It's All in the Family: The Finweans - Page 13
© Michael Martinez
It would undoubtedly have been necessary to construe some depressing fate for both Erien and Finbor, as Finbor would have to be Fingon's heir. It served Tolkien's purpose to move Gil-galad to the family of Finarfin. Hence, the High Kingship passed from the childless Fingon to Turgon, and then from Fingolfin's family (the male line of which ended with Turgon) to Finarfin's.
The children of Finarfin and Earwen were Findarato Ingoldo (Finrod), Angarato (Angrod), Aikanaro (Aegnor), and Newende Artanis (later called Altariel, Galadriel). The Silmarillion places Orodreth (Artaher or Arothir) among Finarfin's sons, but the final decision was to make him the son of Angrod and Eldalote (Eþellos, Edhellos in Sindarin). She was a Noldo, and Arothir was born in Aman. The Silmarillion says that Orodreth stood beside Finarfin in pleading with the Noldor not to follow Feanor into exile. It would not be entirely inconsistent with the final genealogy for Arothir to retain that role. He was a reluctant warrior-king, and only gradually allowed himself to be swayed by Turin's aggressive policies.
Tolkien's final decision on Finrod is puzzling. In August 1965, he wrote a brief explanation of Gil-galad's descent. The text says "Finrod left his wife in Valinor and had no children in exile". Finrod's (here unnamed) wife must be Amarie of the Vanyar. But the sentence could mean one of three things: that Finrod and Amarie had children who remained in Valinor, that they had no children, or that they had children after he was restored to life by the Valar. It is tempting to rationalize the claim of Gildor Inglorion, whom Frodo, Sam, and Pippin meet in the Shire, with this rather ambiguous statement. That is, Gildor told Frodo that he was "of the house of Finrod". So far as we know, there was only one Finrod. Originally, the name Finrod had been given to the father, and the prince who founded the realm of Nargothrond was named Inglor. But while revising The Lord of the Rings for the second edition, Tolkien changed Finrod to Finarphir (later it became Finarphin, Finarfin) and Inglor to Finrod. But he did not change Gildor's name.
If Gildor is truly a descendant of Finrod, he must have been born in Valinor. But if that is the case, how did he arrive in Middle-earth, and when? Tolkien seems to have overlooked Gildor completely. And people are quick to point out that Gildor names himself an Exile (or, rather, he says, "We are Exiles"). How could Gildor be an Exile if he was born after Finrod was restored to life? The answer to that question is simple: any of the children of the Noldor who went into exile, and who were living in Middle-earth, would be Exiles (a sub-group of the Noldor) as much as they were still Noldor. Yet there is no text which associates Gildor with the renamed Finrod/Finarfin or the renamed Inglor/Finrod (other than his own name, which means "scion of Inglor").
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