Quick Question on Glorfindel..

[Guardian_of_the_Forest]

Are his relatives ever mentioned? Does he have relatives?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

He's a Noldorin Elf, and he's golden-haired, so I'm pretty sure he's of the House of one of Finwe's half-Vanya sons (Fongolfin, I think); other than that, I don't know.

[galadriel]

He was from Gondolin, "chief of the House of the Golden Flower of Gondolin". Whatever that means.... I guess he had descendants?

I don't think he really fits into Fingolfin's line, since Turgon's only child was Idril, and he can't be Aredhel's, and Fingon was either the father of Gil-galad or not a father at all... but he could be related to Finwe in some way, I suppose. There are always those pesky daughters of Finwe from the HoME books who may or may not exist.

Or he could be just a random elf of Vanyarin/Noldorin descent.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Their is no statement about his ancestry or family other than he was a prince of a house of princes, and that his family were Noldorin exiles, mostly perished in the fall of Goldolin (that last bit metion in HoME). He in not descended from Finwe, so his princely status must be derived elsewhere, either from some elevation by King Turgon, or by a older nobility predating Finwe's Kingship, perhaps descent from the legendary Tatya, first of the Tatyar (from which came the Noldor). JRRT's borad statement about golden hair being restricted among the Noldor to the house of Finrod (or Finarfin) is patently false in the case of Itarial/Idril/Celebrindal, daughter of Turgon, thus we will just half to consider that meaning that it was rare, there is the possibility of a a Vanya ancester, since intermarriage seemed common enough among the Eldar of Aman. The house of the Golden Flower is not referring to his family, but the the house or guild of warriors which he headed in Gondolin. Notes in HoME extoll his nobility and power of spirit.

[galadriel]

Didn't Idril get her blonde hair from Indis? So she didn't get it from a Noldorin ancestor. But you're right, there probably was enough intermarriage that a blond Noldor, though rare, wasn't impossible.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by galadriel
Didn't Idril get her blonde hair from Indis?.
Also her mother Elenwe, but still a direct contradiction to golden hair being stricticted among the Noldor to the House of Finrod/Finarfin, of which she and Glorfindal are not members.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Idril's mother was a Vanyarin Elf. One of the few that came into exile with the Noldor.

[galadriel]

Originally posted by Sister Golden Hair
Idril's mother was a Vanyarin Elf. One of the few that came into exile with the Noldor. Er... yeah. I knew that. <sheepish grin>

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally posted by galadriel
Er... yeah. I knew that. <sheepish grin> Oh. Well, I was just saying that it makes more sense for her to get it from her mother than from Indis.

About Glorfindel: we get the idea early on in the story that he is likely of the house of Finarfin, because of his golden hair that is described in the LotRs, but if that were the case then it seems that he would have been more likely to be an Elf of Nargothrond in the First age, instead of Gondolin. So perhaps he was of the line of Fingolfin and inherited the golden hair of Indis. I wonder why Fingolfin and his kids didn't inherit it.

[Lefty Scaevola]

We (or a least those with HoME) have the list of the descendants of Finwe in who went into exile (as Glorfindals did, he was born in Aman), and Glorfindal is not among them. He is not a Finwean. In the "last writing" (or something like that) section in either XI or XII of HoME is JRRT brainstorming in some note at Glorfinal. One statment is that he Followed TURGON into exile because of some sort of alleigence and becuse the rest of his family did.

[Lanelf]

Eeeh...*head spins* Family trees... never had much truck with them. I was pretty sure he was related to Fingolfin somehow, but maybe I was wrong. Have to go get out the Silmarillion now.
Lanelf.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally posted by Lanelf
Eeeh...*head spins* Family trees... never had much truck with them. I was pretty sure he was related to Fingolfin somehow, but maybe I was wrong. Have to go get out the Silmarillion now.
Lanelf. Well, the Silmarillion will not be of any help to you I'm afraid. The only thing you'll get from that is that he lived and died in Gondolin.

[Dúnedain]

All you need to know is that Glorfindel kicks major ass! :D

[DraztiK]

True, true.