“She was strong, free of mind, and filled with the desire for knowledge…She made images of men and women of the Eldar, and these were so alike that their friends, if they knew not her art, would speak to them.”
(In universe backstory)
This painting of Nerdanel, titled The Sculptor at Work, is painted by her husband, Fëanor. The subject of the unfinished sculpture is believed to be Fëanor himself.
Beren sees the most beautiful woman he has ever seen- the most beautiful woman ever to exist in the history of the world - and he calls her Tinúviel, nightingale.
The nightingale is a very plain bird - small, brown, rather nondescript, probably hard to distinguish visually from dozens or hundreds of other similar-looking bird species in the world. But it is famed for the beauty of its song.
Faced by the world’s most beautiful woman, half-divine, Beren names her not for what she is or how she looks, but for what she does.
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