Nimrodel (Elf)
- This page is about the Elf-maiden. For the river of the same name, see Nimrodel.
Nimrodel was a Silvan Elf of Lothlorien who lived there early in the Third Age. She was accounted exceptionally beautiful, with long hair and lovely voice. She dwelt beside a stream that afterwards bore her name. She fell in love with Amroth, then King of Lothlorien.
When the Balrog awoke in nearby Khazad-dûm in T.A. 1980, Nimrodel grew fearful to stay in Lórien. She fled, and made her way to the edge of Fangorn Forest, where Amroth followed her. She agreed to go with him across the Sundering Seas to the Undying Lands. Amroth and Nimrodel, accompanied by a number of other Elves, started the journey south to the Havens of Edhellond to take passage on a ship.
During the journey, Nimrodel became separated from the rest of the party. She wandered long in the White Mountains, while Amroth and the other Elves waited for her aboard the last ship in the Haven. After some weeks, she found herself beside the River Gilrain; and listening to the music of those waters, fell into a long and deep sleep. While she slept, a great storm blew Amroth's ship out to sea. He leapt overboard and tried to swim back to shore, but no one knows of his fate, or that of Nimrodel.
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It is later revealed that Nimrodel survived and became the leader of the Avorrim, a group of Elves that watches over the haven of Edhellond. Nimrodel became known as Dorthaneth and has been wearing a dark veil ever since she learned of her lover Amroth's passing. |
The Lay of Nimrodel
As sung by Legolas on the banks of the Nimrodel after the Fellowship escaped from Moria:
An Elven-maid there was of old,
A shining star by day:
Her mantle white was hemmed with gold,
Her shoes of silver-grey.
A star was bound upon her brows,
A light was on her hair
As sun upon the golden boughs
In Lórien the fair.
Her hair was long, her limbs were white,
And fair she was and free;
And in the wind she went as light
As leaf of linden-tree.
Beside the falls of Nimrodel,
By water clear and cool,
Her voice as falling silver fell
Into the shining pool.
Where now she wanders none can tell,
In sunlight or in shade;
For lost of yore was Nimrodel
And in the mountains strayed.
The elven-ship in haven grey
Beneath the mountain-lee
Awaited her for many a day
Beside the roaring sea.
A wind by night in Northern lands
Arose, and loud it cried,
And drove the ship from elven-strands
Across the streaming tide.
When dawn came dim the land was lost,
The mountains sinking grey
Beyond the heaving waves that tossed
Their plumes of blinding spray.
Amroth beheld the fading shore
Now low beyond the swell,
And cursed the faithless ship that bore
Him far from Nimrodel.
Of old he was an Elven-king,
A lord of tree and glen,
When golden were the boughs in spring
In fair Lothlórien.
From helm to sea they saw him leap,
As arrow from the string,
And dive into the water deep,
As mew upon the wing.
The wind was in his flowing hair,
The foam about him shone;
Afar they saw him strong and fair
Go riding like a swan.
But from the West has come no word,
And on the Hither Shore
No tidings Elven-folk have heard
Of Amroth evermore.
Nimrodel (Cape of Umbar)
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![[20.2S, 99.2W]](/wiki/File:Umbar_Baharb%C3%AAl_map.jpg){kind=link}
After rescueing Thorongil from the Kindred of the Coins, Nimrodel can be found at the Harbour-warden's Tower in Umbar Baharbêl of Cape of Umbar.
She also briefly appears in The Citadel of Winds disguised as Jajax's captive.