrow of Morgoth.

Upon learning that the Silmarils have been reclaimed from Morgoth's crown and are guarded by Eönwë, Maedhros and Maglor send a message to him demanding their return. Eönwë denies their request, stating that they have forfeited the right to them by their "many and merciless deeds"⁶⁹ committed in the name of their oath. He summons them to Valinor to hear the judgement of the Valar.

The brothers debate their next course of action. Maglor wishes to submit, arguing that the oath sets no time limit on when they must fulfil it; furthermore, they may find forgiveness in Valinor and have the Silmarils returned to them without the need for violence. Maedhros counters by asking Maglor "to what dreadful doom"⁷⁰ they might come, should they be denied forgiveness and find themselves forced to defy the Valar in Aman itself and bring war to their realm.

But Maglor still held back, saying: 'If Manwë and Varda themselves deny the fulfilment of an oath to which we named them in witness, is it not made void?'

And Maedhros answered: 'But how shall our voices reach to Ilúvatar beyond the Circles of the World? And by Ilúvatar we swore in our madness, and called the Everlasting Darkness upon us, if we kept not our word. Who shall release us?'

'If none can release us,' said Maglor, 'then indeed the Everlasting Darkness shall be our lot, whether we keep our oath or break it; but less evil shall we do in the breaking.'

Yet he yielded at last to the will of Maedhros …⁷¹

At this point in the narrative, the oath has brought the sons of Fëanor nothing but grief and destruction: it has been explicitly named as the driving force behind the treachery of Celegorm and Curufin in Nargothrond, the failure of Maedhros to receive more aid in the Nirnaeth, and three kinslayings.⁷² Furthermore, Eönwë has just told them that they have lost their claim to the Silmarils. Should it not be obvious that breaking the oath is the better option? Why is this a matter of debate at all? A brief digression on the complex intersection of the cultural, social, and spiritual in the concept of oaths will hopefully provide some context.

From a contemporary, secular cultural perspective—in which laws and rules are governed and enforced by bureaucratic bodies and must be written down and codified if they are to carry any weight at alI—it is difficult to grasp the concept of supernaturally reinforced spoken words. But Maedhros and Maglor operate in a world where this concept is very real. Even if we, as readers, doubt this to be true, the Silmarillion narrator makes it clear that it is true within the world of the story: the oath of Fëanor, the Doom of Mandos, Finrod's oath to Barahir, Beren's oath to Thingol, and Eöl's curse on Maeglin are all examples of speech that affects the course of actual events.

SWG contributor Angelica demonstrates in the essay On Oaths how historical models of oaths, primarily from oral cultures, fit into the world of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. The essay defines oaths as conditional self-curses that function as "pre-legal forms of contracts, reinforced by magic and—as it were—psychological pressure."⁷³ Practically speaking, oaths are part of the fabric of society: rules that help keep it together. An oathbreaker, therefore, risks shame and social isolation, which is no small matter in itself. The oath sworn by the sons of Fëanor, who with his dying breath bids them keep their word and avenge him, is further bound up with the father-son social contract and the duty to vengeance.

Beyond being crucial to social functioning, oaths are also often inextricable from the belief systems that underlie their "magical" properties. For oath-swearers who subscribe to and operate within the belief system in which their oath is embedded, the spiritual is an essential element of the power behind the spoken word. One way in which belief or religion enters into the oath formula is in the invocation of powerful witnesses capable of enacting the punishment—the self-curse—if the oath is broken. A common example is the case of a Christian naming God as witness.⁷⁴ The oath of Fëanor ties itself to a belief system by calling upon Manwë, Varda, and Ilúvatar as witnesses. For Fëanor and his sons, as for oath-swearers in comparable historical contexts, the deities they name and the words they speak exert real power over their actions and choices.

The oath of Fëanor is further complicated by the fact that it turns out to have been "vain" (something Maedhros only learns when the Silmaril burns him). The word choice here has far-ranging implications in the context of historical models. Abrahamic religious traditions are especially cautious about the swearing of oaths. In Judaism, for example, a "vain oath" "attempted to do something impossible to accomplish, denied self-evident facts, or negated a religious precept", and an oath sworn falsely by God was blasphemous.⁷⁵

One could make a case that several elements of a vain or false oath appear in the oath of Fëanor. As Fëanor lies dying, he realises that the Noldor will never overthrow Morgoth, and yet he "laid it upon his sons to hold their oath",⁷⁶ even against the impossible odds. The oath also uses obscure and abstract terms, for example its self-curse to the "Everlasting Darkness". What is the Everlasting Darkness? Readers often associate it with the Void outside Arda, but the question is never definitively answered in any of Tolkien's works. What about Maglor's point in the debate, that there is no time limit on the fulfilment of their oath? Given Elves' lives are coterminous with Arda, that seems a significant oversight! Are these obscurities examples of denying fact or negating precepts? Does the oath ignore or confuse, for example, the designs of Ilúvatar regarding the fate of Elves, who are bound to Arda? There is then the fact that the oath is sworn "by the name even of Ilúvatar,"⁷⁷ an issue that Maedhros explicitly raises in the debate.

Indeed, when it is first sworn, the oath of Fëanor is signalled as one "which none shall break, and none should take."⁷⁸ It is a given—a factual statement in the indicative voice—that no one will break the oath. It also should not have been sworn. Tolkien himself stated that the oath was blasphemous,⁷⁹ and it seems that its blasphemy goes hand-in-hand with its futility.

Maedhros and Maglor dance around the issue of the oath's futility, but neither comes forward to declare anything one way or another on the issue. Their conversation is full of questions and ifs: they simply do not know. They are beset on one side by social and spiritual pressures and on the other by the looming possibility that it has all been in vain. The very fact that the debate continues to elude a conclusive reading of its various arguments demonstrates the difficulty, even impossibility, of Maedhros and Maglor's situation.

By offering some perspective on the beliefs and uncertainties behind the arguments presented in the debate, this digression has attempted to demonstrate the complexity of the situation and answer the question of why the debate occurs at all. It has not, however, answered the question that frustrates many readers: why does Maglor yield to Maedhros? Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, that answer remains open to creative interpretations. Duty, loyalty, love, coercion—to name a few—are all possible motivating factors. Or, perhaps, Maglor was in the end persuaded of Maedhros's arguments. And while Maglor's arguments might sound more reasonable to us, we will never know how the story would have ended had he prevailed.

Following their debate, Maedhros and Maglor "took counsel together"⁸⁰ on how to attempt the fulfilment of their oath. (This, at least, is signalled as a joint decision.) By disguising themselves, they manage to sneak into Eönwë's camp, slay those who are guarding the Silmarils, and lay hands on them. Having at this point roused the army against them, they "prepared to die; defending themselves to the last."⁸¹ But Eönwë refuses to let them be killed, and so they escape. They divide the two Silmarils between them; but, even as they did to Morgoth and Carcharoth, the hallowed jewels cause them only pain and anguish. Maedhros's hand is burnt by the Silmaril and he casts himself into a fiery chasm with it, leaving Maglor the last son of Fëanor alive.

"Singing in pain and regret…": Maglor's Fate

And it is told of Maglor that he could not endure the pain with which the Silmaril tormented him; and he cast it at last into the Sea, and thereafter he wandered ever upon the shores, singing in pain and regret beside the waves ... but he came never back among the people of the Elves.⁸²

Repentant but not forgiven, his songs of regret heard only by the sea; forever adrift, an exile from his own kind and kin—paralleling Maedhros' suicide, this seems to be a fate that Maglor chooses for himself. It is fitting that The Silmarillion, chiefly concerned with the history of the Noldor in exile, should conclude with the self-imposed exile of the last remaining son of Fëanor.

It is also a fate with echoes in other literary and cultural traditions. Whether or not these parallels inspired Tolkien directly is difficult to say, but comparisons can still offer insights into the possible significance and meaning of Maglor's fate. Let us consider two examples: the "Wandering Jew" of Christian mythology, and the speaker in the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer.⁸³

The "Wandering Jew" archetype takes many guises in the Christian cultural imagination, but at the core of his identity is a man who wanders the earth doomed to immortality in penance for harassing Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion. The legend seems to have originated in the 13th century when an archbishop reported encountering a man who claimed to have struck Jesus, to which Jesus responded, "I go on, but you will wait until my return." A 1602 German pamphlet recounts the story of a Lutheran bishop who also met a wandering Jew figure who claimed to have taunted Jesus, receiving the reply: "I stand and rest, but you will go on." In both cases, Jesus's reply contains the implied curse of immortality.⁸⁴

The elusive figure of the "Wandering Jew" has inspired several works of literature and art, as well as real-world "sightings"—primarily in European cities, though his last reported appearance was in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1868.⁸⁵ While not an exact parallel, the man who wanders on the fringes of reality, doomed to live until the end of time in payment for his error, contains mythic resonances of Maglor's fate.

The man referred to in the title of the poem The Wanderer is not cursed, but rather self-exiled. He wanders by the sea, lamenting the loss of his lord in battle and regretting his own failure to meet a heroic death by his lord's side. There are several themes in the poem that call to mind Maglor's tragedy: exile and wandering, remorse and regret, loss and loneliness, doom and fate, and, significantly, the connection of all of these with the sea.

SWG contributor Esteliel summarises the Wanderer's forlorn state in Exile, Wyrd and the Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ideal in The Wanderer and Tolkien's Quenta Silmarillion:

As long as he cannot find a new lord to serve, he will continue to be alone with his thoughts and his fears, as his honour forbids him from sharing those with others. Furthermore, he is without friends and kinsmen now; and as he calls his memories of them "floating spirits" they might have died in the same battle as his former lord.⁸⁶

The passage below highlights the connection between the sea and the Wanderer's sorrow and exile, but also stands out for its mention of "wyrd", a concept related to fate and doom—something that looms over the Noldorin Exiles and the sons of Fëanor, bound to their oath, in particular.⁸⁷

Across the ocean-ways he has long been forced
To stir with his hands the frost-cold sea,
And walk in exile's path. Wyrd is fully-fixed.⁸⁸

The Wanderer also refers to lamenting his sorrows alone in the light of dawn,⁸⁹ speaks of slaughters, the deaths of kin and rulers, the fall of kingdoms, and so on—all subjects familiar to Maglor's story.

But perhaps the most significant element of The Wanderer in the context of Maglor's fate is the presence of the sea. For the Anglo-Saxons, exile was strongly associated with the sea, as evidenced in this poem and another with similar themes, The Seafarer. On the one hand, the sea is not a symbol of freedom, as one might think, but of danger, death, and despair.⁹⁰ On the other hand, in a discussion of these two poems, Jamie McKinstry argues that the sea is also associated with memory and gives the speakers of the poems opportunity for reflection on their losses, each poem ending with a sense that they have emerged with increased understanding of themselves and of life.⁹¹ Compare this with the concept of the echo of the Music of the Ainur that lives in the sea, to which "the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated … and yet know not for what they listen."⁹² Does Maglor join his own song to the voices of the sea? What does he hear there? Perhaps there is hope amid the sorrow, for the Wanderer and for Maglor.

Maglor's tragic and mysterious "fate unknown" has captured the imagination of many readers and fanworks' creators and is a large part of the appeal and popularity of his character. The latter is evidenced by a veritable subgenre of fanworks exploring Maglor's existence through the later ages of Tolkien's legendarium and beyond, through real-world history to the present.

Maglor's fate was not, however, always that of the wandering self-exile. Tolkien went through many versions of Maglor's end—and they are complicated enough to merit summary in Table 2, below.

In the first draft of the "Sketch of the Mythology", Maglor, not Maedhros, dies by casting himself into a pit with the Silmaril (Maedhros's fate in this version is unclear, but his Silmaril becomes Eärendil's; Elwing's Silmaril was cast into the sea at Sirion and remained there). As discussed in the section on Maglor and music, this was shortly revised so that Maglor casts only the Silmaril into a pit, but remains alive and is assigned his fate of sorrowful seaside wandering. Also among the revisions is the marginal note, already mentioned, about Maglor sitting by the sea and singing in repentance after the sack of Sirion. Maglor's repentant singing and wandering by the sea remain a fixture of his story right through to the Quenta Silmarillion of 1937, and it is this version of events that appears in The Silmarillion.

But when Tolkien returned to the "Silmarillion" in the 1950s, he changed Maglor's ending. In the rewrite of the Lay of Leithian, Maglor is said to have been cast into "the tombless sea" (despite passing to "endless lamentation"; a bit of a contradiction, but implying nonetheless that he met his end in the sea).⁹³ Tolkien never completed another narrative version of the conclusion to the "Silmarillion", but he does allude to Maglor's death in the sea in two other sources: the letter to Milton Waldman from 1951 and an unpublished letter from c. 1964 that has appeared at heritage auctions.⁹⁴ Unfortunately, we will never know the reasons behind this significant change to Maglor's story or how it might have impacted the rest of the narrative. It is difficult to imagine a "Silmarillion" where Maglor's tale does not end in song, regret, and uncertainty.

Four defining moments for Maglor's character have been discussed so far in this section: his pity for Elrond and Elros; his optimism upon seeing the Silmaril in the sky; his desire to submit and, if necessary, break the oath; and his repentance and self-exile. One aspect of these moments has been, perhaps conspicuously, absent.

"His heart was sorrowful": Maglor's Inner World and Pathos

Thus far this biography has attempted to summarise Maglor's attributes and the events of his life objectively, without comment on what the text says about the feelings and reasoning behind his actions. This has been intentional. Maglor's inner world—his psychology—receives such a disproportionate amount of attention in The Silmarillion, especially considering his relatively minor role, that it merits its own section. In reviewing what the narrative says about Maglor's thoughts and motives, this final section also addresses the topic of pathos and Maglor's character.

The Silmarillion is written as a summary of legends and histories drawn from other pseudohistorical sources, some of them explicitly cited—the Noldolantë is one such source. Compared to other genres, The Silmarillion seldom engages with the inner life of its characters. It is remarkable, then, that over the course of the four big moments discussed above, Maglor has twelve different emotional states ascribed to him.⁹⁵ His heart is "sick and weary" at Sirion and sorrowful going into the debate with Maedhros. He pities, cherishes, and loves Elrond and Elros. He is glad to see the Silmaril in the sky. Both he and Maedhros attempt to fulfil their oath "in despair," with "weariness and loathing." He is tormented by the pain of the Silmaril and he sings "in pain and regret."

Further, his actions and emotions are given motives. His pity for Elrond and Elros seems to be because of his heart-sickness and weariness. His sorrow motivates his desire to submit to the judgement of the Valar. He and Maedhros attempt to fulfil their oath because "they would have given battle for the Silmarils ... even though they stood alone against all the world." Maglor casts the Silmaril into the sea because it torments him with pain, and he sings by the sea, apart from his people, because of his pain and regret.

Then there are the thoughts and opinions he expresses in dialogue. He encourages Maedhros to be glad that the Silmaril in the sky can now be appreciated by many and is secure from evil. In their debate, Maglor's final argument is based on mercy and self-sacrifice: no matter what happens to them as a result, breaking the oath is still the path of least harm. Many will agree with Christopher Tolkien's assessment that "the last and wisest word [goes] to Maglor"⁹⁶ in this debate.

Christopher Tolkien makes this comment in the context of the evolution of the characterisation of Maglor, who did not always invite such sympathy. Interestingly, Maglor's big four moments, from which he emerges as someone who is compassionate, nurturing, hopeful, and repentant, all arose around the same time: in emendations to the revised ending of the 1930 Quenta. The pity for Elrond and Elros, the optimism about the Silmaril's appearance in the sky, and the more merciful position in the debate were all originally attributed to Maedhros.

In all three cases, Tolkien made revisions to switch out Maedhros for Maglor. Christopher Tolkien observes how Maglor became, over the course of these revisions, "the less ruthless and single-minded of the two brothers."⁹⁷ Furthermore, these changes seem to have been implemented around the same time that Maglor was connected with music. The question is beyond the scope of this biography, but what does this say about the role and character of singers and bards in Tolkien's world?

Finally, both versions of the Annals of Beleriand (1930-37) offer another example of the shifting characterisations of both Maedhros and Maglor. This version, in which Damrod and Díriel (Amrod and Amras) lead the assault on Sirion, has already been mentioned. In The Earliest Annals, Maedhros and Maglor provide "reluctant aid" and in The Later Annals they are present but "sick at heart".⁹⁸ Christopher Tolkien suggests in his commentary to the Earliest Annals that this difference from the 1930 Quenta is part of "an increasing emphasis on the weariness and loathing felt by [Maedhros] and Maglor for the duty they felt bound to."⁹⁹ Although this version of the third kinslaying does not appear in the published Silmarillion, the "heart-sickness" survives in Maglor's feelings about the oath.

I believe that the deeds of Maglor, the thoughts he expresses in dialogue, and the the emotions and motives ascribed to him are examples of pathos, a literary device intended to inspire an emotional response in the reader. The pathos employed with respect to Maglor's character invites the reader to engage with the same feelings Maglor himself experiences—compassion, hope, sorrow, weariness, despair, regret, isolation—and to sympathise.

With any artistic work, the responses of the audience vary. No matter how skillfully or intentionally an author employs pathos, not every reader will experience an emotional response, or the same emotional response. It is quite reasonable to review the chronicle of Maglor's deeds and come away profoundly critical of him. But Maglor's popularity among readers and the overwhelmingly sympathetic treatment he receives in fanworks is testament to the effectiveness of pathos in the final chapter of The Silmarillion.¹⁰⁰

V. Supplemental Information

Like Maglor's wanderings through later ages of the world, this biography has been long and meandering. (Hopefully, it has not been lamentable.) Unlike Maglor's wanderings, it has come to an end.

This last section offers a summary of the bare points of Maglor's biography, a table to help make sense of the many sources involved in cobbling together the complete picture, and another table summarising the convoluted evolution of the many versions of the last years of Maglor's life.

Summary of Maglor's deeds and traits in the published Silmarillion

Where Maglor is explicitly named:

• One of the greatest singers of the Elves (mentioned four times)
• Composer of the Noldolantë
• Swears the oath of Fëanor 
• Attends Mereth Aderthad with Maedhros
• Holds Maglor's Gap for about 450 years; loses it in the Dagor Bragollach and joins Maedhros on Himring
• Goes hunting with Maedhros and Finrod
• Fights in Dagor Aglareb and Dagor Bragollach
• Fights in Nirnaeth Arnoediad and slays the traitor Uldor
• Participates in the destruction of Sirion, the third kinslaying
• Fosters Elrond and Elros
• Glad to see the Silmaril appear as a star
• Desires to submit to the judgement of the Valar and argues for breaking the oath, but yields to Maedhros's will
• Sneaks into the camp of Eönwë and steals the Silmarils with Maedhros
• Casts his Silmaril into the sea and wanders the shores singing; does not return to his people

Where he is not specifically named:

• Accompanies his brothers and Fëanor and on their journeys through Aman
• Goes to Formenos with his brothers and father during Fëanor's exile
• Fights against the Teleri at Alqualondë, the first kinslaying
• Participates in the desertion of the people of Fingolfin and Finrod in Araman
• Participates in the burning of the ships at Losgar
• Fights in the second battle of Beleriand, Dagor-nuin-Giliath
• Is the eldest son during Maedhros's captivity; never specified what his role was
• Participates in the sack of Doriath, the second kinslaying

Table 1: Texts referred to in this biography

Source	Dates	Details	Published In
Tale of the Nauglafring	1917-1919	Prose version of story of the Nauglamír from The Lost Tales, including both the Dwarven and Fëanorian attacks on Doriath.	HoMe II
Lay of the Children of Húrin	1918-1925	Verse version of the story of Túrin Turambar up to his time in Nargothrond.	HoMe III
Flight of the Noldoli	1925	Beginning of a poem about the flight of the Noldor, abandoned at the swearing of the oath of Fëanor.	HoMe III
Lay of Leithian	1925-1931	Verse version of the story of Beren and Lúthien up to the point Carcaroth bites off Beren's hand with the Silmaril in it.	HoMe III
"Sketch of the Mythology"	1926-1930	First prose version of the "Silmarillion", written to provide background to the Lay of the Children of Húrin. Complete.	HoMe IV
Quenta (I and II)	1930	Second prose version/rewrite of the "Silmarillion". II is rewrite of sections 15 to 19 of I. Complete.	HoMe IV
Earliest Annals of Beleriand (I and II)	1930-1937	First annals versions of the events in Beleriand during the Years of the Sun. AB I is complete; AB II ends before the breaking of the siege of Angband.	HoMe IV
Later Annals of Beleriand	1930-1937	Second annals version of events in Beleriand during the Years of the Sun. Complete.	HoMe V
Quenta Silmarillion and Quenta Silmarillion (Conclusion)	1937	Third prose version/rewrite of the "Silmarillion". QS ends with Túrin leaving Doriath and joining the outlaws; the QS "Conclusion" covers the arrival of Eärendil in Valinor to the end.	HoMe V
The Etymologies	1937-38	Dictionary of primary stems of Elvish.	HoMe V
Lay of Leithian Recommenced	c. 1950	Rewrite of the Lay of Leithian, up to Beren's first sight of Lúthien.	HoMe III
Annals of Aman	1951-52	Third annals version of the events in Aman during the Years of the Trees. Complete.	HoMe X
Grey Annals	1951-52	Third annals of the events in Beleriand, including both Years of the Trees and Years of the Sun, ending with the death of Túrin.	HoMe XI
Tale of Years	1951-52	Supplemental annals version of the Years of the Trees and the First Age. Only the texts covering the last century of the First Age have been published.	HoMe XI
Letter to Milton Waldman (Letter 131)	1951	A letter to a friend and editor at HarperCollins on the connections between the "Silmarillion" and the Lord of the Rings	The Silmarillion (2nd ed.); The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Letter 211	1958	A letter answering various questions from a reader of LotR, including on the meaning of El-	The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien
Later Quenta Silmarillion	1951-60	Fourth prose version/rewrite on the "Silmarillion", using and expanding on the text of Quenta Silmarillion. Abandoned at the beginning of the tale of Túrin.	HoMe X, HoMe XI
"Concerning ... the Hoard"	1964	Unpublished letter on various matters of the First Age.	n/a
The Shibboleth of Fëanor	1968	Essay on the linguistic history of an element of Quenya and its connection to the history of the House of Finwë, with an excursus on names.	HoMe XII
Of Dwarves and Men	1969	Essay on linguistic matters and relationships primarily among Dwarves and Men.	HoMe XII
The Silmarillion	1977	Posthumous publication edited by Christopher Tolkien, compiled primarily from the various prose versions of the "Silmarillion".	The Silmarillion

Table 2: Versions of the conclusion to Maglor’s story

"Consistent with The Silmarillion" means that the version does not contradict the published Silmarillion, though all details may not be present.

Source	Debate about the Oath	Theft of the Silmarils	Fate
Published Silmarillion (1977)	Maglor desires to submit, but yields to Maedhros.	Maedhros and Maglor sneak into the camp and steal the Silmarils. They are allowed to depart.	Casts the Silmaril in the sea because of the pain it causes him. Wanders the shores of the sea singing in pain and regret. Does not return to live among Elves.
Tale of the Nauglafring (1917-19, HoMe Vol. II)	n/a	n/a	Dies in the sack of Doriath
"Sketch of the Mythology" (1926-1930, HoMe Vol. IV)	Both brothers submit to the summons West. On the march there, Maglor tells Maedhros that one of the Silmarils is his.	Alone, Maglor steals a Silmaril and escapes. It burns him and he knows he has lost his right to it.	Wanders, then casts himself, with the Silmaril, into a pit. Maedhros survives. (Emended to: casts the Silmaril into a pit and sings by the sea in sorrow.)
Quenta I (1930, HoMe Vol. IV)	Maedhros desires to submit, but yields to Maglor.	Maedhros and Maglor sneak into the camp and seize the Silmarils. Maedhros is taken prisoner, Maglor escapes.	Casts the Silmaril into a chasm of fire because of the pain it causes him. (Maedhros falls on his sword.) Otherwise consistent with The Silmarillion.
Quenta II (1930, HoMe Vol. IV)	Consistent with The Silmarillion.	Consistent with The Silmarillion.	Consistent with The Silmarillion.
Lay of Leithian (1925-31, HoMe Vol. III)	n/a	n/a	Harps and sings by the sea (no mention of the Silmaril).
Earliest Annals of Beleriand (1930-37, HoMe Vol. IV); Later Annals of Beleriand; Quenta Silmarillion (Conclusion) (1930-37, HoMe Vol. V)	Consistent with The Silmarillion.	Consistent with The Silmarillion.	Consistent with The Silmarillion.
Lay of Leithian Recommenced (c. 1950, HoMe Vol. III)	n/a	n/a	Passes to "endless lamentation",  is cast in the sea (manner not specified).
Tale of Years (1951-52, HoMe Vol. XI)	n/a	Consistent with The Silmarillion.	"The Silmarils are lost in fire and sea."
Letter to Milton Waldman (1951, Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien)	n/a	Consistent with The Silmarillion.	Casts himself, with the Silmaril, into the sea.
Concerning ... "The Hoard" (1964 unpublished)	n/a	n/a	Perishes in the sea, with the Silmaril.

Author’s Note

Maglor, I think it is fair to say, is a character who has attained legendary status among fans of The Silmarillion. Writing his biography has been a daunting task. I have attempted to be as objective as possible, first and foremost by a review of all available materials. Second, by staying close to the text, which is why you have seen frequent direct quotation of phrases which, if paraphrased, risk becoming interpretation rather than summary. Third, I have focused on asking questions, with the occasional foray into speculation, rather than drawing conclusions. However, I am only one reader, and my experiences and interests inevitably influence how I have presented the information, consciously or unconsciously. Comments and corrections to the content of this biography are welcome.

Works Cited

1. I have made generous use of Douglas Charles Kane’s Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2009) to assist me in untangling the web of texts that went into the construction of the published Silmarillion. Statements in this biography about a text being used as a "source" for the published Silmarillion are based on Kane’s exhaustive tables in this book.
2. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of Leithian Recommenced, "Canto III continued", line 50.
3. According to The Annals of Aman, the last annalistic version of the Years of the Trees that Tolkien completed. In History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth’s Ring, The Annals of Aman, §78 and note 1.
4. History of Middle-earth, Vol. 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", KAN discussed in note 36
5. The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
6. History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Of Dwarves and Men, note 7. The phrasing is: "Others who were wedded were Maelor, Caranthir." Maelor is another form of Maglor.
7. While it is said that Fëanor himself did not converse with or take counsel from Melkor, the Later Quenta Silmarillion (II) says that Melkor "began to speak, first to the sons of Fëanor, and at other times to the sons of Indis, concerning weapons and armour." This detail was omitted in The Silmarillion so that the targets of Melkor’s lies are less specific, saying only that he spread lies among the Noldor and that "whispers came to Fëanor". See History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth’s Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II), "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor", §52a.
8. History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth’s Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II), "The Rape of the Silmarils", §7.
9. History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, The Grey Annals, §§49-51, 61.
10. Douglas Charles Kane, Arda Reconstructed: The Creation of the Published Silmarillion (Lehigh UP, 2009), Table 14.
11. History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, Quenta Silmarillion, §90. Emphasis mine.
12. The Silmarillion, "Of Beleriand and its Realms".
13. The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor".
14. In an earlier text (History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Quenta, §9), Finrod goes hunting with Celegorm.
15. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand, "Annals of Beleriand I", Annal 172; History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, Quenta Silmarillion, §15; and ibid, The Later Annals of Beleriand, Annal 272 [472].
16. The Silmarillion, "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad".
17. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest ‘Silmarillion’, §14.
18. Ibid, with note 4.
19. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Lost Road, Etymologies, entry for MAK-. The entry gives Makalaurë/Maglor and the meaning "Gold-cleaver" as an example of the stem’s usage.
20. See footnote 4.
21. The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië".
22. The Silmarillion, "Of the Sindar".
23. The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
24. History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales 2, The Nauglafring.
25. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of the Children of Húrin I, line 1718; Ibid, Poems Early Abandoned, "The Flight of the Noldoli", line 123.
26. History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales 2, The Tale of Tinúviel.
27. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of Leithian,  "Commentary on Canto III".
28. Notwithstanding one canto of the A text of the Lay where the name Maglor—but not his parentage—is used for Beren’s character! I agree with Christopher Tolkien’s assessment that this is "astonishing".
29. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of Leithian, Canto III, lines 506-7.
30. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of Leithian, introductory comments.
31. Ibid, Canto VI, lines 1032-3.
32. Two lines from Text A of the Lay, struck out in the next version (B), even refer to his wanderings "from England unto Eglamar [Eldamar]." As Christopher Tolkien writes in his commentary, this was at the time when the legends were still explicitly connected to the history of England. See Ibid, "Commentary on Canto III". The switch to present tense does not persist in the various prose versions.
33. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest ‘Silmarillion’, §3 and note 2.
34. Ibid, §17.
35. Ibid, §18.
36. He is "he who harps" at line 506 of Lay of Leithian (see footnote 29) and "forgotten harper" at line 49 of The Lay of Leithian Recommenced, "Canto III continued" (see footnote 2).
37. See footnote 4.
38. History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, note 22.
39. The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor".
40. History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, Quenta Silmarillion, §70.
41. History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth’s Ring, The Annals of Aman, §150. Tempting as it may be, it would be a mistake to read "Flight of the Noldoli" as Tolkien writing in Maglor’s "voice" since he is not connected with the poem until much later.
42. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien".
43. The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
44. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Quenta (II), §18.
45. Kane, Arda Reconstructed, 234.
46. After all, in the Lay of Leithian Daeron plays a pipe, an instrument that does not lend itself well to vocal accompaniment!
47. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of Leithian Recommenced, "Canto III continued", lines 45-8.
48. oshun, "Maedhros", Silmarillion Writers' Guild, April 8, 2022, accessed January 23, 2023.
49. Christina von Nolcken, "Egil Skallagrimsson and the Viking Ideal," Fathom Archive, 2001, accessed January 24, 2023.
50. Egil’s Saga, trans. W.C. Green, Icelandic Saga Database, n.d., accessed January 24, 2023, Chapter 47.
51. Ibid.
52. Ashley Rewers, "The Bardic Tradition in Hinduism", Mahavidya, December 26, 2017, accessed December 13, 2022.
53. Maedhros, Celegorm, and Curufin are particularly active players, but even Caranthir has more individual character moments than Maglor in the first five centuries of the age. Only Amrod and Amras do less of note than Maglor in the lead up to the third kinslaying. See "Summary of deeds and traits" above.
54. The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
55. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand, "Annals of Beleriand I", Annal 229; History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, The Later Annals of Beleriand, Annal 329 [529].
56. According to the Tale of Years text "C" (History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels), they are six at the time of the third kinslaying.
57. The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
58. Note that the relationship is not actually called "fostering", though that seems to be the implication. "Foster" is the word used in the Tale of Years.
59. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, "The Earliest ‘Silmarillion", §17; ibid, Quenta (I), §17 and Quenta (II) §17 (before revision).
60. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, "The Earliest ‘Silmarillion", §17 and note 10.
61. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand, "Annals of Beleriand I", Annal 172; History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, The Later Annals of Beleriand, Annal 272 [472].
62. History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, The Tale of Years, text "C", Annal 532 [> 534 > 538].
63. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, "211 to Rhona Beare".
64. The full passage is quoted in oshun’s biography of Elros: "Elros Tar-Minyatur," Silmarillion Writers' Guild, June 1, 2009, accessed January 18, 2023.
65. See discussion on various interpretations of this passage in Dawn Walls-Thumma, "Take Pity upon Him: Did Maedhros Really Threaten to Kill Elrond and Elros at the Third Kinslaying?" Fiction and Research of Dawn Walls-Thumma, November 2008, accessed January 24, 2023.
66. The Earliest Annals of Beleriand (in "Annals of Beleriand I", Annal 240 of History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth) state that Maedhros and Maglor and the last of the Gnomes (Noldor) lived with Elrond on or around Amon Ereb. The context of this version of events differs from the published Silmarillion in that there is no second group of survivors taking refuge on Balar under Gil-galad (a character who is mentioned in a 1936 text on the fall of Númenor, but not integrated into any of Tolkien’s "Silmarillion" texts; perhaps notably, in the text in which he is mentioned, he is a descendant of Fëanor! See History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, The Fall of Númenor (II), §14). The Later Annals of Beleriand, which do not mention Elrond or Elros, say that Maedhros and his followers, consisting of all of the surviving free peoples, eventually flee from Amon Ereb to Balar. (History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, The Later Annals of Beleriand, Annal 340 [540].)
67. The Silmarillion, "Of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
68. The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Nargothrond: "the sons of Feanor would lay all the Elf-kingdoms in ruin rather than suffer any other than themselves to win or possess a Silmaril, for the Oath drives them" ("Of Beren and Lúthien"); Nirnaeth: "the oath of Feanor and the evil deeds that it had wrought did injury to the design of Maedhros, and he had less aid than should have been" ("Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"); the kinslayings: the sack of Sirion is called "the third of the great wrongs achieved by the accursed oath" ("Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"). It is also said that the oath "had harmed [Morgoth] never and turned always to his mightiest aid" ("Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin").
73. Angelica, "On Oaths," Silmarillion Writers’ Guild, September 9, 2022, accessed January 24, 2023.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
76. The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor".
77. The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor".
78. Ibid.
79. "From A Letter By J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951", published in the second edition of The Silmarillion (Letter 131 in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien).
80. The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath".
81. Ibid.
82. Ibid.
83. Many thanks to SkyEventide and arofili for pointing me towards these parallels and providing their thoughts.
84. "wandering Jew," Britannica, n.d., accessed January 24, 2023.
85. Ibid.
86. Esteliel, "Exile, Wyrd and the Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ideal in The Wanderer and Tolkien's Quenta Silmarillion," Silmarillion Writers’ Guild, August 1, 2009, accessed January 23, 2022.
87. I owe this point to presentation notes by arofili, which they generously shared with me.
88. "The Wanderer," Old English Poetry: An Anthology, trans, R.M. Liuzza (Ontario: Broadview Press, 2014), 2b-5b. Anglo-Saxon with literal English translation available at Anglo-Saxons.net, n.d., accessed January 23, 2023.
89. Ibid. Lines 8a-9a in Anglo-Saxons.net text.
90. Esteliel, "Exile, Wyrd and the Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ideal".
91. Jamie McKintry, "Floating Ideas: Memory and the Sea in Medieval Romances" in The Sea in the Literary Imagination, ed. B. Robertson, E. Kobeleva, S. Thompson and K. Weddle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 5.
92. The Silmarillion, Ainulindalë.
93. History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, The Lay of Leithian Recommenced, "Canto III continued",  line 51-2.
94. "From A Letter By J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951", published in the 2nd edition of The Silmarillion (Letter 131 in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien); "Concerning … "The Hoard"," transcribed by SkyEventide. Both sources refer to the deaths of Maedhros and Maglor, with the reclaimed Silmarils, in earth and sea.
95. To provide one example of how disproportionate this is compared to other characters: Maglor’s name is mentioned twenty-seven times (three of them only in reference to his lands) in The Silmarillion and his emotional experience is revealed in four episodes using twelve distinct emotions. Turgon is mentioned 112 times and his emotional experience is revealed in ten separate moments in which eight distinct emotions are named (yearning, heaviness, grief, anger, love, gladness, being troubled, fear; I excluded instances where verbs of thinking and knowing are used with no connection to the emotions).
96. History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, Quenta Silmarillion, "The Conclusion of the Quenta Silmarillion", commentary on §22.
97. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest ‘Silmarillion’’, commentary on §17.
98. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand, "Annals of Beleriand I", Annal 229; History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road, The Later Annals of Beleriand, Annal 329 [529].
99. History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, The Earliest Annals of Beleriand, "Annals of Beleriand I", commentary on Annals 208-233.
100. I have chosen not to get into the issue of the narrative frames and fictional narrators with respect to Maglor, despite being personally interested in this topic. This is primarily because the existence of a fictional narrator has the disconcerting effect of casting into doubt, more than it does for most characters, almost everything significant about Maglor. How could the narrator have known that Maglor’s "heart was sick and weary", or about any of the other emotions ascribed to him? How could they have known what he and Maedhros said in private conversation, or what happened to him after he fled Eönwë’s camp? Strip away all probable invention by the narrator, and this biography would either need to be renamed "Pengolodh's Maglor" or else made substantially shorter. On the fictional narrators of the "Silmarillion" and their sources see Dawn Walls-Thumma, "Pengolodh", Silmarillion Writers' Guild, March 1, 2016, accessed January 28, 2023 and "The Most Important Characters Never Named: Unveiling the Narrators of The Silmarillion," Fiction and Research of Dawn Walls-Thumma, 2019, accessed January 28, 2023.