This character is not mine, but belongs to my good friend. I've included Naeriel in this list as she is very dear to my heart and an intrinsic part of the histories of two of my own original characters.
GWEN EN TAMIN
BASICS
NAME
NAERIEL
AGE
10000+ (BY FOURTH AGE)
BORN
NAN ELMOTH
RACE
ELF (AVAR)
❝THEY GAVE ME A PURPOSE WHEN I HAD NONE. A FAMILY, A NAME, THOUGH BITTERSWEET.❞
- fourth age; unknown
as told to Vezely of Imladris upon their meeting in the Fourth Age
She is old, older than the Moon and the Sun, one of the last who still remember the darkness before the light and the stars glittering like diamonds on the ever night sky. Tall she stood and fair, her eyes bright, like smoldering fires.
DETAILS
FULL NAMES:
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Iúleth (sindarin: "embers") name given by her father
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Naeriel (sindarin: "daughter of sorrow") name given by her mother, originally intended only to be spoken in its avarin form Dimbēgwendē
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Cypress: title given by the hobbits of Enedwaith, early in the Second Age
TITLES: Cypress, forge-maiden, Maiden of Many Years
RACE: Avari
APPEARANCE: Brown Skin, Dark Hair, Dark Eyes
FACECLAIM: Katrina Law
BIOGRAPHY
Born a century before the Sun and the Moon, Naeriel, daughter of Camaenor - a forge master and Lethil - an artist, grew in the deep shadows of Nan Elmoth, where she learned her father’s craft and flourished in her lands. Pupil to Eöl, she was one of the very few to learn not only the art of the forge from the famous Avar, but also how to work with the precious metal Galvorn. Naeriel’s are the hands of a smith and a warrior, not those of a lady. Her fingers are littered with burns and scars, some more visible than others.
Throughout the First Age, Naeriel - alongisde her people, kept their distance from the wars of Beleriand. However, the reach of Darkness became too great and all too soon her homeland fell to fire and her kin to war. The dawn of the Second Age and the victory over Darkness brought no relief to her soul, not when the price had been too high. She fled Nan Elmoth, long before the War of Wrath.
Her feet took her to Lindon, however the land was new and too foreign from the lands of her youth, incapable of giving her a feeling of belonging. For a while, Naeriel felt adrift in Lindon, bereft of any purpose. Her family was dead. Her kin had been slaughtered. Her home was no more and she would never be able to see it again. Days passed and blurred together like a dream, each just like the one before. Given the chance, she left those lands alongside all the Sindar led by Oropher and Thranduil, and traveled east, ever east until the rolling hills and the towering mountains gave way to a forest, later known as Eryn Galen. She made a new home for herself, found a new purpose in the service of Thranduil.
A forge maiden by craft, a soldier by chance and a guardian by choice, Naeriel patrolled the paths of Eryn Galen, fought the spreading darkness with arrow and sword. But when the shadows grew too great and the burden on her shoulders weighed too much, she turned to the road again, traveling west where the Sun kissed lands of the Shire welcomed her with soothing arms and a balm for her wounded soul.
Her heart, though slow to offer, belongs to Dûion, messenger and guide of the eastern lands in the Orocarni. Their courtship lasted for years, but held steadfast until the burden and grief of the war scarred Naeriel’s soul beyond healing. In the Fourth Age, she sailed west, seeking solace in the Undying Lands, left across the seas, while her love chose to remain behind.
TRIVIA
TROPES: Survivor's Guilt, Unwilling Protagonist, more to be added
ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good
WEAPONS:
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(likes) one-handed sword, daggers, throwing knives, bow
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(dislikes) war-hammer, broadsword, double-handed sword
SEXUALITY: Demisexual
PROFESSION: Forge-maiden, Guard
MUSICAL THEME: "Jodie's Suite"
LIKES: Moonshine and Cinnamon treats
RELATIONS:
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lover: Dûion of Cuivienen
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acquainted: the people of Doriath, the dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost, forge masters of Eregion, dwarves of Khazad-dûm
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familiar: several hobbit families, Eöl, Maeglin, Aredhel, the royal family of Eryn Galen
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friendship: various hobbits, elves and dwarves, Lothrin of Lothlórien
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family: Lethil (mother), Camaenor (father), Brethil (nephew)
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pledged to: the lord of Nan Elmoth, the royal family of Eryn Galen, the hobbits of the Shire
CHARACTER ARC:
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Her development and coming of age in the lands of the First Age
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The horror of war and learning to come to terms with grief, loss and bereavement
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Learning to embrace new lands becoming a protector and an advisor, while at the same time embracing her craft once more