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Parentage of Gil-Galad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 10:27 pm
by Arothir
I haven't been able to find any old threads from the older Plaza on this, but was there any debate on the parentage of Gil-Galad. After doing more reading and research, I have come to side with the school of thought that Gil-Galad was the son of Orodreth, who in turn was the son of Angrod. Mostly this stems from Christopher Tolkien's own admission that it was the last intention of his father to give Gil-Galad that lineage. It also would make more sense to have him be in the House of Finarfin since why would the crown have gone to Turgon, who was in a hidden realm who had only shown his face prior to the death of Fingon at Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Also youth probably wouldn't have been a permanent barrier to Gil-Galad having the crown, due to elves having long lives, and Turgon would have been a poor regent, again being isolated in Gondolin.
I do disagree with the notion that Gil-Galad's parentage should have been left obscure, mostly because it would have been a little confusing, because I would have asked, "Who is this guy, why is he king?" I doubt the lady of the lake lobbed Aeglos at him, so why? Finding a place on the tree is important, and helps tether him more firmly to the fantastic worldbuiding already in place.
Re: Parentage of Gil-Galad
Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 11:18 pm
by Rivvy Elf
It also answers why Melkor didn't just use the Isle of Balar as a flammable test-site for his winged dragons. If Gil-Galad was son of Fingon, Melkor would've made every effort to eradicate him. But because he's the son of Orodreth, the relatively mediocre former ruler of Nargothrond, Melkor wouldn't prioritize Gil-Galad as much of a threat.
Re: Parentage of Gil-Galad
Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 12:28 am
by Eldy Dunami
Gil-galad is the son of Orodreth in my "personal Silmarillion"--that being the version of the First Age I default to when thinking about it for my own amusement, since there isn't a single definitive version completed by Tolkien. The deciding factor for me is that, as you note, the progression of the High Kingship of the Noldor in the 1977 Silmarillion doesn't really make sense. That's bugged me since the first time I read it, at age ~11, before I was aware of the full size and scope of "The Silmarillion". The version of Gil-galad's parentage described in "The Shibboleth of Fëanor" nicely solves this issue, so I'm happy to go with it. That it was also a chronologically later idea in Tolkien's creative process is an added plus, since I generally give those greater credence.
I think the reasons for privileging late ideas are pretty self-explanatory, but it's worth noting that this approach can lead to conclusions not everyone is comfortable with. Gil-galad's parentage is not hard to reconcile, but when it comes to the Round World version of "The Silmarillion", the Bilbo vs Aelfwine framing device debate, and the question of how much of "TS" should be understood as Mannish myth, Tolkien's late ideas are sharply at odds--in fundamental ways--with most people's conception of the First Age. It's also important to keep in mind the context in which each text was written. Tolkien did little large-scale rewriting after the 1950s, and blending earlier and later ideas can easily produce results Tolkien never intended.
Re: Parentage of Gil-Galad
Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 1:44 pm
by Troelsfo
It is one of those things that I feel is fully enshrined in the notes and discussions in The War of the Jewels (The History of Middle-earth vol. XI) pp. 242-3 and The Peoples of Middle-earth (The History of Middle-earth vol. XI) pp. 349-52.
Beyond this, I think it is pointless and meaningless to discuss the issue as such (as “who was the father of Gilgalad”) – any such discussion will provide no further elucidation on Tolkien's intentions or writings or writing process, and might even perpetuate the fallacy that this exists a ‘correct’ answer.
The complexities inherent in this issue might, of course, be used to elucidate something about Tolkien's creative process, but that is achieved by attempting to understand the fluidity of the entire legendarium in the mind of Tolkien, and how he, over the course of the decades, used his legendarium for many purposes, including as a laboratory for his changing ideas on literary and linguistic aesthetics and on a wealth of philosophical issues.