The Hobbits and Strider (travelling through
the Trollshaws) suddenly heard the hoofs of a horse. Memories of the black riders came back to
them at once. Who that rider is, will be our main topic
today. This will be a standalone special episode
about the Elf Lord Glorfindel. We will dive deep into the books. What is kind of fascinating: some of my YouTube
colleges e.g. GeekZone, History of Middle-earth, The Clueless Fan Girl and so on all made a
video about the same topic not too long ago, but I try to provide something new. It's a highly complex topic. We will mainly look into the books for this
episode. Before we start as always: I try to pronounce
names as Tolkien described it, spoiler warning and shout-outs to Laura Tolton (an artist,
I just contacted recently, so first time I use her art work in a video), Kimberly80,
Niahti and Benef for allowing me to use their beautiful art works. Feel free to check their channels, links are
in the description. The wounded Frodo, his Hobbit friends and
Strider were on their way to Rivendell. They just found the Troll cave and the petrified
trolls we all know from Bilbo's adventure. After a conversation, I will cover next episode,
they continued their journey and had to travel close to the road, looking for a hidden place
in the woods, where they could camp during the night. But suddenly they heard hoofs. They hid instantly and knew the enemy must
be in this land looking for them. Fear came back into their hearts, but Frodo
noticed that the sound of the hoofs was “different”. “Strider was now leaning forward, stooped
to the ground, with a hand to his ear, and a look of joy on his face.” The book describes the rider and the horse
and in my opinion the film managed to depict parts of that quite well, let me read the
passage from the book: “Suddenly into view below came a white horse,
gleaming in the shadows, running swiftly. In the dusk its headstall flickered and flashed,
as if it were studded with gems like living stars. The rider’s cloak streamed behind him, and
his hood was thrown back; his golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed. To Frodo it appeared that a white light was
shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil.” But in the book it is not Arwen, it is an
Elf lord with the name Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower as we learn in the Silmarillion. The description of Frodo is unusual. A white light was shining through his clothes,
but the text explicitly stated “to Frodo”. Frodo was in possession of the One Ring and
was slowly transformed into a wraith (so a being of the Unseen) through the Morgul blade,
that wounded him. With this he could be seen by the Nazgûl,
but maybe also see some parts of the Unseen part of the world himself too. And in my opinion this could be what this
lines hints at. But why was the Elf lord “glowing” you
might ask? We come to that in a moment. He was definitely special and gives us some
very interesting information in the books. Re-reading this part in the chapter really
made me think a lot. Strider sprang out of his hiding “leaping
with a cry”and the rider stopped immediately. Dismounted and looked at them. He came to Strider when he saw him and said:
“Ai na vedui Dúnadan! Mae
govannen!”, which would translate to something like: Ah, at last, Dúnadan! Or “Hail, at last, Dúnadan! Well met!” As we will learn in the chapter The Council
of Elrond “Dúnadan” is another name of Strider and ofc he is also a Men of the West
one of the Dúnedain. Dúnadan is the singular form of that word. It is his clear and fair voice through which
the Hobbits recognize that he is of the Elven folk. I like that detail a lot. It's not something shallow like his looks,
the form of his ears, which is topic we will discuss in a later episode, the colour of
his skin, his clothes, or what ever, it is what he said and his voice. Strider and the Elf seemed to know each other
and Strider introduced him as Glorfindel, who dwelt in the house of Elrond and the Elf
Lord greeted the group and esp. Frodo and talked about his mission to find
them. Frodo concluded that Gandalf must have reached
Rivendell and sent help, but Glorfindel explained that Gandalf was not in Rivendell, when he
left there. Instead Elrond got the news from one of his
kin, who travelled the land of Frodo beyond the Baranduin (the Brandywine River). And if we think back to episode 5, we know
exactly who the Elf was. Gildor - a truly unsung hero. He not only contacted Tom Bombadil and Aragorn,
but also Elrond in Rivendell. So the information of Frodo and him being
chased by the Nazgûl spread among the most powerful foes of Sauron in that region in
a very short time thanks to Gildor. And Glorfindel will be a life saver here. He explains that only few Elves can ride against
the 9 openly and that they were send out north, south and west by Elrond to find Frodo and
his friends and Glorfindel took the road to the west (usually called the East Road), which
is impressive – riding alone against the Nazgûl. It was also him who dropped the green Elf
stone on the bridge – seven days ago. So he was searching for some time for Frodo
and he also drove away some of the Nazgûl. Dropping the Elf stone is imo also connected
to Gildor, because when he reached Rivendell, he already spoke with Aragorn. So Elrond and esp. Glorfindel could assume that Strider would
be with Frodo. Glorfindel knew that they must cross this
bridge at some point and that Strider would definitely find it. They knew that the ranger would also interpret
it correctly and so Strider knew, that help was around the area too and called it a good
omen. Gildor really had a key role here. The group explained to him what they were
through and that Frodo was wounded and can't ride at night and needs to rest. Strider showed him the hilt of the Morgul
knife and here we learn an interesting detail, quote: “He drew out the hilt, which he had kept,
and handed it to the Elf. Glorfindel shuddered as he took it, but he
looked intently at it.” ‘There are evil things written on this hilt,’
he said; ‘though maybe your eyes cannot see them. Keep it, Aragorn, till we reach the house
of Elrond! But be wary, and handle it as little as you
may! Alas! the wounds of this weapon are beyond
my skill to heal. I will do what I can – but all the more
do I urge you now to go on without rest.’” So Glorfindel looked at the wound and then
later gave Frodo and the others a drink out of a flask. Its effect seems very similar to an Elvish
drink called Miruvor, which we will talk about in a later episode, but its taste seems different
from that. It had the effect of refreshing them and giving
them new strength and vigour. First of all here we find a quote, that Aragorn
uses in the film, just slightly altered: “the wounds of this weapon are beyond my skill
to heal.”. I should have mentioned it in one of the last
episodes, but overlooked it. Aragorn also implied something similar on
Weathertop too. Second Glorfindel sees writings on the hilt,
the others can't see and this ofc shows that he can see the Unseen himself too, which means
that he must have seen the light of the Two Trees of Valinor with his own eyes. Gandalf explains next chapter, quote: “And here in Rivendell there live still
some of his chief foes: the Elven-wise, lords of the Eldar from beyond the furthest seas. They do not fear the Ringwraiths, for those
who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds, and against both the
Seen and the Unseen they have great power.’ ‘I thought that I saw a white figure that
shone and did not grow dim like the others. Was that Glorfindel then?’ ‘Yes, you saw him for a moment as he is
upon the other side: one of the mighty of the Firstborn. He is an Elf-lord of a house of princes.” This implies there are more Elves beyond Glorfindel
and Galadriel, who have seen the Two Trees of Valinor in the Undying Lands over 7000
years ago. But who is Glorfindel? And what is his story? It may be surprising but in early drafts of
the Lord of the Rings (we find it in the book “The Return of the Shadow” in the section
“In the House of Elrond”), Glorfindel actually joined the Fellowship of the Ring. Later this changed and Tolkien created the
character of Legolas, maybe because the ancient Elf Lord was simple too powerful. When it comes to his backstory, a Glorfindel
from Gondolin is mentioned in the Silmarillion. Originally Tolkien simply borrowed the name
from his older writings at the time he wrote The Lord of the Rings. 1991 with the release of Peoples of Middle-earth
Christopher Tolkien published a small text of his father called “Glorfindel” in the
section “Last Writings”, where Tolkien suggests that they are the same person and
quote: “No other major character in the Elvish
legends as reported in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings has a name borne by
another Elvish person of importance.” So yes, it seems they are the same and The
Lord of the Rings also implies that he must be an ancient Elf lord. When and where Glorfindel was born I could
not find out. In various wikis we find the hint, that he
was born in Aman, the Undying Lands. But I could not find any evidence in the form
of direct quotes, but I would argue it's implied. He definitely lived in Aman, was from the
clan of the Noldor and was among the Noldor, who left Aman again, so he must be born during
the Years of the Trees, same as Galadriel. His name means “Golden Haired” in Sindarin
and this also gives us a hint. The Golden haired Elves are usually from the
clan of the Vanyar. Similar to Galadriel he could have an ancestor
that was from the Vanyar. In Galadriel's case it was her grandmother
Indis, the wife of Finwë, the First High King of the Noldor. Glorfindel might be from this royal line too,
because Gandalf said he is from a house of princes, but we don't find any hint for that. (As a reminder) there are originally three
Elven main Clans: Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri. Considering that he potentially had ancestors
of two different clans, he can't be one of the so called “Unbegotten” Elves (that
were the first Elves that awoke and had no parents). He was most likely born in the time, where
the Noldor already lived in Aman and mingled with the other clans. We find several Elven couples of different
clans from this time. While before that the three Clans journeyed
to Aman from Middle-earth (during the so called Great Journey) more separated. So mingling was much more unlikely. Even though it is recorded that e.g. the mentioned
Finwë (who led the Noldor during the Great Journey) was a friend of Elwë the leader
of the Teleri Clan and Elwë went “missing” on his way to visit Finwë. So there seemed to be interaction between
the clans in that time too, but as said I think the most likely assumption is that Glorfindel
was born in Aman (maybe in Tirion), like Galadriel, and probably have a somewhat similar age. Galadriel was born Years of the Trees 1362. See my History of the Elves video for more
information. Now we have to dive quite deep into the First
Age, to fully understand what Glorfindel did there. Doing this in all detail would make this video
literally hours long and our main topic is still The Lord of the Rings and not the Silmarillion,
but I try to give you a good overview and explain everything, which can be a bit confusing,
because we are in a whole new world with tons of names of Elves, Men, Dwarves and places
that existed far over 6500 years before LotR, but not in LotR. Gondolin is probably the most well known name
of the ancient Kingdoms and we will talk about it too. At some point the Noldor Elves in Aman under
a very powerful Elf named Fëanor (who was also the greatest Elven artefact smith of
all time and the oldest son of the mentioned Finwë, the First High King of the Noldor)
rebelled against the Valar, the “High Angels”, who also lived in Aman. The First Dark Lord Melkor (a former Vala),
which Fëanor cursed and called Morgoth, murdered his father Finwë and stole his master piece:
three extremely powerful and precious gems with the light of the Two Trees of Valinor
in them, called the Silamrils – I prefer the Quenya plural “Silmarilli”. These are the most precious artefacts in existence. Fëanor and his sons swore an oath of getting
those back - by any means necessary. With Finwë's death (this is actually also
a very complicated topic) Fëanor claimed kingship, but could not yet establish his
realm. He however persuaded most of the Noldor to
leave Aman to go for Morgoth and this is the so called “Rebellion of the Noldor”. The Valar advised them not to go. E.g. Galadriel's father (also a half-brother of
Fëanor) stayed in Aman and those who went, were banned from Aman and they received a
grim prophecy too (we talk about that a bit later again). However to get over the ocean they needed
ships and the only Elves with ships were the Elves of the Teleri Clan, who would not give
away their few ships. This resulted in the First Kinslaying, where
Fëanor, his sons and parts of his fellowship killed many Teleri to then steal their ships. As you can see Fëanor was very extreme in
what he did. Not so say absolutely crazy. Just imagine what he just did to get the ships
and look at what he is going to do next. Not all rebelling Noldor would fit on those
ships, so the plan was to sail the ships back to Aman after the first landing and get the
other Elves, who waited. However Fëanor burned the ships when he landed
in Middle-earth, not caring about the remaining Elves in Aman. The waiting Noldor now were too deep into
the rebellion already to bail out and as a result had to walk over the ocean in the North,
where it was frozen, over a cold wasteland called Helcaraxë. It was a dangerous journey and many Elves
died on that path, so did e.g. Turgon's wife Elenwë, who was a Vanyar Elf (we will Talk
about Turgon later). Their daughter Idril survived though, who
is btw. Elrond's grandmother. All the Noldor Elves settled in a region called
Beleriand. That basically is the old west coast of Middle-earth
from the First Age and before. At the end of the First Age it will be completely
destroyed and sunk into the ocean, which is why most of the places here are gone at the
time Lord of the Rings takes place. The Blue Mountains are e.g. some remaining
parts of the east of Beleriand and some islands. Glorfindel was in the fellowship of Turgon,
the second eldest son of Fingolfin (who was also a half-brother of Fëanor). Both Fingolfin and Turgon were interestingly
at some point High Kings of the Noldor Elves. Turgon is best known for founding a city which
name you might have heard, if you e.g. know the Hobbit: the already mentioned Gondolin. Gondolin was a hidden city in the north of
Beleriand and it was inspired through a vision that was given to Turgon by the Vala Ulmo,
the King of the Sea. However Turgon's first settlement was Vinyamar
and I assume Glorfindel was there too, but then Turgon's people moved to Gondolin, when
it was built or even helped building it. The first potential mention of Glorfindel
was as one of three Elven Lords, who accompanied Turgon's sister Aredhel. She wanted to visit two of Fëanor's sons
in Himlad. Fëanor was long dead at that point, killed
by Balrogs. Morgoth was powerful in that time and journeys
like these were very dangerous, that is why she needed powerful Elves to accompany her. This journey is mentioned in the Silmarillion,
but not who her “guards” were. However in “The Book of Lost Tales Part
2” many of Tolkien's notes and early concepts were published and we find a note, that Glorfindel
was one of the three Lords, who accompanied her. How canon this is can be debated, but it would
make sense. They planned to cross the realm of the Sindar
Elves called Doriath, but they were not allowed to enter, because the Sindar (who were part
of the Teleri) found out about the mentioned Kinslaying in Aman and were very angry – which
is an understatement. The King of the Sindar even banned the language
of the Noldor, which is why even Noldor Elves in Middle-earth all speak Sindarin instead
of Quenya from that point on. Aredhel wanted to visit Fëanor's sons (friends
of hers), who actively participated in the Kinslaying, so ofc the Sindar would deny them
access to their Kingdom. With this they had to find another way and
cross a very terrible region called Nan Dungortheb (which means “Valley of Dreadful Death”,
lovely name), where the evil powers of the first Dark Lord Morgoth were at work. They got “enmeshed in shadows”, attacked
by giant spiders (Ungoliant's children, so brethren of Shelob) and in the end separated. Aredhel was lost and the Elven Lords could
not find her and had to return to Gondolin with sadness. She however made her way to Himlad alone,
which is actually very impressive. She is described as fearless and had an urge
to explore. Her story continued and she will return to
Gondolin after around 84 years, but that is a story for another video. For the time being Turgon and Gondolin grieved,
thinking she was dead. When travelling between the realms isn't save
anymore, you can imagine, that the situation was already not good in Beleriand. Even though for a time the Elves pushed back
Morgoth to his stronghold and besieged it (Aredhel's journey was in that time), Morgoth
later broke the siege and got his revenge on the Elves and things became really bad. I explain the exact backgrounds in my History
of the Elves video. The lowest point of this situation was the
Battle of Unnumbered Tears (around 156 years after Aredhel started her journey), called
Nirnaeth Arnoediad by the Elves in Sindarin, which ofc also translates to “Tears Uncountable”. The name references the mentioned grim prophecy
the Noldor Elves got from the Valar (from Námo to be precise) for leaving Aman and
chasing Morgoth for revenge. It had the phrase “tears unnumbered” in
it too. Maedhros, the oldest of Fëanor's sons, managed
to convince the other Elves to put their differences aside for a while and form a huge alliance
against Morgoth, when things looked really bad for them, the so called “Union of Maedhros”. It also included Men and the Dwarves. With this he wanted to fight and defeat Morgoth. But the name of the battle already spoils
it: it was a disaster and tears unnumbered were shed by the Elves. The reason was one chieftain of the Easterlings
(Ulfang the Black). Note that the Easterlings were new in Beleriand,
they just arrived a few decades prior and also joined the alliance. Besides Ulfang's Easterlings, there were also
the Easterlings of Bór, who did not betray the Union. The betrayal of Ulfang was the main reason
for Morgoth's victory at the end. Ofc Glaurung, the Father of Dragons and Gothmog
and his Balrogs were a problem too. Turgon also joined this gigantic battle and
here Glorfindel is mentioned too. Turgon's forces got into trouble and had to
retreat back to the Pass of Sirion from around the Fen of Serech. Glorfindel guarded I assume the left flank
with his house while Turgon and his forces retreated. They were cut off again from Turgon's brother
Fingon and his army, which they just managed to reach and support earlier. Some of Fingon's forces were now even with
Turgon, who survived this battle in the end, Fingon however died and was slain by Gothmog,
the leader of the Balrogs. And so died Fingon, High King of the Noldor
Elves and the Kingship went to his brother Turgon. Gondolin still remained hidden though and
was one of the last realms of the Elves left in Beleriand. The next mention of Glorfindel is also when
things got really bad. He ofc lived in the Hidden City and also was
around during many events, like when Elrond's grandfather Tuor (who was a Men and not an
Elf) came to Gondolin. The city was pretty advanced and e.g. Glamdring
the weapon found in the Troll hoard in “The Hobbit”, that Gandalf later carries, was
forged there and probably the sword of King Turgon, while Orcrist could have belonged
to a Lord of the 12 Houses of Gondolin. It could have even been Glorfindel's sword. However we find most writings and Glorfindel's
biggest deed during the Fall of Gondolin. When Morgoth got his hold back in Beleriand,
he slowly destroyed all elven realms – some were also destroyed through the greed for
one of the Silmarilli – this caused two more Kinslayings by Fëanor's sons. In the end Gondolin was one of the two last
realms still standing (the other being the havens of Sirion). As you can see on the map Gondolin is quite
close to Angband (Morgoth's fortress) but remained hidden, because e.g. the Great Eagles
protected it and killed every spy, who even go remotely close to it. Turgon got the advice to leave with all his
people as soon as possible by Ulmo through Elrond's grandfather Tuor as messenger, but
the King did not listen. And so one day the enemy caught an Elf named
Maeglin, who made a deal with Morgoth and betrayed Gondolin. It's a complex story, that I can't cover here,
but it led to Morgoth knowing the location of Gondolin and attacking it with all his
might. Orcs, wolves, multiple Balrogs if not all
(which would include Durin's bane) and even Dragons. A Balrog is a Maia (something like an angel
of lower rank) like Gandalf, just that he serves Morgoth instead of Eru (which is God). They are extremely powerful warriors, who
use shadow and flame and no diplomats. Idril, Elrond's grandmother and daughter of
King Turgon had foresight of the doom that would come and she let secretly prepare an
escape tunnel that led out of the city some time prior to Morgoth's attack. The best part is: Maegiln did not know about
it, though neither did Morgoth. And even though the Elves of Gondolin were
truly powerful and fought with valour, which included killing Balrogs, something that has
not happened before in battle, in the end it was not enough. Even the leader of the Balrogs, Gothmog, was
slain, but the power of Morgoth was too strong. Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower
is mentioned in the battle. In the History of Middle-earth books or (if
you want this more compact and in one book) in the relatively new book “The Fall of
Gondolin” we find some extra information, that was not in the Silmarillion. Keep in mind those were maybe never intended
to be published and Tolkien might have changed details later. Some of those texts are also from very early
versions from the 1920s, where the Noldor Elves were called Gnomes, Maeglin is called
Meglin and Melkor was still named Melko and so on. Even the number of Balrogs and Dragons seems
massive. So take the following details with a grain
of salt. Canon is a complicated matter here and most
of this did not make it into the Silmarillion. Gondolin, the Hidden City, was attacked from
all sides by Morgoth's forces and King Turgon listened to the council of Maeglin and an
Elf called Salgant to stay in the city and defend it from inside, while Elrond's grandfather
Tuor (the by then husband of Turgon's daughter Idril) advised to leave the city with groups
of armies that would have woman and children in their middle - as soon as possible. The word of Maeglin (Aredhel's son) had great
weight for the King, he was all that was left of his sister, who was accidentally killed
by Maeglin's crazy father, when she protected her son. He was also a prince of Gondolin. So Turgon decided to stay inside the city,
even though many Elf Lords were on Tuor's side. And Tuor was the messenger of the Vala Ulmo,
who also protected the city until now and advised them to leave, as mentioned before. I think you know by now that this can only
end in a disaster. Morgoth had “iron things” prepared, that
breached through the gates and orcs, wolves and so on poured into the city. What those “iron things” were I can't
say, either something living like “iron dragons” or maybe something like “tanks”. I'm not sure how to interpret the text here. However all Lords of the Twelve houses of
Gondolin fought and tried to defend the city. We find hints of several Balrogs being slain. In the Silmarillion this number seems reduced
to only two. Only the Leader of the Balrogs Gothmog is
killed by Ecthelion, who sacrificed himself and both drowned in the King's Fountain and
another one is slain later, we come to him in a moment. But in early versions Balrogs were also less
powerful, but more in number. Later Balrogs became much more powerful and
only very few in number - around seven, instead of an army of them. Glorfindel defended the Great Market in Gondolin
and was pressed hard and cut off. Esp. when a dragon also attacked them it looked
grim. Many Elves of his house died and he and his
forces tried to retreat. In the meantime King Turgon told the mentioned
Salgant, who was the Lord of the House of the Harp, to send his army to Glorfindel at
the Great Market, but he secretly allied with Maeglin and in his treachery he sent them
to the “Lesser Market” instead. His Elves rebelled against his order and luckily
went to the Great Market, which probably saved Glorfindel's and his remaining forces' life. Salgant is interestingly described as “heavy
and squat”, which is unusual for an Elf, it's actually the only known Elf described
like this. You see how these old work in progress writings
of Tolkien have very unusual elements in them. Elrond's grandfather Tuor in the meantime
got to his wife Idril and their child Eärendil, which is Elrond's father (a half-elven), but
Maeglin, who desired Idril and who was promised Lordhsip over Gondolin after its defeat by
Morgoth, got there too and both duelled, resulting in Tuor, who was a powerful warrior, defeating
Maeglin and throwing him down the walls of the city, which fulfilled a prophecy or let's
say a curse of Maeglin's father, who (as said) killed his wife (Turgon's sister) and was
thrown down the wall by Turgon as punishment for that. Before he died he “prophetised” that his
son shall meet the same fate, which happened. And Maeglin's body smote the rocky slopes
three times as he fell to his death. An interesting little detail, could be a biblical
reference. Glorfindel and his forces retreated to the
Square of the King last or as one of the last houses, where he defended it against the forces
of Morgoth with the other remaining houses including Tuor and his house. It was here, where Ecthelion sacrificed himself
to kill Gothmog, the leader of the Balrogs. There were also wounded, woman and children
and they needed to be evacuated. Tuor and Idril led them to the secret tunnel
and Glorfindel guarded the rear with his house, even fighting a dragon, losing many Elves
of his house in their duty. Some of the other remaining houses went with
them too. When they crossed the tunnel after two hours,
they reached a pass through the mountains called Cirith Thoronath (the Eagles' Cleft). It was a narrow and dangerous pass, but Morgoth
placed orc watchers in the mountains and among them was also a Balrog. They ofc attacked and Glorfindel and everyone
still able to fight defended the refugees against them, casting the orcs down the abyss. Glorfindel himself duelled the Balrog. Shout-outs again to Laura Tolton for the great
artwork. We can read in the old writings of Tolkien
that Glorfindel hit the Balrog's iron helmet. Balrogs wearing a helmet is a detail we find
in very old drafts of Tolkien, where Balrogs were (as mentioned) still far less powerful
but greater in number. It seems the helm later disappeared or is
simply not mentioned anymore. In the game Shadow of War we find that detail
referenced it seems. In contrast in the first LotR film Durin's
Bane wears no helmet and the book does also not mention one. As the battle continued Glorfindel's mail
protected him from the attacks of the whip and claw and he cut off the “creature’s
whip-arm at the elbow”. The demon grabbed Glorfindel and they swayed
over the narrow path and the Elf lord took his dagger and pierced the Balrog's belly. We find here and interesting note. Its belly was at the height of his face, as
the creature was about twice his size. Elves are usually quite tall and this would
lead to a Balrog being almost 4 m or around 13 foot. The Balrog screamed in pain and as he started
falling into the abyss, he grabbed Glorfindel's golden hair and dragged him down with him. The details of this fight are not mentioned
in the Simarillion, so take them with a grain of salt. Even the size is debatable, because this is
from very old texts and notes of Tolkien. We will discuss this again in an episode about
the Moria section, where we find more details about the looks of a Balrog. Both fell and died. Glorfindel was beloved and his duel with the
Balrog made it into songs and also a saying of his people. The death cry of the Balrog echoed in the
mountains and the orcs fled in terror, but also the Great Eagles appeared and killed
all of them with great attention to not miss a single one, so that the news of refugees
from Gondolin escaping over the mountains, could not reach Morgoth. Thorondor (his name means “eagle king”
in Sindarin), the Lord of the Eagles and greatest of the Great Eagles of Manwë (the King of
the Valar), caught the body of Glorfindel, while the dead body of the Balrog turned the
river “Thorn Sir” (which means “Eagle-Stream”) black for a long time. Maybe a hint at the colour of a Balrog's blood. E.g. Trolls also had black blood, which smoked
on the floor. Maybe this is common among the more powerful
servants of Morgoth. Tuor and the other survivors raised a great
stone-cairn for Glorfindel's corpse, I assume close to where he fell down with his terrible
foe. Thorondor who dwelt in that area with the
other Eagles protected the grave and quote: “a green turf came there, and yellow flowers
bloomed upon it amid the barrenness of stone, until the world was changed.” The yellow flowers ofc resembled his banner
and he was the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower. Glorfindel a great hero in Elven lore. Now you might wonder, when he is dead, how
can he be in The Lord of the Rings? When Elves die and are e.g. not allied with
the Dark Lord or have done something extremely terrible, their spirit is summoned into the
halls of Mandos. Even Fëanor got summoned and he killed his
own kin, so it's hard to not get summoned it seems. In theory they can refuse the summon, but
they would become wraiths in that case - a terrible fate. Námo is the Vala who handles matters of death
and is also the Doomsman of the Valar. His realm is called Mandos in Aman and interestingly
he himself is often called Mandos too. Another example of a Vala being called by
the name of the place they dwelt would be Lórien, who is actually named Irmo. In the Halls of Mandos rest the spirits of
the dead. Elves, Dwarves and probably Men too for some
time. Men are a difficult topic in this case. Elves are now “judged” by their deeds
and guilt. When they were “good”, a new identical
body is formed by the Valar (I assume by Manwë, who got the authority from Eru) out of the
dead's memory, which has in imprint in it that allows reconstruction – according by
Eru. You find these details in the book Morgoth's
Ring. Glorfindel was judged and his guilt (of leaving
Aman to follow Fëanor, we talked about that already) was forgiven. This also removed his ban – as mentioned
all the Noldor who left again, were banned from Aman. His body was recreated and his spirit moved
into to it again. But Glorfindel became empowered due to his
noble sacrifice fighting the Balrog, protecting the weak with his life. He remained in companionship with the Maiar
(I assume esp. Gandalf, which he might have known before
or befriended him in this time) and the Maiar saw him as equal. I read it as “his spiritual power had been
greatly enhanced” and “he was maybe almost equal to a Maia”. Then the Istari were sent to Middle-earth
at some point. As explained in my “Who is Gandalf and the
Istari” video Tolkien changed the date when the Istari or let's say some of them arrived
in Middle-earth several times. The Istari were all Maiar from Aman (servants
of the Valar), who were sent to Middle-earth, to help the free people against Sauron mainly
through advice. A more subtle approach, because the last time
the Valar intervened the War of Wrath started at the end of the First Age (about 35 years
after the Fall of Gondolin) and Beleriand was completely destroyed and sunk into the
ocean. They wanted to try something different to
help defeating the new Dark Lord Sauron this time. These Maiar had to “clothe themselves in
flesh” and “forgo might” as Tolkien described it. Glorfindel was sent with them, even though
it does not seem he is part of the order of the Istari. It seems Tolkien's last word on it was, that
Glorfindel arrived together with the two Blue Wizards around Second Age 1600 and first dwelt
in Lindon (I assume), where Gil-galad lived, who became High King of the Noldor Elves after
Turgon's death during the Fall of Gondolin, and then later Glorfindel dwelt in Rivendell,
which was founded by Elrond in the War with Sauron and Eregion around Secound Age 1697. When Elrond was pushed back by Sauron's forces
and had to retreat, he established a stronghold, that would become Rivendell. This makes it possible for Glorfindel to have
in theory participated in most of the Second Age's important historical events, except
the forging of the Rings of Power and the early rise of power of Númenor. I won't cover them here, see my History of
the Elves video instead. The next mention of Glorfindel is in the Third
Age in the War against Angmar. We talked about that in a previous episode
already. But after Arthedain the last remaining leftover-Kingdom
of Arnor was destroyed by Angmar, there was nothing left of Gondor's northern sister kingdom. Gondor was sadly in trouble itself and could
only sent armies to Arnor when it was too late. Under the command of Prince Eärnur, which
was the son of Gondor's King, the Gondorian forces arrived in Lindon, and attacked Angmar
together with the Elves. It was too late for Arthedain, but they could
defeat Angmar and drive the evil forces out of the region and destroy their strongholds,
e.g. Carn Dûm. There was one confrontation where Eärnur
wanted to challenge the Witchking of Angmar, but his horse fled in terror, to which the
Witchking laughed. The forces of the Elves of Rivendell with
Glorfindel among them arrived too and the Witchking had to flee. Eärnur wanted to peruse him, but Glorfindel
spoke his prophecy, the famous words: “Do not pursue him! He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand
of man will he fall.” Eärnur was not happy about that. He really wanted to kill the Witchking one
and for all. Much later Eärnur, who became King of Gondor,
was challenged by the Witchking again. He accepted and rode alone (only with few
guards) to the Witchking's city Minas Morgul. He was never seen again and he had no heir. With this Gondor had no King from that time
on, which started the rule of the Ruling Stewards, which is ended by Aragorn, who is a descendent
from the Kings of Arnor – and Arthedain to be precise. It's always impressive how all this is connected. The next mention of Glorfindel is exactly,
where Frodo and his friends heard the horse in the Trollshaws. And this is the epic story of Glorfindel,
who fought Dragons, slew a Balrog, witnessed terrible wars and who was once planned to
become part of the Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien, but he probably made him too powerful
and so he created Legolas for his story. It's now also understandable why he was able
to ride out alone against the nine Nazgûl and why they were afraid of him instead. Glorfindel has fought more terrible foes and
that was when he was not empowered. We will also hear more about him in one of
the Council of Elrond episodes, but that is not today. Thank you for watching. That was a very long episode actually the
longest so far. I struggled a lot writing it and had to rewrite
parts many times. I still cut things out and wanted it to be
a stand alone episode, but I hope the result was still enjoyable for you all at the end. When I have to explain the First Age, it's
always tough, because there is just so much information. For those familiar with it, it will be fine,
for those who are not, it could have been a bit confusing, but I wanted to explain the
situation during the First Age and what an absolute legend Glorfindel is in the lore,
but also the problems with with canon and so on. If you liked this episode, feel free to press
the like button, leave a comment, recommend me further and in case you want to subscribe,
consider pressing the annoying bell. Also sorry I did not stream in two weeks,
but I needed to finish this video. I will stream more the next few days again
on Twitch. You can also check out my Discord. Next video could be a gaming related one (still
not sure if I should make that video), but I ofc also plan to make more Tolkien related
videos too and continue this series. Maybe a few shorter ones the next time. Again shout outs to the artists for allowing
me to use their art works in my videos. Thank you watching and good bye.
