ForthDauntless3
Member
I missed Morgoth's Ring #13, so I didn't get a chance to raise this point live.
Upon reading the revised and extended version of Indis and Finwë, I was struck by parallels with Beren and Luthien.
Indis, like Luthien, is the daughter of a great king among the elves. The two seem to have been fated for one another, if we take Indis's long, unrequited love for Finwë as evidence of a divine plan. The two lovers come across one another unexpectedly in the realm of the bride's father. Finwë hears his future wife singing, and he spontaneously gives her a nickname based on the song of a bird.
Given the significance of the Beren and Luthien story and these apparent parallels, it seems that Tolkien is inviting us to consider that the marriage of Indis and Finwë was also a great matter of destiny. This seems to be further evidence that Indis's long, patient love for Finwë was part of Iluvatar's plan and that unrequited love among the Quendi was not, as the Valar believed, a result of Arda Marred.
Upon reading the revised and extended version of Indis and Finwë, I was struck by parallels with Beren and Luthien.
Indis, like Luthien, is the daughter of a great king among the elves. The two seem to have been fated for one another, if we take Indis's long, unrequited love for Finwë as evidence of a divine plan. The two lovers come across one another unexpectedly in the realm of the bride's father. Finwë hears his future wife singing, and he spontaneously gives her a nickname based on the song of a bird.
Given the significance of the Beren and Luthien story and these apparent parallels, it seems that Tolkien is inviting us to consider that the marriage of Indis and Finwë was also a great matter of destiny. This seems to be further evidence that Indis's long, patient love for Finwë was part of Iluvatar's plan and that unrequited love among the Quendi was not, as the Valar believed, a result of Arda Marred.