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Elemmakil

Location(s): Gondolin

Race/Species: Elf

Type/Kind: Noldor

Title(s): Captain of the Guard, Keeper of the First Gate of Gondolin

Dates: ?? - F.A. 510?

Parents: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: Unknown

Description:


Elemmakil was the captain of the guard and keeper of the First Gate of Gondolin (The Gate of Wood). It is he who first encounters Voronwë and Tuor as they seek admittance to the Hidden City. Elemmakil stops them at the gate, and expresses anger at Voronwë for leading not only a stranger, but a human, to Gondolin. When Tuor speaks the message of Ulmo, Elemmakil demurs, leading Tuor and Voronwë through the remaining six gates and delivering them to Ecthelion. His fate is not definitively known, but it is likely that he died defending the gates during the Fall of Gondolin.


Quotations:

'This is strange in you Voronwë,' he said. 'We were long friends.Why then would you set me thus cruelly between the law and my friendship? If you had led hither unbidden one of the other houses of the Noldor, that were enough. But you have brought to knowledge of the Way a mortal man - for by his eyes I perceive his kin. Yet free can he never again go, knowing the secret; and as one of alien kin that has dared to enter, I should slay him - even though he be your friend and dear to you.'


'In matters so great judgement is not mine,' said Elemmakil. 'Therefore I will lead you to the light where more may be revealed, and I will deliver you to the Warden of the Great Gate.'


"And high and noble as was Elemmakil, greater and more lordly was Ecthelion, Lord of the Fountain, at that time Warden of the Great Gate."

All quotations from:
Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 1, Of Tuor and His Coming to
Gondolin

Contributors:
Kenaz 26Feb05

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