Finrod: se wídfarende cyning

The following excerpt is reprinted from the first Quenya edition of The Rise and Fall of Beleriand: A Critical History of the Kingdoms of the First Age, Volume 1: Anarórë Núméva, by Erestor Lindonéva (published by Enyalmo Parmatan, under the authority of Ereinion, Ingaran Eldaliéva).

Finrod Felagund was not born to rule.

While many may consider this statement disrespectful, more or less heresy of the basest kind, it is nonetheless true both in terms of birth and in terms of temperament. Nor does it mean that his ability to rule was in any way lessened.

The lineages of the noble houses of the Amanyar have been laid out elsewhere in this work, and so do not require reiteration here; save for the reminder that Arafinwë’s line was the farthest from the Crown in the House of Finwë. So while Finrod and his siblings were raised to enjoy their royal status (and expected to live up to it), they were not constrained by the responsibility of governance. Left to his own devices, then, the future King of Nargothrond was allowed to develop his own natural inclinations towards whatever ends he desired.

Arafinwë’s eldest son possessed three innate traits which, once tempered by the experiences of his youth in Valinor, particularly shaped the manner of his rule in Endorë.

Firstly, Finrod was insatiably curious. He drank up knowledge faster than the tutors of the House of Finwë were able to provide him resources; and so, while he was still quite young, he was raised for a time amongst his Vanyarin kin, in hopes that they could satisfy his curiosity. It is to be imagined that much of the King of Nargothrond’s more abstract knowledge and skills in reasoning were learnt there, at the feet of Taniquetil and the Powers who dwelt there.

Secondly, unlike most other Noldor who delight in making, Finrod delighted more in knowing. It has been said that it was a common saying amongst the Noldor of Tirion that Prince Findárato could out-think even High King Ingwë. This was fond overstatement, of course, for Finrod only ever bested Ingwë in debate once; and that never in the public forum. It is uncertain what the issue in question was, exactly, as few who were there remain in Endorë, but what is certain is that there were few among even the Vanyar (delighters in the abstract that they are) who could match the speed and dexterity of Finrod’s mind.

It was also said, with much more veracity, that there were even fewer who could win against the Noldorin prince at the game of Pélë, which the Valar had personally taught to the Eldar. In fact, so great was Finrod’s love for and skill at this game that in Nargothrond it became a required object of study for those in the higher echelons of society. It remains equally popular with the survivors of Nargothrond within the Court of Lindon to this day.

Lastly, Finrod was rarely content to remain in one place for any length of time. This does not mean that he was inattentive or lacked perseverance, for when his attention was directed at something he was single-mindedly focused; and he never left off until he had completed what he had set out to accomplish. He was, however, given to wanderlust; but not wanderlust brought on by discontent.

Finrod approached everything with a sense of boundless wonder; from the smallest flower to the highest mountain peak, and from the woes of the lowliest servant in his father’s household to the most obscure ontological inquiry. He was a scholar, but Arda was as much his place of learning as the libraries of the Eldar.

This, then, was the true heart of King Finrod’s character: that he was, and always remained, an explorer and adventurer above all else. (The stories of his Company’s travels in Aman under the Trees, and his many near escapes from danger, are widely enough known that they need not be repeated here.) He was, in the language of the clan of Men who lived closest to Nargothrond, se wídfarende cyning, the far-wandering king.

Of all the appellations he acquired within his lifetime, this was one he especially liked. As those who were close to him attest, he saw it as a mark of humility – that he was not unduly tied to either his possessions or his creations – and a reminder of words he ascribed to a Vala: “Love not too well the works of thy hands, nor the devices of thy heart.” These were words which haunted him, and seem to have been taken as his watchword throughout his life in Endorë.

Finrod was a natural and charismatic leader, but only a ruler by force of circumstance: being the head of the House of Arafinwë in Exile. He was aware of his dignity as a scion of the House of Finwë, and accepted the leadership of his House without question, but seemed devoid of the “pride of kingship” which others (both before and since) have displayed. According to those who knew him well, his frequent long absences from his City (even if it were just to visit Cirdan at the Havens or the Laiquendi who dwelt around Ivrin) were his way of coping with what he felt was the stagnation of fëa caused by kingship.

There are those who, with the backward-looking and all-seeing eyes of the present, would say that it was this exact trait, a restlessness of the fëa, which led to the downfall of Nargothrond. They would criticize Finrod for leaving his people open to the attacks, both physical and mental, of the Sons of Fëanor whom he welcomed within his walls. There are still more who would say that, honor and hospitality notwithstanding, he doomed his People when he welcomed his wayward cousins. Others would criticize him for not appointing a better (stronger, wiser) steward to leave after himself (we shall, however, leave discussion of Artaresto for a later time); and even those who would say (and, indeed, have said with the tongue of the hlocë) that it was a heedlessness of his responsibility as King, and not a scrupulous heeding of honor, which led to his accompanying the Apánona, Beren, to his death.

To those people I would say this: that it was Finrod Felagund, se wídfarende cyning, who had the greatest hand in the shaping of Beleriand, and all which has come after; both the good and the ill.

It was Finrod, more than any other member of the House of Arafinwë, who acted as a liaison between the Amanyar and the Úmanyar. Elu Thingol would trust no Amanya except his kin, and the rest of the Sindar of Beleriand followed his lead in this as in everything else. While Cirdan was of a less volatile disposition than the king of Doriath, it was to the eldest son of Arafinwë that he most often sent for counsel; and with whom he seemed most willing to deal. The Ossiriandrim, likewise, welcomed the king of Nargothrond among them, when they had previously maintained themselves apart from the rest of Beleriand.

Yet, the Peoples of Beleriand were not only Eldar. Few Quendi have had a better relationship with the Dwarves than Finrod. So much so, that his most widely know epessë, Felagund, is of Dwarvish origin.

It must also be remembered that it was Finrod who, first in the Western Realms, discovered Men. For a number of years after the first clans of the Apanónar had crossed the Ered Luin, he lived among them. He both taught them the language and customs of the Eldar, and learned of their language and customs. What other prince of the Noldor would have been so even-handed in dealing with these strange mayfly Children? The importance of the Houses of Men in the history of Arda cannot be debated.

Nargothrond was the lynchpin amongst the disparate Peoples of Beleriand; and without Finrod, there would have been no Nargothrond. So while he may not have been born to rule, it was Finrod Felagund, as se wídfarende cyning, who shaped the history of the kingdoms of the western lands.

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se wídfarende cyning: the far-wandering king (Anglo-Saxon – used here to represent one of the ancient languages of Men)

anarórë núméva: sunrise in (of) the west (Quenya)

Amanyar: elf of Aman (Quenya)

Úmanyar: elf who refused the journey to Aman (Quenya)

Pélë: means “stone”; I envision this as being like the ancient game of Go (Quenya)

Artaresto: Orodreth’s Quenya name

hlocë: serpent (Quenya)

Apánona, Apánonar: the after-born, Men (Quenya)

Quendi: the collective name for all Elves, meaning “those who speak” (Quenya)

epessë: nickname, title (Quenya)