three houses of the edain ❂ house of hador ❂ headcanon disclaimer
Eltas was a man of Dor-lómin who had been only a boy when the Fifth Battle was lost. He was a few years younger than Lord Húrin’s son Túrin, and greatly admired the older boy, though he knew not how to approach him in friendship. When Lady Morwen sent Túrin away to Doriath, the people of Dor-lómin had no knowledge of his fate, and many, including Eltas, assumed he was dead. As a member of Hador’s House, Eltas was persecuted by the conquering Easterlings, and his youth was one of fear and bitterness. When Túrin returned unexpectedly, now a man grown with a dreadful Doom upon him, hope rose within Eltas that their time of oppression was at an end. But instead of freeing his people of their tyrannical leaders, Túrin rampaged through Dor-lómin, killing friend and foe alike, and his short-lived rebellion crumbled away as soon as he departed once more into the wilds. Eltas has been among those who rose up against Brodda and the others, but seeing the destruction Túrin wrought the band realized that they would become hunted men. Another rebel, Asgon, rebuked Túrin and assumed leadership of the small group, taking Eltas and the others to the caves of Androth where the Grey-elves and Tuor son of Huor had once dwelt. They struggled through a difficult existence for some years, eventually parting ways, and while Asgon himself remained in Mithrim, Eltas traveled south to the Havens of Sirion. There he met Dírhaval, son of a woman who had fled Dor-lómin in the wake of the Fifth Battle and settled in the Havens with her children. From the elves of the Falas, Dírhaval learned the Sindarin tongue and became greatly skilled in verse and song. When news of Túrin’s fate trickled south, Dírhaval became fascinated by the tragic story of a man who in another life could have been his liege-lord, and sought out those who had encountered him in an attempt to piece together the whole story. One of his sources was Eltas, who had developed a similar obsession with how the solemn boy he had known in his youth had become the angst-ridden anti-hero he met as an adult. Eltas and Dírhaval worked together to uncover the truth of Túrin’s life, interrogating anyone who had come into contact with him. This included the elf-maiden Nellas who had known him in Doriath, Andvír of the Gaurwaith, Celebrimbor who had reforged his sword Anglachel into Gurthang, Glírhuin of the Haladin, and of course Eltas himself, who had known folk such as Morwen and Sador in Dor-lómin. Dírhaval then set himself the task of composing an epic poem to honor the strange and tragic life of Túrin Turambar. This was his greatest work, known as the Narn i Chîn Húrin, or the Lay of the Children of Húrin. He set his poem to song, allowing the story to spread across all of Arvernien and Balar, where it would survive through the Ages as one of the Great Tales of Beleriand. Yet Dírhaval himself would not be so lucky, for when the Sons of Fëanor descended upon the Havens in the Third Kinslaying, Men were not spared from their wrath. He perished in the battle, Eltas at his side even in death, leaving his composition of the Narn i Leithian incomplete forever.
