On the morning of Christmas Eve, a strange thought popped into my head that I hadn't considered before, having to do with Miriel, the first Queen of the Noldor and wife of Finwe. The thought came to me immediately after responding to a comment by WJT in my post on those "Part 2" words from early 2022. In my response, I brought up Miriel in the context of Finwe, and WJT's reference to Finnigans Wake, and mentioned how she had "grown tired and willfully died".
After posting the comment, I had an initial reaction to this very short summary of Miriel as something like "I don't know the whole story, so to say that may not be a fair characterization". This was immediately followed by the pressing thought that was simply: "Miriel is Mary". Mary meaning, in this case, the mother of Jesus. It was just a thought that 'appeared', as if fact, in my mind.
That thought was extremely surprising to me, as it was something I had not considered before, nor did it seem that this could actually be true based on some assumptions and I guess narratives I already had in my head.
But, the thought continued to grow throughout the day. By Christmas morning, not only was the thought still there, but it had expanded as my mind branched out and went through implications for Finwe if this was true. The thoughts that come in this way don't always turn out to be something, but they have often enough where I take them seriously and look into them.
So, given that this has to do with Christmas (I mean, this is turning out to be a very non-traditional Nativity scene based on previous posts!), and it is pressing on my mind the hardest at the moment, I thought I would get these thoughts down before following up on the Ammonites. I had mentioned earlier I had some ideas relating to them and where they - specifically the young men known commonly among Mormons as the Stripling Warriors - might fit into things going forward. I will get to that later, but for now I want to spend time thinking about Miriel and Mary as a possible connection.
There are a few things to consider when looking at whether Miriel could be Mary. As regular readers would maybe figure by now, I started looking at the names first when looking into this. So, I will start with that angle first. I then thought through the 'story'. Could this make sense, first of all, on its own? Secondly, is something clearer or easier to possibly understand as a result of knowing this? If I could answer yes to these, then it seemed the thought was at least worthwhile to consider.
Before proceeding, if you haven't heard of Miriel before, you should maybe get up to speed on her general story arc. If someone is only familiar with the Lord of the Rings, then I don't think Miriel is a name that would even come up. This is both interesting and unfortunate, however, because Miriel's story (and Finwe's along with her) is a major catalyst for everything that happened after, including events that Tolkien covers in LOTR. It is not an understatement to say that the history of Middle-earth would have been very, very different if either Miriel or Finwe had made different choices.
Here is a summary of Miriel from Tolkien Gateway:
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/M%C3%ADriel
Names
In Elvish, the most common rendering of Miriel's name means something like "Jewel Daughter" ("Mir" = Jewel, and "iel" = "Daughter). Pretty straightforward. I would, however, like to propose two complementary and additional meanings to that name from Elvish (I will also go into English meanings), which will tie into the character of Mary shortly.
The first additional name meaning has to do with "beautiful, lovely", from the word "Mira". I would also say in this case that rather than "iel" meaning daughter, it is rather the feminized suffix for the word itself, and in this case, the name is basically Beauty and Loveliness personified in Miriel.
The second additional name has to do with "Miri", which means something like "precious, precious thing". Even the root "Mir", rather than specifically a jewel, can simply refer to anything precious, like a treasure. In this case, I would have Miriel means something like "Precious Woman".
Miriel also happens to be one of those crossover names, that has meaning in our 'real' world, however, and I think this is also worth exploring. In my own search, it has a few different variances. "Miriel" is said to be Celtic and mean something like "Star of the Sea", from something like 'muir' = sea, and 'gheal' = bright. It is also written as Muriel, and some have tied it to the name Mary itself through additional variances such as Mariel, Mariam, Miriam, etc. For our purposes, "Star of the Sea" as a definition works just fine in comparing with Mary.
Turning to the name Mary itself, I will first call out that her name was used in the Book of Mormon once [Correction: twice - see other instance from Alma further down], and it is for this reason, among others, that I think the name matters. The name was given to King Benjamin by an angel, several hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Here is Benjamin's statement as he related it to his people:
And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary
The name mattered enough, in this situation, for the angel who visited Benjamin to not only give the 'name' of Jesus to Benjamin, but also the name of his mother, Mary, or at least whatever that name was that translated into Mary or something like that.
Mary has a few meanings based on my quick online search: "rebellious, bitter, drop of the sea". That last meaning, I have come to learn, was apparently rendered as "Star of the Sea" due to a scribal error. This is then how Our Lady, in Catholicism referring to Mary, is known as "Our Lady, Star of the Sea".
Obviously, that last Catholic meaning matches up very well with Miriel, the Celtic definition - both as "Star of the Sea". I will, however, go through some story elements that seem to match up to these names
Story
First, I want to briefly tie the names of Mary and Miriel to various story elements, and in so doing, tie them somewhat together in exploring the possibility that they are the same person. There are stories in names. I will then close with some quick implications.
I thought the 'rebellious' nature of Mary's name was interesting to learn of. We don't really have an in-depth study of 'biblical' Mary's personality or character, and we only have a brief glimpse into Miriel's own character and story. What we do know of Miriel, however, matches up very well with rebelliousness. I mean, this word would be the first thing you think of when you think of Miriel's son, Feanor, obviously, as he led the rebellion of the Noldor against the Valar themselves, but he definitely shared this trait with his mother.
I was thinking more on this, and I would actually put Miriel's own actions in Valinor as more rebellious, even, than that of Feanor. What would be the most rebellious thing one could do, living in 'heaven', surrounded by bliss, happiness, and life everlasting - a place where there is literally no concept of the ability to die permanently? To die, and to stay dead. That was Miriel's act, and it was, of all things, the most rebellious action she could have taken. As I will close this post with, I don't think we have the whole story for why she chose this path, but will just leave it here as indisputable (in my mind) that Miriel was a rebellious character (with rebellious also meaning things like defiant, non-conformist, etc.)
Miriel's Elvish name meanings, as highlighted above, match up very well with descriptions or glimpses we get of Mary in the Book of Mormon. Twice, I believe, Mary is mentioned or described, in addition to Benjamin's reference. The first instance is in the vision of Nephi, the son of Lehi. The second is Alma the Younger's statement about Mary to the people of Gideon.
We will take Nephi first.
In his vision, Nephi is shown a woman by the angel (after the Spirit of the Lord has just taken off, to perhaps participate real-time in the events that Nephi is observing). Here is his commentary (1 Nephi 11):
And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.
And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?
And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.
And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?
And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.
And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.
I wanted to highlight Nephi's commentary that the woman Nephi sees is very beautiful. This is the first element that gets to that other meaning I highlighted for Miriel: Beauty and Loveliness.
In and of itself maybe not that interesting, but it is just one additional element among a number of them, in my view, that seems to have Miriel, in both name and Being, be associated with Mary.
Alma the Younger's commentary on Mary goes like this (Alma 7):
And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.
Alma calls out that Mary will be 'precious'. Recall my second additional meaning of Miriel as being just that "A precious, precious woman".
In addition to names, placing Miriel in the role of Jesus' mother make sense in other ways, particularly if we associate "Israel" at least partially with Finwe's House, the House that was broken in Valinor, who Miriel is the Queen or Mother of.
My own belief is that Jesus had a very specific mission, among other 'general' ones, to rescue and reclaim Finwe's house. That going back to a time long before our Earth, Eru (who became Jesus) worked closely with Finwe in creating a plan that would result in Good overcoming Evil, though in a time far, far in the future, and in a 'galaxy far, far away'. Salvation would come in another place, and in another time, and Finwe, and his House, would play an important role. As part of this story, Jesus would have made a promise to Finwe that he would look after his house and save them as they willingly joined with him in the battle against evil.
In saving Finwe's House, this story would then have Eru being literally born to Miriel, becoming part of the House of Israel and throwing his own lot in with them.
In order for this to happen, Miriel would have obviously had to have decided to 'live' again at a later date. Her doing so would be consistent with Tolkien's own drafts and writings on this, which has Miriel returning to life at a future time.
We have already in past posts explored the idea of Jesus being born in Jerusalem as Valinor, and this would be possible among Men of his Holy Order, but who seem to have fallen. As part of this then, if this new development holds, Miriel would also have been born among these Men in Valinor, the rightful Queen of both the Noldor/ Israel, and of Tirion-Jerusalem itself, but perhaps unknown as such.
This sets up an interesting intro to a much different story of Jesus than what we read in the bible. It also means or suggests that there might have been more to Miriel's actions in Valinor than just being a stubborn, willful individual who brought ruin to her House. Rather, her actions were based on knowledge, perhaps even unknown to her, forgotten from a time long before, that even though would cause near-term disaster to her House, would also pave the way for ultimate goodness and redemption, including Jesus himself being born, and she being the one who would be in a position to do so. Evil cannot comprehend the plans of Good and Light, including Good's willingness to follow Jesus' plans even if it means descending into darkness for a time ... the promise is Good will come out on top in the end, even if for a long time it seems that this won't be the case.
I don't know - the initial thoughts make sense. I confess that it is Christmas Break and it is crazy in our home right now so getting my thoughts down as well as I want to is just not possible, so this will have to do as some introductory thinking and even more of a rambling draft than usual. I wanted to go into a bit more story-related things, I think, but this will have to do for now.
As with the other story elements (e.g., Jerusalem as Tirion), I am not sure if this will hold, but it seems there is enough story left to explore, that it is a worthwhile to pick at a bit more. This also includes implications for Finwe, and who Jesus refers to as "the Father" repeatedly in his visit to those at Bountiful in the Book of Mormon.
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