#all plot holes can be solved by remembering Pengolodh the biased narrator

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

Gil-Galad “Fingon’s son” and how everyone had reason to lie

I’m working under the assumption that Gil-Galad is a descendant of Finwe, and that he was born at some point after the Dagor Bragollach, possibly even after the Nirnaeth Anoediad. I’m also assuming the Noldor don’t believe in ruling queens, which is all but stated in the text.

I don’t know whose kid he is, but I know why he went down in history as Fingon’s. Let’s look at potential parents (all living members of the house of Finwe). [under a cut for length]

The Feanorians are disinherited, and any children of theirs would also be so. Maedhros never meant to completely give up his claim, just step back one place (yielding the kingship to “the eldest here of the house of Finwe”), and his brothers didn’t even agree with that. It’s a plausible tale that Fingon entrusted his son into the care of his best friend Maedhros before the battle. Turgon arrived so late, and had been in Gondolin for years, he can’t honestly say he knows more about his brother’s life than Maedhros does these days. There’s a child here who is obviously of Finwe’s line. Silver hair is rarely seen on Noldor outside the line of Miriel, but perhaps his mother was a Sinda.

Celebrimbor has no one to turn to. Everyone in Nargothrond hates him for the actions of his father and uncle. He doesn’t exactly expect a warm welcome if he goes back to his father and says “I still hate you for killing Finrod, but your grandson needs shelter.” Doriath and Gondolin are closed to outsiders. That leaves the Falas, but even there a Feanorian will be viewed with suspicion. He does what he sees as the kindest thing possible for Gil-Galad. Celebrimbor will have to work the rest of his life to overcome his family; Fingon’s son, entrusted to his cousin’s care for the hazardous journey south, will be loved and trusted by all.

The death of Turgon’s wife Elenwe was well known. There has only been one remarriage in elven history, which was with the consent of the deceased and still led to trouble. Turgon’s bastard son leaves Gondolin at the same time the army marches off, but in the opposite direction. Many civilians of Hithlum are fleeing south as well, one more child with his mother will hardly be noticed. When the news of the battle reaches Balar, she takes the opportunity to claim her child’s rightful inheritance. If Turgon won’t acknowledge his child, his brother will have to stand in.

All of Gondolin knows the princess Idril is wed and has a child, you can’t keep a royal pregnancy secret in a closed kingdom. But if her husband (who finds the whole thing a bit amusing and a bit hot), and her father the king, approve of her courtship of Tuor, no one else has grounds to speak against it. Tuor is mortal and will die in a few years anyway, and the scandal will be but a brief incident in the life of their princess. Then Earendil is born, and the city falls, and Idril’s husband falls with it. The people of Gondolin have little left other than pride in their heritage and in their princess. Nothing is allowed to taint her reputation in front of the Sindar, so Gil-Galad becomes Fingon’s son. With Turgon sadly dead, it doesn’t even disrupt the succession. 

Maeglin betrayed Gondolin to Sauron.  The Gondolindrim won’t execute a child for his father’s crimes, regardless of any grumblings about tainted blood.  With Turgon dead, the throne would normally pass to Earendil - if he were actually an elf. Erenion - called this because Maeglin, like Eol, refused to name him until he was twelve years old - is next in line. He would make a good king, or at least could be taught to be one by the time he grows up, if it weren’t for his origins. So Erenion is Fingon’s son. (If Erenion became just a random child instead, the crown would go to Orodreth, and the Gondolindrim aren’t going to be ruled by an outsider.)

Lalwen got left out the history books herself, as a woman who never ruled a realm. Gil-Galad inherited the crown, so he must be the son of the High King. A lack of information about his early life reflects the chaos that followed the Bragaollach and the Nirnaeth, not any oversight on the part of the historian.

Orodreth wants his son to be king. After the fall of Tol Sirion and then Orodreth doing absolutely nothing as Celegorm and Curufin turned Nargothrond against Finrod, the rest of the Noldor don’t really respect him. In addition, Gil-Galad would rightly be behind any children Idril or Maeglin have, if they ever emerge from Gondolin. Fingon might have sent his son to Finrod in his safe hidden city, and it’s a good thing the information was not widely shared - imagine what Celegorm and Curufin would have done had they known! Orodreth sends Gil-Galad to Balar not because he truly worries the city might fall, but to be prominently known as the Heir to the Throne somewhere people can’t compare their appearances.

The parents of a child being separated during a pregnancy is harmful for both the parents and the child. Findulias had tried to convince Gwindor to stay, and not go along with this foolish plan to challenge Morgoth. When he insisted on fighting, she comforted herself with the belief that he would return soon, after all, he was going to defend the capital city, that can’t be too dangerous right? He didn’t return though, and Findulias was left to raise their child alone. She got enough pitying looks over Gwindor’s death/capture (no one knew which) as it was, she couldn’t have borne the way people would look at her if they knew she was a widow. So she wasn’t, and therefore Gil-Galad could not be her son. The child of one of her cousins though, she would be his closest kin in Nargothrond, and it would be quite logical for her to raise him. Fingon was unmarried, and lived long enough he could have an infant son.

Galadriel crossed the sea to rule a kingdom of her own. She learned how to defend a kingdom from Melian, and scouted land east of Taur-im-Duinath to found one.  She would be Queen, with Celeborn king beside her - not her beside him - and their son the crown prince. Erenion, scion of kings, has a claim to the thrones of Tirion, Aqualonde, Doriath, and perhaps even Valmar.  Galadriel planned to keep her kingdom quiet until her reign was firmly established, but had notified her brothers and received assurances of their support, both politically and sending prospective citizens.  Then the Dagor Bragollach happens, and Aegnor and Angrod dies, and she won’t found a new kingdom when the current ones are barely standing. Finrod dies, and then the Nirnaeth, and Galadriel realizes that her kingdom will not be founded this Age.  But she is proud, and Erenion was born to rule. If her cousins’ foolishness means he will not rule Galadriel’s kingdom, he will rule the Noldor, for as long as they have left. Galadriel, Celeborn, and Erenion travel to Balar, where she introduces Erenion as Fingon’s son, heir to the throne of the Noldor, in her mind the least of what he deserves.

EDIT: I forgot Finrod. Finrod left on a quest that was nearly certain to lead to his death. Celegorm and Curufin have basically taken over Nargothrond. If Orodreth, a grown elf, can’t stand against them, what chance does a young child have? Orodreth feels a duty to stay and do what he can for the city, but he sends Gil-Galad away, as who knows the sons of Feanor are wiling to do to consolidate power. A ‘young kinsman of the High King’ arrives at the Falas, truth that distances the boy from any attempts at revenge.

crossposted to pillowfort