Approach to Rivendell

[Alcuin]

Of the four Elven settlements in the late Third Age that we see in Tolkien’s writings, Rivendell is by far the smallest territorially and least populated. (The others would be Lórien, Thranduil’s kingdom, and Lindon, of which we see only a glimpse at the very end and some discarded material in Return of the Shadow). Misdirection and concealment would be primary tools for these Elves, because a military response to every insult or aggravation would be unwise: it would only draw more attention, and it might prove costly in lives lost. Elrond and his compatriots must also have known how to prevent unwanted watchers from prying: Galadriel said that she could not see Gandalf “from afar...: a grey mist is about him, and the ways of his feet … are hidden from me.� (“Mirror of Galadriel�)

But I think you are correct: the Elves withdrew into narrower and narrower confines and for the most part avoided contact with other folk. The one exception to this rule seems to have been Thranduil, who traded with the Men of Esgaroth on the Long Lake for food and wine. Elrond had considerable dealings with his far kinsmen, the few surviving Dúnedain of Arnor, but they in turn adopted his way of life, avoiding folk other than themselves and their Elven allies.

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Insert image only works for me in this part of Entmoot while in edit mode. Here is an old section of Natchez Trace: I imagine that the Great Road looked much the same where it ran through woods.

[Galin]

We must consider the situation: Eregion was begun by Galadriel and Celebrimbor as a land they could themselves rule, basically without regard to Gil-galad. (Until the last year or two of his life, Tolkien was using the premise the Galadriel was ambitious and wanted to rule in her own right: hence the severe temptation she suffered when Frodo offered her the One Ring.)

Straying off topic, in my opinion Tolkien discarded this idea, along with others found in Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn -- or, since I know the 'evidence' is thin enough in a sense, I should say I don't necessarily accept this notion as part of Galadriel's true history. For the second edition (thus years after this text was written) JRRT not only imagined Celebrimbor as a Feanorian, but made him Lord of Eregion, with no indication that he only became lord of the realm after a revolt of the MÃ*rdain. There is likewise no indication (that I recall anyway) of Galadriel founding Eregion and ruling there in The Road Goes Ever On, where it is simply said Celeborn and Galadriel went to Eregion.

I realize that 'no indication' is not itself a specific revision of the CG&C idea, but on the other hand its mere existence in that text does not necessarily mean it was still in the mix later. Also in CG&C, Galadriel takes up rule in Lórien in the Second Age, after the revolt, as Amroth is here her son, but according to the revised scenario she will not rule there until the Third Age, after Amroth is lost, because Amroth later becomes a Sindarin ruler of Lórien, following his father.

After Galadriel rightly warned the Noldorin smiths of Eregion against Annatar, Sauron in disguise, she found herself unwelcome in Eregion and departed.

This touches upon a problem Tolkien had not actually solved, to my mind anyway: Galadriel was not unwelcome in Eregion directly after Sauron showed up, but rather it was said that Sauron bore her scorn with patience and courtesy, using all his arts upon Celebrimbor and his fellow-smiths: '... but he worked in secret, unknown to Galadriel and Celeborn. Before long Sauron had the Gwaith-i-MÃ*rdain under his influence (...) so great became his hold on the MÃ*rdain that at length he persuaded them to revolt...'

Tolkien naturally needs some time for this seduction in Eregion, but I think he has not adequately answered why Galadriel, scorning Annatar, allowed him to stay in Eregion in the first place -- considering she ruled there and had actually founded the realm with Celeborn.

If Tolkien desired Galadriel's perception of Annatar to be in some measure notable, if she did not found Eregion and rule there when he arrived, her history arguably becomes easier in this respect. Concerning her desire to rule, according to a late text: 'It was not until two long ages more had passed, when at last all that she had desired in her youth came to her hand, the Ring of Power and the dominion of Middle-earth of which she dreamed, that her wisdom is full grown and she rejected it...' The Shibboleth of Feanor

This could fit with Galadriel not ruling a realm of her own until Lórien in the Third Age (although it's interesting that Tolkien at least twice noted that Galadriel and Celeborn 'took no title of King or Queen' and said they were only guardians of that realm, although taking up its government).*

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Of The Rings of Power And The Third Age still referred to Galadriel as a 'queen' IIRC, but this was not published by JRRT himself in any event.

[Alcuin]

Oh, I am almost always game to stray off topic!

As you and I have discussed, the history of Galadriel (and Celeborn) is confusing, to put it mildly. The only other topics that come close are the exact lineage of Gil-galad and whether or not balrogs have wings. There are strong proponents of an exact lineage for Gil-galad and whether or not balrogs have wings who brook no dissention from their positions; unfortunately, they do not always agree, and the texts are either unrevealing (in the case of balrog wings) or diverge at the end of Tolkien’s life (in the cases of Galadriel’s history and motives and Gil-galad’s descent).

That Galadriel was exiled and could not return to Eldamar or Tol Eressëa at the time Lord of the Rings was written is clear, I think. (The last version of Tolkien’s telling changes that.) Her exact status along the way is muddled, particularly during the Second Age. She was the oldest and noblest member of the House of Finwë still alive in Middle-earth, but she was never acknowledged ruler of the Noldor: that honor – and its deadly duties – fell to Gil-galad, a much younger person who was for all Elven purposes about the same age as Elrond: both were born in Beleriand during the First Age, and I think we can assume based upon all the different versions of the telling that Gil-galad was not much more than a century or two older than Elrond if that. (N.B.: It is possible that Gil-galad was born in Eldamar and crossed Helcaraxë; that is not how I understand the text, but I could certainly be wrong.)

In all the tellings of Galadriel’s history, including the very last telling, which diverges considerably for the backgrounds and motives of both Galadriel and Celeborn, Galadriel is ambitious: she wants to rule. She never quite accomplishes this: instead, she has a position with Celeborn that much resembles Melian’s position with Thingol: a co-ruler rather than a sole ruler; though like Melian, she does not seem to mind.

Likewise, Celebrimbor is demoted from the grandson of Fëanor, probably (but not certainly) born in Eldamar before the Rebellion of the Noldor, to an artificer of either the Sindar or Noldor in Middle-earth. In all the tellings, he remains the maker of the Three Rings, but his position in the last telling is of much lesser stature.

Consider the middle telling of the tale. Celebrimbor is the last of all the House of Fëanor, eldest and greatest of the sons of Finwë. By rights, he should be High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth and in Eldamar; but the House of Fëanor is dispossessed. Galadriel, a leader in the Rebellion of the Noldor who rebelled against Fëanor when he attacked and murdered her kinsfolk in Alqualondë: greatest and noblest of the surviving Noldor in Middle-earth or Eldamar. She rejected repentance and penance before Eönwë, and is now the last of the Noldor still under the Ban of Mandos. Brilliant, ambitious, courageous, she should be to the Noldor what the Númenóreans later took: a Ruling Queen.

In the middle telling, Galadriel and Celebrimbor share something in common: a desire to rule themselves. Now, none of the remaining Noldor are so wicked or so rebellious as to openly say such a thing or insult Gil-galad. Instead, the two of them simply left Lindon and moved nearer the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. (Galadriel and Celeborn had crossed the Ered Luin before the end of the First Age, and may already have visited the greatest of the Dwarven cities.) Both Celebrimbor and Galadriel were still welcome in Gil-galad’s court, and as long as Gil-galad demand no more than token fealty, he allowed a mutually useful situation to develop: Galadriel and Celebrimbor ruled themselves and their followers in Eregion and traded with the Dwarves and with Lindon. Everyone was happier, everyone was better off, and no one meddled in anyone else’s business. Galadriel and Celebrimbor were probably in an unusual situation in which neither was completely in charge, but neither was either of them subject to the rule of “young” Gil-galad.

After about 450 years, a Maia calling himself Annatar claiming to be one of the folk of Aulë appears. Galadriel is alarmed, but Celebrimbor and the rest of the Noldorin craftsmen, perceiving Annatar’s knowledge and skill – the stuff of the folk of Aulë indeed – decide to accept his help. Galadriel argues against it, convinces Gil-galad to bar his entrance into Lindon, and tries to persuade the craftsmen of Eregion to reject him; but the temptation to take and use the hidden knowledge he possesses is too strong, and the Noldor of Eregion turn their backs to Galadriel. She passes through Khazad-dûm into the kingdom of Laurelindórenan on the other side of the mountains and waits.

Another 400 years go by until Celebrimbor and his followers, to their alarm and dismay, discover who Annatar really was. Celebrimbor returns to Lindon, openly accepts Gil-galad as overlord, and gives him the two of the Three Rings he has made. Then he returns to Eregion to await the arrival of Elrond with a company of Elves to strengthen Eregion’s defenses against the coming onslaught from Mordor. Meanwhile, he secretly passes through Khazad-dûm himself, gives the third of his Three Rings to Galadriel, with whom he is reconciled, and gives the greatest of the Seven Rings to his friend Durin the I<x<VI, King of Moria. He doesn’t tell anyone where any of the Three were hidden, but Sauron tortures him and draw out of him the disposition of the greatest of the Seven; as for the Three, Sauron seems to have believed that they were all in the possession of Gil-galad.

I think that pretty well describes the version of the story Tolkien was working with when he wrote Lord of the Rings. None of it is a argument for how things “ought” to be, but rather an argument for the “middle-telling” of the story of Galadriel and Celebrimbor as the one used in Lord of the Rings.

Now let’s return for moment to the thread subject, the approach to Rivendell. Sauron attacks, overwhelms Eregion, and scatters the Noldor. Elrond leads a band of survivors toward the Min-i-Naugrim and the High Pass. It may be that he and Gil-galad have already considered fall-back positions in the event that he is forced to retreat: it would be very like what we know of Elrond to think ahead in this way. There is a congruence between Elrond’s leading the surviving Noldor of Eregion, who had been warned against Annatar but chose to pursue their ambitions, to safety near a high mountain pass and his grandfather Tuor leading the surviving Noldor of Gondolin, who had warned against trusting their own strength but chose to remain in their beautiful city, to a safety through high mountain pass, particularly if Glorfindel was with Elrond.

Back to the road: the Elves and Dwarves made stone-paved roads in Eregion, roads such as Romans might make. Those roads ended at Hollin Ridge: Aragorn used them after he led the Nine Walkers over the ridge. I don’t think there was ever a road from Hollin to the High Pass: there was no trade route there because almost all Eregion’s trade would be conducted either through Khazad-dûm or with Lindon. Elrond and the refugees of Eregion had to rough it heading north; and the Nine Walkers had to travel rough going south. There was some path or trail that the Elves used from Rivendell to the Dimrill Stairs, however, because CelebrÃ*an was injured in the Redhorn Pass, Elrond’s scouts use them returning from the Vales of Anduin after the Council of Elrond, and Elladan and Elrohir used them going to Lórien.

A last couple of notes for this all-too-long post:

• Galadriel understood Dwarves quite well and liked them: hence her kindly insight into Gimli’s heart, which awakened love and admiration for her in him. That insight, I think, comes from the version of her story that Tolkien was using: she was one of the founders of Eregion, which was intentionally located next to Khazad-dûm. Galadriel was an old friend and ally to Durin’s Folk.
• Tolkien often uses the theme of a ruler who does not proclaim himself king. Elrond is king of the Elves of Eregion in all but name, and he is clearly the ruler of Rivendell. The Chieftains of the Dúnedain stop using their title, King of Arnor, though in fact they are and are recognized as such by both the Dúnedain of Arnor and the Elves. The Ruling Stewards of Gondor never take up the title King of Gondor, though they take all the powers of kings, which Denethor refuses to relinquish. We can close the list without exhausting the examples: I don’t think that Celebrimbor ever took a kingly or royal title in Eregion. Seeking to rule others is a recurrent theme that Tolkien cautions against: Denethor’s mind is overthrown this way, and he almost murders his surviving son; Saruman falls seeking rulership; Lotho Sackville-Baggins loses his life because he wanted to rule over the Shire; Sauron’s problem can be summed up as lusting to control others. Thorin is rightful King under the Mountain, but he dies because he is headstrong and will not cooperate with his neighbors until forced to. Sam becomes permanent Mayor of the Shire, but he never sought that position. Aragorn is the one exception: he seeks what is rightfully his in an appropriate time: by his actions he saves Gondor through years of suffering and deprivation; yet he rules because the people of Gondor acclaim him as king.

Now we’re way off-topic.

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

Consider the middle telling of the tale. Celebrimbor is the last of all the House of Fëanor, (...) I think that pretty well describes the version of the story Tolkien was working with when he wrote Lord of the Rings.

Well what you described seems largely to hail from Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn, which was written in the later 1950s if I recall correctly. To my mind 'when Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings' basically refers to the late 1930s/1940s and early 1950s -- a period in which Galadriel was introduced into Tolkien's sequel to The Hobbit, and ultimately introduced into the First Age of Middle-earth from a textual standpoint (Annals of Aman, Quenta Silmarillion and etc). Celeborn was introduced as well -- in this span of years ending up as one of the Sindar.

And perhaps you would agree, but in my opinion you are introducing some of your interpretation into the tale outlined in CG&C. There's nothing wrong with that of course, but when doing so I think it should be more clearly distinguished from what can be found in the text. For example, you describe:

After about 450 years, a Maia calling himself Annatar claiming to be one of the folk of Aulë appears. Galadriel is alarmed, but Celebrimbor and the rest of the Noldorin craftsmen, perceiving Annatar’s knowledge and skill – the stuff of the folk of Aulë indeed – decide to accept his help. Galadriel argues against it, convinces Gil-galad to bar his entrance into Lindon, and tries to persuade the craftsmen of Eregion to reject him; but the temptation to take and use the hidden knowledge he possesses is too strong, and the Noldor of Eregion turn their backs to Galadriel. She passes through Khazad-dûm into the kingdom of Laurelindórenan on the other side of the mountains and waits.

That's based on CG&C, yes, but goes beyond what Tolkien actually outlined there.

None of it is a argument for how things “ought” to be, but rather an argument for the “middle-telling” of the story of Galadriel and Celebrimbor as the one used in Lord of the Rings.

I'm a bit confused here: what do you mean by this middle telling being 'the one used' in The Lord of the Rings? Do you mean that certain ideas were in Tolkien's head during the time he wrote The Lord of the Rings, but only appeared on paper in the later 1950s in CG&C?

CG&C is 'a short and hasty outline, very roughly composed' and although it apparently contains emendations, it seems far from a finished work.

In any case, for instance, can one show that the founding of Eregion by Galadriel and Celeborn was part of the imaginative plan before The Lord of the Rings was published? According to the first edition of The Lord of the Rings, Celeborn, one of the Sindar, went to Greenwood in the Second Age, so it appears to be a new idea (in the later 1950s in CG&C) that he founded Eregion with Galadriel.

Or am I missing your point here