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Gil-galad was an Elven-king... - Page 3

© Michael Martinez

In the case of Gil-galad's parentage we have a more certain declaration from Christopher than the one above. In The Peoples of Middle-earth he devoted a brief commentary to the parentage of Gil-galad on pages 349-51. It appears that the true genealogy of Gil-galad places him as the son of Orodreth, who himself was the son of Angrod, and not one of the children of Finarfin. "There can be no doubt that this was my father's last word on the subject," Christopher tells us. His final statement reads: "Much closer analysis of the admittedly extremely complex material than I had made twenty years ago makes it clear that Gil-galad as the son of Fingon (see XI.56,243) was an ephemeral idea." What a revelation! Saying that Gil-galad as the son of Fingon was "an ephemeral idea" lit the fires of controversy almost overnight. People have argued back and forth through the years on what the right parentage for Gil-galad should be. And yet we have it from Christopher Tolkien that there can be no doubt concerning his parentage: he was the son of Orodreth. Furthermore, Christopher admits to changing Gil-galad's name in the text of the letter published as part of "Aldarion and Erendis" in Unfinished Tales. Where the book shows "Ereinion Gil-galad son of Fingon" JRRT had actually written "Finellach Gil-galad of the House of Finarfin". In another passage of the story Christopher also changed "King Finellach Gil-galad of Lindon" to "King Gil-galad of Lindon". So why do people continue to doubt the word of Christopher Tolkien, the man who published The Silmarillion, admittedly with the intention of providing "a single text", who selected and arranged the material to produce a consistent and coherent narrative (a goal he did not fully achieve, by his own admission)? I think answering that question would require an analysis on the order of a dissertation. The refusal to accept Christopher Tolkien's authoritative statements on any number of issues is a sociological phenomenon. But we can examine Gil-galad in the context of the correct story and determine a few things about his character which were never revealed in The Silmarillion. That is, we can deduce something of his personal history. Orodreth was probably born in Valinor. His mother was Eldalôtë, a Noldorin lady whose name was easily converted to Sindarin Edhellos. When Finrod built the hidden city of Nargothrond, he commended rule over Tol Sirion and the adjoining lands to Angrod, while Aegnor retained command over the heights of Dorthonion which overlooked Ard-galen. All this contradicts what we are told in The Silmarillion, of course.

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