Morwen, called Eledhwen, Elf-sheen, for her beauty, was a daughter of the House of Bëor and the wife of Húrin of Dor-lómin. She bore him Túrin, then a daughter, Lalaith, who died of a plague out of Angband while still a child, and later Nienor.1,2
Húrin was taken alive at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and Dor-lómin fell to the Easterlings whom Morgoth set over it. Morwen was proud and would not flee or bow. Fearing for her son, she sent Túrin, still a boy, to Thingol in Doriath for fostering, and stayed behind with her unborn child.1
Years later she went to Doriath with Nienor, and when word came that the Black Sword of Nargothrond was Túrin and that Nargothrond had fallen, she rode out to find him against Thingol's counsel. Nienor followed her in disguise. On the hill of Amon Ethir Glaurung's vapour came down on the company, and Morwen was lost in the wild and not found.1
After his release from Angband, Húrin found her at last at the stone raised over Túrin and Nienor above Cabed Naeramarth, the Leap of Dreadful Doom. She was old and worn and near her end, and they spoke there of their children. She died at sunset, and Húrin buried her beside the stone.3
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and Tolkien's late writings on the Elder Days, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's papers.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 21, “Of Túrin Turambar”
- Edited posthumously Unfinished Tales, Part One, II, “Narn i Hîn Húrin”
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 22, “Of the Ruin of Doriath”