The Deep Places of the World
| Celebrimbor, Gil-Galad, Eärendil, and Elwing | ||
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The published Silmarillion is not solely the product of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination. It was assembled from notes and stories made over the course of decades by his son, Christopher Tolkien. Among the many things which Christopher had to deal with was the history of Gil-Galad, the eventual High King who fought and died in the War of the Last Alliance.
Christopher concluded that Ereinion Gil-Galad was the son of Fingon (son of Fingolfin son of Finwë), and that is the way the Silmarillion presents matters. But more recently, Christopher has admitted that this was not his father’s final word on the matter – in fact, it was only a transient idea. Gil-Galad, according to J.R.R. Tolkien, was to be the son of Orodreth of Nargothrond, who in turn would be the son of Angrod (son of Finarfin son of Finwë). It is from this idea that a new and exciting detail can be discovered. We know that Gil-Galad, before becoming High King of the Noldor, dwelt at the Havens of Sirion, and later on the Isle of Balar immediately to the south. He wasn’t the only famous inhabitant of the Havens, though… After the fall of Nargothrond, Celebrimbor, son of Curufin (son of Fëanor son of Finwë) was homeless. He may have moved to Gondolin (in some sources he was said to be a jewel-smith of that realm), or he may have travelled south to the Havens of Sirion. He certainly didn’t rejoin his family – if he had had anything to do with the second and third Kinslayings, he would never have been on friendly terms with Galadriel in the Second Age – and it seems unlikely that he would have left Beleriand entirely. After Gondolin fell, then, one way or another, Eärendil and Celebrimbor would have ended up together in the Havens, along with Gil-Galad – and, of course, Elwing of Doriath, Eärendil’s future wife. Celebrimbor was a descendant of Fëanor. Gil-Galad was a descendant of Finarfin. Eärendil was a descendant of Turgon, son of Fingolfin (through his mother), and also, through his father, of the mortal house of Hador – and, by a long chain of ancestors, also the house of Haleth (Eärendil, son of Tuor, son of Huor, son of Galdor, who married Hareth of that house). Elwing was descended from Elu Thingol, king of the Sindar – and from Melian, the Maia – and from Beren, last of the other great mortal house, Bëor. Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finarfin. Bëor, Haleth, Hador. Thingol. Between them, these four held the right of dominion over every major house among Men and Elves in Beleriand, save only the Green-Elves who took no king. And they all lived in the same city. There’s a meeting I wouldn’t have minded listening in on. | ||
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