# Miriel



## Erestor Arcamen (Feb 13, 2006)

> After giving birth to Fëanor she wished to die, something which was impossible because, as an Elf, she was immortal within Arda. Instead her feä departed from her body, and she entered the halls of Mandos: in essense she had died of free will. This was seen as a shocking event by the Valar, and eventually led to the second marriage of Finwë, and from there to the Rebellion of the Ñoldor and the First Kinslaying.
> After Finwë had been killed, Míriel was granted permission to return to life, where she entered the service of Vairë, her task to weave all the deeds of the House of Finwë in the Tapestry of Time.


 
So when they say she weaved the deeds of the House of Finwe in the Tapestry of Time, do they mean that Miriel could see all of the deeds and acts that would befall any and all of Finwe's kin as in Feanor and his sons? Did she wish to die because she knew what Feanor would be like in the futue and how "firey" he would be?


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## Thorondor_ (Feb 13, 2006)

Laws and customs of the eldar said:


> But Miriel was accepted by Vaire and became her chief handmaid; and all tidings of the Noldor down the years from their beginning were brought to her, and she wove them in webs historial, so fair and skilled that they seemed to live, imperishable, shining with a light of many hues fairer than are known in Middle-earth.


She had no foreknwoledge as you implied; she was just drained of life and too hard-headed, as Vairie says, to return among the elves.


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## Hammersmith (Feb 13, 2006)

Erestor, is that passage from an appendix somewhere? Because if so I would see Tolkien (or if not whichever writer penned it) as making a deliberate statement about euthanasia 

"...in essense she had died of free will ... [this] eventually led to ... the Rebellion of the Ñoldor and the First Kinslaying."

Was that Tolkien, or someone else's opinion on Tolkien's characters?


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## Ithrynluin (Feb 13, 2006)

Certainly Miriel's strength was very much spent after giving birth to Feanor, but did she not die because she so willed it?


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## Thorondor_ (Feb 13, 2006)

(same source as above)


> Then Finwe was greatly grieved, for the Noldor were in the youth of their days and dwelt in the bliss of the Noontide of Aman, but were still few in number, and he desired to bring forth many children into that bliss. He said, therefore:
> - Surely there is healing in Aman? Here all weariness can find rest. Therefore Finwe sought the counsel of Manwe, and Manwe delivered Miriel to the care of Irmo in Lorien. At their parting (for a little while as he deemed) Finwe was sad, for it seemed a thing unhappy that the mother should depart and miss the beginning at least of the childhood days of her son.
> 
> - Unhappy it is indeed, said Miriel, and I would weep if I were not so weary. But hold me blameless in this, and in aught that may come after. Rest now I must. Farewell, dear lord.
> ...


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