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The Wars of the Glorfindels - Page 9

© Michael Martinez

Tolkien tells the reader just enough about Glorfindel in The Lord of the Rings to imply that he was a very important Elf lord, but no more. It's not until we get to The Silmarillion and read about his great sacrifice that we learn about Glorfindel's tragic history. And yet even the Gondolin story leaves something to be desired. The account in The Silmarillion is a pastiche assembled by Christopher from "The Fall of Gondolin" and "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin". It doesn't really say the great things that "The Fall of Gondolin" attempted to say. Other than commanding one of Turgon's flanks in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Glorfindel isn't mentioned anywhere else in The Silmarillion. He had to be one of the Exiles, moved by Feanor's demand that the Noldor follow him back to Middle-earth. He probably did not take part in the Kinslaying at Alqualonde, since of Fingolfin's host only Fingon's people helped the Feanorians directly. Turgon, presumably, came after his father's group of Noldor. So Glorfindel survived the crossing of the Helcaraxe, and he was there with Fingolfin when the greater part of the Noldor marched on Angband with no effect. And he must have sat by as the greater princes of the Noldor convened their council in the wake of Fingon's rescue of Maedhros. Glorfindel is always there, in the background, a face amid the nameless legions of characters who make up the ancient hosts of the Noldor. What's odd is that The Silmarillion sparked more questions about Glorfindel's ancestry than about his personal history. Was he one of the Vanyar? Was he only part Vanyarin? Why did he have golden hair, if (as Tolkien says in The Lord of the Rings) only the descendants of Finarfin and Earwen have golden hair among the Noldor? Golden hair is supposed to be a rare thing among the Elves, and yet the Elven-king of northern Mirkwood has golden hair in The Hobbit, some nameless Elf warrior of Lothlorien is golden-haired in The Lord of the Rings, and Glorfindel and Idril Celebrindal both have golden hair. Idril, at least, is a descendant of Indis, second wife of Finwe, who came of the Vanyar, and Idril's own mother Elenwe was from the Vanyar. Tolkien's ideas on Elven physical attributes must not have been fully-developed when he made the statement that only Finarfin's descendants had golden hair among the Noldor. But that doesn't explain Glorfindel's ancestry. Who were his parents? Was he part Vanya, like Idril? It seems quite likely he must have had one some Vanyarin blood. People feel that the Vanyar were above rebellion, but Elenwe's decision to join Turgon in exile is an indication they were not. If one wife was moved to follow her husband, then why not others? And it may be that Elenwe went only because she and Turgon had not been married for very long. Idril was only a child when Elenwe was lost in the ice. So Idril was born during the sojourn through Araman, after the Kinslaying.

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