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The Wars of the Glorfindels - Page 2

© Michael Martinez

Glorfindel had hardly blazed a trail across the pages of Tolkien's imagination. He appears in one story in The Book of Lost Tales, and that is "The Fall of Gondolin". There he doesn't even make his appearance until the battle for the city is on, and he arrives with the battalion from the House of the Golden Flower. His "house" bore a device of "rayed sun upon their shield", but Glorfindel himself "bare a mantle so broidered in threads of gold that it was diapered with celandine as a field in spring; and his arms were damascened with cunning gold." Of the eleven lords of houses of Gondolin (who served King Turgon), Glorfindel is the only one whose personal device is described. Glorfindel was one of the smarter lords. He didn't rush out and get slaughtered with all his warriors, but most of them died nonetheless defending Turgon. The warriors of the House of the Harp (whose lord Salgant had held back out of fear) saved Glorfindel and some of his warriors when they were almost overwhelmed. From that point forward Glorfindel stayed close to Tuor, but he didn't really accomplish much until Tuor began fleeing the city with all the women and children he could gather together. Then Glorfindel took the rearguard and fought off dragons, orcs, and balrogs with his dwindling force of warriors. Tuor retreated from the city to the mountains and there the column of exiles, nearly a thousand strong, were ambushed. Orcs had been sent to the hills and mountains to prevent any escapes from the city, and they threw rocks upon the column from high cliffs while troops attacked the head of the column and its rear. And with the attack on the rear came a Balrog. Thorondor and his eagles stopped the Orcs who were throwing rocks, but the Balrog pressed in on Glorfindel's warriors and he finally attacked it alone. Glorfindel's battle with the Balrog was brief but he managed to kill it. He ended up going over a cliff with the creature, and so died himself, and the Elves made songs about his victory and death long afterward. There is something moving about Glorfindel's sacrifice, and I cannot help but wonder if Tolkien wasn't projecting something of his friends Rob Gilson and Geoffrey Bache Smith, both of whom were killed in World War I. Gilson had fallen in battle at La Boiselle, leading a contingent of British soldiers into battle on July 1, according to Tolkien's biographer, Humphrey Carpenter. Smith wrote a letter to Tolkien, who himself survived unscathed 48 hours of front-line combat at Ovillers. When Tolkien's company was relieved and he returned to quarters he found Smith's letter.

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