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The Wars of the Glorfindels

© Michael Martinez

J.R.R. Tolkien created a lot of "throw-off" characters, characters who appear for a story or only part of a story, never to re-emerge fully again. And of all these throw-offs the one which garners nearly as much attention and discussion as any of the primary characters is Glorfindel. Or would that be, the Glorfindels. Was there one or two of the guy? Enquiring minds want to know (or do they just want to argue forever and never actually know?). Why is Glorfindel so cool? He shows up near the end of "Flight to the Ford", is seen but not heard in "Many Meetings" (oh, Gandalf and Frodo talk about him briefly), participates in "The Council of Elrond" long enough to confound and confusticate Bombadilian matters, and then vanishes until Arwen arrives in Gondor to marry Aragorn in "The Steward and the King". Except for putting Frodo on his white Elven horse and lighting up like a Christmas tree when the Nazgul try to cross the Ford of Bruinen, what does Glorfindel do that is so special? His one real claim to fame comes in an anecdote in Appendix A where his arrival with an Elven army in Angmar helps defeat the Witch-king (in the north) once and for all. Of course, no Glorfindel discussion is complete (and few are started) without someone asking, "Was the Glorfindel of Gondolin related to the Glorfindel of Rivendell?" Sometimes one is tempted to respond with something like, "Yes, they were twin brothers, and the evil one killed the good one and took his place in the family. The Elves have yet to catch on to the truth." It may be fairly said that the relationship between the two Glorfindels is not obvious. In fact, it's really not clear to many people who have studied the matter for decades. For some reason, the revelation in The Return of the Shadow that "years later, long after the publication of The Lord of the Rings" J.R.R. Tolkien decided after much thought that Glorfindel of Rivendell was actually Glorfindel of Gondolin returned from the dead, just doesn't carry much weight with some people. Why? Because the decision to connect the two characters this way was made years later, after The Lord of the Rings had been published. By implication (or inference, depending on which way you examine the issue) Glorfindel of Rivendell was not originally conceived of as Glorfindel of Gondolin. Well, that's fair enough. In fact, originally, Tolkien had written "Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin" in a note which outlined events for the Council of Elrond. Clearly JRRT was intending to connect Glorfindel of Rivendell with Glorfindel of Gondolin, although at this time (the early 1940s) hardly anyone other than J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and a few close friends even knew about the Glorfindel of Gondolin.

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