Celeborn

[Belwen_of_nargothrond]

Does anyone know the reason Celeborn remained behind while Galadriel went on to Valinor at the end of the War of the Ring?

[Olmer]

Originally Posted by Belwen_of_nargothrond

Does anyone know the reason Celeborn remained behind while Galadriel went on to Valinor at the end of the War of the Ring?

The reason is very obvious - his overbearing, self-centered wife, who elbowed the Lord of Sindar to the marginal role of saying "Hello" and "Good bye". It's no wonder he opted to stay behind and not follow her to Valinor.

[Jon S.]

Oh, I don't know about that. It's good for any couple to spend a bit of time apart over the course of their relationship. For example, I went to Nashville for a week a few years back and the wife stayed home. Then I returned and we were together again. When you consider how long-lived Celeborn and Galadriel were and how much time they had spent together before the early 4th age hiatus, I don't know that the total time, as a fraction of their overall relationship, was any longer than the week I spent in Nashville was as a fraction of my marriage.

[Gordis]

It's good for any couple to spend a bit of time apart over the course of their relationship.

That was what Cel told his wife.

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Gordis

That was what Cel told his wife.

Or maybe that's what SHE told HIM!

[Earniel]

I bet Celeborn didn't particularly look forward to meeting his large in-laws family either.

[Gordis]

And maybe she was somewhat ashamed to show her Moriquendi husband to Finwe's family.

[Curufin]

It's quite normal among the Eldar, actually.

Thus, although the wedded remain so for ever, they do not necessarily dwell or house together at all times; for without considering the chances and separations of evil days, wife and husband, albeit united, remain persons individual having each gifts of body and mind that differ.

~Laws and Customs among the Eldar

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

When you're relatively immortal, a little time apart doesn't seem like much. I like Jon S.'s analogy to a husband taking a week's' vacation without his wife. Celeborn still had a realm to order, now without the power of an Elven Ring. There was much work to do yet. Galadriel's work was done and she was going into retirement. Celeborn would join her at a later time.

[Galin]

Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull note:

'(...) These comments imply that Celeborn could have left Middle-earth with Galadriel if he had wished, and Tolkien's replies to queries from readers seem to confirm this. In his unpublished letter to Eileen Elgar, begun 22 September 1963 he comments that Celeborn and Galadriel were of different kin: Celeborn was of that branch of the Elves that, in the First Age, was so in love with Middle-earth that they had refused the call of the Valar to go to Valinor; he had never seen the Blessed Realm. Now he remained until he had seen the coming of the Dominion of Men. But to an immortal Elf, for whom time was not as it is to mortals, the period in which he was parted from Galadriel would seem brief.'

Hammond And Scull, Reader's Companion

Relevant to the thread, although here JRRT seems to imply that Celeborn was Avarin ('refused' the call of the Valar). Hmmm. Anyway, an interesting note (especially considering the date).

Hello Entmoot

[Alcuin]

In Sauron Defeated are two versions of the unpublished Epilogue to Lord of the Rings. (Tolkien’s trial readers “universally condemned” it, and so it was not published: op cit. , in turn citing Letters no. 144) In the second version, Sam tells his 16-year old daughter Elanor, who has just learned that Aragorn and Arwen are coming north to visit a revived Arnor and the Shire, and that she has been named a lady-in-waiting to Arwen,

…I think Celeborn is still happy among his trees, in an Elvish way. His time hasn’t come, and he isn’t tired of his land yet. When he is tired he can go.

The implication is that he remained in Lórien for a while after Galadriel departed. I believe that someplace there is also a note that he eventually lived for a while with his grandsons, Elladan and Elrohir, who were at that time (according to Sam in the Epilogue) still living in Rivendell; but I cannot immediately locate the citation.

Welcome, Galin! Another diversion from the “main line” at the end of Tolkien’s life is the transformation of the Sindarin (rather than Avarin) Celeborn into the Telerin Teleporno. If I remember aright, I think that was in the last year or two of his life, as he struggled to make Galadriel less a rebel than before; but it collides with the rest of the story, I think: a formerly rebellious Galadriel who chooses to “‘diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel,’” is already tired of Middle-earth, ring or no, and without a functional Ring of Water, like Elrond and Gandalf, departed quickly. Celeborn, if he is Sindar of Beleriand and not Telerin of Eldamar, would seem more inclined to remain in Middle-earth until the burden of time made the Fourth Age unenjoyable: after all, Eldamar (or Tol Eressëa) was not his home: Middle-earth was; he was not an exile in Middle-earth, but rather in the Uttermost West, and so he might well be inclined to delay the beginning of his exile as long as possible.

It might well be that Elrond looked upon matters in much the same way: he was not an exile in Middle-earth, either! I wonder if, after living more than two long ages in Eriador, he envied Elros as he departed the Havens of Lindon.

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

:
:
The implication is that he remained in Lórien for a while after Galadriel departed. I believe that someplace there is also a note that he eventually lived for a while with his grandsons, Elladan and Elrohir, who were at that time (according to Sam in the Epilogue) still living in Rivendell; but I cannot immediately locate the citation.
:
:

It's in Appendix B, in the second of four paragraphs just after the accounts of March, 3019. In between summmaries of what happens with the Elves east of the Misty Mountains, we have:

...But after the passing of Galadriel in a few years Celeborn grew weary of his realm and went to Imladris to dwell with the sons of Elrond.

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

'Welcome, Galin! Another diversion from the “main line” at the end of Tolkien’s life is the transformation of the Sindarin (rather than Avarin) Celeborn into the Telerin Teleporno. If I remember aright, I think that was in the last year or two of his life, as he struggled to make Galadriel less a rebel than before;...'

Hail again Alcuin

The references I have found (so far) are indeed late: the idea can be dated as 'early' as 1968 in The Shibboleth of Feanor: '... Teleporno of the Teleri, whom she wedded later in Beleriand' (this is also referred to in Unfinished Tales, but I count it as really one instance from JRRT). A couple are a little vague, but suggest the basic idea I think: another note (date?) Númenórean Linear Measures, Unfinished Tales: 'a Linda of Valinor', and Letter 347 (1972): '... for he too came from Valinor'. For the Adumbrated Tale Christopher Tolkien relates the history from an unfinished text (last month of Tolkien's life): '... there she met Celeborn, who is here again a Telerin prince,...'

The idea is likely 'present' in letter 353 (1973), which concerns Galadriel, but there's no specific mention there. If anyone has more, please post them.

'(...) Celeborn, if he is Sindar of Beleriand and not Telerin of Eldamar, would seem more inclined to remain in Middle-earth until the burden of time made the Fourth Age unenjoyable: after all, Eldamar (or Tol Eressëa) was not his home: Middle-earth was; ...'

I agree that Celeborn as one of the Sindar makes more sense with respect to him staying in Middle-earth. And for me this clan (his clan varies in 'unpublished' texts) represents the official story anyway, as that's the version JRRT himself published (twice actually).