Home » Reading & Literature » J.R.R. Tolkien » Gil-galad was an Elven-king... - Page 4

Gil-galad was an Elven-king... - Page 4

© Michael Martinez

When the Dagor Bragollach erupted and the Noldor were thrown back Finrod rushed north to reinforce his brothers, but he was too late. Aegnor's people were overwhlemed, and though Angrod's people held out on Tol Sirion for a while Angrod himself was eventually slain and Orodreth retreated from the island, fleeing to Nargothrond. He took with him his wife, a Sindarin lady from the northern lands, and his son (Rodnor Gil-galad) and daughter (Finduilas). Gil-galad didn't stay in Nargothrond for very long. He would have settled there at the very earliest around the year 455 (the year of the Dagor Bragollach), and Christopher cites a note from his father which states that "Gil-galad escaped and eventually came to Sirion's Mouth and was King of the Noldor there". His escape would have to be from the destruction of Nargothrond, which occurred in the year 495. During those 40 years we hear nothing of Gil-galad, but we can infer that he may have been present at the great debate when Beren asked for Finrod's help in the quest of the Silmaril. He, of course, was not one of the twelve faithful lords who accompanied Finrod on the quest, but presumably Gil-galad would have been deemed too young or too important to join the quest (in fact, he had not even been conceived of in Tolkien's thought when the fullest version of Beren's story was written in the 1930s). Gil-galad did not march with Gwindor's company to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and he doesn't seem to have been one of the soldiers in Orodreth's army which was defeated by Glaurung's army at the Battle of Tumhalad. It would make sense for Orodreth to leave Gil-galad behind to defend Nargothrond. Gil-galad might only then have just been reaching full maturity. And Orodreth was usually a cautious ruler, having only given in to pressure from Turin and the impatient Noldorin lords who favored Turin's counsel to abandon Nargothrond's policy of hidden defense. Thus when Glaurung came up against the city and its defenders proved to be too few and weak to withstand the dragon, the young prince must have become separated from his family. We don't know the fate of his mother, though she was probably killed or taken prisoner, but Finduilas was captured and taken with other Elf-women to Brethil by the Orcs. There she was mortally wounded despite the best efforts of the wood-men to free the captives. Making his way south Gil-galad reached the Mouths of Sirion. The community of Elves and Men which would later found the realm of Arvernien under Earendil did not yet exist, but many Noldor (and Sindar) had been fleeing south for years, hoping to join up with Cirdan, whose people had abandoned the Falas after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in 473 and fled to the Isle of Balar. Annael, leader of the group of Sindar who fostered Tuor, eventually reached the Mouths of Sirion.

The copyright of the article Gil-galad was an Elven-king... - Page 4 in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish Gil-galad was an Elven-king... - Page 4 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.