Eöl

Eöl
Sinda
Biographical Information
Other names	The Dark Elf
Birth	Y.O.T.T
Death	First Age 345
Family
Spouse	Aredhel
Children	Maeglin
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Hair color	Black
Gallery	Images of Eöl

"You are of the house of Eöl, Maeglin, my son, and not of the Golodhrim. All this land is the land of the Teleri, and I will not deal nor have my son deal with the slayers of our kin, the invaders and usurpers of our homes. In this you shall obey me, or I will set you in bonds."

― The Silmarillion, Of Maeglin

Eöl, known as the Dark Elf, was originally part of the royal house of King Elu Thingol. Eöl was unhappy in his homeland of Doriath, and when the Girdle of Melian was raised around the kingdom, he left to dwell in the dark forest of Nan Elmoth, east of his homeland.

Eöl was a skillful craftsman and master swordsmith. Among his greatest works were two swords made from the iron of a meteorite, Anglachel and Anguirel. Anglachel he gave to Thingol as payment for dwelling in Nan Elmoth, and it would later become the sword borne by Túrin Turambar. Eöl's smithcraft was especially admired by the Dwarves, and he shared a rare friendship with the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost in the Blue Mountains. Eöl also devised the metal known as galvorn, from which he forged the armor that he used when traveling far from Nan Elmoth.

In the early third century of the First Age, Eöl came upon Aredhel, the sister of King Turgon and called the White Lady of the Ñoldor. She had become lost in Nan Elmoth, and Eöl used his enchantments to draw her deeper into the wood and ensnare her. She became his wife, and in the year 320 bore him a son, Maeglin.

In the summer of First Age 345, Eöl travelled into the Blue Mountains to feast with the Dwarves of Nogrod, and returned home to find that his wife and son had left two days earlier. Mounting a horse, he gave chase, and eventually discovered them at the Ford of Brithiach. Realizing that Aredhel was returning to Gondolin with his son, Eöl followed them. He found his way to the Dry River, and that secret way led him to the gates of Gondolin itself. There he was captured and taken to the King.

Turgon at first welcomed Eöl as a kinsman, but under the King's Law one who had found the way to the Hidden City was not permitted to leave, on pain of death. Enraged at the loss of his freedom, Eöl chose death, for himself and his son, and cast a poisoned javelin at Maeglin. Aredhel stepped in front of her son, and the poison in the dart soon killed her. In punishment for his crime, the Gondolindrim cast Eöl over the steep cliff of the Caragdûr.

Genealogy

EÖL

Aredhel

Maeglin

See Also

• Images of Eöl.

References

• The Silmarillion, Of Maeglin