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Of Glorfindel

Mithrellas.Dagoranna

Heiress of Ecthelion of the Fountain
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
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Is Glorfindel a Vanyarin Elf? Or a Noldor? Why he has a golden hair? Or blonde?

Is there any explanation of Glorfindel's parentage?

Is Glorfindel one of the First Borns?

How old is Glorfindel until the time he died at the Fall of Gondolin?

How old is Glorfindel from the time he was resurrected until The Fourth Age?


Maybe thats all, for now. Thank youuuu....
 
Is Glorfindel a Vanyarin Elf? Or a Noldor? Why he has a golden hair? Or blonde?

Is there any explanation of Glorfindel's parentage?

Is Glorfindel one of the First Borns?

How old is Glorfindel until the time he died at the Fall of Gondolin?

How old is Glorfindel from the time he was resurrected until The Fourth Age?


Maybe thats all, for now. Thank youuuu....

Good questions :D. I am pretty sure that Glorfindel is a Noldo and would not be one of the firstborn. But it's interesting how he is certainly, between his two incarnations, one of the longest-lived elves in Middle-earth.
Hair color I believe varied some among the Noldor by house, while the Vanyar were more clearly golden-haired and the Teleri were more clearly dark-haired.

It's certainly true that Glorfindel's hair was closely tied with Tolkien's conception of him. Glorfindel means "Golden-haired", and he appeared EARLY in Tolkien's mythology, as early as Lost Tales, when most other characters ended up being altered or re-named.
 
"Is Glorfindel a Vanyarin Elf? Or a Noldor?"

He's an awesome Noldo!

"Why he has a golden hair? Or blonde?"

It's true that most of the Noldor were dark-haired, but not all. This could relate to...

"Is there any explanation of Glorfindel's parentage?"

Not yet! All we know so far is that he had some sort of "kinship with Turgon" (JRRT, Glorfindel text II), noting that Turgon's daughter Idril was also golden haired, in any case, with Vanyarin influence.

"Is Glorfindel one of the First Borns?"

It's never said either way.

If one chooses to employ a text called The Awakening of the Quendi (an Elvish fairy tale mixed with counting lore) as "historical enough" to rely on here, the Elf-father Tata (his name means "Two") first chooses 9 pairs of Unbegotten Quendi for his companions. Later he chooses again, adding 18 pairs of Unbegotten Elves: "and they were tall and dark-haired and strong as fir-trees, and from them most of the Noldor were later sprung." JRRT, The Awakening of The Quendi

Not that that necessarily helps with Glorfindel! But that's how the fairy tale goes anyway :)

We just don't know much about Glorfindel's ancestry yet. Some have speculated that he must be from the House of Finarfin, given his golden locks and a description in Appendix F about Eldarin hair, but I interpret the Appendix F reference to allow for exceptions among the Eldar (being dark-haired) even outside the notable golden house of Finarfin.

"How old is Glorfindel until the time he died at the Fall of Gondolin?"

Alas or huzzah (depending on if one likes some mystery here or not), to date, his year of birth is unknown.

"How old is Glorfindel from the time he was resurrected until The Fourth Age?"

Glorfindel was restored to incarnate life (after his purging) somewhere between SY 510 (Fall of Gondolin) and SY 590 (End of First Age) if I recall the dates correctly...

... plus the Second and Third Ages. I don't have enough fingers and toes for that kind of math.

:D
 
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