Chapter 418: Queen of the Evenstar
Kael was surprised. He had assumed that, as with Elrond and Rivendell, Lothlórien would be placed in his own keeping — but it was Arwen they had in mind.
He had been a little presumptuous, it seemed.
Galadriel appeared to read the thought. She offered an explanation without waiting to be asked.
"Lothlórien is not like Rivendell. The Elves of Rivendell will almost all be sailing West — but there are Silvan Elves here who will remain. They will not go to Valinor. I wish for Arwen, as Lothlórien's heir, to take them in — to give them a place of safety and peace, away from the conflicts of the world."
It made sense to Kael at once. Of course, Galadriel had chosen Arwen. A human wizard governing the Elves of Lothlórien would have been awkward at best. But Arwen — the Evenstar of the Elven people, granddaughter of Celeborn and Galadriel, daughter of Elrond — was the natural and legitimate heir to Lothlórien by any measure that the Elves would recognise.
Elven women, unlike the conventions of Men, were not diminished by their sex. Galadriel herself was proof enough of that — between her and Celeborn, it had always been she who held the greater strength. And so Arwen inheriting the lordship of Lothlórien would raise no difficulty among its people.
More to the point, Kael and Arwen were husband and wife. In practice, there was little difference between Arwen ruling Lothlórien and Kael ruling it — and under Arwen's authority, the Silvan Elves who remained would naturally fall under Kael's protection as well. Galadriel and Celeborn had thought it through carefully, and their reasoning was sound.
Kael agreed without hesitation.
Plans were set in motion almost immediately. Before departing for Valinor, Galadriel and Celeborn would formally step down from their positions as Lord and Lady of Lothlórien, and Arwen would be crowned in their place.
On the first day of the new year, Third Age 3003, the coronation took place.
In the central square of Caras Galadhon, the capital of Lothlórien, Elves had gathered from across Middle-earth. The Elves of Rivendell, led by Elrond. The Elves of what had once been Mirkwood — now renamed the Great Greenwood — come from the Woodland Kingdom. Elves from the far-eastern lands of Dorwinion. Elves from Lindon and the Grey Havens.
Before all of them, Galadriel placed a crown upon Arwen's head — woven from mallorn leaves and flowers — and declared her Queen of Lothlórien and Rivendell.
Not Lady. Not Lord. Queen.
Beyond Lothlórien, Kael had also given Arwen sovereignty over Rivendell — and so with a single coronation, she became ruler of both. She was given two titles among the Elves: the Queen of the Evenstar and the White Queen.
The Silvan Elves of Lothlórien pledged their loyalty to their new queen and received her protection in return.
During the ceremony, Arwen sat upon the Elven throne in her finery, the crown on her head, composed and radiant — warmth and quiet authority woven together in a way that was entirely her own.
Elrond, Celeborn, Gandalf, and the others stood below. Among them, their expressions ranged from proud to quietly moved.
Kael's was neither quiet nor composed. He watched his wife with open, unguarded intensity—a pride that filled his chest almost to bursting, and something warmer beneath it. Arwen like this, draped in royal dignity, stirred something in him he hadn't quite expected.
From the throne, Arwen felt his gaze. She caught his eye and, just for a moment, gave him a small, deliberate wink.
Behind her, on either side of the throne, stood Elthir and Elríen — their faces bright, their eyes wide with excitement, dressed in their finest and doing their solemn best to serve as their mother's attendants. They looked like two small, very earnest guards, and the effect was charming enough that more than one Elf nearby had difficulty maintaining a suitably ceremonial expression.
The coronation was a joyful occasion. Elven song and music filled Caras Galadhon without pause. The Elves, reserved by nature, did not shout or cheer — but flowers were offered and hands were raised in applause, and the warmth of the welcome was unmistakable.
Many of those attending had heard the rumours that Lothlórien had begun to decline. They arrived expecting to find a forest fading. Instead, they found it luminous and alive, as beautiful as anything they had known. With a new queen now upon the throne — and the forest clearly under some deep and lasting protection — it was apparent that Lothlórien would not wither. It would endure.
The thought was not lost on those Elves who had been uncertain about sailing West. Some had been reluctant to leave Middle-earth for a land they had never known, but had seen no future for themselves if they stayed. Now, quietly, they began to reconsider. Perhaps Lothlórien or Rivendell might offer what they needed.
The Age of Men was coming. The lands that had once belonged to the Elves would gradually be claimed by others, encroached upon from every side until little remained. For the Silvan Elves—those who loved quiet above all else, who had always sought distance from conflict and wanted only a peaceful home—the only places in Middle-earth that could offer true sanctuary were those sheltered by old magic.
And so, over the long years that followed, as Men spread across Middle-earth and the Elven presence faded from one region after another, those Silvan Elves who sought peace rather than passage came, one by one, to Lothlórien and Rivendell. Arwen turned none of them away.
Many ages passed. The traces of the Elves faded from most of Middle-earth until they remained only in the oldest songs and stories. But Rivendell and Lothlórien endured, hidden from the mortal world—the last Elven homes in Middle-earth.
But that was all far in the future.
For now, Lothlórien and Rivendell were still full of life. The westward-sailing Elves had not yet departed, and the warmth of the coronation's celebration still lingered over everything.
Arwen had become a queen, but she chose to spend most of her time at Hogwarts with her husband and children, and she kept her position as Professor of Magic History without a second thought. Rivendell remained under Elrond's governance until the day he left Middle-earth. Lothlórien likewise remained in Galadriel and Celeborn's hands for now.
The Elves who had sworn loyalty to Arwen were those who intended to stay in Middle-earth — the Silvan Elves. The Noldor, the Sindar, and the rest would sail with Elrond and Galadriel when the time came.
Arwen's coronation seemed to open something — as though it had set a series of things in motion. Other coronations followed in its wake.
In the Woodland Kingdom, after Legolas returned from his part in the events of Middle-earth, King Thranduil crowned him personally and named him heir to the Woodland throne. Then Thranduil led a small company of Elves to the Grey Havens to await the ship that would carry them to Valinor.
Kael attended Legolas's coronation himself. Legolas, now King of the Woodland Realm, pledged the Woodland Kingdom into alliance with Hogwarts and Lothlórien.
Then came Aragorn's coronation in Minas Tirith, where he was formally crowned King of Gondor.
One notable event accompanied it: the former Steward of Gondor, Denethor II, declined Aragorn's offer to retain him as Chancellor of Gondor. He departed instead, taking his eldest son Boromir and a portion of Gondor's people with him. They travelled east, settling on the shores of the Sea of Núrnen in the south of Mordor, and there founded a new kingdom — Ando.
The name was a counterpoint to Mordor itself: where Mordor meant the Black Land, Ando meant the Land of Hope.
Denethor II became Ando's first king, though he did not hold the throne for long before illness took him. Boromir succeeded him.
Faramir, the younger son, chose to remain in Gondor. He was appointed Chancellor under Aragorn and became one of his most trusted councillors.
The two kingdoms, under Aragorn and Boromir, formed an alliance — as Rohan had with Gondor — and pledged to come to one another's aid should either face attack.