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Lonely Wanderers and the Tales That Almost Were - Page 7

© Michael Martinez

The prestige and position of the Lords of Amroth did not simply leap into existence with "Cirion and Eorl", however. Imrahil assumed command over Minas Tirith after Denethor's death in the primary text, and in 1963 Tolkien composed a draft for a letter (No. 244), in which he wrote "to be Prince of Ithilien, the greatest noble after Dol Amroth in the revived Numenorean state of Gondor" and also "the chief commanders, under the King, would be Faramir and Imrahil: and one of these would normally remain a military commander at home in the King's absence." So the use of a Lord of Dol Amroth as a captain in "Cirion and Eorl" is not in itself contradictory with the texts, both published and unpublished, concerning the family's history. But the statement that Galador was the first Lord of Dol Amroth is troubling to Christopher, because anyone named "of Dol Amroth" is naturally assumed to be the Lord "of Dol Amroth". Christopher is further perplexed by the garbled history of Amroth. Who was he, and how did Dol Amroth come to be named for him? In some accounts, Elves actually lived at Dol Amroth, incluing Amroth (for whom the hill was named). The issue of consistency cannot be satisfactorily resolved. An association between Amroth the Elven-king of Lorien and the highlands of Belfalas prior to 1981 simply cannot be achieved. Amroth started out as Celeborn's brother, but then became Celeborn's son, and finally became the son of Malgalad or Amdir, the King of Lothlorien who died with many of his warriors in the Dead Marshes in the first Battle of Dagorlad at the end of the Second Age. The introduction of Amdir into the tale of Amroth affords an opportunity for his son (Amroth) to dwell in Belfalas, near the Elvish haven of Edhellond, at some point in the Second Age. Presumably, Amroth would have settled there after the War of the Elves and Sauron, and would only have returned to Lorien after the War of the Last Alliance. But though it may be necessary to contrive an explanation for the name of the hill (Dol Amroth), it is not necessary to assume that a Lord of Dol Amroth in 1944 is an oversight. That is, the tradition associated with the genealogy partially published in "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn" in Unfinished Tales never achieved the status of published canon. J.R.R. Tolkien had no reason to feel bound to abide by what he had originally written concerning the origins of the Princes of Dol Amroth. It seems evident that he had made the decision to revise that history and extend it further back. The first Lord of Dol Amroth, therefore, need not be Galador.

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