House of Eressë

**Motive**: Specify the motive

The House of Eressë (after the nickname of the Nénwë the Silver Elf) is an elven house of the Fifth Age.

## House of Eressë

### Coat of arms

Sable, a 8-pointed star with a pearl over it

### Words

In the light of the stars, in the light of the Trees

## Members

The currently known members are:

* ┼ Nénwë Eressë [*corso\_*], firstly settled in Imladris but later he joined the Avari elves;
* ┼ His deceased wife;
* Earwë (Earwë Eressë for his father), married with a Vanye in Valinor;
* Nénwë's new wife Eirien;
* Aredhel Eressë-Aenlas, daughter of deceased Basilinna of Dorwinion, adopted by Nénwë and Eirien after the sack of Mirulond;
* ┼ Fëaryn Eressë, son of Nénwë and Eirien and twin of Celendil;
* ┼ Celendil Eressë, son of Nénwë and Eirein and twin of Fëaryn;

* Ëarlairë Eressë [*WasStrangerFlame*], an elf who came from Valinor in Lindon at the beginning of VA and was adopted as nephew by Nénwë in 111 VA.

## Seats

The only recognized seats of the family are the cities of Carnost, in Eryn Garan, and Levelon in Lindon. Though, the first house of Nénwë was in the valley of Imladris, and he later moved to the village of Yaranén on the coasts of the sea of Rhun.

## History

### Line of Nénwë

Nénwë was an elf born in Cuiviénen, at the time of Finwë and the other fathers of the elves. He came to Valinor following Olwë, and there got married and eventually had a son; though, after the death of his wife went to the Middle-earth in occasion of the War of Wrath, choosing to remain there at the end of the battles. In the Third age took the nickname of "Eressë" (the lonely one), that later became his surname, because of his lonel living in Rivendell. Consequently, probably because of loneliness, he started considering his son in Valinor as part of the family, and in his talks he always referred to him as Earwë Eressë.

In Fifth Age, he pledged for one year to king Gelendir of Lothlorien, but he eventually broke his vow after the war between East Lorien and Rohan for the vales of Anduin; in year 110 VA he moved to the redwood forests of Eryn Garan, where he founded, with some Avari elves, the village of Yaranén and the city of Carnost, becoming king of the Moriquendi and marrying an Avar girl, Eirien. He also adopted another Valinor elf, Ëarlairë, as nephew in Lindon.

After the death of Dorwinion's basilinna, Elbereth Aenlas, Nénwë occuped for some weeks the capital of the vineyard nation, with the secret intention of bringing in a safe place the queen's 3 years old daughter. She was grown in Eryn Garan as a princess of House of Eressë, alongside with the two sons of Nénwë, born in 112 VA.

Nénwë later left Eryn Garan, coming back to Valinor, where he died in 115 VA. His sons had a really sad fate, as told in the following tale.

#### *The Fate of the Sons of Nénwë*

In Eryn Garan Eirien, widow of Nénwë, grew their sons Fëaryn and Celendil, and the princess Aredhel of Dorwinion. As children, they were kept together by  fair friendship and complicity, which didn't fade with time, but came even stronger. Though, Fëaryn started to feel love towards Aredhel, but he was too shy to admit it, and too respectful of their friendship to tell her. But an inner struggle devoured his heart, and his eyes were even more burning than at his birth; and many started to see him as the rightful heir of the redwood throne. He had two faithful friends, Aglor and Aegnor, who followed him everywhere he went, they were the first to jump in his fights and the last to retreat, and he kept them as brothers in his house.

But these fair times were about to end. One day, the royal palace wasn't filled with the light of the princess, and voices talked of a kidnapping. She wasn't found anywhere, and the city was upset and horrified. In the end, someone was caught: an easterling, a man who entered with dark tricks in the woods, and there had evil deeds. He was taken to the hollow throne, at whose sides sat the sons of Nénwë: Fëaryn, at the right, with the eyes raging, in fire, and Celendil, at the left, with grey hair and a grim expression on his face. The spy was surrounded with spears, and he knelt at the throne; he told everything, of the kidnapping and its author: a prince of Rhudel, who heard of her beauty and grace. And not being able to take her with him asking to the family, hidden in the deep woods, he came there with few brave companions to do the misdeed.

And immediately Fëaryn rose, terrible to see, and in a fool act pointed his blade at the man's throat. Red blood flew, but he was stopped, and the blow didn't go deep into the neck. But nothing could stop his rage, as he was ready to ride to the gates of morning and to the door of night, to have Aredhel, his sister and beloved girl, back in his father's halls. As he rose the sword, immediately Aglor and Aegnor jumped at his side, pushing theirs onto his one, and he swore a terrible oath:

"*No matter who he is: dwarf under the red stone or man waiting to die, elf born under the stars or spawn of the Dark Lord, nothing, neither the power of Morgoth nor the might of Eru shall protect him from my rage, if he puts his hands on Aredhel, my beloved sister! If we won't be able to protect her from the treacherous hands of her kidnappers, we shall die as mortal men, unable to reach the halls of Mandos, and the evil who will touch her will experience the worst suffer and my terrible oath. I swear this, by the countless stars and the endless sky!*"

The hall started murmuring at the prince's words, and many rose their voices supporting Fëaryn. Celendil rose too, willing to calm down the spirits, but his brother took his hand, and asked him: "*Are you with me, dear brother?*" and for the first time in his life the lesser son of Nénwë feared him. He bowed his head, and he answered "*In victory or defeat, in life or death, I am with you. We will bring Aredhel home, safe from the evil of the world*".

And the oath made Fëaryn superb, sure of his victory and the rightfulness of his deeds, but Celendil started to understand that those words would have been a condamnation, as the Oath of Fëanor had been, ages before, for the Noldor. But he stayed silent, siding his brother all the time, until the very last day.

The four brothers, both of birth and blood, started a perilous journey to the south. They travelled all Rhudel, sacked cities and villages, following the fierce rage, never ending, of Fëaryn, that each passing day the Oath drove fooler. After months of raids, the men of Rhudel asked help to Sauron, the Dark Lord, praising him to stop the madness of the Sons of Nénwë. And Sauron thought of a trap to call the elves inside the walls of Mordor, hoping, in a single blow, to destroy his enemies and to enslave once again Rhudel. So he sent some half-orcs in rhudel, as spies, to whisper false voices of an elven maiden in the Dark Land. And the plan would have perfectly worked, if the orcs didn't actually bring Aredhel from the shores of the Sea of Rhun to Mordor: the elves, hearing the voices, pushed the horses at their limit, beyond the black mountains, in the plains of Gorgoroth. And there, where Sauron hoped in their defeat, they took the biggest win: the plain burned, not in mordor's fires, but in Fëaryn's rage, and many orcs died in those days to the hands of the four elves. In a lonely tower they found their sister, lost, abandoned, and they rescued her from the jail; then they came back in speed out of the Black land, no one following them, for they only left death behind.

And in the end, tired, weary, they reached the southern borders of the redwoods; but while they were resting their limbs a raid came, from the men of Rhudel, a revenge for the sack of their land. And so died Aglor and Aegnor, before they could realize the peril, but Fëaryn and Celendil reacted, and overthrew easily the attackers. Covered in blood, with renewed fire, Fëaryn knelt before Aredhel, with madness in his eyes, and declared her his love, but she refused, because she never shared his feelings, having always loved his brother; moreover, Fëaryn appeared doomed, ruined by his damned oath, a shadow of the prince of Eryn Garan. And at her deny, he got angry, and hold her, attempting to rape her, but Celendil pushed him afar, pointing his blade at his heart, swearing to kill him if he made another step. And Fëaryn, unable to control himself anymore, took out his sword, and started a fierce duel, at last blood, brother against brother, and blood flew on the golden shores. In the end, Celendil overthrew the mad elf, and in a raging impulse pushed his sword through his chest. Blood came out of Fëaryn's mouth, his mind refused insanity, but the death came for him, leaving only the time to ask pardon. Celendil, horrified, fell onto his brother's corpse, with Aredhel accurring, and there, on the still warm elven blood, she cried, declaring her love. Celendil was pulled by her tears, andthey kissed for long, before standing, staggering and horrified. Crying at his madness and cursing the day of the Oath, he covered himself with his heavy armor, and jumped into the deep sea, drowning, unable to reach Mandos' halls. And Aredhel, broken in pain, left the shores, wandering alone in the redwoods. And still there are voices of an elven girl, crying and singing of death, in the southern borders of Eryn Garan.

This was the end of the line of Nénwë of the House of Eressë, that survives only in Lindon with the king Ëarlairë and with the lost Aredhel, whose path is unknown to mortals and elves, and it is possible that even the Valar ignore her fate.

### Line of Ëarlairë

The newest in the line of kings of Lindon, Ëarlairë is an orphan from Valinor. He was born at the start of the Fourth Age, and crowned king of Lindon in 113 VA.