Elarin (Q. "Morning-star") was originally from the Elvish hold of Edhellond, with brethren at Rivendell. It was his intention, 10 years before, to travel to Rivendell to visit with them and seek help for his sister Amarla, when both their lives changed forever.
Amarla was not right. She was only 20 years old (a baby from an Elf’s point of view), but it had been clear for years that she would never be normal. Several of the Elvish healers at Edhellond had tried to correct the situation, but none were successful. She was mentally retarded, and would never progress to a state beyond that of a 5 year-old child. Elarin would not accept this, and decided to journey with his sister to his relatives at Rivendell to see if anything could be done - perhaps Elrond could cure her. On their trip through the West-march, they were staying close to the hills to avoid the local population, and therefore any stares and questions, when Amarla ran off into the nearby woods. The forest was virgin and incredibly thick. He tracked her as best he could, but gained little information from the signs, which seemed to be erased in a random fashion. Finally two days later, after no sleep, he found her lying fast asleep in the ancient temple which crowned a grassy hill in the middle of the forest. She awoke with a start. It was then that he noticed it: something was different about her. She spoke to him (previously she had rarely done so), but the voice was not her own.
The voice which came from her said that she was the Oracle, that this was her new home, and to go away and leave her in peace. He tried several times to remove her from the forest, unsuccessfully. The forest seemed to move to block his passage, and finally he gave up. Distraught, he left the forest to go get help. That was when he met the Drughu. Their chieftain explained the power of the Oracle, and the fact that it had been vacant ("without mouth") for so long. At first he was not willing to accept this fate for his sister, but the Drughu explained that this was an honor not frequently bestowed nor lightly given, and that she would have a purpose in her long life now rather than being wholly dependent on others all her life. Finally they convinced him, and he left sorrowful, but convinced that this was right. Upon returning to Edhellond, he found that his parents had died in a construction accident (they were both shipwrights). Disgusted with his lot in life, he returned to West-march to be near his sister. Then he took a position as a ranger in Aivahati’s service as a ranger of Gondor, with his territory being that nearest the Oracle.
Elarin was now in T.A. 1640 second-in-command of the rangers, and the only Elf in the Rangers’ Service in West-march. For that matter, he was the only Elf besides his sister Amarla that frequented the area with any regularity at all. Since the death of his parents and the selection of his sister to be the Oracle, he had thrown himself completely into his work with the rangers. His losses had not been without emotional effect, and Elarin was much darker in mood than he was once. He rarely spoke to anyone other than the rangers, and then mostly to Aivahati. The locals seemed somewhat wary of his presence because of his race. He did nothing to remedy this either, because he was usually in no mood to socialize. Because his territory was in the foothills of the White Mountains, he had done significant exploration into the mountains, and probably knew the area as well as anyone. He also acted as a liaison to the Drughu when needed. The paths of the Drughu and humans of the area rarely crossed, but when they did, Elarin had been useful to both races because he was capable in both languages, and understood (as well as any non-Drûg) the way they thought. Elarin was a capable hunter and fighter, and he had often taken hunting trips with Aivahati into the mountains to hunt bear and boar.
Some time later, before the arrival of the Rohirrim in T.A. 2510, Elarin lost interest in his service as a ranger (as Elves sometimes are wont to do), and traveled north to Rivendell to live with his relatives there. He journeyed back and forth once every 2-3 years to see his sister at the Oracle.
References[]
- Tales of the Westmarch, by Randell Doty © 1998