Guide to The Silmarillion: Of Thingol and Melian (Ch. 4)

Chapter Four: Of Thingol and Melian

“And of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the world the fairest of all the Children of Iluvatar that was or ever shall be.”

Melian was a Maia who lived in Lórien. She was beautiful, wise, and skilled in songs of enchantment; nightingales follow her. When the Quendi had recently awoken, she left Valinor and dwelt in the woods of Middle-earth. Elwë, Lord of the Teleri, first heard Melian singing in the wood of Nan Elmoth, and an enchantment fell upon him. He forgot all else, passing into the woods, and became lost. There he saw Melian, and they immediately fell in love.

Elwë and Melian stood still as if under a spell for years, and he was counted as lost among his kindred. Olwë, his brother, became the King of the Teleri and departed without him. Elwë Singollo remained with Melian and became the King of the Eldar of Beleriand — called the Sindar, the Grey-Elves, the Elves of Twilight. Elwë was called King Greymantle, Elu Thingol, and Melian was his queen.