#also I am aware I’m picking and choosing which elements of the silm to emphasize and which to regard as in-universe author bias

[local-redhead-bookworm]

One of the things I think people often miss about Maeglin’s character is that he is, at his core, an abused kid. Not power-hungry or evil, just scared and looking for control in whatever areas he can.

We know very little of Maeglin, and I’m hesitant to take anything in the Silm as absolute truth given that any info on him would be from people who survived the Fall of Gondolin, but even the little we have would strongly indicate he was abused as a child.

What we know as Silm canon:

Considering the fact that Eöl entrapped Aredhel in Nan Elmoth by magical means, that Aredhel’s consent in the marriage is unclear at best, and that he kept her isolated from any of her friends and family, we can safely assume it wasn’t a happy marriage. If we believe that Eöl didn’t even name Maeglin until he was twelve years old, and that he demanded obedience of Maeglin or else he would lock Maeglin up, and that he later tried to kill Maeglin, this definitely doesn’t paint Eöl as a good father either.

The Silm describes Maeglin as brave many times. A few adjectives my edition uses are “wise in counsel, wary, hardy and valiant at need, fearless in battle” (The Silmarillion, Of Maeglin). He’s not weak or cowardly by any means, and the Silm goes out of its way to acknowledge this.

My speculation:

When Maeglin realizes he can’t have Idril, he “sought the more to have his will in other matters, hurling no toil or burden, if he might thereby have power” (The Silmarillion, Of Maeglin). To me, that sounds like he feels out of control and is looking for control in other areas. A lot of his reaction to Idril and Tuor having Earendil is written as envy and hatred, but I think one could just as easily read that as jealousy that they have a loving family and he does not—his parents are both dead and he didn’t have a good relationship with Eöl.

I don’t believe Maeglin was genuinely in love with Idril. My version says “he loved the beauty of Idril and desired her, without hope” (The Silmarillion, Of Maeglin). I think that he loved the idea of her, beautiful and wise but ultimately unattainable. I’m hesitant to ascribe any aspirations for the throne to him, given that this just never seems to be a priority with him. The only times someone suspects him of having aspirations to the throne are from Idril, and these instances are a) bad feelings and b) a dream (The Book of Lost Tales Pt. 2, Of the Fall of Gondolin).

Also, as pointed out by @novemberthecatadmirer here, Morgoth does not promise Idril to Maeglin until after he reveals the location of Gondolin under threat of torture. Given how Morgoth can torture an Elf forever and they won’t die if he’s careful, I don’t blame Maeglin for caving. Because this goes back to what I said earlier, Maeglin is barely a young adult by Elvish standards, and if there’s one thing that you learn in an abusive household, it’s that you do/say whatever is necessary to avoid further pain.

I do not believe Maeglin betrayed Gondolin with joy, as some versions of the text would indicate. I don’t put much stock in The Book of Lost Tales, but it does include an element that isn’t in other versions of the story: Morgoth casting magic on Maeglin. In this version, Morgoth casts a “spell of bottomless dread” to prevent treachery from Maeglin, and while Maeglin acts as though everything is fine and he even seems more cheerful than before, he is using that to deflect from his fear (The Book of Lost Tales, Of the Fall of Gondolin). This version makes the most sense to me given that many Elves feared that their captured comrades had been made Morgoth’s thralls. More importantly, this version of the story mirrors a very common response real people have to undergoing a traumatic event that they feel they cannot share with others.

I’m not saying Maeglin did nothing wrong ever, but his actions make a great deal more sense when we consider the context of his life as a whole and his past experience of being abused. Any motive ascribed to him is, in my opinion, heavily suspect to in-universe bias on the part of the Elvish historians recounting the events. Looking at Maeglin’s character through the lens of abuse psychology yields a much more sympathetic, and in my opinion more interesting, version of his story.