The Library of Saphadzir’s namesake was a Numenorean master of lore who lived in Dol Amroth at the end of the Second Age, thousands of years before Cutch, Ardanion, and Teahesto visited. The master had collected a great volume of knowledge of the times, storing it in a library whose design he oversaw. The trio stopped at the steps before the front door. The boy stared up at the massive structure with disbelief. “We may enter here?”, he asked as if the site were sacred and reserved.
“It’s a public place”, Cutch reassured, having visited here during his youthful days at the Den, researching kitchen recipes in the library’s incredible collection of crafting knowledge.
“The Numenoreans took pride in freely educating their people”, Teahesto commented as he slowly led them up the steps, pointing out the details of the library’s artistic construction. “They understood the importance of eliminating ignorance. Their descendants, here called the Dunedain of the South, maintain that tradition by keeping this library alive for the people.” He paused at the landing before the library’s ornate double doors and turned to regard Cutch and Ardanion. “Some would say that gives proof to the rumors that the Princes of Dol Amroth have Elf blood. Regardless of any truth of that, my recollections of the Numenoreans say they possessed a nobility of their own. They were a great people and much of that still shines in the Dunedain.”
“What really caused the Numenoreans to fall?” Ardanion asked.
“No people are perfect”, Cutch said solemnly. “They fell to their own arrogance and jealousy. We all have those things in us, waiting to crawl out or pounce, and all the education in the world will not eliminate them.”
Teahesto nodded. “Aye, that’s true. Education can, however, arm us with resistance to them, and enable us to make better choices. You are fortunate to have a hunger for knowledge, Ardanion, and an accomplished historian for a mother.”
Cutch nodded, and Ardanion looked thoughtfully between them before opening the door and stepping inside the great library.
…The Library’s interior is magnificent, Your Ladyship, and Ardanion spent long moments in awe of the architecture, with its humbling heights and broad expanses given over to a vast array of cases packed tight with books and scrolls. Ingenious wheeled scaffolds and ladders gave access to materials from the highest reaches, and many well-lit nooks furnished with ornately carved tables and armchairs attracted groups of students to share whispered conversations as they hunched over precious writings spanning thousands of years. The place was respectfully quiet; the most noticeable sounds were the rustle of robes and the patter of soft-soled feet as librarians moved dutifully about. The boy’s attention was quickly drawn to the nearest of them, an elderly lady, and he confidently strode up to her. Teahesto and I followed but at a distance to let him strike up the conversation. Ardanion seemed so at home in this magnificent place, and I believe his relationship with you, his scholarly mother, accounts for that.
The librarian, addressed by the title Parfnestando, responded very well to Ardanion’s quiet and polite approach, whispering to her his desire for histories of Dol Amroth and Edhellond. She also smiled and asked that he be more specific for the first was a very broad topic that some take on as a lifetime pursuit of study. The second, she advised, was somewhat obscure, and had references scattered across many texts on many different topics.
Teahesto stepped forward and she looked up at his beautiful Elven face in happy shock. Their discussion resulted in a book broadly covering the history of Western Gondor, the kind of general history book from which young students are taught. Leafing through it, Ardanion regarded the schoolbook with subdued disdain, as Your Ladyship’s tutelage has resulted in his having both reading and comprehension skills far above it. Still, he sincerely thanked the librarian, for the book provided broad information and a focal point for his conversation with Teahesto, which I attended with the interest of a proud father….
Cutch watched his son and their Elf friend scan through the book together, seated close at one of the study tables. Their respectfully whispered conversation wove through the centuries of local history, written by Numenorean hand, now being evaluated by an intelligent Mortal boy, and commented on by an Immortal Elf whose life had begun millennia before the recorded events and provided a rare context. The book discussed much of what Ardanion already knew, parts of which Teahesto had witnessed.
According to the history book, Sindar Elves were the first known settlers of this region, named Belfalas within the area of Dol Amroth. They were seafaring Elves escaping Beleriand’s doom at the end of the First Age, and they established the port settlement named Edhellond. During the Second Age Galadriel and Celeborn, two of the most famous Elves known to Mortals, joined them. Also, during the Second Age, some of the Faithful, an outcast group of Numenoreans determined to escape Numenor’s inevitable Downfall, settled in the area. They were noted as being kin to Elendil, having Elvish blood, and they built the stronghold on the promontory, giving it the name of the area, Dol Amroth. The relationship between the Elves and Numenorean Faithful remained strong.
One part of the book seemed to be more used than the rest, its worn pages describing the tragic end to the tale of Amroth and Nimrodel, a king drowned during a storm as he waited for his betrothed long-lost Elf maid, who arrived too late to save him from his fate. Much of the rest of the book described conflicts with, and victories over, the corsairs of Umbar.
Of Edhellond, the book gave little additional details. There was some mention of other Elves joining the port settlement after ‘suffering a disaster in the north’ during the Second Age, and again more during the Third Age after a ‘great evil from Moria’ drove them away.
…Ardanion gave a remarkable account of your personal history through the region, Your Ladyship, some of which Teahesto was able to personally confirm from times when your paths had crossed. Our Elf captain added more to the conversation with other details from his own history. Of particular note was his knowledge of Nimrodel and Mithrellas.
After the war that ended the Second Age, Teahesto recounted his returning to his mission of escorting Elves on their journeys to the West, often departing by sea from Edhellond. In one such journey, he was part of Amroth’s company seeking Nimrodel and her dear friend Mithrellas, who had fled Lorien to escape the Balrog’s release in Moria and the accompanying onslaught of Orcs. They found them on the edge of Fangorn, but on the subsequent journey to Edhellond to sail West the party became separated in the White Mountains, with Nimrodel and Mithrellas being lost again.
Our captain recalls Nimrodel returning after the tragic death of Amroth, but at that point his path parts with hers; by then the port to Edhellond had been abandoned by the Elves, and no record of Nimrodel after this remains. As for Mithrellas, he understands that she was finally found by and wed to Imrazor, but after bearing him a son and a daughter, she too disappears from Dol Amroth as did Nimrodel. He has always wondered if their fates might somehow be entwined with rumors of a hidden Elven settlement keeping hopeful watch over the Edhellond ruins. I suspect this could be why he wants as all to revisit them; to see if some clue remains. I will send you more as our adventurous education continues.
Ever Your Elf-Touched,
Cutch
