Celebrían by Grundy

Celebrían, the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, wife of Elrond, mother of Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen, is a character who seems important in the legendarium yet is remarkable mainly in her absence from much of the narrative. There are more questions about Celebrían than satisfactory answers.

Celebrían’s name is Sindarin. Tolkien gave its meaning as "Silver queen."¹ It appears to be related to her father’s name, which also begins with celeb (silver² ). She does not appear to have had any other names.

The first mention of Celebrían in the legendarium is in drafts of Return of the King, in which Arwen was still named Finduilas but said to be the "daughter of Celebrían child of Galadriel." ³ Celebrían is not mentioned at all in The Silmarillion, and aside from the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, appears in The Unfinished Tales, as well as a few brief mentions in timelines in The Peoples of Middle-Earth.

Tolkien gave no birthdate or even approximate time of birth for Celebrían. As Galadriel’s daughter, it is possible that Celebrían’s history was tied up in his mind with the evolving backstory of Galadriel, and thus could not be settled firmly.

The earliest appearance of Celebrían in the chronology of Middle-earth is circa 1350-1400 of the Second Age, when she traveled from Eregion to Lórien with her mother via Khazad-dûm. ⁴ One can infer that Celebrían would have met Dwarves at this time if she was not already familiar with them due to the good relationship between the Elves of Eregion and the Dwarves of Moria.

From the date, we can make a guess at Celebrían’s approximate time of birth. We know that she must have been born prior to Galadriel’s move to Lórien. But setting a lower bound on the timeframe of her birth is murkier. In theory, she could have been born at any point after her parents’ marriage in the early First Age, or even in the Years of the Trees if one follows the version of Galadriel’s history in which Celeborn was a Telerin Elf. However, the same narrative in which Celebrían goes to Lórien with her mother also states that Celeborn and Galadriel went eastward about SA 700 to establish Eregion without any indication of them having children at that time. It may therefore be reasonable to conclude that Celebrían was likely born in Eregion sometime in the period of SA 700-1350.

In some versions of Tolkien’s writings, Celebrían had a brother Amroth, who ruled Lórien for a time. However, Tolkien appears to have rejected this version of Amroth’s parentage, making him instead the son of the Sindarin king Amdír. ⁵ Celebrían thus has no known siblings and is usually presumed to be an only child.

After the glimpse of her moving from Eregion to Lórien with Galadriel, the next mention of Celebrían is several hundred years later, once again in the company of her mother. They pass back through Moria on their way to the newly founded Imladris around SA 1700 in search of Celeborn. It was at this point in her life that Elrond first saw Celebrían "and loved her, though he said nothing of it." The same account has her and her parents then dwelling for a time in Belfalas, in what would later be Dol Amroth. ⁶ (However, this seems to be linked to a version of the tale in which Amroth was still the son of Galadriel and Celeborn.)

There is no indication when Elrond made his love known to Celebrían, or when the two became engaged. At some point, possibly at or around the time Celebrimbor sent the ring Nenya to Galadriel, Celebrían inherited the green jewel known as the Elessar from her mother. ⁷

After this flurry of activity in the mid-Second Age, there is no further mention of Celebrían until the year 109 of the Third Age, when she married Elrond. Her parents appear to have lived in Imladris for a time after the marriage. Her first children, the twins Elrohir and Elladan, were born in TA 130, followed by her daughter Arwen in TA 241. ⁸

After the birth of Arwen, there is a long period in which nothing is written of Celebrían. Presumably she spent some of this time with her husband and children in Imladris, but it is also possible that she travelled outside of Imladris.

The next mention of Celebrían is in TA 2509, when on her way to Lórien, she was waylaid by Orcs in the Redhorn Pass. It is made clear in context that the attack on Celebrían was part of a wider wave of Orc activity, which reached even as far as the Shire.

Despite having an escort, Celebrían was captured by the Orcs who waylaid her. Though her sons rescued her, she suffered torment and received a poisoned wound. ⁹ Elrond was able to heal her physically, but we are told she "lost all delight in Middle-earth," and the next year , ¹⁰ she departed over the Sea from the Havens. Prior to her departure, she passed the Elessar to her daughter Arwen. (It is unclear if the jewel was handed on just before her departure from Middle-earth, or if she had passed it to her daughter at some point prior to her ordeal.)

As tragic as this outcome was, it appears Tolkien at least briefly considered a worse fate for Celebrían. There is a version in which she was not merely waylaid by orcs, but slain on her way to visit her mother circa 2600. ¹¹ However, this idea does not seem to have persisted very long, for the next version of the timeline, markedly closer to the published one in The Lord of the Rings, has her taken by Orcs in 2509 but rescued "by Elrond and his sons "but after fear and torment she is no longer willing to remain in Middle-earth ." It then adds, in 2510, "from that time forth, the brethren [Elladan and Elrohir] never cease from war with the orcs because of Celebrían." ¹²

After she sailed from the Havens, there is little more said about Celebrían. We might presume she was received in the West by her mother’s parents, but this is nowhere written in the canon. But it is clear that her ordeal left a lasting mark on more than just her – as late as TA 3019, her sons were said to ride "often far afield with the Rangers of the North, forgetting never their mother’s torment in the dens of the orcs." ¹³

The last mention of Celebrían comes during the Fellowship’s departure from Lothlórien, when Galadriel gives the Elessar to Aragorn as a gift, describing it as a "stone I gave to Celebrían my daughter and she to hers." ¹⁴ While Aragorn was not yet wed to Arwen, this was very similar to the Elven custom of the mother of the bride giving a jewel to the groom on their wedding, ¹⁵ and was likely recognized as such by Aragorn.

Celebrían, like so many women in Tolkien’s legendarium, likely had more of an impact on the history of Middle-earth than the mere fact of her birth and her children. But we are given only the barest bones of her history, a few tantalizing glimpses, before she joins the other Elven women in the West we know more as names than as fully realized characters.

Works Cited

1. The Letters of JRR Tolkien, "345 to Mrs Meriel Thurston."
2. The Silmarilion, "Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names."
3. History of Middle-earth, Volume IX: Sauron Defeated, The End of the Third Age, "The Steward and the King."
4. Unfinished Tales, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn.
5. Unfinished Tales, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn, "Amroth and Nimrodel."
6. Unfinished Tales, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn.
7. Unfinished Tales, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn, "The Elessar."
8. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Appendix B, "The Third Age."
9. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Appendix A, "The North-Kingdom and the Dúnedain."
10. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Appendix B, "The Third Age."
11. History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: Peoples of Middle-Earth, The Tale of Years Of The Third Age, "Of the History of the Third Age little is known" (T2).
12. History of Middle-earth, Volume XII: Peoples of Middle-Earth, The Tale of Years of the Third Age, "The Third Age" (T4).
13. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings."
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "Farewell to Lórien."
15. History of Middle-earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, Laws and Customs among the Eldar.