Finduilas
Finduilas was a Ñoldor Elf princess of the First Age, daughter of Orodreth, ruler of the hidden realm of Nargothrond, niece of Galadriel and sister of Gil-galad.
Finduilas was a Ñoldor Elf princess of the First Age, daughter of Orodreth, ruler of the hidden realm of Nargothrond, niece of Galadriel and sister of Gil-galad.
Biography
Finduilas was the daughter of Orodreth and his unnamed wife, a lady of the Northern Sindar. Her date of birth and birthplace are unknown. She was betrothed to Gwindor, who named her Faelivrin.
In 472 of the First Age, Gwindor was captured during the Nírnaeth Arnoediad by Morgoth, and when he returned in FA 490 he came with a companion who called himself Agarwaen son of Umarth (the Bloodstained, son of Ill-Fate). Unbeknownst to Finduilas, this was actually Túrin, son of Húrin. Despite her old feelings for Gwindor, Finduilas fell in love with Túrin, but Túrin refused her in respect for his friend. Gwindor realized this, and revealed Túrin's name to Finduilas and tried to let Túrin fall in love with Finduilas, since he realized Finduilas loved Túrin instead of him.
After the failure of the Battle of Tumhalad, Glaurung and an army of Orcs sacked Nargothrond. Gwindor was slain and when Túrin returned to Nargothrond he was caught in a trance by the dragon who spoke to him of his kin in Hithlum, rendering him deaf to the cries of Finduilas as a party of Orcs dragged her past him as a captive intended for Angband.
Glaurung's deceit caused Túrin to abandon Finduilas and instead go to Hithlum in search of his kin. By the time he finally went to search for Finduilas she was dead, for she had been killed when the Orcs guarding her were waylaid by the Haladin of Brethil at the Crossings of Taeglin. Before their defeat the Orcs had killed all their captives, nailing Finduilas to a tree with a spear. The people of Haladin buried her in a mound they called Haudh-en-Elleth, Mound of the Elf-maiden.
Etymology
The name Finduilas comes from the Sindarin elements fin ("hair"), a common prefix in the House of Finwë, duil, which may have come from the ethuil ("spring"), and las ("leaf").
Her epessë Faelivrin means "Gleam of the Sun on the Pools of Ivrin" from the Sindarin fael ("gleam, brilliance"), and is interestingly her right name in earlier versions.
House of Finarfin
Being the child of Orodreth, Finduilas had both the blood of the Ñoldor and the Falmari, the Teleri of Aman, and belonged to both the House of Finarfin and the House of Olwë.
In other versions
In The Silmarillion, her father Orodreth was the son of Finarfin, thus making Finduilas Finarfin's granddaughter, instead of his great-granddaughter in later writings. In Tolkien's final decision for their family tree, Gil-galad was made Orodreth's son and Finduilas's brother.
In earlier writings, she was known as Failivrin, and she was the daughter of Galweg.