i talk about wulfe and candaith so much but i haven't talked about the other absolute power couple that is maedhel and tathron. time to change that! (what was meant to be me briefly talking about them became a recounting of a lot of backstory. so this post is very long lmao.)
so maedhel's family was close with both fingolfin's and finarfin's families, hence why they followed fingolfin across the helcaraxë. in beleriand, maedhel and her siblings followed finarfin's children to doriath and dwelt there for a time alongside them.
tathron was already shaping up to be a mighty scholar while his brother thranduil was becoming a respectable marchwarden. their father was very proud of both his sons.
maedhel and tathron met one day by complete accident when he stumbled upon her watching the training of the marchwardens. tathron was pretty much instantly smitten. he thought that she looked like she came out of a dream and her red hair drew him in like a moth to the flame. maedhel, however, did not like tathron. she thought he was too soft and naive. they rarely agreed and she found him persistent. her siblings would tease her for how riled up tathron managed to get her.
eventually, maedhel left doriath with her siblings. she felt like she could not do anything against the evil of the world from behind the protective barrier that surrounded the forest. she and tathron did not see each other for a very long time after that, but tathron never stopped thinking about her.
by the second age, maedhel and only one of her siblings were still alive. she and her sister linaewen eventually settled in eregion, largely in part due to galadriel living there who maedhel had been close friends with since valinor. when galadriel and celeborn left for lothlórien, maedhel went with them but linaewen remained in eregion due to her bond with celebrimbor.
during her time in lothlórien, maedhel was given the task to be the voice between lothlórien and the woodland realm. she spent a lot of time traveling between the two places, but often found herself lingering in the greenwood for longer periods of time. tathron was, of course, thrilled to be in her presence again. at first, maedhel acted the same way towards him as she had before, but in the centuries that had passed since she last saw him, her hard exterior had crumbled away and it became increasingly difficult for her to find reasons to not like tathron. his softness, the reason she did not like him to begin with, became the very thing that drew her in.
they spent long hours wandering among the trees of the greenwood or diving deep into the library. they would dance among flowers, and maedhel perhaps smiled more than she ever had in her long life. her love for him grew steadily and by the year 1500 of the second age, they were wed.
they talked about children but thought it was not the time. this became very evident when only 200 years later sauron waged war on eriador. linaewen was killed in the sacking of eregion and maedhel had to reconcile with the fact that she has outlived all of her siblings. there were many long years where grief consumed her and many elves believed that she would sail west. tathron remained steadfast at her side, even saying that if she did wish to return to valinor, he would go with her.
it was his devotion that brought maedhel back from her sorrow. she did not want to tear tathron away from his home and family and she did not want to abandon middle earth, a place she had grown to love despite all that she endured. with her spirit renewed, she became a strong pillar in the woodland realm.
maedhel and tathron were the epitome of love among the elves of the greenwood. they remained childless for a very long time. maedhel felt the stirring of darkness and was not ready to bear a child. it was practically an accident when she did become pregnant near the end of the second age, but she saw it as a sign of hope. their daughter, selwenn, was born in S.A. 3429. maedhel often called her calamornië, meaning light in the darkness.
when the last alliance began to make their way to mordor, neither maedhel or tathron wanted to leave their young daughter. but they both feared what should happen if sauron won, so they vowed to fight for selwenn, even to their final breaths.
maedhel did not return to the woodland realm after sauron's defeat, having suffered a mortal wound from the witch king and being sent to rivendell to heal and recover, sentenced to a three thousand year coma. in the many years that followed, tathron spoke of maedhel a lot, wanting selwenn to know about her mother since she would not get the chance to grow up with her. tathron kept a happy front, but he often would stare at a painting of maedhel and grieve his lost love. many elves said that while tathron appeared the same, if they looked close enough, they could see a permanent sadness etched on his features.
the details of their reunion during the war of the ring is something i'll share another time, but i will say that when they saw each other once again, some claimed that the dark clouds overhead parted to shine the sun down upon them.
