: : Well, according to LOTR Appendix, Gil-galad was High King of
: : all the Elves of Middle-earth. I always thought this factiod
: : worthy of debate since during the First Age, no such title
: : existed. There was a high king of the Noldor but not a High
: : King of Elves of ME. It's all the more surprising that this
: : status was apparently even recognized by the Sindarin/Silvan
: : realm of Greenwood. I remember reading somewhere that the
: : Sindar who emingrated east of the Misty's were particularly
: : anti-Noldor in their sentiment so it struck me as odd their
: : willingness to submit, even theoretically, to Gil-galad.

: Actually, Gil-galad was High King of the Elves of the West, which would include only the Noldor and Sindar.

I always took that phrase to mean that he was high king of all Elves in the west of Middle-earth - including those Sindarin/Silvan realms east of the Misty Mountains. Are you saying that the phrase should be taken to refer to Elves west of the Mistys?

I'm operating from memory here but IIRC, Gil-galad had very little Noldorin blood. That fact might have made him somewhat acceptable to the Sindar living in Lindon and Eriador. I always viewed his sovereign lordship (in the sense of actual governing authority) of those Sindar as being a result of them living physically in his realm - just as there were first age Sindar who lived in Noldorin realms. There were no sovereign Sindarin realms west of the Misty's over which he could be high king. There were simply areas in his realm where Sindar lived.

In other words, he didn't seem to be high king of anything. There don't appear to be any underkingdoms that paid him much heed. Celebrimbor might go through the motions an acknowledge him high king - but he's Noldor. I cannot see Oropher or Amdir actually even paying lip-service to the title. I'd be very surprised if in his correspondence with the Sindarin kings if he even mentioned that title: High King of the Elves of the West.

: He was also last High King of the Noldor-in-Exile. The realms established by Sindar among the Silvan Elves in the east were beyond Gil-galad's authority and power, and when Oropher and Amdir marched with the Last Alliance of Elves and Men they didn't march under Gil-galad, but under their own standard.

: In one account Oropher is said to be hostile to the Noldor (and, in fact, it was this account which stated he preferred not to march as part of Gil-galad's army).

That's pretty much consistent with my memory; however, I did have the impression that even Oropher acknowledged at least the tactical command of Gil-galad (notwithstanding his unauthorized charge)

: [snip]

: : Eregion, as a Noldorin realm would in theory be sunject to
: : Gil-galad but he did not seem to exercise any real authority
: : over Celebrimbor. Had he been able to exercise such authority,
: : he should should have been able to order Celebrimbor to break
: : all contact with Annatar/Sauron.

: Gil-galad did not govern Eregion, but he obviously felt compelled to try and help Eregion. I believe he did so out of obligation as much as compassion, since Tolkien doesn't say that the Eldar of Eregion rejected Gil-galad's High Kingship. In fact, Imladris was established as a replacement for Eregion and Elrond became Gil-galad's vice-regent in Eriador.

: Tolkien may have had the ancient Irish model of High Kings in mind for the Elves. I don't believe the High Kings of Eire actually had the authority to compel other rulers to do anything.

Right. This impotent high kingship was present in both the First and Second Ages. Fingon, the high king, allowed Maedhros to take the lead against Morgoth. Fingon could not order Orodreth to take the field in the Fourth Battle. Gil-galad could not order Celebrimbor to cut off contact with Sauron. About the only think I remember a high king doing was Fingolfin holding the party for reconciliation. . Gil-galad probably did the most with his high kingship in putting together the Last Alliance but as I opined earlier his role seemed to be limited to using the bully-pulpit and not as using any real authority to order people around.

Russ