Editing Finwë and Míriel (section)

== Fictional history ==

=== In Middle-earth ===

[[File:Elvish_Migrations_and_Kindreds.svg|thumb|upright=2|[[Arda (Middle-earth)|Arda]] in the [[First Age]]. The Elves awaken in [[Middle-earth]] (right). Elwë, Finwë, and Ingwë encourage their peoples to obey the call of the [[Valar in Middle-earth|Valar]] and travel to [[Valinor]] (green arrows to the left), but some refuse, causing the first [[Sundering of the Elves]].{{sfn|Flieger|1983|p=73}} Finwë's killing by [[Melkor]] leads in turn to the [[Flight of the Noldor]] (red arrows to the right) back to Middle-earth.{{sfn|Clark|Timmons|2000|p=176}} ]]

Among the [[Elves in Middle-earth|Elves]] who first awoke at [[Cuiviénen]], a bay on the Sea of Helcar in the East of [[Middle-earth]], the [[Noldor]] are the "Deep-Elves", always interested in knowledge, skill, and understanding<!--i.e. always organising, making, and dividing, and tending to pride-->; their leader is Finwë. The godlike [[Valar in Middle-earth|Valar]] ask the Elves to come and live with them in their blessed realm of [[Valinor]]. The Elves are doubtful about this, so the Vala Oromë picks three leaders of the Elves, Elwë, Finwë, and Ingwë, to come and see Valinor for themselves. Delighted by what they see, the three ambassadors return to their people and invite them to make the journey to Valinor. The Fair-Elves of Ingwë go and stay; the Deep-Elves of Finwë go, but many later return to Middle-earth; while the Elves of Elwë [[Sundering of the Elves|are divided]], and though they set out together, many do not complete the journey. The ambassadors become the Kings of their respective peoples.<ref name="Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, ch. 3 "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"</ref>

=== In Valinor ===

[[File:Finwë Lozenge.png|thumb|100px|Lozenge of Finwë, King of the Noldor, with sixteen points touching the rim, indicating his rank in [[Elvish heraldry]]{{sfn|Hammond|Scull|1998|pp=187–198 }} ]]

Finwë marries Míriel, the most skilful of the Noldor in needlework and weaving. Míriel gives birth to their only child, Curufinwë, commonly called [[Fëanor]]; he inherits her skill, becoming the most gifted and brilliant of all the Noldor, the mightiest in crafts, especially the making of jewels.{{sfn|Fontenot|2019a}}{{sfn|Fontenot|2019b}}<ref name="Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, ch. 5 "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"</ref>

Míriel, an immortal elf, is so exhausted by the birth, "consumed in spirit and body" by the fiery creative energy of her son Fëanor, that she wilfully gives up her spirit.{{sfn|Dickerson|2013|pp=212–213}} She thus becomes the first sentient being in the blessed realm of [[Aman (J. R. R. Tolkien)|Aman]] to experience death. This leaves Finwë on his own, not through his own choice; such a thing had never occurred before, and he chooses to remarry.<ref name="Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" group=T/> His second wife is Indis of the [[Vanyar]], the Fair-Elves of Ingwë. She bears him two sons: [[Fingolfin]] and Finarfin, and two daughters: Findis and Lalwen, their names echoing his.<ref name="Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" group=T/><ref name="shibboleth" group=T/>

Fëanor comes to resent Finwë's other sons, his half-brothers; there is constant strife between them. Fëanor makes the [[Silmarils]], three star-like jewels that embody some of the light of the [[Two Trees of Valinor]].<ref name="Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, ch. 6 "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor"</ref><ref name="Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, ch. 7 "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"</ref><ref name="Laws and Customs among the Eldar" group=T/>

During the Dark Lord [[Morgoth|Melkor]]'s attempt to corrupt the Noldor, Finwë tries to exert a moderating influence over his people and lead them back to the Valar. When Fëanor is exiled from the Elvish city of Tirion after he openly threatens Fingolfin, Finwë goes with him to their northern fortress, [[Formenos]]. There he is the first to be murdered in Valinor when Melkor, seeking the Silmarils, kills him at the doors of Formenos.<ref name="Of the Flight of the Noldor" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, ch. 9 "Of the Flight of the Noldor"</ref> This directly leads to the [[Flight of the Noldor]],{{sfn|Clark|Timmons|2000|p=176}} the disastrous rebellion of the Noldor against the Valar, which in turn leads the First Kinslaying, when Elves killed other Elves.<ref name="Of the Flight of the Noldor" group=T/>

=== In the Halls of Mandos ===

After their deaths, Finwë and Míriel meet again in the [[Halls of Mandos]], the place where the shades of dead Elves go in Aman. The Valar had allowed Finwë to remarry, given that Míriel had made clear she would never again live in a body; they did not want an Elf to have two living wives. As with Elves killed in battle, the Valar offer Finwë the choice to live again; he decides instead to let Míriel have this chance. Míriel feels that there is no longer a place for her among the Noldor, since Finwë had remarried, and declines the offer. She chooses to become an eternal assistant to Vairë, the weaver of the godlike [[Valar]]: she helps to weave the tapestries of time for the duration of the world's existence.<ref name="Laws and Customs among the Eldar" group=T/>