Born in the year 720 of the Second Age in a small settlement of her people near the western shores of Lake Nenuial. She is eldest of four children; having two sisters and her brother, the youngest. Their father is Curwe Limbetanwë ((S: Lintanor)) of the Noldor; a skilled craftsman of Nargothrond and Aerynbess Celebfindriel, a Telerin elleth of the elves of Doriath and Eglarest is their mother. Arnelloth’s youth was mostly spent on the shores of that lake and she recalls these days fondly as she shared them with her siblings and their memories are filled with playfulness and a care free joy that they have never quite been able to experience again.
Their mother Aerynbess exposed them to the world of her people of the Falas and would take their family to Lindon at times to a small village simply named Hûb Gwael ((S: Bay of Gulls)) in the south of Harlindon and there they became accustomed with life by the sea; they often rowed or sailed upon small boats and sometimes they even went further out to sea upon larger vessels. The siblings became so enamored and one with Lindon, they often remarked how the salt in the air was their breath, the sand and stone upon the shores their bodies and the seas, the very water of life that coursed within them.
When the city of Ost-in-Edhil in Eregion was being established, their father Curwe took his wife and children there often as he aided in its construction. Arnelloth with the eyes of youth remembered the tall buildings as they went up since their many foundations. After some time that the elven realm was established and his children were of full stature, Curwe exchanged words with his wife Aerynbess and counseled they raise them in Ost-in-Edhil where they would have the privilege of learning the highest lore and craft that was accessible to their people at the time, especially under the tutelage of his skilled kin, the Noldor.
Aerynbess was initially against this idea, but she proposed she would agree under the condition that her children do not forget their Telerin heritage and that they would still at times go to their western kin in Hûb Gwael. Curwe readily agreed, saying that for his part, those were always the conditions.
And so their children grew in skill, in mind and body. Their music was the ringing of crafting hammers, as it was their hands upon strings of harp. Their minds rang with the words written upon countless books as did their voices sing with words of joy and beauty. Their movements became deadly as they learned the martial arts as did they become graceful when they danced within wide halls and green gardens. And ever when their feet trod upon Lindon were the seas in their fëar, their hröar the sand and stone upon the shores and their breath the salt in the air and these they embodied even when in Ost-in-Edhil and their friends marveled at them for it.
Arnelloth was then an elleth of full stature and somewhat older. Her eyes were bright and piercing with the fiery youth of her people. Her hair was long and she was known to wear it in a single intricate plait going all the way down to her waste. Her mixed heritage shined through with a beauty like glistening snow. In Ost-in-Edhil she honed her crafts and excelled especially in the making of rings and jewelry. And in the polishing and shaping of gems she was sought after by many of her generation.
In those days the friendship between the Elves of Eregion and the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum was the strongest it has ever been between those peoples. And while Arnelloth’s friends were many in the elven lands, so too were there many friends for her in Khazad-Dum and with some Dwarf families she held a strong love and this was of course founded upon a love of all crafts and much was the intermingling of the knowledge between them.
But for all the peace and joy and friendship between Elves and Dwarves and for all the crafting and dancing and merry-making, for all the fires of the furnaces and the ringing of anvils and for all the music under sun or stone and laughter in the moonlight, it was not meant to last forever. For in the year 1695 the Dark Lord sent forth a vast army to destroy Eregion and there the elves faced his wrath. And his wrath came like tempest.
Arnelloth and her kin were scattered in the chaos and despite the struggle and many obstacles they overcame their enemies, helped gather as many of the Eldar as they could and made it safely within the ranks of Durin III and Prince Amroth of Laurelindorinan ensuing out of Khazad-Dum, but not before Arnelloth received an injury to her back that cut away her long braid. She and her family count themselves to be among the fortunate that did not suffer much loss, but after that day Arnelloth wore her hair short evermore.
Their journey through Khazad-Dum and into Lorien was woeful. But Arnelloth remarks how Durin’s folk tried ever to lift their spirits and she does not forget the kindness they showed her and the other refugees in their bitterest moments. She remembers the folk of Lorien healing their hurts also and while their sorrows were still deep and fresh the presence of such an admirable peoples was a comfort in a land so filled with beauty.
In time they adjusted and it wouldn’t be long until they began calling Lorien home. After much reconciliation and inner healing, their sorrows eventually ebbed away in a forest that held so much light and mirth. Ever the shadow of what they endured lingered in some form, but no longer did it hold them in its sway. Sorrow indeed turned to wisdom and when thoughts of Eregion spawned hate and tears; they were transmuted into feelings of melancholy, fondness and an unyielding sense of pride at having lived there and bringing the memory and lore of its glory days to Lorien was a triumph in itself.
In the coming years Arnelloth and her family marveled at the wonders of the ancient elven realm and at the differences of the Silvan elves and learned to appreciate their relatively peaceful existence. They played a part in the addition of Noldorin and Sindarin culture in the forest. While they learned the architecture of flet-making and construction upon trees and the Nandorin language, new forges they helped establish in the cities of the Galadhrim. Libraries were built, songs, poems and lore they introduced with their Noldor and Sindar kin and many great lamps they wrought from crystal supplied by their Dwarf friends to the west that shined with an inner light.
Soon the siblings and their father Curwe turned their thoughts to their martial aptitude and were recruited into the ranks of the famed Marchwardens. Here Arnelloth and her siblings truly advanced in their skill, adapting techniques of the Silvan folk onto what they had already learned from their western kin. It became clear that Arnelloth’s skill with a bow was exemplary and often was she seen about the borders of the land in her services.
One day in the peak of the spring in the year 1750 of the age Arnelloth walked alone in the woods and came upon one of her favourite places; a waterfall tall and foaming into a pool beneath it. There she loudly sang a well-known song of the Silvan folk to her heart’s content. Before long she knew eyes to be upon her, but she continued to sing. A fair voice then she heard, joining and harmonising with hers and when they finished she turned her eyes to the singer: an ellon. Tall and chestnut haired and venerably old he was. And though he had not yet entered such an old age to have one, he had the beginnings of a beard.
Her pale blue gaze locked into his twilight grey eyes and she knew then and there, as did he, that she had met the love that she would share all the ages of Arda with. They walked slowly to each other and their hands locked together as they maintained their silent gaze. There they stood for what to them seemed like an age of the earth.
Onodmeldir was the ellon’s name – for he was a great friend of the Ents and shared memories with them since before the sun and moon rose in the skies above and since then was Rhovanion his home. A wonderer he was and his wonderings took him far – from the sources of the Anduin to its mouths in the south and all the wide lands of Rhovanion even unto the sea of Rhun he knew like the palms of his hands. And Arnelloth fell deeply in love with him. Through him she gained a desire for exploration and a love for all things that grew. Being with him was like being introduced to a whole new world where she heard, as if for the first time, the music of the trickling of streams and the chirping of larks and this opened for her a new perspective and admiration of the raw loveliness of nature.
For many years thereafter they journeyed in Rhovanion and down to the green lands of the Nandor in Gondor. They walked and sang together in the Greenwood, they danced upon endless verdant fields and frequently visited the Ents of Fangorn and the Entwives in the east across the Anduin and before long plighted their troth at the very waterfall they met and there they were wed amongst many of their kin and friends of the time in a celebration that lasted for days. No children did they bear as of yet, for they both shared in the opinion of doing so in the distant future and in utter peace and bliss. For Arnelloth was focused in the art of war and crafting and other talents and Onodmeldir would not deter her from her ambitions. Patience they had and all the ages of Arda they would endure together. They had time.
For centuries they were happy, until in the prolonging of the age the shadow of the enemy loomed ahead and again war was to come.
Word reached Lorien of the plight of the lands of the Entwives by Sauron and of their disappearance. This wounded Onodmeldir bitterly and he would have gone in search of them there and then, had Arnelloth not consoled him to await the end of the war, if there was to be a victorious end in which they could both search for them together. Much work was to be done…
The mustering for a great Alliance of elves, men and dwarves had begun and Arnelloth and her family toiled at the furnaces, making as many fine weapons and armour as they could for their woodland kin. For all their efforts, sadly they could not garb all who would go to war and most of the elves of Lorien bore lesser gear than their western cousins.
From two different fronts was she pleaded at to refrain from battle. For Onodmeldir and her parents were adamant that she and her siblings should not join in the war effort. Since no agreement could be reached, it was negotiated that they join the rearguard, where younger elves were tasked with supplying the front lines with what they needed and that they would only see combat in uttermost need. This Arnelloth begrudged, but accepted for the love she bore for Onodmeldir and her mother and father.
Under the banners of King Amdir they marched forth. In the seemingly endless dark years of the war Arnelloth hunted and killed much game to help sustain the ranks of the brave soldiers that assaulted Mordor and it was here that she swore an oath in the end of those days that she would not ever kill another innocent creature in Arda nor eat of their flesh; for enough fear and darkness was seen in the world, and she would have no part in evoking those feelings in any good being ever again.
In the ruin of the siege of Barad-Dur nearing the end of the war of the Last Alliance Arnelloth and her kin found themselves fighting ruthlessly upon the very slopes of Orodruin and in its fiery storms they stood when the battle was finally won. Amidst the sorrow she counted herself blessed yet again, for none of her family were killed or even grievously harmed where many of the survivors of the free peoples could not say the same.
When all was said and done and they all returned home to Lorien, Arnelloth gave thought to fulfill her promise to Onodmeldir to help him find the missing Entwives, for within her was set a deep grief also for their disappearance from the world, further deepened by seeing how it had affected her husband.
They set out with no small number of elves that shared in their haste and a steadfast determination to learn what had happened to them.
Soon they came into the newly named Brown Lands and they wept openly at the total destruction of the Entwives’ lands. For years they looked in all the lands of Rhovanion from the foothills of the Ered Mithrin to the foothills of the Ered Lithui until they found themselves walking under the boughs of the forests of Rhun. And still no trace of their friends could be found. With a heavy heart they called off the search to return home and Onodmeldir was never the same again.
It became clear that in the first decades and centuries of the Third Age that much of the old world was gone, especially in the eyes of Onodmeldir. His joy withered away, his weariness grew and ate away at him and Arnelloth shared his pain. And even though more searches were made, even into the lands of Eriador, Onodmeldir’s ancient friends were never found and never again did he wish to meet his friends the ents, for he and Arnelloth had not the heart to tell them that their searches bore neither fruit nor hope.
Still in the very early part of the Third Age Arnelloth found her feet walking over the old roots of Fangorn forest together with Onodmeldir and her close kin. There Onodmeldir faced his fears and bid a bitter farewell to the ents, but not without words of hope and encouragement and so went after to the southern haven of Edhellond, where Arnelloth often journeyed as she guided elves of Lorien that sought a ship to the west. And there Arnelloth and her kin bid a solemn farewell to Onodmeldir in the year TA 291. Her husband emboldened her to stay strong, for she had only yet seen a full age of the world and much was she to do if she was to aid in bringing back some of its beauty, which he so misses...
