The question of being fair by Rhapsody

The question of being fair

Resting his head against the fountain, Celegorm waited for his father to travel home. At the other side, he heard maidens chatting, but hearing his name piqued his interest.

“I saw Turkafinwë the other day, his golden hair is so enchanting.” One of the maidens sighed.

“Are you certain that you don’t mean Findekano?” A smaller elleth replied.

Another elf-maiden interrupted, “She must mean Findaráto, his hair is almost the same as Turkafinwë’s.”

Growing agitated of being compared to his related kin, Celegorm arose to his feet quickly to look at them and ended their confusion with a flashing smile.

Chapter End Notes

Author's afterword:
Turkafinwë= father name of Celegorm
Findaráto = father name of Finrod
Findekano = father name of Fingon

There always seems to be a debate or confusion about the hair colour of Celegorm thanks to a short mentioning of J.R.R. Tolkien in History of Middle Earth, Shaping of Middle-earth (part 4) of him being 'Fairfax', i.e. fair-haired. What strikes me is that in that certain parts of the series, characters with blond hair are described golden haired, where as Tolkien himself also wrote dark-haired elves as being fair. The fairfax relates to an translation into of the Quenta Noldorinwa into Old English, but in the translation, there is a clear translation to golden-haired, namely: his daughter is Fripuswip Fealuleome (i.e. Finduilas Failivrin; fealuleome perhaps 'golden light').

But each writer to their own, in my humble opinion, for me Celegorm will always take after his father that is: dark haired.

Another matter that never seems to stop confusing me is my ever lasting personal mix up of Finrod with Fingon… as you might have noticed, this is reflected in the drabble as well.