Melian

I do like that this-

And Me- and Melian is just standing there being like, "Man, you can't be saying-

"You can't do this"

... you can't be saying stuff like this.

"This is, this is the curse of Mandos.

You can't do this."

Melian is a, like a, like a Cassandra if she didn't, if Cassandra didn't care that much about-

[laughs]

Um, and so, yeah, each chapter is kind of like very in the same way that in the, uh, The main books, right, each chapter is an episode, but they're episodes that kind of run into one another.

Here they are very, very episodic, right? There's like implied long stretches of time between things and all of them have chapters like of the darkening of Valinor, of Thingol and Melian, of the coming of the elves and the captivity of Melkor.

And sure enough, that's what those chapters are about.

Yeah.

stuff.

All the spiders.

Melian has not had her daughter yet, has she? So she has.

I was going

It's a...

It's almost like calling Melian a mere female, which will get you slapped, by the way.

That, that, that sure gets you slapped.

Both for mere and for female.

It sure gets you slapped by Melian if you would listen to her.

If you would listen to her.

Yeah.

We have Finarfin's other kids, Angrod and Aegnor, who becomes Aegnor, uh, along with Galadriel.

Thalanor.

So depending on which iteration it is, the five Istari were sent or the five Istari with Melian as their leader were sent to act as guardians.

There's not really that much given about them in the nature of Middle-earth, but this is the only place that we see this idea about the guardians and Melian being one of them, which I think is interesting.

In The Peoples of Middle-Earth and Unfinished Tales, we get some ideas from Tolkien about Eloran or Gandalf maybe arriving in the Second Age.

And a lot of these are attached to the ideas about the Blue Wizards and the idea in various conceptions of Glorfindel that Tolkien was working through.

Turin among the outlaws.

As you recall at the end of the last chapter, Beleg Strongbow took Anglachel, the black sword made from a meteor or meteorite, and took it against the will or against the advice of Melian.

And he went off.

That's where it ended.

It's an evil will.

Because why? Why? Because it has to be against his will that he remembers this land of the elves, which is still a good place.

Doriath is a blessed place, blessed by Milia.

And it's against his will that he remembers it.

in this scene but it's just so subtle as well there's a moment towards the end of that Elrond actually in a way arguably contributes to the orcs doubting themselves in relation to Adar's leadership as if are they willing to you know spare their lives for for this fight battle against Sauron So Elrond's doing some seed planting of his own.

And then there's a lovely, I think for me, like this whole kind of scene of passage is that whilst I joke about it, there's a line in it where Adar goes, you have the beauty of your foremother, Melian of the Valar.

And I always appreciate a little cheeky lore reference.

And for those who aren't aware, Melian is Elrond's great-great-grandmother on his mother Elwing's side.

So she was the mother of Luthien.

She was also known to be beautiful and wise.

And I think as season two goes on to its culmination of his story, we see him getting even closer back to that side of him.

Yeah, I really love how whenever Adar is interacting with an elf, he always has to drop a little knowledge that hints at his background and his history.

The Teleri are able to have both the light to which they are ultimately drawn and the music of the sea which they so greatly love.

Thingol and Melian Of course, not all of the Teleri make the journey to the Blessed Realm.

They are a vast people, and those who look to Elwë, instead of Olwë his brother, as their leader remain behind even as the other Teleri depart across the sea.

Why? Simply put, they have lost their leader because he has come under the musical spell of Melian, one of the Ainur.

Melian is a Maia, and she is particularly skilled in songs of enchantment.

She is one of the first Ainur to leave the Blessed Realm for Middle-earth, and one of the first to appear to the awakening Quendi by the waters of Cuiviénen.

There, it is written, she filled the silence of Middle-earth before the dawn with her voice and the voices of her birds.

Thus, her music is one of the sounds the young elves hear.

By the last, the long-sundered branches of the half-elven were reunited and their line was restored.

Luthien Tinuvio was the daughter of King Thingol, Grey Cloak of Doriath, in the First Age, but her mother was Melian of the people of the Valar.

Beren was the son of Barahir of the First House of the Edain.

Together they wrested a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth.

So it is told that when Turin did not return to the north marches of Doriath, and no tides could be heard of him, Beleg Strongwell came himself to Mettigrath to seek him, and with heavy heart he gathered news of Turin's deeds in flight.

Soon afterwards, Thingol and Melian came back to their halls, for the summer was waning, and when the king heard the report of what had passed, he said, This is a grievous matter, which I must hear in full.

Though Cyrus, my counselor, is slain, and Turin, my foster son, has fled, tomorrow I will sit in the seat of judgment, and here again, all in due order before I speak my due.

So for starters, we have a very...

Basically, his judgment of Beren, which you're right, it was a kind of judgment, but it was not court-like.

It was just the pronouncement of a king and the insult by a king and then the pronouncement and a bit of argumentation back and forth.

And I can't help but think that Melian has had a mellowing effect on him.

over all of this, like she always does.