Gil-galad

2009-12-20T21:14:08Z

83.181.69.239: /* Portrayals in adaptations */

{{noldor infobox
| image=[[Image:Soni - Gil-galad at the Last Alliance.jpg|280px]]
| name=Gil-galad
| quenya=[[fn]] ''[[Artanáro]]'' ([[S.]] [[mn]] ''[[Rodnor]]''/[[fn]] ''Ereinion'')
| titles=[[High King of the Noldor]]
| birth=[[First Age]].
| realm=[[Havens of Sirion]], [[Lindon]]
| death=[[Second Age 3441|3441]]
| age=
| parentage=[[Orodreth of Nargothrond|Orodreth]]
| spouse=None
| children=
| gender=Male
| hair=Golden
| ref=''[[Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age]]''
|}}
<center>{{quote|Gil-galad was an Elven-king<br>Of him the harpers sadly sing<br>The last whose realm was fair and free<br>Between the Mountains and the Sea.|From [[The Fall of Gil-galad]], as translated by [[Bilbo Baggins]]}}</center>
'''Ereinion Gil-galad''' was the sixth and last [[High King of the Noldor]]. He was the son of [[Orodreth of Nargothrond|Orodreth]] (in the Silmarillion he is the son of [[Fingon]]), who was in turn the son of [[Angrod]] of [[Finarfin]]'s house. Gil-galad was born in [[Beleriand]] late in the First Age, and was still a child at the time of the [[Dagor Bragollach]] where his grandfather [[Angrod]] was killed; therefore his father sent him to [[Círdan]] at the [[Havens of the Falas]] for safekeeping when [[Morgoth]] broke the [[Siege of Angband]] in that battle. Gil-galad was a descendant of the Noldor, Teleri and Vanyar. Teleri from his great-grandmother Eärwen who was the daughter of Olwë and Vanyarin from his Great-Great-grandmother Indis. Nonetheless, he was counted among the Noldor.

== History ==
Fingon fell in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and the crown passed to [[Turgon]] in Gondolin. When Gondolin was lost, Gil-galad received the Kingship of the Noldor, as his father had been killed in [[Nargothrond]]. He dwelt with the Exiles of the city at the [[Mouths of Sirion]] during the remainder of the First Age.

After the destruction of [[Beleriand]] during the [[War of Wrath]], Gil-galad founded a kingdom in [[Lindon]] in the far northwest of Middle-earth, between the [[Blue Mountains]] and the [[Great Sea]]. There he and his people prospered, until [[Sauron]] returned; he came first to Lindon in the form of [[Annatar]], the "Lord of Gifts", but Gil-galad and [[Elrond]] rejected him. Soon after, the [[One Ring]] was forged, and [[War of the Elves and Sauron]] began. Once [[Eregion]] fell to Sauron, Gil-Galad received the Elven Rings [[Narya]] and [[Vilya]], while the third ring, [[Nenya]] was given to [[Galadriel]]. He would later give Narya to Cirdan and after his death Vilya passed to Elrond.

After the [[Downfall of Númenor]], [[Elendil]] and his sons came to Middle-earth and formed an alliance with Gil-galad, the [[Last Alliance of Elves and Men]]. They marched on Mordor and besieged [[Sauron]]'s [[Dark Tower]]. Sauron was defeated, but Gil-galad met his death in that war. According to the laws of succession, Elrond should have become the next High King of the Noldor, but he refused the crown, and Gil-galad became the last King of the Noldor in Middle-earth.

Gil-galad's weapon was the spear [[Aeglos (spear)|Aeglos]].

== Other Versions of the Legendarium ==
[[Image:Shrunken Gil-galad.jpg|thumb|[[Mark Ferguson]] as Gil-galad in [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring]]]]
Originally in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Gil-galad was the son of [[Finrod Felagund]]. In the ''[[Grey Annals]]'', however, Felagund had no son, leaving his wife in [[Tirion]] at the [[Flight of the Noldor]]. Later writings, specifically the ''[[Shibboleth of Fëanor]]'', presents the fact that Gil-galad was the son of Orodreth, who was in fact the son of Angrod. In the published ''[[Silmarillion]]'' and ''[[The Mariner's Wife]]'' Gil-galad is said to have been the son of [[Fingon]]. However, [[Christopher Tolkien]] later admitted that it was a rushed choice, and that Gil-galad was Orodreth's son in the original manuscripts written by his father.

== Etymology ==
'''Gil-galad''' was his [[mother-name]], meaning "Starlight" in [[Sindarin]] (from ''[[gîl]]'' = "star" and ''[[galad]]'' = "radiance"). It was his preferred name in his youth. His [[father-name]] was '''[[Rodnor]]'''.

As High King of the Noldor, his [[epessë]] was '''Ereinion''', "Scion of Kings" (from ''[[erain]]'' = "kings" and ''[[ion]]'' = "son").

== Portrayals in adaptations==
'''2001''': ''[[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':'''
:In the prologue, Gil-galad can be seen holding one of the three Elven rings. Later, he is seen wielding his spear Aeglos in the Battle of the [[Last Alliance of Elves and Men]]. His death is not shown, and he does not take down Sauron. He is played by [[Mark Ferguson]].

== Genealogy ==
{{familytree/start}}
{{familytree | | | | | | |ARF|y|EAR| | | | ARF=[[Finarfin]]|EAR=[[Eärwen]]}}
{{familytree | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | }}
{{familytree | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| }}
{{familytree |FIN| |ANG|y|ELD| |AEG| |GAL| FIN=[[Finrod Felagund|Finrod]]|ANG=[[Angrod]]|ELD=[[Eldalótë]]|AEG=[[Aegnor]]|GAL=[[Galadriel]] }}
{{familytree | | | | | | | |!| | }}
{{familytree | | | | | | |ORO| | | | |ORO=[[Orodreth of Nargothrond|Orodreth]] }}
{{familytree | | | | | | | |!| | }}
{{familytree | | | | |,|-|-|^|-|-|.|}}
{{familytree | | | |GIL| | | |FIN| |GIL='''GIL-GALAD'''|FIN=[[Finduilas of Nargothrond|Finduilas]] }}
{{familytree/end}}
{{sequence
|prev=[[Turgon of Gondolin|Turgon]]
|next=none (abandoned)
|list=6th [[High King of the Noldor]]<br><code>I</code> 510 – <code>II</code> 3441
}}
== See Also ==
* [[:Category:Images of Gil-galad|Images of Gil-galad]].

[[Category:Noldor]]
[[Category:House of Finwë]]
[[de:Gil-galad]]
[[fi:Gil-galad]]

Tolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]

Gil-galad