Four: Man and Elf
Year 3434 of the Second Age
Mithdil was in command of Elendil's best archers in the battle of Dagorlad.
Apart from picking out small dots on the walls of Morannon that were enemy soldiers, and piercing their hearts with arrows, Mithdil always secretly sought opportunities to aim an arrow at one of the nine faceless horsemen. She knew which one was her personal enemy, as she once had known where the star Eärendil was without looking.
Finally Sauron himself came forth, with the Nine in his wake, and Mithdil aimed her sharpest arrow. It went through the rider as through an empty cloak. She shrieked in fury, then turned to look at Sauron. He seemed solid enough. Mithdil aimed at the Eye. She never had time to shoot the arrow and find out if Sauron could thus be slain, for the Rider had noticed her and shot a Black Arrow at her.
So fell Imladviel of Rivendell, granddaughter of Glorfindel, unknown and counted among mortal men, brave and fearless in the battle of Dagorlad. There also Glorfindel and Gladhír did great deeds, two elven lords who long ago had lost a daughter, one to the very enemy they fought, another to fates unknown and strange. They both lived on to fight another day, to hold another daughter in their arms, and to see the Greenwood turn into the Mirkwood and then Greenwood the Great again.
But the end of Imladviel's life is not the end of her story.
Year 3434 of the Second Age
Mithdil was in command of Elendil's best archers in the battle of Dagorlad.
Apart from picking out small dots on the walls of Morannon that were enemy soldiers, and piercing their hearts with arrows, Mithdil always secretly sought opportunities to aim an arrow at one of the nine faceless horsemen. She knew which one was her personal enemy, as she once had known where the star Eärendil was without looking.
Finally Sauron himself came forth, with the Nine in his wake, and Mithdil aimed her sharpest arrow. It went through the rider as through an empty cloak. She shrieked in fury, then turned to look at Sauron. He seemed solid enough. Mithdil aimed at the Eye. She never had time to shoot the arrow and find out if Sauron could thus be slain, for the Rider had noticed her and shot a Black Arrow at her.
So fell Imladviel of Rivendell, granddaughter of Glorfindel, unknown and counted among mortal men, brave and fearless in the battle of Dagorlad. There also Glorfindel and Gladhír did great deeds, two elven lords who long ago had lost a daughter, one to the very enemy they fought, another to fates unknown and strange. They both lived on to fight another day, to hold another daughter in their arms, and to see the Greenwood turn into the Mirkwood and then Greenwood the Great again.
But the end of Imladviel's life is not the end of her story.