Finarfin

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Finarfin
Noldo
Elena Kukanova - Finarfin.jpg
"Finarfin" by Elena Kukanova
Biographical Information
Other namesArafinwë (Q,fn)
Ingoldo (Q, mn)
Arfin (S)
TitlesKing of the Noldor in Valinor
LocationTirion
LanguageQuenya
BirthY.T. 1230
Tirion
Rulefrom Y.T. 1496
Family
HouseHouse of Finwë
ParentageFinwë (father)
Indis (mother)
SiblingsFëanor (half-brother)
Findis (sister)
Fingolfin (brother)
Lalwen (sister)
SpouseEärwen (wife)
ChildrenFinrod (son)
Angrod (son)
Aegnor (son)
Galadriel (daughter)
Physical Description
GenderMale
Hair colorGolden
GalleryImages of Finarfin
"But in that hour Finarfin forsook the march, and turned back, being filled with grief, and with bitterness against the House of Fëanor, because of his kinship with Olwë of Alqualondë; and many of his people went with him, retracing their steps in sorrow, until they beheld once more the far beam of the Mindon upon Túna still shining in the night, and so came at last to Valinor."
The Silmarillion, Of the Flight of the Noldor

Finarfin (S, pron. [fiˈnarfin]) was the youngest child and son of Finwë and Indis. After the Flight of the Noldor he remained in Tirion and ruled the Noldor who remained in Aman.[1]

History

Life in Valinor

Finarfin and Eärwen

Finarfin was born in Valinor in Y.T. 1230.[2] He was the youngest of the five children of Finwë, the King of the Noldor. Finarfin's mother was Indis, Finwë's second wife.[3] Finarfin's full siblings were Findis, Fingolfin, and Lalwen while his half-brother was the great Elf Lord Fëanor. Fëanor disapproved of his father's second marriage and had small love for Indis and her children although Finarfin remained far from those disputes.[4]

In Y.T. 1280 Finarfin married Eärwen, daughter of Olwë, King of the Teleri in Valinor.[5] They had four children: Finrod, Angrod, Aegnor, and Galadriel.[note 1][6] Finarfin's mother was of the Vanyar, and he inherited her fair hair, which he passed on to his children.[7] The Elves of the House of Finarfin were unique among their kin who had dark hair.

The Darkening of Valinor

In Y.T. 1495[8] Ungoliant destroyed the Two Trees,[9] and Melkor slaughtered Finarfin's father Finwë, and stole the Silmarils of Fëanor. Enraged, Fëanor came to the city of Tirion upon Túna and convinced many of his kinsmen to leave Valinor for Middle-earth, to recover the Silmarils and defeat Melkor, whom Fëanor named the Morgoth, the Black Enemy of the World. Fëanor was a charismatic speaker, but Fingolfin and Finarfin were unmoved. However they too followed their half-brother, more for their children who eagerly accepted his cause.

The Noldor followed Fëanor in groups, and Fingolfin and Finarfin led the last host. As such they did not participate in the First Kinslaying or knew its true cause at the time. While they were travelling up the coast of Araman, the Vala Mandos appeared and pronounced his doom. Finarfin, dismayed by the prophecy and already contemplating return because of the tragedy of the Kinslaying of his wife's people at Alqualondë, returned to Valinor with a small group of his people; his sons, though, would not forsake the sons of Fingolfin and went on.[10]

The War of Wrath

Maureval - The War of Wrath

Eventually Finarfin came to Middle-earth, leading the Valinorean Noldor in the War of Wrath, near the end of the First Age.[11] The fairest and wisest of the sons of Finwë, he presumably still rules the few remaining Noldor in Valinor from Tirion upon Túna.

Etymology

Finarfin's father-name was Arafinwë (Q:"Noble [son of] Finwë", pron. NQ [ˌaraˈfinwe],VQ [ˌaraˈɸinwe]).[12] His mother-name was Ingoldo, changed from the earlier Ingalaurë ("Inga-gold", pron.[ˌiŋɡaˈla͡ʊre]).[13]

Finarfin is rare among the High Elves of the Undying Lands who did not leave and fall under the Doom of Mandos, in that he is known primarily by his name in Sindarin, a language indigenous to Middle-earth. It is said that after the fall of Fingolfin in F.A. 456, Finrod Felagund, Finarfin's eldest son, changed his name from Arafinwë to Finwë Arafinwë - which he translated to a Sindarin form - Arfin to Finarfin. By adding the prefix Fin- to his father's name, he imitated in a way the adding of the prefix Fin- to the name of Fingolfin, which Fingolfin did to assert his right as the true heir of Finwë. Since Finrod did that following Fingolfin's death, it is likely that he too was asserting the right of his father and his children as the true leaders of the Noldor.[14]

Genealogy

Míriel
d. Y.T. 1170
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finwë
d. Y.T. 1495
 
Indis
b. Y.T.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Olwë
b. Y.T.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fëanor
Y.T. 1169 - 1497
 
Findis
b. Y.T.
 
Fingolfin
Y.T. 1190 - F.A. 456
 
Lalwen
b. Y.T.
 
FINARFIN
b. Y.T. 1230
 
 
 
 
 
Eärwen
b. Y.T.
 
Elulindo
b. Y.T.
 
unknown sons
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finrod
Y.T. 1300 - F.A. 465
 
Angrod
d. F.A. 455
 
Eldalótë
b. Y.T.
 
Aegnor
d. F.A. 455
 
Galadriel
b. Y.T. 1362
 
Celeborn
b. F.A.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Arothir
d. F.A. 495
 
 
 
 
 
Elrond
b. F.A. 532
 
Celebrían
b. S.A.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finduilas
d. F.A. 495
 
Gil-galad
d. S.A. 3441
 
Elladan
b. T.A. 130
 
Elrohir
b. T.A. 130
 
Arwen
T.A. 241 - Fo.A. 121
 

Other Versions of the Legendarium

Finarfin was called Finrod in earlier versions of the legendarium, and his son was named Inglor Felagund. As such he appears in the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings as Finrod. This was changed in later editions, but not all references to Inglor were removed, since in the later version, it is probably the Sindarin version of Ingalaurë. (see Gildor Inglorion).

In some early works, his name is spelled "Finarphin".[15] An early version of Appendix F, mentions the "royal house of Finarphir" which was corrected in later editions.[16]

Finarfin's Heraldic Device

Notes

  1. Arothir appears as one of Finarfin's sons in The Silmarillion. In Tolkien's writings, however, he was clearly marked as Angrod's son. Christopher Tolkien, the editor of The Silmarillion, later admitted the mistake.

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Index of Names", Finarfin
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Two. The Annals of Aman: Fourth section of the Annals of Aman", p. 92
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor"
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Two. The Annals of Aman: Fourth section of the Annals of Aman", p. 92
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor", "The parentage of Gil-galad", pp. 349-351
  7. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor", "The case of the Quenya change of Þ to s", p. 336
  8. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Two. The Annals of Aman: Fourth section of the Annals of Aman", p. 100
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Darkening of Valinor"
  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Flight of the Noldor"
  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor", "The names of Finwë's descendants", p.344
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor", "The names of Finwë's descendants", note 30, p. 360
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor"
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Four. Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth"
  16. The form "Finarphir" has an entry in Robert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
Finarfin
House of Finwë
Born: Y.T. 1230
Vacant
Finwë, until Y.T. 1495
King of the Noldor in Valinor
Y.T. 1496
None
Incumbent