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It's All in the Family: The Elweans and Ingweans - Page 9

© Michael Martinez

Cirdan is another of Elwe's kinsmen. Like Celeborn and Elwe, Cirdan is silver-haired (grey-haired in The Lord of the Rings). Earwen, the daughter of Olwe and Galadriel's mother, also has silver hair, and it is strongly implied that Celebrian, the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, may also be silver haired. Although Tolkien never assigns a significance to the silver hair, he uses it to bind Elwe's family together with a symbol of royalty. The slver hair seems to have been a mark of the family, and perhaps no other Elves would have had silver hair. But the trait does not always appear in the family lines. For example, in "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" ("Unfinished Tales"), Voronwe tells Tuor that he is the son of Aranwe (a Noldo, whom Voronwe later on claims is "of the House of Fingolfin") and a Sindarin lady who was related to Cirdan. Although we never hear of a Mrs. Cirdan, if Voronwe's mother is only related by marriage to Cirdan, then she need not be silver-haired. But if she is silver-haired, should Voronwe have the silver hair? Cirdan's family is not further elucidated, although it seems to me that Tolkien missed a great opportunity to expand the legends of Beleriand. Cirdan could have had one or two sons who fell in the wars of Beleriand. Imagine a Cirdanwion making a valiant last stand as Brithombar was overrun by Orcs, and Cirdan had to watch his brave son fall beneath enemy swords while his ship, the last to leave the quays, moved out. Perhaps Tolkien would have had Cirdan's son leap onto the quays to sacrifice himself in a heroic holding action. Of course, Cirdan was also a close friend to the Dunedain. He apparently spent a lot of time with Aldarion, who learned a great deal from Cirdan about constructing sea-walls and harbors. A son or grandson of Cirdan could have made an impact in the War of the Elves and Sauron, or even the War of the Last Alliance. But there seems little room for Cirdanic heroics in those two wars. Cirdan's personal moment of tragedy was probably the fall of the Falas. Everything after that was just an extension of his life toward the War of the Ring. Cirdan's mark in Beleriand was the Falas. Eol is another Thingolian kinsman, at least in some conceptions. "Quendi and Eldar" supposes that Eol is a Tatyarin Elf, one of the Avari, who resents the Noldor. In a note attached to the text, Christopher Tolkien writes: "It is curious that -- as in the original text of Maeglin, where he was 'of the kin of Thingol' -- in my father's very late work on the story Eol becomes again 'one of the Eldar'...." Eol is generally accepted as one of Thingol's relatives, but we only have it so because that is how Christopher compressed the story of Maeglin for The Silmarillion. "The Shibboleth of Feanor", which appears to be the most authoritative treatment of the Finwean genealogy, makes no mention of Eol (in fact, it appears to confuse Ireth, a name for Aredhel, with Idril in one passage).

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