Originally posted: 1/6/2020
Edited: 1/7/2020
OTHER TITLES:
Lady of the Water
Daughter of the Ocean
Lady of Song and Sword
Maiden of the Forest
Queen of the Sea
Sweet Spirit of the Water
Greatest of the Shieldmaidens
Princess of Mirkwood
Lylalva Evenstar (also known as Lylalva the Twilight or Lylalva the Sea-child and later called Lylalva Greenleaf) was born in Lorien in the year 241 of the Third Age, the same year Arwen was born. Lylalva's parents were distantly related to Tunviel, making her half-elven, but only in a small precentage, as many of the marriages after the famed Eldar-Eidan couple were of pure-blood elves.
Lylalva was called the Twilight by the Lorien elves due to the fact she had dark hair. She also wore a thin veil to cover her ocean-colored eyes because of the fact that if any elf that hadn't had the yearning for the sea awakened within them could be cursed into doing so. She blamed herself for making her friends for going over the Sea to the Grey Havens. The veil colored her eyes the color of the night sky. She later earned the name Sea-child when Elrond, after adopting her, encouraged her to show her true self.
History
History: the Third Age ( the Years Before the Great Years )
Years after being born into Lorien, Elrond, King of Rivendell and of Elves, adopted her as his niece. She grew close to Arwen and Elrond's sons (the latter who taught her how to be a shieldmaiden while she was young). Desiring to fight against Sauron, she attempted to sneak away to fight after Celebrian, Elrond's wife, left for the Grey Havens. Elrond was intensely angered and forbid her to adventure or go to battles for a few hundred years, and basically limited her mobility to Rivendell and its safe walls.
Within this time, Lylalva and Glorfindel, the elf-lord in Rivendell, established a close relationship. Many elves within Rivendell noticed their chemistry and teased them by saying they would be "the best Lord and Lady since Celeborn and Galadriel". Lylalva took this as a well-meant joke, but Glorfindel had indeed fallen in love with her.
The day the ban on her adventuring was lifted, Lylalva travelled the entirety of Middle-earth. She used her talent of singing around the world, using her veil when performing in foreign elven lands, such as Mirkwood. There, she met Legolas briefly. Glorfindel was against her leaving for a long amount of time, and sometimes travelled with her to provide help.
A few years before the Great Years of 1318, Lylalva came into possession of a cursed elven sword. She entered a crypt with a friend of hers, who was mysteriously killed by the entrance by an unknown force. She entered, hesitant, only to find the sword and an inscription in old elvish, which told of a power awakened by the blood of a friend. The sword caused her to be able to control the blood of anyone the blade touched (it was awakened by the blood of her elven companion) and turn it into a evil magical weapon.After a few years of research with Elrond, Arwen, and Glorfindel helping, she realized how to destroy it: take it to Lorien, the land where she was born.
History: the Great Years of the Third Age (1318)
Lylalva decided to join the Fellowship since they were journeying to Lorien on their way. She wore a dark green hooded cloak, a black tunic and pants, and dark green light walking shoes. She took her famed bow Autumn-bringer, her sword Vala (after the name she received on birth in Lorien), and a small elvish dagger.
She was originally resisted by Glorfindel and Elrond, who believed she could simply ask another to take the cursed sword Nightblood. She refused, and went with the Fellowship to Lorien. After she met Galadriel, the Elven Lady of the Wood took the cursed blade and destroyed it for her, and bid her to stay in Lorien. Lylalva wished to continue with the Fellowship, and stayed with Aragorn when the group broke up.
History: After the Great Years
Lylalva, after the War of the Ring, retired being a shieldmaiden. Galadriel of Lorien named her the Queen of the Sea (and gave her a special jewelry tiara with a Elven sea-stone within it) during Aragorn's coronation. She became King Elessar's (Aragorn) main minstrel for a few years before marrying Legolas of Mirkwood. Glorfindel, torn between happiness for his friend but rage for her choice, left for the Undying Lands (he never admitted to Lylalva his love for her). She had a daughter with Legolas who died young, and decided to go to the Grey Havens with Legolas and Gimli when everything was over.
During the years after 1319, Lylalva preformed within King Elessar's kingdom regularly. She was a great attraction for the kingdom, and people of all races came to see her sing and preform traditional elven songs and a few more un-traditional songs she had wrote herself. She even went to the forest of Fragorn to sing for the Ents, but it took so long for her to get done with everything she vowed never again would she do it ("even though elves created the Tree-people to talk to," she said, "I cannot spend another minute with them, as it is quite insufferable to sing and be asked to repeat the same song until one's voice effectively gives out"). Instead, Ents were required to make their way to wherever she preformed if they wished to hear a song.
A year into this, Legolas came to the kingdom were Lylalva was staying with her (adoptive) cousin, Arwen. During this time they related the adventure of the Ring and talked about the future of Middle-earth. The conversation turned to their future, and within a couple months Legolas had proposed to Lylalva.
The marriage took place in Mirkwood on a beautiful blue-sky summer day in 1320. Gimli the Dwarf, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin of the Shire, King Elessar and Arwen, and several others were among those in attendance. Lylalva received the title of "Princess of Mirkwood" and was from then on referred to as Princess Lylalva.
She got pregnant a couple years into the very happy marriage, and gave birth the year of 1323. However, in the winter of 1325, Legolas and Lylalva's daughter died due to an orc-raid that broke the defenses where the family was staying for a vacation. Lylalva fell into a depression, and the couple agreed not to have children. By the year 1330 (when the couple had been married 10 years), Lylalva had became a happier person. Many people who saw the royal elven couple compared them to a newlywed one, still happy and full of vigor.
They lived for many, many years together before heading for the Grey Havens.
Other Information
Appearance & Personality
Lylalva is a shorter female elf of about 5'1" or 2". She has long waist-length dark brown hair, a child-like but fair face, and ocean-teal eyes. Prior to being a Fellowship member, she wore, while in the house of Elrond, dark grey robes with pale blue accents with a veil.
She has a sweet but silent personality. She can be rather sarcastic when annoyed, and nothing much surprises her. She is serious at times and gives the facts straight without much metaphor, but still speaks poetically.
Weapons (Named) & Abilities
Autumn-bringer and Vala were her first two named weapons. Autumn-bringer was a short white bow with carved orange leaves etched into it, and was a gift made by Galadriel. Vala (elvish for "angelic power") was the birthname given to her and later bestowed on her most beautiful sword. Ocean-queen was the name of an elven dagger that she received after her unnamed one broke during an orc raid (when she was an adventurer).
She is an expert horse-rider, frequently riding elven-style (bareback). She has a stallion called Ice-Dancer, a tall and lean black horse with snow-like markings on various parts of his pelt. He also had a pure white mane and tail. She worked well with many animals and actually had a young hawk as a child who she trained to hunt mice. She is an expert archer and swordwoman. She is a good planner, very agile, and keeps her aces to her chest when in the company of unfamiliar people.
Family & Friendships
Lylalva is the adoptive niece of Elrond and adoptive cousin of Arwen and Elrond's sons. She was adopted much like Bilbo adopted Frodo. She is related directly to Tunviel (the same Tunviel of the myths and legends), and her parents were Lorien elves who left for the Undying Lands shortly after she was born, and she was raised chiefly by Galadriel and Celeborn as a baby. She has a loving relationship with her adoptive family.
She is married to Legolas of Mirkwood, with who their marriage is happy, loving and romantic. Elrond initially was against Lylalva living in Mirkwood (much like how he was against her joining the Fellowship), but later learned that her and Legolas were a good match.
She is good friends still with the members of the Fellowship, as well as Eowyn of Rohan. She is mainly friends with elves from Rivendell (such as Glorfindel), but she has many friends that are Hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Rose, Goldilocks, etc) ,Men (Eowyn, Eomer, etc), and Dwarves (mainly Gimli).
*I intend to edit more on Legolas and Lylalva's marriage and life together later! I also will add more to her ability section, and the clothing she wore in the appearance section, since I am still designing her robes.
