---And yet we have it from Christopher Tolkien that there can be no doubt concerning his parentage: he was the son of Orodreth.---

Yes... in a sense. In another sense, no. Let me explain my line of reasoning which may sound more like a ramble.

First of all, there never was a Gil-Galad. As such he never was son of anyone, he only ever existed in the mind and writings of Tolkien. What I just said may have sounded way too obvious but nonetheless I think it is worthwhile to remind ourselves because it leads to the conclusion that we can't speak of a factual origin of Gil-Galad in the sense of "There's no doubt [snip]: He was the son of [snip]". The problem here isn't in the "no doubt", it's in the "He was the son of".

A more accurate sentence that might help all understand my reasoning would be "There's no doubt concerning his parentage: Tolkien thought him to be the son of Orodreth."

The problem now lies in that this sentence is not accurate throughout the time-space continuum :-) Tolkien's thoughts on the subject changed a number of times - he had atleast four different ideas on the subject, perhaps even more.

Thus the most accurate sentence I can construct is: "There's no doubt concerning his parentage. Tolkien's last thoughts on the subject was that he was the son of Orodreth."

There... All set. Or not?

The problem is do we care about what his latest thoughts on the subject were? Well, certainly we should care. But sometimes we care more about
what his latest thoughts on the subject *should* have been... Or would have been had he been living in an Earth Unmarred... :-)

Anyway, the point I've rambled so long to make is that I'd *prefer* Gil-Galad to be the son of Fingon. I feel it fits. I know that practically certainly it's not the choice Tolkien made in the end... but dammit it's the choice he *should* have made... :-)

My reason for this preference:

1. I find it balances more the geneological tree of Finwe's house
to have Fingon also have a son... Thus, all three of Fingolfin's
children have a child each, and (with the exception of Angrod)
the (younger) children of Finarfin don't have children. On the
other hand having Angrod have grandchildren, while all his siblings
and the older Fingon aren't even married... it creates an
imbalance...

2. I'd like it that all the High Kings were of Fingolfin's house...
A matter of preference - I wouldn't much care for the High Kingship to pass to Finarfin's house: I don't know why. But having the Last High
King be also the last male-line descendant of Fingolfin appeals to
me. After all, Fingolfin and Gil-Galad were the two Noldor who held
the High Kingship more than anyone else...

3. I feel it's more nice (storywise) that the Kingship passes from
Fingolfin to a son to a brother to a nephew, rather than from Fingolfin
to a son to a brother to a first cousin twice removed. Come on - "first
cousin twice removed"? Moreover this makes a non-issue of Galadriel
not having become High Queen... :-)

For those who'll say "why would Turgon become High King if Fingon had a son?" I remind them of Bregolas and Barahir...

There you have it... Comments are welcome.
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