Orcrist's owner

[Galin]

Nothing in The History of Middle-Earth series to really answer that question, that I remember anyway.

Incidentally, if 'Penlod' was to later exist as a character (as he only appears in the early Fall Of Gondolin published in The Book of Lost Tales if I recall correctly), one thing we might add, noting Penlod 'tallest of Gnomes', is that in the much later version Turgon (Unfinished Tales, note 31, Of Tuor And His Coming To Gondolin) was to appear 'tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol'

According to even later text Argon appears to be taller than Turgon, and then again, Argon had perished before Tuor met Turgon.

[Rumil]

Wasn't Glamdring Turgon's sword originally?

Egalmoth used a curved sword, so not his,

Other than this I guess it's guesswork, though Glamdring and Orcrist do seem to be a 'pair' in some ways

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Rumil

Wasn't Glamdring Turgon's sword originally?

Yep. Elrond in The Hobbit:

This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore.

Originally Posted by Rumil

Egalmoth used a curved sword, so not his,

and Tuor an axe, so not his either.

Originally Posted by Rumil

Other than this I guess it's guesswork, though Glamdring and Orcrist do seem to be a 'pair' in some ways

Hmmm... you know what, Elrond only says that both swords were made in Gondolin, not that both were owned by Gondolindrim lords. Could Orcrist have been Fingon's?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Hmmm... you know what, Elrond only says that both swords were made in Gondolin, not that both were owned by Gondolindrim lords. Could Orcrist have been Fingon's?

I wouldn't think Fingon was the owner. He never set foot in Gondolin, and only met Turgon and the Gondolindrim in the Nirnaeth. Also, he died in that battle, and whatever sword had been in his possession surely would have been buried in the Hill of Slain with his body and never recovered.

I rather like the idea of Ecthelion being the owner of Orcrist, and the sword being saved from the sack of the City, but I can't find any textual basis for it.

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I wouldn't think Fingon was the owner. He never set foot in Gondolin, and only met Turgon and the Gondolindrim in the Nirnaeth. Also, he died in that battle, and whatever sword had been in his possession surely would have been buried in the Hill of Slain with his body and never recovered.

Well, my guess was based on Rumil's idea that the two swords seemed to be a pair, so I thought Turgon could have had it made as a gift to his brother. Didn't they really meet at all in the centuries between the founding of Gondolin and the Nirnaeth? Now I think of it, suppose not... Elvish family relations are strange to us mortals. And yeah, I probably should re-read the Silmarillion one of these days.

What other close kinsmen did Turgon have? Maeglin, of course - though I'd imagine he brought his own sword from Eöl's smithy.

Anyway, Orcrist clearly was a renowned blade, so if the owner wasn't kin to Turgon, I'd at least suppose him to be one of the more illustrious chieftains of Gondolin. Ecthelion would be as good a bet as any in that case. (Not Glorfindel, I think - Elrond would have mentioned it if the sword had belonged to a member of his household.*)

*(compulsory meta-remark: this fails to take into account that Tolkien most likely had no idea of a reincarnated Glorfindel's presence in Rivendell when he wrote TH, but never mind.)

[Rumil]

Evening all,

the 'pair' concept was suggested to me by the goblins calling the swords 'Biter and Beater'. And if we go for 'Gondolinites', there are some more to rule out perhaps-

Duilin - bow
Galdor - club
Rog - mace
Salgant - unlikely! not really very renowned....

So we still have Ecthelion, Glorfindel and Penlod, and possibly Duilin as he probably had a sword as well as a bow. Another intriguing possibility is Pengolodh the loremaster, who did escape Gondolin (and might be a version of Penlod?).

I'm going with everyone else and putting my money on Ecthelion!

Oh, hang on, Tuor used the axe Dramborleg indeed, but Turgon left shield, hauberk, sword and helm for Tuor in Vinyamar. So could be Tuor's? Perhaps Turgon, having being instructed by Ulmo, left the very best gear there, as a mark of respect to the command of the Valar.

On the other hand, were Orcrist and Glamdring 'from' Gondolin or 'forged in' Gondolin? If the second, I guess its still just possible that they were made while Turgon's folk were in the process of moving in from Vinyamar.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Ecthelion would be the bet no.1 for me, if not, then possibly Glorfindel. But I think Ecthelion would be the most fitting - warrior, strong etc. Isn't there some nice description of Ecthelion mentioning a nice sword (which we could just point at and say "yea, this must have been it!") for example in the tale of Tuor? Otherwise, I don't know. But knowing that Orcrist was supposed to be a very famous blade, I would expect also a rather famous wielder.

EDIT: x-ed with Pitch... interesting observation.