Zimanbalak - A woman of a Numenorian colony, admired and eventually met and fell in love with King Aldarion (later becoming known as the Witch-King of Angmar). They planned to have her become handmaiden to his wife and he give her a potion he created to kill his in time. It would look like an illness and rid him of her hatred and then he and Zimanbalak could be together. But while tending to his wife on night and becoming frustrated and enraged by her constant belittling of him, Zimanbalak strangled her.
The ring given to Aldarion by Annatar began to effect him more than ever. Tormented by it, it spoke to him and with time he almost become translucent in daylight. But Zimanbalak always believed and felt the power of the ring herself and he loved her for her loyalty and even began to trust her... or as much as he could trust anyone. She dreaded the day it would take him from her but she loved him even still. Their love was strong, powerful but the situation brought ineveitable doom. She vowed and made a blood oath that she would love him until the unmaking of the world and would long to be with him and follow him through any paths, through darkness as long as he existed. She also promised loyalty and devotion to Annatar, the Lord of the Gifts.
Dinheruiel-Name given
to her by Thranduil of Mirkwood
Madurz-Name given to her later on by Khamul meaning "Free"
Reasoning..free from the lies of elves and men. Free heart due
to Gandalf
The last figure she saw before she drifted
off was that of Khamul's. It usually was. Last words accompanied
by a kiss and a suprisingly gentle stroke of an armored glove
on her cheek. "Sleep now my love."
And she did. This night sleep came easily for her and so did dreams.
But nothing like the dreams she had had in recent nights, but
visions of a life that seemed so foreign to her now....childhood.
A young fair child about the age of 5.
Medium blonde hair like the color of wet sand and eyes of gray.
Wide and innocent yet laden with depth and unknown age. She sat
around and ate with the elves of Mirkwood, where she was abandoned
as a baby and taken and raised by the fair race. She stopped eating
as her eyes passed over each face that she sat with. "My
eyes and ears are different. I can not do the things you do."
This was something observed by her well before now, and they had
assumed she had gathered her differences as well, but this was
the first time she had spolen it aloud to them and with a tone
that was not entirely of innocent child-like questioning. And
with such odd timing this took them aback as they eyes each other.
And quickly, who she had grown to know of as a father spoke. "Dinheruiel,
you are still a child of this forest...a child of the Wood Elves,
and therefore are part of us.
............fade.....................
Young girl, age of 8, running and laughing
with elf children of a smililar age group, Circling the trees
and jumping over their roots. Agile they were and light were their
steps. A boy gathers up some stones and tosses each of them one,
"Here...try to throw your stone...*he points ahead* ...into
that opening in that tree there." She looked ahead in the
distance and near the base of a far tree was a hollow that was
hard enough for her to focus on. They all threw their stones and
hit their mark effortlessly and soundlessly beacause it hit dead
center of the hollow. She happened to go last since she was standing
on the end, and when she threw it, it also soundless, but because
it landed way shy of the tree. She picked up another stone and
tried agin with the same result. Growing frustrated, she trew
3 more and when she finally did reach the tree, it missed the
target by nearly a foot. The boy came to her and draped his arm
over her shoulder. "It's ok Dinheruiel." He spoke sincerely
and smiled warmly. "Come on, let's do something else."
And she began to calm,
..................fade......................
Now at an age of 11. Her eyes seemed ever
older. She gazes upon 3 female elves a bit older than she as they
laughed amongst themselves. Seeing her they smiled brightly and
waved her over. She sat with them and smiled. Soft voice spoke
to her. "You grow more beautiful each day Dinheruiel...*as
her hands stroke her sandy hair*...almost as much as us now."
She senses the hurt in the child and quickly clears up the misinterpretation.
"I meant in the development of age of course."
................fade..........................
Same age of 11, This time alone. Walking
in the forest, The only sound was that of the wind through the
leaves and her footsteps. She stopped and looked straight into
the distance for long moments, before her gazing was interrupted
and she took in a quick breath as she looked up to the top of
the trees. Did something move? She looks around her feet, but
sees nothing and assumes her mind was playing tricks on her. She
gasps as all of a sudden she feels a hand on her shoulder and
an almost stern voice. "Dinheruiel...you wander much too
far. " She spins and faces her "father" who now
smiles and touches the tip of her nose with his finger. ...."And
far too much. Your steps lead you in the direction of dangerous
areas." She sighs. "I am sorry Thranduil." He gently
places his hand on her back. "Come my dear...and you will
hear of darker tales."
..................awake.......................
Almost dawn now and her eyes flutter open as her hands move to rub her temples. Unexpected dreams, Why after all this time would she dream of those years...those memories, Why would she dream of elves? She looks around for Khamul, but her tent is dark and empty.
***
Zimanbalak was reborn...how many times unsure and whether to make up for past mistakes of the dark path she chose or to fulfill the destiny to be with her love and Lord for all time is also unsure.
And now the soul with feelings and memories of Zimanbalak were embedded in Dinheruiel (later, Madurz). An abandoned and nameless human infant in Mirkwood, found by the Wood-Elves and gave her a name and a home there with them. They became her family. Thranduil became sort of a father figure. For long, with the wonder that a young child has, she was intrigued by them. Their stories, their beauty and voices and their abilities. The thought herself as one of them, but as she grew, began to dislike how she paled in comparison to them. With time she began to feel like an outcast and started to think them as arrogant but still she was young and vulnerable. But there was a void in her.
With age she became extremely smart and intuitive. Instead of just sitting and listening to their stories she became inquisitive and oppinionated. By the age of 13, she started to get new feelings and saw flashes of images that were foreign to her. Some of the elves seemed to look at her differently. She started to feel more separated from them, sometimes withdrawn and often wandered on her own. She was filled with new emotions and various pictures in her mind. Felt a heaviness in her heart of loss..a love? a group to belong to..serve? She was still so young..and yet felt so old at times.
And when all of this became an overwhelming
drive. she stole provisions and left the elves in her mid-teens.
She lived on her own, moving through the safe lands finding what
food she could or killing for it. Sometimes she would wander into
dangerous lands, sometimes she would struggle for survival all
the while this need to fill this hole in her growing stronger
as she became more tormented by the surfacing memories and feelings.
Now in her twenties, she made her way into Mordor, and it felt
right being there. Angmar allowed her safe passage into Minas
Morgul, for he had some vague recollection of her. However, being
too busy with matters of war to speak with her, his Second-in-Command,
Khamul the Black Easterling, became her protector. Elrond Halfelven
did not approve of her journeying into Mordor and one day she
journeyed into Shelob's lair and was almost killed by the spider.
Khamul wanted to take her to Lugburz for healing, but Elrond wanted
to take her to Rivendell.
Elrond shot down Khamul's fell beast and took Madurz to Rivendell. Khamul followed them to the borders of Rivendell but could not enter. Elrond healed her wounds but was still distubed by her need to go back thought her mind now needed healing and asked Gandalf to perform this greater task. He sensed her torment for the love she had for Angmar and seeing him fade in a past life brought her much pain, so he erased all her feelings for him, leaving her only the memories.
But it was not enough to take away the emptiness she felt inside. Yes, the feelings of love tortured her the most but she still had that pull to Mordor and the Dark Lord and that need to find her own truth after being fed lies from the elves and the stories spread through the lands about the darkness and evil. She still had that past and was not satisfied so she soon left Rivendell and went back to Minas Morgul. She now had a free heart and with that could not get the Nazgul who tried to get her to Lugburz out of her head.
When he asked her her name she didn't respond. She remembered it, but it seems so odd to her now to even speak it since she had been alone for so long and had not heard it and now being in Minas Morgul did not even want that part of her life anymore. She in her silence he called her Madurz. This means "Free" in Black Speech and he chose it because she was now free of the deception of men and elves and free of the life she knew before she entered Mordor. They would spend many pleasant evenings talking.
One day, she was appraoched by three orcs in Ilithien who intended to feast on her flesh though one showed hesitation from the rumors he heard she was under preotection but the two others attacked and stabbed her in the side. With only him in her mind she screamed his name but he had already came to her rescue, disemboweling the two orcs with foul intentions and let the third go, cutting his ear off as a warning to any who bothered the lady of Minas Morgul. Khamul then took her back to the city and healed her through powers of sorcery and magic.
Khamul became attatched to Madurz but was still under suspicion and her motives questioned. He told her that she would be a prisoner there unless she willingly accepted Sauron as her Lord and Master and became his loyal servant. And she did and she meant it. It was done by her own will and she now felt she was becoming complete as her destiny was being fulfilled and her heart was finding love for Khamul and promised devotion to Mordor, the Nine and Lord Sauron.
They shared many glasses of wine and he showed her the wonderful sights from the High Tower She began to find in herself a hidden killer that had been buried for long, releasing her hosility for the misled and ignorant prisoners in bloody torture. Khamul grew to favor Madurz though she had full understanding of his nature and his true calling and she fell completely in love with him.