Meikiel was born to a humble metalsmith's family on a cold autumn day in Minas Tirith. Her mother, Meileth, died having her, and her father, Noron, was left alone with a helpless baby girl and four rascally sons named Norion, Nordir, Nordor and Norchon. Everyone in the family was suffering from a bad flu the day Meikiel was born. This left a permanent mark in her because the moment her father announced his newly born daughter's name, which was to be Meiliel, the daughter of pollen, he coughed: "She shall be named Mei-COUGH-iel." Despite the devastation of loosing their dear mother, Noron's sons started laughing so hard, they fell on the floor. For a brief moment the recent misfortunes of the family faded away and Noron and his sons felt hope in their hearts. Therefore, instead of calling her daughter Meiliel, he decided to call her Meikiel - the way it sounded when he coughed - as a symbol of hope for a better future.

Meikiel's childhood was rough. Her four brothers made sure she wasn't getting away easily: always teasing and making pranks on her. Meikiel learned the art of offence and defence fast. She loved fighting, wielding a sword and defending her friends in a brawl. Growing up in a male-dominated lowborn family, she never really learned how to behave ladylike or act polite for that matter. Instead, she excelled in wrestling, swearing and drinking beer.

When Meikiel came of age, her father had her married to a weaponcrafter's son, Galu. Becoming a housewife felt extremely unpleasant for her but she took it as a duty towards her father, who had always been so kind and loving. Galu was a good man who took very good care of her. Nevertheless, there was no love between the two and, despite many efforts, she never managed to bear children for him. This devastated Galu and he ended up killing himself. During that time, Meikiel was only in her mid-twenties.

With no husband and no children, she felt there was nothing for her in Minas Tirith. She wasn't sad nor heart-broken about loosing her husband. Rather it felt like something completely alien to her was suddenly taken away. She never really liked having it in the first place, but she wasn't rejoicing about loosing it either. Feeling so baffled about the situation, she decided to take a completely new direction in her life. She was to travel far away and do what she felt she could do the best: fight evil and defend the good people of Middle Earth.