Of Fлanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
Now the Three Kindreds of the Eldar were gathered at last in Valinor, and Melkor was chained. This was the Noontide of the Blessed Realm, the fullness of its glory and its bliss, long in tale of years, but in memory too brief. In those days the Eldar became full-grown in stature of body and of mind, and the Noldor advanced ever in skill and knowledge; and the long years were filled with their joyful labours, in which many new things fair and wonderful were devised. Then it was that the Noldor first bethought them of letters, and Rъmil of Tirion was the name of the loremaster who first achieved fitting signs for the recording of speech and song, some for graving upon metal or in stone, others for drawing with brush or with pen.
In that time was born in Eldamar, in the house of the King in Tirion upon the crown of Tъna, the eldest of the sons of Finwл, and the most beloved. Curufinwл was his name, but by his mother he was called Fлanor, Spirit of Fire; and thus he is remembered in all the tales of the Noldor.
Mнriel was the name of his mother, who was called Serindл, because of her surpassing skill in weaving and needlework; for her hands were more skilled to fineness than any hands even among the Noldor. The love of Finwл and Mнriel was great and glad, for it began in the Blessed Realm in the Days of Bliss. But in the bearing of her son Mнriel was consumed in spirit and body; and after his birth she yearned for release from the labours of living. Ana when she had named mm, she said to Finwл: 'Never again shall I bear child; for strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Fлanor.'
Then Finwл was grieved, for the Noldor were in me youth of their days, and he desired to bring forth many children into the Miss of Aman; and he said: 'Surely there is healing in Aman? Here all weariness can find rest.' But when Mнriel languished still, Finwл sought the counsel of Manwл, and Manwл delivered her to the care of Irmo in Lуrien. At their parting (for a little while as he thought) Finwл was sad, for it seemed an unhappy chance that the mother should depart and miss the beginning at least of the childhood days of her son.
'It is indeed unhappy,' said Mнriel, 'and I would weep, if I were not so weary. But hold me blameless in this, and in all that may come after.'
She went then to the gardens of Lуrien and lay down to sleep; but though she seemed to sleep, her spirit indeed departed from her body, and passed in silence to the halls of Mandos. The maidens of Estл tended the body of Mнriel, and it remained unwithered; but she did not return. Then Finwл lived in sorrow; and he went often to the gardens of Lуrien, and sitting beneath the silver willows beside the body of his wife he called her by her names. But it was unavailing; and alone in all the Blessed Realm he was deprived of joy. After a while he went to Lуrien no more.
An his love he gave thereafter to his son; and Fлanor grew swiftly, as if a secret fire were kindled within him. He was tall, and fair of face, and masterful, his eyes piercingly bright and his hair raven-dark; in the pursuit of all his purposes eager and steadfast. Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force. He became of all the Noldor, then or after, the most subtle in mind and the most skilled in hand. In his youth, bettering the work of Rъmil, he devised those letters which bear his name, and which the Eldar used ever after; and he it was who, first of the Noldor, discovered how gems greater and brighter than those of the earth might be made with skill. The first gems that Fлanor made were white and colourless, but being set under starlight they would blaze with blue and silver fires brighter than Helluin; and other crystals he made also, wherein things far away could be seen small but clear, as with the eyes of the eagles of Manwл. Seldom were the hands and mind of Fлanor at rest.
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 Aulл; 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 Fлanor, 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 Fлanor; her mood she bequeathed in part to some of them, but not to all.
Now it came to pass that Finwл took as his second wife Indis the Fair. She was a Vanya, clo............