Is there a character in the legendarium that you want to know so much better? One whose story you’d like to hear, but only has a passing role in the books? I do. It is Nellas of Doriath.
Nellas was an elf-maiden who lived in the woods of Doriath. Melian asked Nellas to watch after Turin if he happened to stray into the forest, which she did. She would watch for him, and then as if by accident, she would come across him, and the two would walk and play in the woods.
This takes place in the First Age, and Nellas is described as being young by elf reckoning and appearing equal to Turin in age. His formative years of age ten to eighteen were spent as the lone man in Menegroth as Grithnir died of old age and Gethron departed for Dor-lomin.
Nellas taught him to speak Sindarin as it was spoken in the ancient realms. She had knowledge of nature and shared what she knew with him, telling him the names of plants and flowers as they walked the woods.
During his time with Nellas Turin’s mood was lightened, but then he fell under shadow again. They saw one another less and less, though she continued to watch over him from afar whenever he left Menegroth.
Elves all seem to be in tune with nature, but some more so than others as they have craftsmen of all kinds and have built stone cities above and below ground.
Nellas does not like the feel of stone on her feet and does not go into Menegroth.
Her home, then, one would think, is in the trees or on the ground not too far from the palace. I always imagined her having a flet in the trees as they would in Lorien in the Third Age.
We learn nothing of her family, and since she is young for an elf and Melian asks her and not her parents, it could be that she lived on her own.
Little more is known of Nellas. Melian selected her above all others and she had a positive effect on Turin both in his learning and in his feelings. In many ways, she was the essence of innocence. Nellas knew her history and language, but was most comfortable in the woods with nature, away from others and their politics.
Did she live alone? We do not know. She did enjoy Turin’s company, as he did hers.
With the Outlaws when he speaks with Beleg about his pardon:
Coming suddenly out of thought he looked at Beleg, and said: ‘The elf-maiden that you named, though I forget how: I owe her well for her timely witness; yet I cannot recall her. Why did she watch my ways?’ Then Beleg looked strangely at him. ‘Why indeed?’ he said. ‘Turin, have you lived always with your heart and half your mind far away? As a boy you used to walk with Nellas in the woods.’
‘That must have been long ago,’ said Turin. ‘Or so my childhood now seems, and a mist is over it – save only the memory of my father’s house in Dor-lomin. Why would I walk with an elf-maiden?’
‘To learn what she could teach, maybe,’ said Beleg, ‘if no more than a few elven-words of the names of woodland flowers. Their names at least you have not forgotten. Alas! Child of Men, there are other griefs in Middle-earth than yours, and wounds made by no weapon. Indeed I begin to think that Elves and Men should not meet or meddle.’
Turin said nothing, but looked long in Beleg’s face, as if he would read it in the riddle of his words. Nellas of Doriath never saw him again, and his shadow passed from her. Now Beleg and Turin turned to other matters…”
Resilient Seeker Coaching | Ross Raymond Nunamaker 