Glorfindel of Gondolin and Glorfindel of Rivendell by oshun

Part 1

Glorfindel is one of several among Tolkien’s notable heroes who have provoked a substantial amount of controversy. There is, of course, the question as to why Glorfindel’s horse Asfaloth wore a bit and bridle in the first edition of The Lord of the Rings “when Elves ride without bit, bridle or saddle” (1). This reader would not have been drawn into that discussion, but Tolkien himself saw fit to agree to correct the questionable bits of tack to read “headstall” (2). Further clamor ensued when many Tolkien buffs were provoked to complain when Glorfindel’s big potential scene in Peter Jackson’s filmed version of The Lord of the Rings was given to Arwen (one of many controversial changes introduced into the movie script). Of greater significance, however, is the ongoing dispute over whether or not Glorfindel of Gondolin and Glorfindel of Rivendell can be considered to be the same character.

Apparently, from Tolkien’s unpublished notes and various comments upon those drafts by Christopher Tolkien, one is able to conclude that at the time his father had written details of a character named Glorfindel into the narrative of The Lord of the Rings he had not intended said Glorfindel to be one and the same as the Elf lord Glorfindel who is described as the head of the House of the Golden Flower in his earlier accounts of the fall of the hidden city of Gondolin (3).

However, at some point, Tolkien became aware of the duplication of names. He then considered his alternatives. The narrative of the fall of Gondolin was one close to his heart and changes to it could not be lightly considered. He could declare the two characters to be one and same and, if so, it would be necessary to conceive of a plausible history or back story to explain how Glorfindel died and returned to Middle-earth. Secondly, he could decide to distinguish them one from the other and leave it at that.

More than thirty years later [approximately 1972 according to further remarks by Christopher Tolkien] he took up the question of whether Glorfindel of Gondolin and Glorfindel of Rivendell were indeed one and the same, and this issued in two discussions, together with other brief or fragmentary writings closely associated with them. I will refer to these as 'Glorfindel I' and 'Glorfindel II'. (4)

In the scenario that Christopher Tolkien refers to as ‘Glorfindel I,’ his father’s notes delineated a plot which would include Glorfindel returning from Aman to Middle-earth in the early part of the Third Age as a companion of Gandalf and representative of the Valar to the Men and Eldar of Middle-earth.

The second scenario, ‘Glorfindel II’, places Glorfindel’s return to Middle-earth in the Second Age, during the reign of Gil-galad. The majority of those who argue that the two Glorfindel stories should be merged into one have a tendency to take the Glorfindel II scenario as their “canon Glorfindel.” They would posit that Glorfindel, one of the heroic defenders of Gondolin, was returned in the Second Age to bolster the forces of Gil-galad and Elrond in the fight against Sauron.

Those who reject the One-Glorfindel theory might use a few different arguments. There could be an unwillingness to accept the introduction of the requisite complicated theories of Elven reincarnation at all. Tolkien had not yet carefully worked out the details of those aspects of his canon, as his remarks relating to his personal continuing development of various theological concepts expressed, for example, in his comments upon the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth. Others may simply reject any newly introduced concept which had not yet passed into a final draft in the narrative.

Readers fascinated by Tolkien’s Elves more likely than not found themselves initially drawn to learning more about them not from reading The Silmarillion or combing the volumes of The History of Middle Earth but from their first exposure to these quasi-immortal beings in The Lord of the Rings. Among the first Elves that one meets in those books is Glorfindel. Tolkien’s physical description of this noble Elf lord is unforgettable:

Glorfindel was tall and straight; his hair was of shining gold, his face fair and young and fearless and full of joy; his eyes were bright and keen, and his voice like music; on his brow sat wisdom, and in his hand was strength. (5)

The original character of Glorfindel of Gondolin, on the other hand, can be traced back to one of Tolkien’s earliest versions of his history of the Elves, The Fall of Gondolin (6), segments of which survived into the later text Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin (7), parts of which came to be included in the published Silmarillion.

Christopher Tolkien notes:

My father said more than once that ‘The Fall of Gondolin’ was the first of the tales of the First Age to be composed, and there is no evidence to set against his recollection. In a letter of 1964 he declared that he wrote it “‘out of my head’ during sick-leave from the army in 1917,” and at other times he gave the date as 1916 or 1916-17. (8)

Tolkien’s description of Glorfindel in The Fall of Gondolin rivals that in The Lord of the Rings for its picture of beauty and light personified.

There stood the House of the Golden Flower who bare a rayed sun upon their shield, and their Chief Glorfindel bare a mantel so broidered in threads of gold that it was diapered with celandine as a field in spring; and his arms were damascened with cunning gold. (9)

The name Glorfindel means “golden hair” (10). Christopher states:

This name is in fact derived from the earliest work on the mythology: The Fall of Gondolin, composed in 1916-17, in which the Elvish language that ultimately became that of the type called Sindarin was in a primitive and unorganized form, and its relation with the High-elven type (itself very primitive) was still haphazard. It was intended to mean 'Golden-tressed',⁽⁴⁾ and was the name given to the heroic 'Gnome' (Noldo), a chieftain of Gondolin, who in the pass of Cristhorn ('Eagle-cleft') fought with a Balrog [Demon], whom he slew at the cost of his own life.

⁽⁴⁾ [For the original etymology of Glorfindel, and the etymological connections of the elements of the name, see II.341.] (11)

An enquiry of Darth Fingon relating to the name resulted in the following explanation:

From what I can tell, Glorfindel is an early Gnomish name. . . . 'Findel' is an archaic version of the word that later became 'finnel' in mature Sindarin. This is how the word would have existed in the North Sindarin spoken in the First Age. Whether or not North Sindarin or a dialect similar thereto was spoken in Gondolin is not explicitly known, but it's both possible and probable. Therefore, the name Glorfindel would have been accurate Sindarin in the First Age.

Over the next few millenia, Sindarin underwent several sound changes. The shift of medial ND to NN is one, so by the Third Age 'findel' had become 'finnel'. Glorfindel, had he been named in this era, would have been Glorfinnel instead.

It's also possible that only the spelling of his name remained archaic while the everyday pronunciation was updated to Glorfinnel. (12)

The golden-haired and golden-outfitted Glorfindel cannot but remind one of the western storytelling trope of dividing good and evil characters into light-haired and dark-haired. The golden-haired Vanyar, favored by Manwë, are blond while the dark-haired Noldor are the rebels against the Valar. In Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children's Literature, Margery Hourihan notes that

. . . . for all its variety, The Lord of the Rings simply reasserts the traditional dualisms and the superiority of the Western patriarchal elite.

This is readily apparent if we compare the language used to describe the good characters with descriptions of the Orcs. Here is Frodo's, and the reader's, first sight of the elf lord, Glorfindel:

Suddenly into the view below came a white horse, gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its bit and bridle flickered and flashed, as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider's cloak streamed behind him, and his hood was thrown back; his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed. To Frodo it appeared that a white light was shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil. (Tolkien 1954:221 [The Fellowship of the Ring, “Flight to the Ford”])

The indicators of the elf-lord's goodness are all to do with status, wealth, beauty and blondness. (13)

This obviously is mitigated by the fact that Elrond and his progeny, for example, who unquestionably take their place along side the good in Tolkien’s legendarium, are raven-haired, along with the majority of Tolkien’s Elves.

Another question raised in relationship to Glorfindel is whence the golden hair? This query is based upon the statement that “[t]hey [the Noldor] were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finrod” (14). The texts do not posit anywhere that Glorfindel is either of the house of Finrod Felagund or that he might be of Vanyarin descent. It would not appear to be unreasonable to assume that the latter in particular might be true, since Tolkien did introduce examples of mixed Noldorin and Vanyarin heritage among named characters in his legendarium.

 

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Works Cited

1. Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Introductory notes to Tolkien’s letter 211.
2. Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 211 To Rhona Beare.
3. The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part Two: Late Writings, “Last Writings.”
4. Ibid.
5. The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings."
6. The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2, The Fall of Gondolin.
7. Unfinished Tales, Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin.
8. Ibid.
9. The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2, The Fall of Gondolin.
10. Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 345 To Mrs Meriel Thurston.
11. The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part Two: Late Writings, “Last Writings.”
12. Email correspondence, dated January 2, 2010.
13. Margery Hourihan, Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children's Literature. (London: Routledge, 1997) 35.
14. The Book of Lost Tales I, The Cottage of Lost Play (note by Christopher Tolkien).

Part 2

Glorfindel of Gondolin

Although he is one of Tolkien's most popular characters, Glorfindel of Gondolin receives a scant three mentions in the text of the published Silmarillion. One must dig deeper into the source materials to assemble the basic details of his physical description and his life. We are able from those references to piece together that Glorfindel is a high-ranking lord of Gondolin. His first appearance in The Silmarillion is in the account of the tragic Nirnaeth Arnoediad (the Battle of Unnumbered Tears). His arrival there with the host of Turgon from the hidden city of Gondolin occasions one of the few moments of hope in that heartbreaking episode of First Age history.

But now a cry went up, passing up the wind from the south from vale to vale, and Elves and Men lifted their voices in wonder and joy. For unsummoned and unlooked for Turgon had opened the leaguer of Gondolin, and was come with an army ten thousand strong, with bright mail and long swords and spears like a forest. (1)

Glorfindel is named, along with Ecthelion of the Fountain, as one of the captains of Turgon's forces.

Then Turgon took the counsel of Húrin and Huor, and summoning all that remained of the host of Gondolin and such of Fingon's people as could be gathered he retreated towards the Pass of Sirion; and his captains Ecthelion and Glorfindel guarded the flanks to right and left, so that none of the enemy should pass them by. (2)

The presence of the forces of Gondolin led by Glorfindel and Ecthelion in that battle also brought forth some of Tolkien's most beautiful imagery:

In the morning came hope, when the horns of Turgon were heard as he marched up with the main host of Gondolin; for they had been stationed southward guarding the Pass of Sirion, and Turgon restrained most of his people from the rash onslaught. Now he hastened to the aid of his brother; and the Gondolindrim were strong and clad in mail, and their ranks shone like a river of steel in the sun. (3)

After the account of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, we do not read of Glorfindel again in The Silmarillion until the attack upon Gondolin that began on the Feast of the Gates of Summer. He no doubt should be considered among "the chieftains of the noble houses" (4) found in the following citation.

. . . the deeds of desperate valour there done, by the chieftains of the noble houses and their warriors, and not least by Tuor, much is told in The Fall of Gondolin: of the battle of Ecthelion of the Fountain with Gothmog Lord of Balrogs in the very Square of the King, where each slew the other, and of the defence of the tower of Turgon by the people of his household, until the tower was overthrown; and mighty was its fall and the fall of Turgon in its ruin. (5)

Glorfindel is mentioned but briefly in the escape of the survivors of Gondolin through Idril's secret passage: "Then Tuor and Idril led such remnants of the people of Gondolin as they could gather in the confusion of the burning down the secret way which Idril had prepared" (6). This whole section contrasts greatly against the much more fully developed narrative detail of The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two.

There was a dreadful pass, Cirith Thoronath it was named, the Eagles' Cleft, where beneath the shadow of the highest peaks a narrow path wound its way; on the right hand it was walled by a precipice, and on the left a dreadful fall leapt into emptiness. Along that narrow way their march was strung, when they were ambushed by Orcs, for Morgoth had set watchers all about the encircling hills; and a Balrog was with them. Then dreadful was their plight, and hardly would they have been saved by the valour of yellow-haired Glorfindel, chief of the House of the Golden Flower of Gondolin, had not Thorondor come timely to their aid. (7)

Glorfindel’s role in the defense of that last march to safety by the surviving exiles is summarized almost out of existence in The Silmarillion account. A far more developed account of the flight of the survivors from Gondolin, written decades earlier, may be found The Book of Lost Tales. It includes the following passage which tells of honor paid by Glorfindel after his death, by both Thorondor and his own people.

Many are the songs that have been sung of the duel of Glorfindel with the Balrog upon a pinnacle of rock in that high place; and both fell to ruin in the abyss. But the eagles coming stooped upon the Orcs, and drove them shrieking back; and all were slain or cast into the deeps, so that rumour of the escape from Gondolin came not until long after to Morgoth's ears. Then Thorondor bore up Glorfindel's body out of the abyss, and they buried him in a mound of stones beside the pass; and a green turf came there, and yellow flowers bloomed upon it amid the barrenness of stone, until the world was changed. (8)

The Book of Lost Tales version also gives a point-by-point account of the battle within the walls of the city. It contains more explicit details of Glorfindel’s battle with the Balrog, the character of the exodus itself, and the honor paid Glorfindel posthumously.

. . . and the others straggled, for all Tuor’s efforts, back over most of the mile of the perilous way between chasm and cliff, so that Glorfindel’s folk were scarce come to its beginning, when there was a yell in the night that echoed in that grim region. Behold, Galdor’s men were beset in the dark suddenly by shapes leaping from behind rock where they had lain hidden even from the glance of Legolas. (9)

Prior to the escape, the text does not simply introduce Glorfindel, briefly and without detail, but gives one an impression of the intensity of the fighting he had participated in preceding his last stand. The shortened version in The Silmarillion does not convey the sense of a fierce leader of the warriors of his house that The Book of Lost Tales version does.

Thus comes the last stout defenders in the Square of the Palace of Turgon. Among them are many wounded and fainting, and Tuor is weary for the labours of the night and the weight of Ecthelion who is in a deadly swoon. Even as he led that battalion in by the Road of Arches from north-west (and they had much ado to prevent any foe from getting behind their backs) a noise arose at the eastward of the square, and lo! Glorfindel is driven in with the last of men of the Golden Flower. (10)

The account of Glorfindel's actions in the defense of the city itself continues.

[T]here fought they bitterly for hours till a fire-drake new-come from the breach overwhelmed them, and Glorfindel cut his way out very hardly and with few men; but this place with its stores of goodly things of fine workmanship was a waste of flames. (11)

Glorfindel fought with a depleted force of warriors hard-pressed on all sides by the superior force of their foes, including orcs and balrogs. In the account written in The Book of Lost Tales, one has at least some understanding of the determination and heroism of Glorfindel and why the survivors of Gondolin would seek to honor him as they did.

Then at the death cry of the Balrog the Orcs before and behind wavered and were slain or fled far away, and Thorndor himself, a mighty bird, descended to the abyss and brought up the body of Glorfindel; but the Balrog lay, and the water of Thorn ran black for many a day far below in Tumladin.

Still do the Eldar say when they see good fighting at great odds of power against a fury of evil: "Alas! 'Tis Glorfindel and the Balrog," and their hearts are still sore for that fair one of the Noldoli. Because of their love, despite the haste and their fear of the advent of new foes, Tuor let raise a great stone-cairn over Glorfindel just there beyond the perilous way by the precipice of Eagle-stream, and Thorndor has not let not yet any harm come thereto, but yellow flowers have fared thither and blow ever now about that mound in those unkindly places; but the folk of the Golden Flower wept at its building and might not dry their tears. (12)

One cannot but be reminded of descriptions of mourning rites and monuments for mythical warriors of ancient Celtic legends, although Tolkien himself claimed he desired to distance himself from those in order to construct an entirely new legendarium.

There are a number of extrapolations or conjectures relating to personal characteristics or facts of family history that are often made about Glorfindel of Gondolin, which can neither be proved nor disproved from the textual references available. Some of these include whether or not Glorfindel was purely Noldor or half-Noldor and half-Vanyar or whether one might assume that Glorfindel was always close to Turgon given that he ended up in Gondolin. That Glorfindel did not participate in the First Kinslaying at Alqualondë could be argued but not definitively proven either based upon Tolkien's own discussion of the possibility he had not (13). Other readers, because of the proximity of the names of Glorfindel and Ecthelion in The Silmarillion and other texts, might chose to infer that they were personally close. Nowhere in the texts are there references to a close friendship as there is to that between Maedhros and Fingon, or Aredhel and the sons of Fëanor. One writer of popular Tolkien scholarship, Michael Martinez, makes a number of such popular assumptions (or perhaps one might wonder if they were popularized by him?) and defends them in his essay "The Wars of the Glorfindels" (14). The article is interesting in light of the number of such assertions that the author makes and the speculative extrapolation of canon which he uses for his arguments.

First Age Glorfindel's greatest deed in the texts is the act of successfully guarding the escape of the company of refugees from Gondolin. He saved not only Tuor and Idril but Eärendil, thereby preserving the line of the Peredhil which was to play such a significant role in the history of Middle-earth. His single-handed slaying of a balrog is the deed of an epic hero; yet one could almost miss him in The Silmarillion if one were not looking for him.

Glorfindel of Rivendell

The nature of The Lord of the Rings as a completed novel provides us with a different perspective from which to view the character of Glorfindel of Rivendell. We see him through the point of view of other characters and hear his voice in direct speech.

Glorfindel’s role in The Lord of the Rings is threefold. The reader first encounters him in the rescue of Frodo from the Ringwraiths. He is immediately presented as bigger than life and otherworldly, in contrast to the more fallible and human Elves of The Silmarillion.

Clearer and nearer now the bells jingled, and clippety-clip came the quick trotting feet. Suddenly into view below came a white horse, gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its headstall flickered and flashed, as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider's cloak streamed behind him, and his hood was thrown back; his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed. To Frodo it appeared that a white light was shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil. (15)

He is immediately recognized and introduced by Aragorn in a tone that suggests to the reader that this is a figure stepped out of legend.

Strider sprang from hiding and dashed down towards the Road, leaping with a cry through the heather; but even before he had moved or called, the rider had reined in his horse and halted, looking up towards the thicket where they stood. When he saw Strider, he dismounted and ran to meet him calling out: 'Ai na vedui Dúnadan! Mae govannen!' His speech and clear ringing voice left no doubt in their hearts: the rider was of the Elven-folk. No others that dwelt in the wide world had voices so fair to hear. (16)

When we meet Glorfindel again in the house of Elrond, we are treated to perhaps the most attractive physical description of him and one that also by its phrasing gives insight into his character.

Glorfindel was tall and straight; his hair was of shining gold, his face fair and young and fearless and full of joy; his eyes were bright and keen, and his voice like music; on his brow sat wisdom, and in his hand was strength. (17)

This description of Glorfindel as "fair and young and fearless and full of joy," along with Elrond being described as "warm as summer," would seem to give lie to the interpretations which portray Tolkien’s Third Age Elves as grim, ethereal sourpusses.

A little later, in an exchange between Gandalf and Frodo, the wizard verifies to Frodo the extraordinary power of this golden Elf.

'… And here in Rivendell there live still some of his chief foes: the Elven-wise, lords of the Eldar from beyond the furthest seas. They do not fear the Ringwraiths, for those who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds, and against both the Seen and the Unseen they have great power.'

'I thought that I saw a white figure that shone and did not grow dim like the others. Was that Glorfindel then?'

'Yes, you saw him for a moment as he is upon the other side: one of the mighty of the Firstborn. He is an Elf-lord of a house of princes. Indeed there is a power in Rivendell to withstand the might of Mordor, for a while: and elsewhere other powers still dwell. (18)

This passage tells us a couple of significant bits of factual information: first, that Glorfindel is an Elf who has dwelt in Aman and, secondly, that even among Elvenkind, Glorfindel is no ordinary representative of his kinsmen.

It becomes clear in the manner in which Glorfindel participates in the Council of Elrond that he accepts his role as one of the Elven wise. He is not only knowledgeable of nature of the forces of evil they will face in the attempt to prevent Sauron from ever again laying his hands upon the One Ring, but of the capacity or lack thereof of the representatives of the good in Middle-earth they might bring together as allies in the accomplishment of this task.

It is Glorfindel who answers the proposal of turning to Tom Bombadil to act as a keeper of the Ring.

'But in any case,' said Glorfindel, 'to send the Ring to him would only postpone the day of evil. He is far away. We could not now take it back to him, unguessed, unmarked by any spy. And even if we could, soon or late the Lord of the Rings would learn of its hiding place and would bend all his power towards it. Could that power be defied by Bombadil alone? I think not. I think that in the end, if all else is conquered, Bombadil will fall, Last as he was First; and then Night will come.' (19)

Finally, in the Appendices (20) to The Lord of the Rings, published at the end of The Return of the King, we are told the story of Glorfindel's prophecy relating to the Witch-king and the lord of Angmar until its destruction in the Battle of Fornost. We first hear of this prophecy in The Return of the King when Gandalf speaks of it to Denethor (21).

'Yet now under the Lord of Barad-dûr the most fell of all his captains is already master of your outer walls,' said Gandalf. 'King of Angmar long ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgûl, a spear of terror in the hand of Sauron, shadow of despair.'
 
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'But our trial of strength is not yet come. And if words spoken of old be true, not by the hand of man shall he fall, and hidden from the Wise is the doom that awaits him. . . .'

Later and, more dramatically, the Lord of the Nazgûl repeats it himself to Éowyn at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, "Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!" (22).

The Appendices tell of the circumstances of Glorfindel's prophecy. When it became clear at the Battle of Fornost that Angmar had been lost, the Witch-king singled out Prince Eärnur of Gondor and attacked him. Glorfindel had to merely ride upon the Lord of Angmar for him to flee. He was unable to look upon the face of the glory of Glorfindel, who then said:

Do not pursue him! He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall. (23)

This event in the Appendices explains why Glorfindel was so formidable when faced with the Ringwraiths at the Ford of Bruinen. Even with the considerable power endowed upon those perverted creatures by Sauron, even the foremost among the holders of the Nine Rings of the Kings of Men cannot stand up to the strength and presence that is Glorfindel.

We next hear of Glorfindel in the narrative sequence of The Lord of the Rings when he accompanies Elrond to Minas Tirith for the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen: "First rode Elrohir and Elladan with a banner of silver, and then came Glorfindel and Erestor and all the household of Rivendell . . . " (24). No mention is made of Glorfindel in account of the departure of Elrond and Galadriel in the last chapter of the trilogy "The Grey Havens."

 

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Works Cited

1. The Silmarillion, "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad."
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. The Silmarillion, "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin."
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two, The Fall of Gondolin.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part Two: Late Writings, "Last Writings."
14. Michael Martinez, "The Wars of the Glorfindels in J.R.R. Tolkien," Suite101, http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/tolkien/53015/1
15. The Fellowship of the Ring, "Flight to the Ford."
16. Ibid.
17. The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings."
18. Ibid.
19. The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Council of Elrond."
20. Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings, "Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion."
21. The Return of the King, "The Siege of Gondor."
22. The Return of the King, "The Battle of Pelennor Fields."
23. Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings, "Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion."
24. The Return of the King, "Many Partings."