NNTP-Posting-Host: pm5-01.swcp.com X-Newsreader: Quarterdeck Message Center [2.00] Status: NWell, despite the subject line I've chosen, at this point I'm only advancing a tentative interpretation of what's provided in THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH for discussion.
A number of names and ideas have been introduced in this volume which we have hitherto not seen before. Some will appear to be quite radical.
For instance, it appears that Miriel Serinde was born in Valinor. There is a discussion of the phonetic shift of the initial consonant in "Serinde" where Tolkien indicates the Noldor consciously engaged in this shift while in Aman. He writes:
"The change...must therefore have been a conscious and deliberate change agreed to and accepted by a majority of the Noldor, however initiated, after the separation of their dwellings from the Vanyar. It must have occurred after the birth of Miriel, but (probably) before the birth of Feanor. The special connexion of these two persons with the change and its later history needs some consideration."
Well, I can't go into all that consideration, but it's evident that Tolkien envisioned Miriel as being native to Aman.
Another interesting item that develops concerns Indis' relationship to Ingwe. In MORGOTH'S RING she is is said to be the sister of Ingwe, yet in THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH we are told that she is the niece of Ingwe (the daughter of his sister). Finwe apparently had an eye for the young ladies, or perhaps waited so long to find a spouse he had no choice but to look among the younger generation.
There are two references to the "kin of Miriel". The second reference says "the names of her kin are not recorded", which I think is a shame. It would be interesting to see what Tolkien would have devised for her family.
It also appears that Nerdanel, the wife of Feanor, came of a clan of Noldor who possessed auburn hair (called "reddish-brown" by Tolkien). This is the only place I know of where such hair color is said to occur among the Eldar. It is also told that she had a ruddy complexion. I'm not sure of what to make of this. Mahtan, Nerdanel's father, was also called *rusco*, "fox". His hair must therefore have been a firey red.
Of the sons of Feanor and Nerdanel, Maedros, Amrod, and Amras all had red hair. Amrod is here said to have died in one of the ships burned at Losgar. The consequences of incorporating this tradition with the published SILMARILLION seem to have daunted Christopher Tolkien, but I don't see why it should have. He could merely have changed all references to the twins to a reference to Amras. JRRT surely would have done at least this much in an effort to incorporate the tradition.
Two names are provided for the second daughter of Finwe: Irime and Irien. Christopher Tolkien suggests that Irien may have been intended to replace the older form Irime. She was in Middle-earth known as Lalwen but there is really nothing more recorded of her history, unless something is buried in the reams of linguistic material that has yet to be published.
A third daughter, Faniel, is not mentioned. In a note, Christopher Tolkien writes:
"[In THE WAR OF THE JEWELS I referred to a set of Elvish genealogies wita clear resemblance to those of the Edain given in that book: see XI.229, where I noted that the former are followed by notes expressly relating to them and dated December 1959. These genealogies are almost exclusively concerned with the descendants of Finwe, and are set out in four separate tables, all apparently belonging to much the same time, and showing the same sort of development in stages as is seen in those of the houses of the Edain. At least eight years and probably more divide them from the present 'excursus', whose date is fixed as not earlier than February 1968; but my father clearly had them in front of him when he wrote this, and alterations made to the latest of the four agree with statments made in it. In all these tables there are still three daughters of Finwe and Indis: *Findis*, *Faniel*, and *Irime* (see X.207, 238, and also X.262, where *Finvain* appears for *Irime*), and no correction was made. In the excursus *Faniel* had disappeared, and the younger daughter appears as both *Irime* and *Irien* (see not 28).]"
It is also said that:
"...after the death of Fingofin...the Noldor then became divided into separate kingships under Fingon, son of Fingolfin, Turgon his younger brother, Maedros son of Feanor, and Finrod son of Arfin [Finarfin]; and the following of Finrod had become the greatest."
[Note: I've altered the meaning of this passage by leaving out the original context. The point conveyed above is implied by the discussion.]
It's interesting that Finrod's following is said to have been the largest. We know from THE SILMARILLION that Turgon took a third of Fingolfin's Noldor into his own kingdom of Nevrast. And we know that after the Ruin of Beleriand (in the wake of which Fingolfin fought Morgoth in single combat) that some of the Feanorian Noldor settled in Nargothrond.
But this is the first time we find a statement which indicates there was a single kingship of the Noldor prior to Fingolfin's death. This is odd, since Finrod and Turgon at least were said to be kings already. Maedros was hitherto only given an implied kingship in a couple of passages in THE SILMARILLION referring to how the three kings of the Noldor dealt with the Edain.
Fingolfin's wife, Anaire, was of the Noldor and she stayed in Aman when the Noldor left, apparently because of her friendship with Earwen, the wife of Finarfin.
Orodreth was apparently intended (in the final form) to be Finrod's nephew, rather than his brother. Another surprising alteration is the denial to Fingon of wife or children, and the assignment of Gil-galad (Rodnor Gil-galad) to Orodreth as a son. The consequences of these alterations, although significant, would have resulted in minimal changes to the published SILMARILLION: (1) the reference to Ereinion being sent to the Havens after Fingolfin's death would have been removed, and (2) Orodreth could not have held Minas Tirith for Finrod after Nargothrond was established. Possibly, Angrod would have been removed from Dorthonion and given command of Minas Tirith (where he would, perhaps, have died) and Aegnor alone would have held Dorthonion.
Fingon actually had been given an unnamed wife and two children in the aforementioned four tables, but Christopher writes: "...in the final table they were struck out, with the note that Fingon 'had no child or wife'."
The ubiquitous Gildor Inglorion, sadly, is nowhere mentioned in the section dealing with Finwe's descendants. I'm not sure of whether Tolkien decided the House of Finrod was to be something else, or if perhaps Gildor came over to Middle-earth in the Second Age with Glorfindel. This last inference, although improbable, derives from the fact that Tolkien writes that Finrod did not have any children in Middle-earth:
"Finrod left his wife in Valinor and had no children in exile."
This passage also states:
"...Angrod's son was Artaresto [Artaher --> Arothir --> Orodreth], who was beloved by Finrod and escaped when his father was slain, and dwelt with Finrod. Finrod made him his 'steward' and he succeeded him in Nargothrond. His Sindarin name was *Rodreth* (altered to *Orodreth* because of his love of the mountains .. .... His children were Finduilas and Artanaro = Rodnor later called Gil-galad. (Their mother was a Sindarin lady of the North. She called her son Gil-galad.) Rodnor Gil-galad escaped and eventually came to Sirion's Mouth and was King of the Noldor there."
This change in the history of Gil-galad is substantial and conflicts with the tradition of the rise of Arvernian, the ruler of which was Earendil (and perhaps Tuor before him). How does Gil-galad become associated with Cirdan? Who were all these Noldor living at the Mouth of Sirion? What was to become of the exiles of Doriath and Gondolin who were to found Arvernien? Tolkien doesn't say. We could contrive an explanation by suggesting that Cirdan took in the young Gil-galad, who removed to Balar, and that the exiles of Doriath and Gondolin therefore found only a small population of Noldor at the Mouth of Sirion (if any of Gil-galad's people would have remained there at all).
It is conceivable that Gildor is actually mentioned on one of those four unpublished genealogies (if ever I should meet Christopher Tolkien, I will have MANY questions for him ). *Inglorion* could be related to *Ingalaure*, which appears to be an earlier name for Finarfin, later called *Ingoldo* before Finrod took on that name.On the other hand, the discussion uses the name *Ereinion* for Gil-galad, and it states that "he was the last king of the Eldar in Middle-earth, and the last male descendant of Finwe except Elrond the Half-elven." Gil-galad's parentage is not given in this part of the discussion, but is provided in a later section, where the name *Ereinion* does not appear (but instead Artanaro --> Rodnor is used). Christopher says in a note that he took the name *Ereinion* for Fingon's son in THE SILMARILLION from this essay.
I do have a problem with the statement that Elrond was a male descendant of Finwe. He was male, he was a descendant, but he was not descended of a male line. I'm not sure of what the significance Tolkien attached to Elrond in this respect, unless it means that "after the fall of Gil-galad the lineage of the High-elven Kings was also in Middle-earth only represented by their descendants" (Appendix A in LOTR). Of course, Galadriel's daughter Celebrian was a descendant of Finwe. But these statements would seem to exclude Gildor Inglorion from the House of Finwe completely.
The name *Irisse* appears to be the original name of Aredhel. Her history is a bit confusing and I won't attempt to recap it here.
Fingolfin's third son, Argon, was added to the genealogy relatively late. His "story" was changed twice before Tolkien decided that he died in the Battle of the Lammoth, which occurred when Fingolfin's host reached Middle-earth. This is an alteration of the history of the Noldor in that the published SILMARILLION says that the Orcs hid themselves when Fingolfin's host passed through. There is no indication that this battle would have become one of the major battles of the Wars of Beleriand.
There is an interesting note concerning Finrod's name, *Felagund*. It appears that when Nargothrond was established, the Dwarves of Ered Luin drove out the Petty-dwarves who were still living there. This is not stated in the published SILMARILLION (which says only that the Dwarves helped in the making of Nargothrond).
It appears the greatest loremasters of the Noldor in Middle-earth (during the Wars of Beleriand) were: Feanor, the captains of Gondolin, Finrod, and Orodreth (although these are but examples of the quality of the loremasters).
Here is the genealogy, given in four tables (no known relation to the four Christopher keeps referring to):
? Ingwe - - - [sister] | | Mahtan Miriel =:= Finwe =:= Indis Olwe - Elwe = Melian | | +----+----------+-----+ | | Nerdanel = Feanor Findis Fingolfin Irime Finarfin = Earwen Luthien | = Anaire | Maedros | Finrod Ingold Maglor Fingon Angrod = Edhellos Celegorm Turgon = Elenwe Aegnor | Curufin - - - + Argon | Galadriel | Caranthir | Itaril Orodreth Amrod | Irisse = Eol | Amras | | +-------+ Celebrimbor Maeglin Gil-galad Finduilas
The House of Feanor:
Finwe = Miriel Mahtan | | Feanor = Nerdanel | +----------+-----+--------+--------+-------+-----+ | | | | | | | Maedros Maglor Celegorm Curufin Caranthir Amrod Amras | Celebrimbor
The House of Fingolfin:
+ - - - - - + : Ingwe (sister) | Finwe = Indis | Fingolfin = Anaire | +--------+--------+------+------+ | | | | Fingon Turgon = Elenwe Argon Irisse = Eol | | Itaril = Tuor Maeglin | Earendil = Elwing | +----+-----+ | | Elrond Elros
The House of Finarfin:
+ - - - - - + : Ingwe (sister) + - - - - - + | | | Finwe = Indis Olwe Elwe = Melian | | | Finarfin = Earwen Luthien | +----------------+----------------+---------+ | | | | Finrod = Amarie Angrod = Edhellos Aegnor Galadriel = Celeborn : | | (descendants Orodreth Elrond = Celebrian in Aman?) | | +-------+------+ +------+---------+ | | | | | Gil-galad Finduilas Elladan Elrohir Arwen
So, now I've drawn it up as best I can. The "final Eldarin genealogy" is now available for discussion .
