View source for Tuor and Idril

{{good article}}
{{short description|Characters in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox character
| name        = Tuor
| series      = [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]
| aliases     = Eladar,<br/>Ulmondil,<br/>'The Blessed'
| race        = [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]]
| lbl24       = Book(s)
| data24      = ''[[The Silmarillion]]''<br/>''[[Unfinished Tales]]''<br/>''[[The Book of Lost Tales]] II''<br/>''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]''
}}
{{Infobox character
| name        = Idril
| series      = [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]
| aliases     = Celebrindal
| race        = [[Elves (Middle-earth)|Elves]]
| lbl24       = Book(s)
| data24      = ''[[The Silmarillion]]''<br/>''[[Unfinished Tales]]''<br/>''[[The Book of Lost Tales]] II''<br/>''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]''
}}
'''Tuor Eladar''' and '''Idril Celebrindal''' are fictional characters from [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[Middle-earth]] [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]]. They are the parents of [[Eärendil and Elwing|Eärendil the Mariner]] and grandparents of [[Elrond]] [[Half-elven]]: through their progeny, they become the ancestors of the [[Númenor|Númenóreans]] and of the King of the Reunited Kingdom [[Aragorn]] Elessar. Both characters play a pivotal role in ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]'', one of Tolkien's earliest stories; it formed the basis for a section in his later work, ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', and was expanded as a standalone publication in 2018.

Tuor and Idril's marriage was one of only three between Men and [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]] in Tolkien's writings. Scholars have compared Tuor to [[Odysseus]] in [[Greek mythology]], and to [[Aeneas]] in [[Roman mythology]], while Idril's story has been likened to those of [[Cassandra]] and of [[Helen of Troy]].

== Fictional history ==
[[File:Sketch Map of Beleriand.svg|thumb|upright=2.2|Sketch map of [[Beleriand]] in the First Age. Tuor's city of [[Gondolin]] is top centre.]]
Tuor Eladar, also known as Ulmondil ("The Blessed of [[Ulmo]]"), is the central character of ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]''.<ref name="Thomas 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2013 |title=Inklings |encyclopedia=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia|J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA72 |last=Thomas |first=Paul Edmund |orig-year=2007 |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |pages=71–72 |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1}}</ref> He is a great hero of the Third House of [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]] in the [[First Age]] of [[Middle-earth]], the only son of Huor and Rían and the cousin of the ill-fated [[Túrin Turambar]]. Huor is killed covering the retreat of [[Turgon of Gondolin|Turgon]], King of Gondolin, in the Battle of Tears Unnumbered, the ''[[Nírnaeth Arnoediad]]''. Rían, having received no news of her husband, becomes distraught and wanders into the wild. She is taken care of by the local [[Grey-elves]], and before the end of the year she bears a son and calls him Tuor. But she delivers him to the care of the Elves and departs, dying upon the lonely green grave-mound, the Hill of the Slain, at the site of the Battle of Tears Unnumbered.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

Tuor is fostered by the Elves in the caves of Androth in the Mountains of Mithrim, in the [[Hithlum]] region of [[Beleriand]], living a hard and wary life. When Tuor is sixteen their leader Annael decides to leave, but during the march his people are scattered. Tuor is captured by the Easterlings, Men who had been sent there by the Dark Lord [[Morgoth]] and who had cruelly oppressed the few people<!--of the House of Hador--> left there. After three years of thraldom under Lorgan the Easterling, Tuor escapes and returns to the caves.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

For four years he lives as an outlaw, seeing no way of escape from the region of Dor-lómin, which is bordered by mountains. He kills many of the Easterlings that he comes upon during his journeys, and his name is feared. Meanwhile, the godlike [[Vala (Middle-earth)|Vala]] [[Ulmo]], Lord of Waters, hears of Tuor's plight and chooses Tuor to bear a message of warning to Turgon, Lord of the Hidden City of [[Gondolin]]. By Ulmo's power a spring near Tuor's cave overflows, and following the stream Tuor crosses Dor-lómin to the mountains of Ered Lómin. Under the guidance of two Elves sent there by Ulmo, [[Gelmir and Arminas]], he passes through the ancient Gate of the Noldor into the land of [[Nevrast]], becoming the first Man to reach the shore of the Great Sea, [[Belegaer]]. From there he is led by seven swans, arriving at last at Turgon's old dwellings at Vinyamar.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

Tuor finds arms and armour in the ruins of Vinyamar, and meets Ulmo himself on the seashore. Ulmo appoints Tuor to be his messenger, and tells him to seek King Turgon in Gondolin. He gives Tuor the Elf Voronwë as his guide. Voronwë leads Tuor along the southern slopes of [[Ered Wethrin]], and they catch a brief glimpse of Tuor's cousin Túrin near the Pools of Ivrin, the only time the paths of the two ever cross. Journeying through the harsh winter, they reach the hidden city of Gondolin. Tuor tells Turgon of Ulmo's warning that Morgoth now knows of Gondolin's existence, and is about to destroy it, but Turgon refuses to abandon the city.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

{{anchor|Elenwë}}
Tuor remains in the city and falls in love with Turgon's only child, Idril Celebrindal, whose mother Elenwë died crossing [[Helcaraxë|the northern ice]] during the Elves' return from [[Valinor]]. In contrast to the first [[Half-elf|union of Elves and Men]], that between [[Lúthien and Beren]], Tuor and Idril are allowed to marry without difficulty. Their wedding is celebrated with great mirth and joy, as King Turgon had grown fond of Tuor. He makes Tuor the leader of the House of the Swan Wing, one of the twelve houses of Gondolin. Turgon also remembers the last words of Huor, which prophesied that a "star" would arise out of his and Turgon's lineage which would redeem the Children of Ilúvatar (Elves and Men) from Morgoth. However, the marriage angers Turgon's influential nephew Maeglin, who had desired Idril for himself. Maeglin defies Turgon's order to stay within the mountains, and is captured by [[Orc (Middle-earth)|Orcs]] during a trip to gather resources. Morgoth promises Maeglin both Gondolin and Idril in return for telling him where the hidden city is. Noticing that Maeglin is behaving suspiciously, Idril decides to construct a secret passage out of Gondolin.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

During the ensuing sack of Gondolin, Tuor defends Idril and their only child [[Eärendil]] from [[Orc (Middle-earth)|Orcs]] and the traitorous Maeglin, who threatens to murder the child by throwing him from the city wall. After killing Maeglin, they lead a remnant of the people of Gondolin to escape through the secret passage. In the mountain heights they meet a [[Balrog]], which [[Glorfindel]], chief of the House of the Golden Flower, fights and defeats. They reach the estuary of the [[Mouths of Sirion]]; Tuor and his people live there for a while, also founding a town on the Isle of Balar.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/> 

Longing for the Sea, Tuor builds the ship ''Eärramë'' ("Sea-wing"). He and Idril sail to the West; the Elves and Men of Beleriand believe that the two of them arrived in [[Valinor]], bypassing the [[Ban of the Valar]] that prohibited mortals from entering the Undying Lands, and that Tuor alone of Men is allowed to be treated as an Elf. Eärendil inherits the Elfstone Elessar from Idril; it is a magical green gem which bestows healing powers on those who touch it. The Elfstone is passed down to their descendant [[Aragorn]] by the end of the Third Age, as narrated in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''; when he becomes king, he takes the name Elessar.<ref name=Idril/><ref name="Elessar">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Elessar |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=147–148}}</ref><ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

<gallery class="center" mode="nolines" heights="220px" widths="220px" caption="Illustrations by [[Tom Loback]], 2007">
File:Tuor and Idril.jpg|The wedding of Tuor and Idril
File:Tuor slays Othrod cropped.jpg|Battle for [[Gondolin]]:<br/>Tuor kills the Orc Othrod
</gallery>

=== Family tree ===

{{Half-elven family tree}}
<!--{{TúrinTuor family tree}}-->

== Concept and creation ==

The story of Tuor and Idril is told briefly in the 23rd chapter of ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', which recounts the fall of the [[Noldor]] city of [[Gondolin]].<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, Ch. 23, "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin"</ref> A very early version, written circa 1916–17, is found in ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]''.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984b}}, "The Fall of Gondolin"</ref> The start of a more complete and developed narrative, which Tolkien began after finishing ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' in the 1950s, is included in ''[[Unfinished Tales]]''. However, the narrative gets no further than Tuor's first sight of [[Gondolin]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980}}, "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin"</ref> 

In the original ''Fall of Gondolin'' story, Tuor is said to have carried [[Dramborleg|an axe named ''Dramborleg'']], "Thudder-Sharp", that "smote both a heavy dint as of a club and cleft as a sword". Later writings state that the Axe of Tuor is preserved in [[Númenor]] as an heirloom of the Kings.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980}}, "A Description of Númenor", note 2</ref>

== Analysis ==

=== Tuor ===

<!--The theology scholar Lisa Coutras writes-->Scholars have stated that Tuor demonstrated wisdom by listening to his wife, whose wise counsel is her defining trait, whereas a leader of greater stature like [[Thingol]], the Elvenking of Doriath, was brought low by his recklessness and pride.<ref name="Coutras193">{{cite book |last=Coutras |first=Lisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrLIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 |title=Tolkien's Theology of Beauty: Majesty, Splendor, and Transcendence in Middle-earth |publisher=Springer |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-1375-5345-4 |page=193}}</ref> Jennifer Rogers writes in ''[[Tolkien Studies]]'' that [[Christopher Tolkien]] seamlessly introduces the story in his book ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]'' by providing short extracts of his father's 1926 "Sketch of the Mythology" and "The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor", thus setting "Tuor's story in the context of the [[Doom of Mandos]] and the [[Oath of Fëanor]]", in other words within the [[Tolkien's legendarium|legendarium]].<ref name="Rogers2019">{{cite journal |last=Rogers |first=Jennifer |title=The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkien |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |year=2019 |pages=170–174 |issn=1547-3163 |doi=10.1353/tks.2019.0013|s2cid=211969055 }}</ref> The [[Tolkien scholar]] Linda Greenwood notes that Tuor is the only mortal Man in the legendarium permitted to live as an immortal.<ref name="Greenwood 2005">{{cite journal |last=Greenwood |first=Linda |title=Love: 'The Gift of Death' |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |volume=2 |issue=1 |year=2005 |pages=171–195 |issn=1547-3163 |doi=10.1353/tks.2005.0019|s2cid=171004496 }}</ref> Tolkien suggests an explanation in a letter, namely that [[Eru Ilúvatar]], the One God, directly intervenes as a unique exception, just as in [[Lúthien]]'s assumption of a mortal fate.<ref name="Letter 153" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#153 to Peter Hastings, September 1954 }}</ref>

[[File:Aeneas' Flight from Troy by Federico Barocci.jpg|thumb|Tuor has to flee the wreck of a kingdom, just as [[Aeneas]] had to escape the wreck of [[Troy]],<ref name="Greenman 1992"/> as depicted in this painting by [[Federico Barocci]], 1598]]

David Greenman, in ''[[Mythlore]]'', compares Tuor both with the Hobbit heroes of ''The Lord of the Rings'', and with classical heroes:<ref name="Greenman 1992">{{cite journal |last=Greenman |first=David |year=1992 |title=Aeneidic and Odyssean Patterns of Escape and Release in Tolkien's 'The Fall of Gondolin' and 'The Return of the King' |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |at=Article 1 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol18/iss2/1}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ David Greenman's comparison of Tuor with other heroes<ref name="Greenman 1992"/>
! Era !! Tolkien's "quest-heroes" !! Action !! [[Tolkien and the classical world|Classical analogues]]
|-
| Early || Tuor of Gondolin || Escapes wreck of city, creates anew elsewhere || [[Aeneas]] escapes [[Trojan War|the fall of Troy]], founds Rome
|-
| Late  || [[Hobbit]]s of [[the Shire]] || Return to despoiled home, [[The Scouring of the Shire|scour it clean]] || [[Odysseus]] scours Ithaca of Penelope's suitors
|}

Tolkien's biographer [[John Garth (author)|John Garth]] writes in his book ''Tolkien's Worlds'' that the windswept treeless hills of [[Nevrast]], where Tuor reaches the cliffs and becomes the first Man to see the sea in the legendarium, are "perfectly [[Cornwall|Cornish]]". Garth notes that Tuor stands there at sunset with his arms outspread until the sea-[[Valar|Vala]] Ulmo appears from the water to prophesy the birth of Tuor's son Eärendil, who ends up with a [[Silmarils|Silmaril]] in the sky as the Evening Star.<ref name="Garth 2020"/> The German artist [[Jenny Dolfen]] has painted the scene in her 2019 "And His Heart Was Filled With Longing" as a Cornish landscape, with Tuor surrounded by seagulls.<ref name="Garth 2020"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Dolfen |first1=Jenny |author1-link=Jenny Dolfen |title=And His Heart Was Filled With Longing |url=https://twitter.com/jennydolfen/status/1101422542806568960?lang=en-gb |publisher=Twitter<!--work by recognised artist; link gives access to the artwork, cited and illustrated by Garth 2020--> |access-date=10 February 2021 |date=2019}}</ref> Garth states that this means that the Evening Star was not in the western sky that Tuor saw, whereas when Tolkien visited the [[Lizard peninsula]] in Cornwall in 1914, the planet had risen and set "due west", an uncommon sight. A few weeks later, Tolkien wrote the first poem of his legendarium, "The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star".<ref name="Garth 2020">{{cite book |last=Garth |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMjgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |title=Tolkien's worlds : the places that inspired the writer's imagination |publisher=White Lion Publishing |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-7112-4127-5 |publication-place=London |page=64 |oclc=1181910875 |author-link=John Garth (author)}}</ref>

=== Idril ===

The Tolkien scholar Melanie Rawls identifies Idril as a female character with agency in Tolkien's works: she is shown to be capable of taking action once she has achieved understanding.<ref name="Rawls 1984"/> Idril counsels her father, Turgon, who "is very masculine and in need of a feminine counterpart", in his rule of Gondolin. Rawls states, too, that Idril is a "well-balanced personality", and that Tuor, who combines masculine (warrior) and feminine (counsellor) qualities, "matches her well".<ref name="Rawls 1984">{{cite book |last=Rawls |first=Melanie |chapter=The Feminine Principle in Tolkien |editor-last=Croft |editor-first=Janet Brennan |editor-link=Janet Brennan Croft |editor2-last=Donovan |editor2-first=Leslie A. |title=Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien |publisher=[[Mythopoeic Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-887726-01-6 |oclc=903655969 |pages=99–117}}</ref> In ''[[Tor.com]]''{{'}}s series on the people of Middle-earth, Megan N. Fontenot praises the characterisation of Idril's wisdom and forbearance as told in the story of the Fall of Gondolin. In Fontenot's view, Idril's story represents "a significant milestone in Tolkien's storytelling career", as she saw in it many echoes of several other female characters of Middle-earth.<ref name=Idril>{{cite web |last=Fontenot |first=Megan |url=https://www.tor.com/2019/07/25/exploring-the-people-of-middle-earth-idril-the-far-sighted-wisest-of-counsellors|title=Exploring the People of Middle-earth: Idril the Far-Sighted, Wisest of Counsellors|date=25 July 2019 |website=[[Tor.com]] |access-date=6 March 2021}}</ref>

Greenman compares and contrasts Idril's part in the story to [[Cassandra]] and [[Helen of Troy]], two prominent female figures in accounts of the [[Trojan War]]: like the prophetess, Idril had a premonition of impending danger and like Helen, her beauty played a major role in instigating Maeglin's betrayal of Gondolin, which ultimately led to its downfall and ruin. Conversely, Greeman notes that Idril's advice to enact a contingency plan for a secret escape route out of Gondolin was heeded by her people, and that she had always rejected Maeglin's advances and remained faithful to Tuor.<ref name="Greenman 1992"/>

In Tolkien's [[fictional language]] of [[Sindarin]], the name Idril is a form of the [[Quenya]] name ''Itarillë'', ''Itarildë'', or ''Itaril'', meaning "sparkling brilliance".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1996}}, "[[The Shibboleth of Fëanor]]"</ref> The epithet ''Celebrindal'' means "Silverfoot": according to the early ''Sketch of the Mythology'' (the first version of the ''Silmarillion'' from 1926), she was so named "for the whiteness of her foot; and she walked and danced ever unshod in the white ways and green lawns of Gondolin." Tolkien describes her thus in this text: "Very fair and tall was she, well nigh of warrior's stature, and her hair was a fountain of gold." [[Christopher Tolkien]] comments that this description may be the prototype of that of [[Galadriel]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1986}}, The Earliest 'Silmarillion'</ref> The account is present in the earliest form of the story ''The Fall of Gondolin'', in which "the people called her Idril of the Silver Feet in that she went ever barefoot and bareheaded, king's daughter as she was, save only at pomps of the [[Ainur in Middle-earth|Ainur]]"; then she is called ''Talceleb'' or ''Taltelepta''.<ref name="Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" group="T"/>

== Adaptations ==

Tolkien suspected that his fellow writer and friend [[C.S. Lewis]] had borrowed his ideas; he felt that the characters of Tor and Tinidril in Lewis' ''[[Perelandra]]'' or ''Voyage to Venus'', published by [[The Bodley Head]] in 1943, had a "certain echo of Tuor and Idril", and that Tinidril in particular was a pastiche of both Idril and Tinúviel, an earlier version of his Lúthien character.<ref name="Cawthorne 2012">{{cite book |last=Cawthorne|first=Nigel |title=A Brief Guide to J. R. R. Tolkien: A comprehensive introduction to the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings | publisher=Hachette UK|publication-place=London |year=2012 |isbn= 978-1-7803-3860-6 }}</ref>

In [[Peter Jackson]]'s [[Middle-earth in film#Warner Bros.|film adaptations of Tolkien's Middle-earth]], Idril was supposed to be the original owner of the sword [[Hadhafang]], an original invention by the affiliated production company [[Weta Workshop]].<ref name="Derdzinski 2002">{{cite web |url=http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie_inscriptions.htm#arwensword |title=Language in the Lord of the Rings movie  |editor-first=Ryszard  |editor-last=Derdzinski |year=2002 |access-date=2 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020811162003/http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie_inscriptions.htm |archive-date=11 August 2002 |url-status=live}}</ref> It is wielded by Idril's descendants [[Elrond]] and [[Arwen]] in certain scenes of both [[The Lord of the Rings (film series)|''The Lord of the Rings'']] and [[The Hobbit (film series)|''The Hobbit'' film series]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wetanz.com/shop/miniature-figures/lord-elrond-of-rivendell-dol-guldur |title=Lord Elrond of Rivendell: Dol Guldur |website=[[Weta Workshop]] |access-date=17 March 2021 |archive-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228155015/https://www.wetanz.com/shop/miniature-figures/lord-elrond-of-rivendell-dol-guldur |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References ==

=== Primary ===

{{reflist|group=T|28em}}

=== Secondary ===

{{reflist|28em}}

=== Sources ===
* {{ME-ref|Letters}}
* {{ME-ref|ROTK}}
* {{ME-ref|Silm}}
* {{ME-ref|UT}}
* {{ME-ref|BoLT2}}
* {{ME-ref|PoME}}
* {{ME-ref|Shaping}}

{{Middle-earth}}
{{Elves}}

[[Category:Middle-earth Edain]]
[[Category:Middle-earth Elves]]
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[[de:Figuren in Tolkiens Welt#Tuor]]