Murnandihl, LN, God of death, The Judge

Judge of the Dead and the Master of Doom. Originally named Námoro, after the Halls of his dwelling. He is chief advisor to Amun, and creator and keeper of the souls of the elves. He is the husband of Vairëëni the Weaver. Murnandihl is described as being stern and dispassionate and never forgetting a thing. He also created the elves.

He was the Valari who cursed the elves for their decission to not leave Middle-Earth, and counselled against allowing their souls to return to the "immortal side" (Halls of Echoes) on their demise, Amaril. Unlike Morgoroth, his Dooms are not cruel or vindictive by his own design, they are simply the will of Aru, and he will not speak them unless needed.


The curse
Another part of the curse was the removal of Murnandihl´s blessing, thus rendering the elves vulnerable to Morgoroth´s taint. This spawned the first dark elves and the coming bloodwars. The high elves fought back their wicked brothers and sisters, and drove them underground away from the warming light of the sun. While the elves were divided and reeling from their wars, the humans in the surrounding kingdoms took their chance and invaded Eledar. Weakended from the earlier battles, the elves were not able to withstand the humans onslaught. Most of them surrendered while those who could fled into the southern forestland of Egaroth. Here they took refuge with their wood elven siblings.

The humans in Eledar tried to hunt down the refugees into Egaroth´s forestlands, but their efforts came to a halt when the forces of nature stood in their way. This is the first time in the third age that the ancient guardians of Egaroth have taken up arms against humans.



Exerpt from the Chronicles of Amaril
Only once have Murnandihl been moved to pity, when Lúthieli, an elven princess, sang of the grief she had experienced in Beleriand, capitol of Monazdria, during the end of the second age. When the elves were commanded to leave for Amaril, Lúthieli decided to stay behind to be stay with her human lover prince Berendir. She knew she would be judged by Murnandihl for her actions.

The human prince Berendir believed Lúthieli had forsaken him and travelled to Amaril with her kin. Unable to live with the loss of his love he cast himself of the High Cliffs of Dòraz, ending his life believeing she had left Middle-Earth for good. To late did Murnandihl see why many of the elves decided to forsake his command. Many elves stayed behind either for their love of Middle-earth, or pity for the remaining humans doomed to fight Morgoroth´s taint alone. The god of death saw this as a pure act, worthy of the silvery light of Aru.

Unable to undo his curse towards the elves, Murnandihl offered Aru to care for their souls, thus allowing their spirits to return to Aru`s embrace through Amaril.