Finduilas of Dol Amroth

Finduilas is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Appearing in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, she was the sister of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth.

Character history

Named after Finduilas, an Elf-maiden of the First Age, Finduilas of Dol Amroth (T.A. 2950–2988) was the daughter of Prince Adrahil II, and had an older sister Ivriniel in addition to her brother Imrahil.

In 2976 of the Third Age she was wed to the much older Denethor, son of Ecthelion II the Steward of Gondor. A description of Lady Finduilas is given in Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King: "She was a lady of great beauty and gentle heart, but before twelve years had passed she died. Denethor loved her, in his fashion, more dearly than any other, unless it were the elder of the sons that she bore him. But it seemed to men that she withered in the guarded city, as a flower of the seaward vales set upon a barren rock. The shadow in the east filled her with horror, and she turned her eyes ever south to the sea that she missed".^[1]

In 2978 she gave birth to a son Boromir, who became loved by his father. In 2983 she gave birth to her second son, Faramir, and after grew weak.

In 2984 Ecthelion suddenly died, and Denethor became Steward of Gondor. The health of the Lady Finduilas further dwindled, and four years later she died at the very young age of thirty-eight (considering her heritage as a Dúnadan). Denethor never remarried, and "became more grim and silent than before".^[2] It was not long after her death that he "would sit long alone in his tower deep in thought, foreseeing that the assault of Mordor would come in his time".^[2] Thus he began using the palantír of Minas Tirith, and the despair fed to his mind led to his ultimate insanity and suicide some thirty-one years later.

References