The White Council

A Little Info on Gildor (was Re: Gil-Galad and Noldor heirs)

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

[snip]

: : I think Gildor's just an anomaly. Impossible to explain. Or : : perhaps, he's such a lightweight that the other wise among : : the Elves (Elrond, Galadriel, etc.) can't countenance him : : succeeding to the High Kingship, even though he's, say a : : first cousin of Gil-Galad, or some more distant relation. I : : mean, he is something of a wuss. He can't even help Frodo : : and company get to Bree. All he does is warn them about the : : Black Riders (without even telling them that they're Nazgul) : : and go on his merry way, with the singing and all. We don't : : even know where he lived. : : : Perhaps Gildor, a descendant of Angrod (the only one of the : : sons of Finarfin to have children, by the new way of looking : : at things), just didn't want to be high king. There's : : nothing saying there has to be one, is there?

: Good point. He is a wuss, isn't he?

I'm not sure of how serious you guys are in your trashing of poor Gildor, but he did accomplish more than you give him credit for.

Both Bombadil and Aragorn said they had spoken with Gildor about Frodo. Aragorn said he spoke with Gildor twice. And Gildor sent a message to Rivendell which led Elrond to send out whomever he could risk against the Nazgul (obviously that consisted of Glorfindel and Arwen).

As for where Gildor lived, Tolkien wrote in THE ROAD GOES EVER ON that Gildor and his people probably lived in or near Rivendell. The valley was quite large, extending back up into the mountains. Elrond's house was most likely not the only one there.

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: : We should remember, though, that Glorfindel originated as : : blond-haired before the idea of all the Noldor as dark-haired : : took hold, I think. He started in the Lost Tales. Since his : : name says something about golden hair, I guess Tolkien never : : had the heart to change his name, so he kept the hair, too, : : without explaining it.

: Now, why do you think Tolkien brought this particular name into : LotR? Did he have the hair problem figured out at this time? : Also, Meglin in Lost Tales was also a captian of the House of : the Mole (what a name). I don't know for sure, but I beleive : he's still the nephew of Turgon in this version, and if he is, : then we can assume that relatives could also be captians of a : separate house.

"House" in "The Fall of Gondolin" is not used in the same way as "house" seems to be used in later writings. Remember that "The Fall of Gondolin" dates from 1916/17. THE LORD OF THE RINGS dates from 1938-54 and much of THE SILMARILLION is even more recent than that.

Glorfindel was originally introduced into LOTR as a descendant of the first Glorfindel. But before he finished writing LOTR Tolkien dropped the reference, and Christopher Tolkien notes in THE RETURN OF THE SHADOW that years later his father decided that they were the same character. In THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH the second "Glorfindel" essay includes:

   ...At any rate what at first sight may seem the simplest   solution must be abandoned: sc. that we have merely a   reduplication of names, and that Glorfindel of Gondolin and   Glorfindel of Rivendell were different persons.  This   repetition of so striking a name, though possible, would not   be credible.  No other major character in the Elvish legends   as reported in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the   Rings has a name borne by another Elvish person of   importance.  Also it may be found that acceptance of the   identity of Glorfindel of old and of the Third Age will   actually explain what is said of him and improve the story.