Gil-galad

2007-05-10T16:35:44Z

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{{royalty infobox
| image=[[Image:Perkan Pickman - Gil-galad.jpg|300px]]
| name= Ereinion Gil-galad
| othernames= Rodnor
| birth=
| rule= [[First Age|I]] 510
| death= [[Second Age|II]] 3441
| realms= [[Lindon]]
| race= [[Noldor]]
| gender= Male
| |height=
| hair= Brown
| eyes=
|}}
{{quote|Gil-galad was an Elven-king, Of him the harpers sadly sing, the last whose realm was fair and free, between the Mountains and the Sea.|From [[The Fall of Gil-galad]], as translated by [[Bilbo Baggins]]}}

'''Ereinion Gil-galad''' ([[First Age]] – [[Second Age]] 3441) was the sixth and last [[High King of the Noldor]]. He was the son of [[Orodreth of Nargothrond|Orodreth]] (in the Silmarilion 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.

== 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.

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]].

== Etymology ==
'''Gil-galad''' was his [[mother-name]], meaning "Star of Radiance" 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").

== Genealogy ==
<code>
[[Finarfin]]
|
----------------|------------------------------
| | | |
| | | |
[[Finrod]] [[Angrod]] [[Aegnor]] [[Galadriel]]
|
|
[[Orodreth of Nargothrond|Orodreth]]
|
|
|
|
___________________
| |
| |
'''Gil-galad''' [[Finduilas of Nargothrond|Finduilas]]

</code>
{{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
}}

== Other Versions of the Legendarium ==
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 [[Silmarillion]] and the [[Unfinished Tales]] Gil-galad is said to have been the son of [[Fingon]].However Christopher Tolkien later admitted that it was not so and that Gil-galad was Orodreth's son in the original manuscripts written by J.R.R.Tolkien.

== Portrayals in the Movies ==
[[Image:Shrunken Gil-galad.jpg|thumb|[[Mark Ferguson]] as Gil-galad in [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring]]]]
Gil-galad can be seen briefly during the prologue in [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring]]. He was portrayed by [[Mark Ferguson]].

== See Also ==
* [[:Category:Images of Gil-galad|Images of Gil-galad]]

[[Category:Noldor]]
[[Category:House of Finwë]]

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Gil-galad