[Alcuin]

The High Kingship of the Noldor appears to have passed by agnatic succession. In short, when a High King died, his eldest brother became king; if there were no eldest brother (nearby, at any rate), his son became king. If there were no brother or son, his daughter inherited the kingdom (cf. Idril daughter of Turgon), and she and her husband ruled. This is how kingship was passed among the Anglo-Saxons.

The High King might be compared to an early Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne was the first Holy Roman Emperor and a powerful monarch. When he died, his eldest son, Louis the Pious became Holy Roman Emperor. When Louis died, his sons became kings of different regions: Lothair, the eldest, became Holy Roman Emperor and took possession of “Middle Franconia”, the region along the Rhine into modern Switzerland and Italy: the rich north-south trade route (sometimes called “the Bowling Alley”); Pepin, his second son, received Aquitaine and Maine (the western half of modern France); Louis, his third son, received what is now western Germany (receiving the sobriquet “Louis the German”); and Charles (the Bald), his youngest, received part of what is now France, and upon the death of Pepin, the rest of it. The brothers fought against one another and rebelled against their father. The office of Holy Roman Emperor lasted until 1806.

In exile, two descendents of Finwë built fortresses and became local kings: Turgon in Gondolin, Finrod in Nargothrond. Both of them acknowledged the overlordship of Fingolfin as High King. Fingolfin was, presumably, arbiter of disputes (in ironic jest, the Sindar accused the Noldor of returning to Middle-earth so that they could have more room to argue among themselves) and supreme leader in warfare. The Sons of Fëanor mostly cooperated with Fingolfin, at least in military matters; none of them assumed the title “king”. After Fingolfin’s death, the High Kingship passed agnatically until, by whatever lineage, Gil-galad became High King. In the Second Age, Gil-galad was recognized as High King by Galadriel, Elrond, and the Noldor of Eregion, though that did not prevent either Galadriel or the smiths of Eregion from acting independently of him. (The Noldor were a contentious bunch.) Upon his death, no one claimed the High Kingship of the Noldor: presumably Elrond as grandson of Turgon could have taken the title, but did not; by declining to succeed to royal authority, he diffused any rivalry with Galadriel, and set a precedent for the Chieftains of the Dúnedain, who did not take the title of king after the ruin of Arnor. (Elendil and Isildur were High Kings of Arnor and Gondor; Aragorn called himself High King of Gondor and Arnor.)

I don’t know who the kings were among the Elves before Oromë, or if the Elves even had kings. The four emissaries who initially went with Oromë to Aman were either appointed or acknowledged as kings upon their return: Ingwë, Finwë, Elwë and Olwë. Elwë and Olwë had a brother, Elmo (tickle me!), father of Celeborn, who did not go to Aman with his two brothers. Thranduil was related to Celeborn, and Círdan was somehow related to Elwë, Olwë, and Elmo. This implies there may have been several generations of Elves at Cuiviénen before Oromë discovered them. Perhaps Ingwë, Finwë, Elwë and Olwë were among the first Elves to awaken (there were originally 14 Minyar (later Vanyar), 56 Tatyar (half of whom went to Aman and became Noldor, half were unwilling, or Avari), and 74 Nelyar (the same number of Nelyar as Tatyar refused to go and were Avari; and of the rest, half went with Olwë to Aman and became Teleri, half remained in Beleriand to search for Elwë and became Sindar)), but there seems no reason that must be so.

In Silmarillion, Thingol in his rage at the Dwarves of Nargothrond when they try to take the Silmaril after mounting it in the Nauglamír says his “life began by the waters of Cuiviénen”. Perhaps he was indeed one of the 74 Nelyar who first awoke there, or perhaps he was born there; for myself, I think he was born there. Silmarillion indicates a great number of Elves followed Oromë in the Great March to Beleriand, but not whether they were numbered in scores, hundreds, thousands, or ten thousands: there were many more than the 144 who first awoke beneath the stars, and that can only mean several generations of Elves lived there before meeting Oromë.

As for Galadriel, Tolkien calls her the greatest of the Noldor second only to Fëanor. Of the two, I suppose most of us would prefer to deal with Galadriel rather than Fëanor: while Fëanor might be more entertaining, Galadriel would likely be better (and far safer and less arrogant) company.

The relationship between Galadriel and Celeborn mirrors that between Melian and Thingol. There is no question that Melian, a Maia, was far more powerful and possessed much deeper insight than Thingol. For instance, when Thingol sends Beren off on a suicidal quest for a Silmaril, Melian quietly rebukes him,

O King, you have devised cunning counsel. But if my eyes have not lost their sight, it is ill for you, whether Beren fail in his errand, or achieve it. For you have doomed either your daughter, or yourself. And now is Doriath drawn within the fate of a mightier realm.

Compare that to Galadriel’s gentle rebuke of Celeborn, who wisely understanding that a Balrog might burst forth from Moria to follow the Company of the Ring into Lórien, says he would have barred not only Gimli the Dwarf but even Aragorn and Legolas his kinsman from entering:

Do not repent of your welcome to the Dwarf. If our folk had been exiled long and far from Lothlórien, who of the Galadhrim, even Celeborn the Wise, would pass nigh and would not wish to look upon their ancient home, though it had become an abode of dragons?

She then proceeds to make peace with Gimli. Galadriel intentionally patterned some of her actions after Melian’s.

Looking back for a moment to Noldorin kingship, notice that neither Galadriel nor Celeborn assumes any royal title in Lórien. Like Elrond in Rivendell and Círdan in Lindon, they are unquestionably the rulers of the land; but the last king of Lórien was Amroth, whether he was (as was Tolkien’s intention when he wrote Lord of the Rings) the son of Celeborn and Galadriel (echoed in Treebeard’s greeting, A vanimar, vanimalion nostari!, “O beautiful ones, parents of beautiful children!” i.e., Celebrían and Amroth) or of a Silvan or Sindarin lord Amdír (later in Tolkien’s life).

Arwen and Aragorn saw their relationship as a clear reprise of that of Lúthien and Beren; but there are striking similarities between Lúthien’s relationship with Beren and that her mother shared with her father; in fact, since Aragorn reigned as High King of the Dúnedain, he and Arwen may share more similarities with Melian and Thingol than did Lúthien and Beren. In all four relationships – Melian and Thingol, Galadriel and Celeborn, Lúthien and Beren, and Arwen and Aragorn, the female is more powerful and wiser than the male; and in every case except Galadriel and Celeborn, she is especially older than the male.

As an aside, for Lúthien and Beren, Melian and Thingol, and Arwen and Aragorn, when the younger male dies – in the cases of Beren and Thingol, violently – the female soon chooses to leave Middle-earth, too. (This situation is reversed for Galadriel and Celeborn: Galadriel leaves Middle-earth, and Celeborn is left behind: Galadriel is not a descendent of Melian.)