Much of this article relates to the final versions of Middle-earth's history, and as such may contain discrepancies with The Silmarillion. See LOTR:Canon for a discussion. This subject's portrayal in earlier or alternative versions is discussed in the Earlier versions of the legendarium section.
Eöl, always called the Dark Elf was an elf of Beleriand and a metallurgist of high skill. He was a Sinda who lived in Nan Elmoth, nominally part of Doriath. A great smith and friend of the dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost, Eöl devised Galvorn, a black metal of great strength and malleability, which he fashioned into armour that he wore when he went abroad. He forged two great black swords from a meteorite's metal, but had to give the sword Anglachel to Thingol as tribute for living in Nan Elmoth. The other sword, Anguirel, he kept for himself.
Biography
Birth
During the Years of the Trees, Eöl was born to a lineage of Avari and Sindar Elves. He became an Elf of amazing skills in blacksmith and forged great swords out of a shining, black and hard metal called Galvorn. Out of the many swords he had forged, Anguirel was one of the black swords he kept for himself, while the other great sword, Anglachel, was given to Thingol, the High King of the Sindar during the First Age.
Eöl also forged a suit of armor out of Galvorn to which he wore and kept. He lived in Nan Elmoth, a forest in Beleriand to which he appointed himself Lord and built a home there. He forged poisoned javelins and stayed isolated in his land for many years until the arrival of Aredhel.
Aredhel and Marriage
Prior to Eöl's birth, Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, the Elven sister of Turgon had left Gondolin to unwillingly wander through Beleriand, and in the woods of Nan Elmoth, she met Eöl, who noticed her beauty. He then set enchantments with his Elven magic about her so that she could not escape the forest. After marrying him, she stayed with him many years. and wed her before giving birth to their only son and child; Maeglin.
Later Life and Death
As the First Age progressed, Eöl developed a great hatred for the Ñoldor and therefore refused Aredhel and Maeglin permission to seek out their kin. While Eöl was away at a feast in Nogrod, Aredhel and Maeglin left for Gondolin, stealing Anguirel from him, and Eöl followed them. When denied permission to leave with Maeglin, he grew furious and tried to kill his son with one of his javelins. Aredhel got in the way and it instead hit her; she died from poisoning.
The King and his people were unwilling to forgive this deed and Eöl was sentenced to death and cast over the Caragdûr, cursing Maeglin on his way down the cliff to his doom.
Other versions of the legendarium
In the essay "Quendi and Eldar", published in The War of the Jewels, Eöl was an Avar who descended from the same clan of the elves the Ñoldor had come from (the Tatyar), although Eöl hated his Valinorean cousins. Eöl's love for smithying and friendliness to the dwarves is consistent with Tolkien's view of the Ñoldor, which are described as Dwarf-friends in the First and Second Ages. However, in a later writing, entitled Maeglin and published in the same volume, Tolkien said he was of the kin of Thingol. This story was inserted in the published Silmarillion as a separate chapter.[1]
Eöl's family tree
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