quick question

[LuthienTinuviel]

anyone know what gil galad looked like?
if you can find a description of him then post it .. on the movie board i started a thread and no one knew...
so if ya could help me id be quite happy

[KGamgee]

Check in FOTR...I think Sam sings a song about Gil Galad, and surprises everybody.
You know, Gil Galad was and Elven King.......
Bilbo had taught it to him.
I don't know if it has physical traits, but its worth a shot.

[Findegil]

He was fair haired and tall. His helmet, armour and schield was silver platet and reflected all kind of light brightly. So that he could be seen from elves at a great distance if he stood in a high place. In Tolkiens last few of his perantage he was Galadriels nephew once removed. (The son of Orodreth how was the son of Angrod.) His epesse Gil-Galad meant "outshining star" and was also repeated in his banner which can be seen in JRR Tolkien, The Artist and Pictures by JRR Tolkien. His fathername was in Quenya Aratanáro render to Sindarin Rodnor. His mother was a Sindarin out of the north of Beleriand (Dorthonion, I suppose).

Regards
Findegil

[afro-elf]

Where did you get a WRITTEN description of GIL?

Of Finwe's second brood only Finarfin's had the golden hair of his mother.

Gil is a descendant of Fingolfin which would give him dark hair.


I too was once thrown off by artist's view on Gil and Fingolfin's hair color but have since been corrected by sister golden hair.

[KGamgee]

I checked the poem and there's no physical description
Sorry.
KGamgee

[Findegil]

Well, mh the physical discription, were did I get it? What did I say? "He was tall and had fair hair." For the first I found no surce, sorry it was a missreading of the text that will follow. The fair hair is clear for he was a decendent of Finarfin and not of Fingolfin (see further in the text).

Here were I got the discribtion of his gear and his perantage: History of Middle-Earth Volume 12: The Peoples of Middle-Earth Chapter The Shibboleth of Fëanor:
"Galad occurs also in the epessë of Ereinion ('scion of kings') by which he was cheifly remembered in legend, Gil-galad 'star of radiance': he was the last king of the Eldar in Middle-Earth, and the last male decendant of Finwë(Footnote) except Elrond the Half-elven. The epessë was given to him because his helm and mail, and his shield overlaid with silver and set with a device of white stars, shone from afar like a star in sunlight or moonlight and could be seen by Elvish eyes at a great distance if he stood upon a hight."

The Footnote reads: "He was the son of Arothir, nephew of Finrod."

Reading the rest of the chapter you will finde that Arothir is Orodreth and that he has stept down from being a son of Finarfin to a son of Angrod and their with had become the nephew of Finrod.
In addition you can find a Note of Christofer Tolkien with the Titel: The parentage of Gil-galad. I will not give it here in full becuase it is about two pages long. But it states expressly that he regretted his editorial introduction of a earlier few of Gil-galads parentage.

Reagrds
Findegil

[afro-elf]

I contest you this way. .

In the SIL page 379 Gil IS a descendant of Fingolfin.

Thus dark hair.

Gil's parentage is screwed; however, as you mentioned. So take whatever version you like.

[Findegil]

"In addition you can find a Note of Christofer Tolkien with the Titel: The parentage of Gil-galad. I will not give it here in full becuase it is about two pages long. But it states expressly that he regretted his editorial introduction of a earlier few of Gil-galads parentage."

What else can I say?

Regards
Findegil

[rashbold]

Quote

I contest you this way. .

In the SIL page 379 Gil IS a descendant of Fingolfin.

Thus dark hair.

Gil's parentage is screwed; however, as you mentioned. So take whatever version you like.

You betcha, afro-elf. But Christopher Tolkien admitted that the idea that Gil-galad was Fingon's only offspring was an ephemeral idea, and he (CJRT) should have kept the parentage of Gil-galad ambiguous, although it is apparent that JRRT's final intention was that Gil-galad is in fact of the house of Finarfin, and related to Finrod through his [i]nephew[/] (not brother) Orodreth.

[Kirinki54]

The spear of Gil-galad was called Aeglos.
The Encyclopedia of Arda gives the translation "snow-point". Would this be correct, linguists?
And why would it be called that; its point by mithril perhaps?

[Findegil]

It might be silverplated as was the rest of his gear.

Regrads
Findegil

[Wayfarer]

I have this odd picture of a silver staff tipped with an Icicle. ]: )

[Rána Eressëa]

I've always pictured him with dark hair -- too many blonde elves as it is. Then again, that's just my opinion

[afro-elf]

I desist.

I'll trade a blonde gil for a dark haired fingolfin.

[Ñólendil]

Most Elves were dark haired, really. Blonde hair seems to be a stereotype, or perhaps a tradition passed down to us from the Elves of Celtic Mythology. There were originally three Races of Elves: Minyar, Tatyar and Nelyar. The Minyar all had hair that was yellow or deep golden, and most of the Tatyar (a much larger people) and Nelyar (by far the largest) had dark hair. Most of the Tatyar became Noldor and half of the Nelyar were the Teleri of the Great Journey, so whether you were Grey-elven or Wood-elven or Deep-elven or Sea-elven or whatever you most likely had dark hair.

[rashbold]

Quote:

The spear of Gil-galad was called Aeglos.
The Encyclopedia of Arda gives the translation "snow-point". Would this be correct, linguists?
And why would it be called that; its point by mithril perhaps?

Yes that's correct, also icicle. As for its name, have you considered Narsil as well?

[Kirinki54]

Originally posted by rashbold
Quote:

Yes that's correct, also icicle. As for its name, have you considered Narsil as well?

Yes, I have now. Also from the Encyclopedia:

" Meaning: 'fire' and 'white light'
Other Names: Sword of Elendil; after its reforging it was named Andúril


'...and the sword of Elendil filled Orcs and Men with fear, for it shone with the light of the sun and of the moon, and it was named Narsil.'
Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
in The Silmarillion

The Sword of Elendil, forged by Telchar of Nogrod in or before the First Age. The sword was broken in Elendil's fall at the Siege of Barad-dûr, and its Shards became an heirloom of his heirs throughout the Third Age until it was reforged as Andúril and borne by Aragorn II Elessar in the War of the Ring.

Notes
1 Details of the original forging of Narsil are difficult to determine. It was made by Telchar of Nogrod, who also made the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin. Helpfully, a passage in Unfinished Tales tells us that the Dragon-helm was originally made for Azaghâl of Belegost, who died in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in I 471; in order to make the helm specifically for Azaghâl, Telchar must have been working at about this time. Though we can't be certain of Narsil's origins, then, we can fairly safely place its forging in Telchar's workshop in Nogrod, probably during the fourth or fifth centuries of the First Age.
2 Narsil was broken in the War of the Last Alliance, with the fall of its wielder Elendil. Its burning light was lost, but Elendil's son Isildur used its broken shards to cut the Ruling Ring from Sauron's finger. The shards were eventually brought to Imladris, and they became an heirloom of the House of Isildur. During the War of the Ring, the sword was reforged, its light was rekindled, and it was borne by Elendil's distant descendant Aragorn, who renamed it Andúril.
3 The origin's of Narsil's name are complex, and contain an element of symbolism. Tolkien himself described the name's derivation in his Letters:
'Narsil is a name composed of 2 basic stems without variation or adjuncts: ANAR 'fire', & ITHIL 'white light'. It thus symbolised the chief heavenly lights, as enemies of darkness, Sun (Anar) and Moon (in Q) Isil.'

(from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien No 347, dated 1972) "

Very interesting!
And Anduril is of course "Flame of the West", even I knew that.

[Wayfarer]

Actually, there are two meanings that have been given for Narsil.

I believe Tolkien wrote that the nama was 'Sunmoon' - [A]nar + [I]sil.

However, it could have also been Nar (fire) + Sil (shine)

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Thank you, wonderful people, for now I know more about elven hair color! See, I was about to start a thread with a question about that...
Oh, and I know this isn't really what you wanted to know, but
Gil-galad is in the movie, so there's what they thought he looks like. With dark hair.

[Andúril]

In the "Things" index of LOTR, the entry name Narsil is accompanied by "red and white flame". That would support "Sunmoon".