What is Pengolod's significance in Tolkien's tales?

[Sagan369]

In a number of Tolkien's tales, they end with 'quoth Pengolod'. Does anyone know who he his, elf or man, when he lived, 1st-4th age?

 

[YayGollum]

I do. He was just some boring elf who seems to have been alive from at least some point in the first age until who knows when? I don't see much evidence that shows the guy dying. I would call this one a vessel for telling stories. Some scholar slash storyteller that messed with some Eriol dude.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

Wikipedia Says:

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Pengolodh (also spelled Pengolod, Pengoloð, Pengoloth, and Pengoloþ — the ending in all cases representing the voiced dental fricative) was a Loremaster of the Ñoldor. He appears only in The History of Middle-earth and not the 'canonical' major published works.
Pengolodh was a Ñoldorin Elf of Gondolin, who was born in Nevrast to a Ñoldorin lord and a Sindarin lady. Early tales about the Fall of Gondolin mention him as one of the lords of the city, and ruler of the Twin Folk of the Pillar and the Tower of Snow. As a member of the Lambengolmor, he was known as the Sage of the Ñoldor, and counted as the greatest Loremaster since Fëanor and Rúmil. He was also the tallest of the Elves of Gondolin.
Pengolodh escaped the sack of the city with Tuor and Idril, and followed them to the Mouths of Sirion. He is not further mentioned in writing, but since the Annals of Beleriand are attributed to him, as well as the edited Annals of Aman (furthering the work of Rúmil), he must have stayed in Lindon for at least a while after the War of Wrath, so that the Dúnedain could copy his work.
It was during his stay at the Mouths that Pengolodh did the majority of his work. Basing on information obtained from the refugees of Doriath, he made copies and extracts of documents written in cirth, possibly preserving them as an active writing system.
Later, in the Second Age, he dwelt in the Ñoldorin kingdom of Gil-galad. Pengolodh was one of the few Elves admitted into Khazad-dûm, where he might have learned Khuzdul. Pengolodh left Middle-earth during the War of the Elves and Sauron and after the fall of Eregion, and left for Tol Eressëa, last of the Loremasters to leave Middle-earth.
Pengolodh does not appear in any of the canon works of Middle-earth, but in the History of Middle-earth he is given as the author of many works, including the Annals of Beleriand, a work which was developed by Tolkien at the same time as the Silmarillion, and from which Christopher Tolkien drew much information to establish the published Silmarillion. Various late essays by Tolkien dealing with linguism are presented as being the work of Pengolodh, including the essay Quendi and Eldar.
Early Tolkien texts stated that, after removing to Tol Eressëa, Pengolodh dwelt in a village called Tavrobel (or Tathrobel). Centuries later Ælfwine spoke with him there. The figure of Gilfanon, which fulfilled a similar role as a chronicler of the annals of Beleriand in earlier works, probably became this character as well in Tolkien's mind.
The name Pengolodh was a Sindarized form of his Quenya name Quendingoldo.

Hope that helps

 

[Confusticated]

Where was I when this happened?!

Wikipedia is useful but I prefer The TolkienWiki.org's write up on Pengolodh.





As it was written by me...

 

[YayGollum]

*checks the Confusticated lady's past posts* Looks as if you were writing something about a forum photo album on the thirteenth of January, in the year of this thread's arrival, two thousand as well as six. Contemplation of such photos took up so much of your time that you were unable to return (or at least post) until the first of November, in the same year. I didn't check what photo must have been the cause of your absence, but oh well. I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to me. Please, nobody else go back to look for it!

Also, didn't I already give a great explanation for this Pengolod person? No? People prefer long-windedness? oh well.

 

[Elthir]

Pengoloð or Pengolodh or Pengoloth 'teaching sage' (according to Words, Phrases, and Passages). As noted, according to Quendi And Eldar (1959-60) he was born the son of a Noldo and a Sinda, was a sage in Gondolin, escaped to the Havens of Sirion, and sailed to Eressea in the Second Age.

His history is a bit different according to a later work however. Pengolodh is an Exile rather, according to Author's note 3 to Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi, and as the Vinyar Tengwar editors also note, he would then have no Sindarin blood. This information is recent enough that some websites today might not yet note it. Notable differences: A) as said, in the later version Pengolodh is an Exile. B) he was said to have learned something of Dwarvish in its archaic form as used in the habitations of the Dwarves in Ered Lindon -- whereas Quendi And Eldar states that he gained his knowledge of Dwarvish from the Dwarves of Moria in the Second Age.


Hmm. Also, with respect to this part (from the citation above)...

Early tales about the Fall of Gondolin mention him as one of the lords of the city, and ruler of the Twin Folk of the Pillar and the Tower of Snow. As a member of the Lambengolmor, he was known as the Sage of the Ñoldor, and counted as the greatest Loremaster since Fëanor and Rúmil. He was also the tallest of the Elves of Gondolin

The first and third sentences are based on the early (Book of Lost Tales version) Fall of Gondolin, though not the middle sentence; and in any case these early details refer to a Penlod the Tall, a lord of Gondolin who died in defense of that city.

When Pengolodh appears later in The Shaping of Middle-Earth, Christopher Tolkien gives his opinion that his literary precursor is Gilfanon.

 

[Confusticated]

Thanks for the information.

Regarding A, this is good news for those who liked him as an exile who had reported seeing Yavanna in the form of a tree. "...the beauty and majesty of that form could not be told in words, not unless all the things that grow in the earth, from the least unto the greatest, should sing in choir together, making unto their queen an offering of song to be laid before the throne of Ilúvatar."

As for B, it raises the question: Was Pengolodh coming and going from Gondolin? I'd like to order that issue, and edit the entry I linked to. I wonder if he still dwells in Middle-earth well into the Second Age.