View source for Meril-i-Turinqi

{{disambig-more|Meril|[[Meril (disambiguation)]]}}
{{vanyar infobox
| image=[[File:Sandrine Gestin - Meril.jpg|250px]]
| caption="Meril" by [[:Category:Images by Sandrine Gestin|Sandrine Gestin]]
| name=Meril-i-Turinqi
| people=[[Vanyar#Other versions of the legendarium|Teler]]
| pronun=
| othernames=''Meril-i-Turinqui'' ([[Qenya|Q]])</br>''Gwidhil-i-Durinthi'', ''Gwithil-i-Durinthi'' ([[Gnomish|G]])
| titles=Lady of the Isle
| position=Queen of Tol Eressëa
| location=[[Tol Eressëa]] ([[Kortirion]])
| affiliation=
| language=[[Qenya]]</br>[[Valarin|Language of the Gods]]<ref>{{LT1|LinkC}}, pp. 51-2</ref>
| birth=Before the [[March of Liberation]]
| birthlocation=
| rule=
| death=
| deathlocation=
| age=
| notablefor=
| house=
| parentage=Unknown (granddaughter of [[Ingil]])
| siblings=
| spouse=
| children=
| gender=Female
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}}
'''Meril-i-Turinqi''' was the '''Lady of [[Tol Eressëa]]''', according to the early version of the [[legendarium]] in ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]''.<ref>{{LT1|VIII}}, p. 175</ref>

Meril dwelt in a white house inside a great ''[[korin]]'' of ancient [[elms]], near [[Tirin na Gilweth|Ingil's tower]].<ref name="Tur">{{LT1|IV}}, p. 95</ref> She was of great beauty and accompanied by [[Elves|Elven]] maidens.<ref name="Mer"/>

== History ==
=== Early history ===
Meril was one of the [[Inwir]], the royal clan of the [[Vanyar#Other versions of the legendarium|Teleri]],<ref>{{LT1|LinkC}}, p. 50</ref> being a great-granddaughter of [[Inwë]], the King of all the Eldar. However, she was also akin to the [[Solosimpi]], and had long ago seen the [[Bay of Eldamar|Bay of Faëry]].<ref name="Ing">{{LT1|V}}, p. 129</ref>

Following the [[March of Liberation]] and the war with [[Melko]], [[Ingil]] son of Inwë, her grandfather, led the remaining Elves and [[Gnomes]] to [[Tol Eressëa]], where they built the city of [[Koromas]], later known as ''Kortirion'' due to the [[Tirin na Gilweth|great tower]] that Ingil built.<ref>{{LT1|I}}, p. 16</ref> Later, Ingil returned to [[Valinor]],<ref name="Ing"/> and eventually Meril became the Lady of the Isle.

At some point after the March of Liberation, when the [[Olórë Mallë]] was blocked and the children of [[Men]] could no longer visit Valinor in their sleep, one [[Eärendel|man]] nonetheless managed to find his way to the West and sought the Elves' help, to which Meril responded by asking [[Lindo]], an Elf of Tol Eressëa, to devise a plan.

Afterwards, Lindo and his wife [[Vairë (wife of Lindo)|Vairë]] built the [[Cottage of Lost Play]] in Kortirion, from which the remaining children of Men that stayed with the Elves went to the [[Great Lands]] and comforted the Mannish children living there.<ref>{{LT1|I}}, pp. 19-20</ref>

=== Arrival of Eriol ===
Around the [[wikipedia:5th century|5th century AD]], [[Eriol]], a Mannish mariner, arrived to Tol Eressëa. After visiting many places on the island, including the Cottage of Lost Play, [[Littleheart]] son of [[Voronwë]] brought him to Meril's house, where Eriol requested to taste ''[[limpë]]'', a magic Elven drink, seeking kinship and fellowship with the Elves.

Meril denied, telling him that it is dangerous for a [[mortal]] [[Man]] to do so, as [[Ilúvatar]] made his [[Children of Ilúvatar|Children]] different, and drinking ''limpë'' would erase his old desires but awake new ones; she also warned him that he would one day long for his lands again.<ref name="Mer">{{LT1|IV}}, pp. 96-7</ref> To explain better she told him the stories of ''[[the Chaining of Melko]]''<ref>{{LT1|IV}}, p. 98</ref> and ''[[the Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kôr]]''.<ref>{{LT1|V}}, p. 113</ref>

Some time after, Meril visited the Cottage of Lost Play during a festival, before Eriol went to [[Tavrobel]], where Littleheart told the tale of ''[[the Fall of Gondolin (chapter)|the Fall of Gondolin]]''.<ref>{{LT2|III}}, pp. 144-5</ref>

=== The Faring Forth ===
According to one outline for the continuation of the ''Lost Tales'', the disastrous [[Faring Forth]], the great expedition to the Great Lands for the rescue of the [[Ilkorindi|Lost Elves]], was instigated prematurely by Eriol himself against Meril's command, who, longing for his home, returned to the Great Lands and "preached" of the Faring Forth. Thus, due to Eriol's impatience and recklessness, the Faring Forth was doomed to fail.<ref>{{LT2|VI}}, outline '''14''', p. 294</ref>

Nothing else is known about Meril, or her fate after the Faring Forth.

== Etymology ==
The name ''Meril-i-Turinqi'' is [[Qenya]] for "Queen of Flowers", being a combination of ''[[Meril (Qenya word)|meril]]'' ("flowers") + ''[[i]]'' ("the") + ''[[turinqi]]'' ("queen").<ref>{{webcite|author=[[Paul Strack]]|articleurl=http://eldamo.org/content/words/word-112046301.html|articlename=ᴱQ. ''Meril-i-Turinqi'' f.|website=Eldamo|accessed=1 May 2022}}</ref> 

An alternative spelling of the name was ''Meril-i-Turinqui''.<ref name="Tur"/>

An earlier Qenya form of the name was ''Veril-i-Turinqi''.<ref>{{PE|12}}, p. xx</ref>

==Other names==
The [[Gnomish]] cognate for ''Meril-i-Turinqi'' is '''''Gwidhil-i-Durinthi'''''<ref>{{LT1|Appendix}}, entry "Meril-i-Turinqi"</ref> (changed from ''Gwedhil'') or '''''Gwithil-i-Durinthi'''''.<ref name="Gwi"/>

Earlier Gnomish versions of the name include: ''Miril-i-durwin'',<ref>{{PE|13}}, "[[Heraldic Devices of Tol Erethrin]]", p. 95</ref> ''Gwedhil Turlin'',<ref>{{PE|13}}, "[[Early Chart of Names]]", p. 99</ref><ref group="note">''Gwedhil Turlin'' was changed from ''Turlith'' to ''Turing'' to ''Turingwith'' to ''Gwethil Turingwith'' and then to the final form.</ref> and ''Gwidhil (Gwedda) Durinthir''<ref>{{PE|15}}, "[[Names and Required Alterations]]", p. 7</ref> (with ''Gwedda'' being a diminutive of ''Gwidhil'', later changed to ''Gwetha'').<ref name="Gwi">{{PE|11}}, p. 46</ref>

== Genealogy ==
<div style="overflow-x: scroll; overflow-y: hidden; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: 3px; background: #EEEEEE;">{{familytree/start}}
{{familytree | INW |INW=[[Inwë]]}}
{{familytree | |!| |}}
{{familytree | ING |ING=[[Ingil]]}}
{{familytree | |!| |}}
{{familytree | UNK |UNK=''unknown</br>child''}}
{{familytree | |!| |}}
{{familytree | MER |MER='''MERIL-I-TURINQI'''}}
{{familytree/end}}
</div>

== Other versions of the legendarium ==
=== Early legendarium ===
In an earlier text in the ''[[Qenya Lexicon]]'', the role of Meril-i-Turinqi was instead given to [[Erinti]], at that time imagined as the [[Valar|Vala]] of love, music, beauty and purity who, like Meril in the later texts, lived in a ''korin'' of elms in the center of Tol Eressëa.<ref>{{PE|12}}, p. 36</ref>

=== Later legendarium ===
According to [[John Garth]], the character of [[Galadriel]] from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' might have been inspired by Meril-i-Turinqi.<ref name="Wit">[[John Garth]], ''[[Tolkien and the Great War]]'', "Part three", ''12. Tol Withernon and Fladweth Amrod'', p. 228</ref>

In one text from the later [[legendarium]], the name ''[[Amarië#Other versions of the legendarium|Meril]]'' appears as the name of the wife of [[Felagund]] and the mother of [[Gil-galad]].<ref>{{WJ|15}}, p. 242</ref>

{{references|notes}}
[[Category:Characters in The Book of Lost Tales]]
[[Category:Qenya names]]
[[Category:Rulers in Tol Eressëa]]
[[Category:Teleri (early legendarium)]]
[[de:Meril-i-Turinqi]]
[[fr:encyclo/personnages/elfes/vanyar/meril-i-turinqi]]