The History of Galadriel and Celeborn - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

William Cloud Hicklin · 12-30-2015, 05:21 PM

There's not really much else to say; you've covered just about everything. It's a fact of (external) history that neither Galadriel nor Celeborn existed until Tolkien came to write the Lothlorien chapters in 1940, and it wasn't until a decade or so later that he tried to ret-con them into his legendarium. Galadriel was given something of a bit part in the revised QS and especially in the Grey Annals, while Celeborn remained in her shadow.

The sad fact of the matter is that Tolkien never got around to inventing much history for the Second Age in the Great Lands, with the exception of his rather laconic coverage of the First War of the Rings.

----------------------

I can add this many worms to the can- while on the one hand Tolkien might be implying that Galadriel as well as Celeborn were present for the sack of Doriath, G's own statement would negate that: if she "passed over the mountains" before the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin, then she was necessarily gone before Doriath fell (the first (Dwarf) sack occurred the same year as Gondolin went down, and several years after Nargthrond)

12-30-2015, 05:21 PM	#27
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	There's not really much else to say; you've covered just about everything. It's a fact of (external) history that neither Galadriel nor Celeborn existed until Tolkien came to write the Lothlorien chapters in 1940, and it wasn't until a decade or so later that he tried to ret-con them into his legendarium. Galadriel was given something of a bit part in the revised QS and especially in the Grey Annals, while Celeborn remained in her shadow. The sad fact of the matter is that Tolkien never got around to inventing much history for the Second Age in the Great Lands, with the exception of his rather laconic coverage of the First War of the Rings. ---------------------- I can add this many worms to the can- while on the one hand Tolkien might be implying that Galadriel as well as Celeborn were present for the sack of Doriath, G's own statement would negate that: if she "passed over the mountains" before the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin, then she was necessarily gone before Doriath fell (the first (Dwarf) sack occurred the same year as Gondolin went down, and several years after Nargthrond) __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it. Last edited by William Cloud Hicklin; 12-30-2015 at 05:25 PM.