Comments on The Last Queen of the North

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A lovely poem. It can't have been easy to move to the Northern Kingdom, where she likely married a stranger. And after the throne of Gondor was denied to her, the tragedies start to hit. 

What a difficult fate to have to watch tragedy  befall your family so thoroughly and feel yourself unable to help. I love how clear eyed she is about it all. She can acknowledge her family’s folly alongside their legitimate losses, and she can see that Arvedui tried to do well by her even if their life together turned out to be hard and full of sadness. (And despite the kind of opportunism in Arvedui trying to use her inherited claim to the throne of Gondor as a means to get himself onto that throne — I’ve always wondered what to make of his motives there, I can see it going several ways!) Of course, being clear eyed about her own situation and challenges doesn’t make any of them easier to live through, even if she has things that she clings to for comfort and optimism. The pain of her circumstances is very palpable here. 

You know I love a woman who is out of place in a royal family far from home and entangled in troubles, and Firiel has some interesting things in common with Vidumavi, especially a sense that her children have the right to their kingship and a sense of determination that they should have it someday. But unlike Vidumavi, Firiel can’t find comfort in current hard times by looking back to her birthplace as a place of safety where she can retreat if needed because everything went so wrong there after her departure. That has to be an extra special level of emotionally unmooring — nowhere is safe and easy. How truly sad. Still, I loved that you chose to end on an invocation of her heirs and the chieftains they would become, eventually ending so many years later with one on the throne of both Arnor and Gondor again. What a win for her, though obviously far too late for her to get to enjoy it. 

As always, I greatly enjoyed your imagery. Arvedui entombed on the icy throne with his lost palantir was especially good as a poetic representation of his fate — kind of creepy in a way, and also very sad, and also a little infuriating because why did it have to be so. The whole poem is super thought provoking and especially because she’s a character who is relatively little discussed. Engaging seriously with her story through the poem raised so many new questions for me that I hadn’t considered at length before (like, did she know he had been prophesied to be the last king when she married him? What did she think when she found out?). I’d always be interested to hear more of your thoughts about her, and it’s always very fun to be inspired to think more deeply so thank you!!!♥️

Thank you, as ever, for such a detailed comment! I really appreciate you giving Firiel, and my poem, so much thought. :) Where to start with Firiel? There's so much I could say (and I will try and do so elsewhere - I've thought about her endlessly!) I'm glad to be able to give others the opportunity to become more familiar with her story, terribly sad though much of it is.

I love that she comes across as clear-eyed, because I absolutely think she was. In my view, she always knew about the prophecy surrounding Arvedui (that's partly why she describes him as strange, along with him coming from so far away and being unlike anyone she'd met before). I headcanon that she had a choice about marrying him, and wasn't just sent away to Arthedain as the Appendices may seem to suggest; I think Arvedui (Prince at that time) came to visit Gondor, not so unlike Valacar going to the Northmen - and Firiel was keen on history and very aware of her ancestor Vidumavi - and while they didn't fall in love, they got on well enough that they decided to make a go of it. They both have a keen sense of their duty, as they see it.

I'm sure Arvedui felt that links with Gondor might somehow offer the means for him to escape his Doom - but when the opportunity came to claim the crown, he did so with Firiel's support and a plan of actually ruling jointly if accepted. (I like to believe he was always very respectful of her). What does puzzle me, though, is why their son Aranarth wasn't offered the crown later on - surely Gondor weren't so utterly dismissive of a female line? (although Denethor, much later, is very dismissive about Aragorn). I've even wondered if he was offered it and turned it down…

On a positive note, I like to think that she ended her days in the peace and comfort of Rivendell, and was befriended by Celebrian. It seems very possible to me that she went with her grandson when he was fostered there. :)