Posted: March 29, 2000 at 14:24:24: by Beleriandil
: : : I don't understand why people don't want Gil-galad to be
: : : Orodreth's son. This was Tolkien's decision on the matter.
: : : Christopher Tolkien has admitted that he interjected the
: : : incorrect lineage for Gil-galad into THE SILMARILLION.: : I guess most people (me included) doesn't like to change their
: : minds on something they thought they knew, they don't want to
: : admit they're wrong. No matter if it was a mistake or not, the
: : Silmarillion says that Gil-Galad was the son of Fingon so when
: : you read the PoME many years later, it is hard to believe that
: : Silm was wrong, so a lot of people denie it. I also believe
: : that Gil-Galad was the son of Fingon, but I know I can't prove
: : it. : But why invest yourself emotionally in something that has been repudiated? I read THE SILMARILLION for the first time in 1977. For twenty years I believed Gil-galad was the son of Fingon (and wondered why he didn't become High King of the Noldor before Turgon). When Christopher explained the error, everything made sense. Gil-galad as Fingon's son stands out like a sore thumb when you try to figure out how the Noldor passed the High Kingship around. : And it's not like there is any real story about Gil-galad in THE SILMARILLION. He is, of all the Noldorin kings, the one whom Tolkien wrote the least about. Though I can't agree with the "sore thumb", in the other aspects I think that you are totally right. It's difficult to accept being proven wrong in one's beliefs but still, we should rather be grateful for getting to know Tolkien's final ideas.
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