32 Was Glorfindel of Rivendell (whom Frodo met) the same as Glorfindel of Gondolin, who was slain fighting a Balrog? (Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien FAQ, by William D.B. Loos loos@hudce.harvard.edu with numerous contributions by others.
32 Was Glorfindel of Rivendell (whom Frodo met) the same as Glorfindel of Gondolin, who was slain fighting a Balrog? (Tolkien)
This has been a matter of great controversy. It was unplanned by
Tolkien, and therefore was something he had to decide after the fact.
The only direct information in any of the books is a comment by
Christopher in _The Return of the Shadow_ (HoMe VI):
Some notes that were scribbled down at Sidmouth in Devon in the
late summer of 1938 (see Carpenter, _Biography_, p. 187) on a page
of doodles evidently represent my father's thoughts for the next
stages of the story at this time:
Consultation. Over M[isty] M[ountains]. Down Great River
to Mordor. Dark Tower. Beyond(?) which is the Fiery Hill.
Story of Gilgalald told by Elrond? Who is Trotter?
Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin.
... Very notable is "Glorfindel tells of his ancestry in Gondolin".
Years later, long after the publication of _The Lord of the Rings_,
my father gave a great deal of thought to the matter of Glorfindel,
and at that time he wrote: "[The use of Glorfindel] in LotR is one
of the cases of the somewhat random use of the names found in the
older legends, now referred to as The Silmarillion, which escaped
reconsideration in the final published form of _The Lord of the
Rings_." He came to the conclusion that Glorfindel of Gondolin, who
fell to his death in combat with a Balrog after the sack of the city
(II. 192-4, IV.145), and Glorfindel of Rivendell were one and the
same: he was released from Mandos and returned to Middle-earth in
the Second Age.
The Return of the Shadow, 214-215
["Trotter" was the original name of the mysterious stranger later
called "Strider" (who at this stage of the composition was a
hobbit); II and IV refer to other volumes in the HoMe series.]
A number of reasons have been advanced for not taking this at face
value. Since Christopher's report of Tolkien's conclusion was not
part of the rough drafts, the question of whether rough drafts can be
canonical does not arise in this case. The suggestion that lack of
premeditation is grounds for rejection also seems inadequate, since
many elements were introduced with little thought of future conse-
quences yet later became important parts of the mythos.
It is true that we have no examples of any other elf journeying
eastwards *to* Middle-earth during the Second Age (though some did
visit Numenor), but this is not enough to disprove the possibility of
Glorfindel's having done so. There were in fact no direct statements
either way, which means that Tolkien could have established whatever
background he wanted to any story he might have written. The previous
lack of specific information on this matter was no constraint.
The strongest objection is that the way Christopher presents this
insprires less confidence than it might because he doesn't provide any
direct quotes -- rather, he merely describes a "conclusion" that his
father eventually "came to". Evidently, Tolkien never actually wrote
his conclusion down. The matter therefore reduces to a question of
how much one trusts Christopher, and whether one supposes that he
might attach too much importance to a casual statement. The majority
of readers appear to accept that this was indeed a thoughtful
conclusion that Tolkien reached only after long deliberation (we do
know that he and Christopher discussed the matter of Middle-earth
often). A significant minority continue to reject it.
In the last analysis, of course, certainty either way is impos-
sible, since no evidence beyond the above exists. On the one hand, we
can at least say that Tolkien apparently saw no objection to the idea
that a re-embodied Glorfindel could have returned. On the other hand,
the usual caveats concerning unpublished material are even stronger
than usual in this case, since he not only might have changed his mind
before publishing but also might have done so before he wrote the
story, or while he wrote it (not an unusual occurrence). Still, there
seems a good chance that he would have stuck to the one Glorfindel
idea, since he seems not to have come to the decision lightly.
Contributors: WDBL, Robert Rosenbaum
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