#incendiak

Eöl is 'kin' to Thingol - I don't know if he would call himself Sindar (though the Sindar don't call themselves Sindar either, so...) but I think he's distinct from the Avari or the Nandor in that he was living among the Doriathrim until he's granted Nan Elmoth

Personally I think 'kin' here is referring to the fact that both Eöl (or perhaps his parents?) and Thingol were part of the host of the Teleri together, and quite possibly high status/close to Thingol, rather than them being literally related

Close enough that Thingol grants him Nan Elmoth for the price of one (very chatty) sword.

He invented a whole ass metal that's so freaking cool.

He was friends with Dwarves - IMO this is a point in favour of an Eöl who is capable of making friends and allies

I think he still had friends in Doriath too - I think it was Girdle and the city he was most uneasy with, I think he desired to live more like they had during the Great Journey. I don't think he visits them, though he might write.

Sometimes they visit him - but infrequently, with long gaps of time between visits, because what is time to elves - and then war comes, and leaving the Girdle becomes more and more dangerous.

I think he is generally, a stern and serious kind of man - strong-willed and proud

But he's also clever and creative and he loves the stars and the woods and wilds and forging; I don't think his life was absent of joy.

I also think he has a strong distrust of the Ainur. It's almost ironic - he thinks they are full of sorcery and trickery and malice, they are kin of the Shadow that hunted them on the Journey, one of them ensnared Thingol, who's to say what happened to their kin across the Sea, if they ever reached land?

It's unfortunate that he chose to live in Nan Elmoth. That forest is deeply entwined with Melian's power, with Song, with Shadow, with magic - it's a beautiful but dark place that only starlight reaches.

The paranoia and fear and distrust inside him festers. Perhaps he has good reason to dislike the Ainur. Perhaps he has good reason to feel paranoid. Maybe he just didn't vibe with Menegroth.

But Nan Elmoth - it takes what's inside of you and amplifies it.

For Melian and Thingol - that was love.

For Eöl? It's fear. It's hate.

Part of the appeal of Eöl for me is this. Nan Elmoth is such a gothic location (as in the literature).

The whole Aredhel/Eöl and Maeglin situation is SO extremely gothic I LOVE gothic lit and I love Sindar so JIRT actually wrote it for me personally.

As for the Noldor - well, I think his dislike of them is pretty valid. I think fanon tends to exaggerate the Noldor-Sindar divide but in Eöl's case he's stated to blame the Noldor for the coming of Morgoth. Of course it isn't actually their fault, but I think this is a pretty understandable emotional conclusion for Eöl to make.

He clearly still considers (as does Thingol) the Teleri his kin and he takes Alqualondë personally.

Now - Aredhel

I consider the Silmarillion version canon:

It is not said that Aredhel was wholly unwilling, nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was hateful to her for many years. For though at Eöl's command she must shun the sunlight, they wandered far together under the stars or by the light of the sickle moon; or she might fare alone as she would, save that Eöl forbade her to seek the sons of Fëanor, or any others of the Noldor

I think they loved each other. I think there was a period of time, in the beginning, when they were happy. They shared a love of the wilds, of wandering and a desire for freedom from authority of kings

Things start to go wrong as Eöl's fear of looming disaster deepens. He becomes more and more restrictive, quicker to anger, more paranoid and fearful

I think this coincides with Maeglin's birth

It's not foresight. It's not Nan Elmoth's Bad Vibes (though they don't help); it's the end of a path of paranoia and fear he's been on for a long time, fear he doesn't know how to deal with so he deals in the only way he knows

He fears for Aredhel as much as he fears her; if wives become of their husband's kin, would the Noldor come and slay her as readily as they might slay him?

Of course not, but he is not mentally able to recognising that

He fears her because - she is a Noldor, she may be a kinslayer herself, what if she turns on him, one day? Best keep her safe in Nan Elmoth, with Maeglin. She can't hurt him in his own house, surely, he thinks.

When they leave, he follows. By the time he catches up to them, he's wound with anger and fear and anxiety - he hasn't been anywhere other than Nan Elmoth and the Blue Mountains in a long, long time. He's in a city of Noldor, who he hates and who have good reason to dislike him

Side note but when he says: 'this land is the land of the Teleri' he's right. The Noldor don't have any more claim to it than anyone else, and until the Noldor & Morgoth came, the Teleri (or the Sindar & Nandor & Avari - but again, they just called themselves Elves) were living across Beleriand. Thingol 'allows' the Noldor to have realms of their own (because well, even if he didn't want to, the Doriathrim are out numbered and Intra-Sindar relationships are complex), they don't have magical claims to lands 99% of them have never seen.

I also don't think it's quite fair of Turgon to say Nan Elmoth would be destroyed/overrun without the Noldor. It's not as if Eol chose to have them as neighbours. He would be in Nan Elmoth whether the Noldor were there or not. They're there to defend their own lands, not Nan Elmoth, which just happens to be there.

It shares borders with Doriath too. Sindarin swords (and Melian's power) keep it safe too.

Continuing with Aredhel & Maeglin now:

I don't think he went to Gondolin with any intent to kill her, or Maeglin.

He wanted his son back (he seems willing, though reluctant, to let Aredhel remain)

It sucks that he seems to consider his wife and child some kind of property, but Turgon has to be reminded that Aredhel is his sister and not his servant so it's a zero point game here. I think this is more a reflection of patriarchy within Elven society (Watsonian) / Tolkien's own biases (Doylist) than anything particular to Eöl.

He is offered a choice: Live in Gondolin, the golden city of sunlight (that he hates) full of Noldor (whom he hates) and Sindar (who probably have little care for him either) or Die in Gondolin and the same choice is given to Maeglin.

I can't help but wonder here - if Turgon had permitted him to leave, would things have gone differently?

It's Maeglin he tries to kill, and Aredhel who steps in to save her son

This makes me insane.... accidentally killing your wife in your attempt to murder your son, after your brother in law has offered you a choice of a gilded cage vs death.

I am not sure why he doesn't say the javelin was poisoned. Was he asked? Did he believe Aredhel had died straight away, so it was a moot point? Was it out of anger? Or did he think they knew? Perhaps he customarily carried poisoned javelins, and thought Aredhel or Maeglin would mention it.

I do think he feels guilt - terrible, awful, all consuming guilt, but rage too, because who was Aredhel to deny him his right over his son? Other sons and other husbands she could have once he and Maeglin were dead. Who was Turgon to command him live in Gondolin or die? Turgon was not his king nor kin.

The Eöl who is thrown off the walls of Gondolin is a shell of the elf who granted Nan Elmoth. He is twisted and tormented by his own mind and his own actions; hate and fear darken his heart, not any curse or doom, nor any innate quality of him.

It's not a curse he yells at Maeglin. It's not a prophecy - it's what Eöl sees as the inevitable result of tangling with the Noldor. Clearly his fear and hate was justified - these Noldor are going to be his doom after all, and so will they be his son's.

Imagine being so terrible they invent the death penalty just for you.