Q: How and Why Did Celebrimbor Give Nenya to Galadriel?
ANSWER: A reader from Finland wrote to ask this rather complicated question in late 2016. I apologize for delaying so long in answering the question.
I was wondering when exactly did Celebrimbor give a ring of power to Galadriel and by what means was this accomplished, considering that there was a mountains range between Eregion and Lothlorien. Did they meet personally or did they communicate via couriers? And why was it Galadriel that Celebrimbor gave the ring to, and why especially Nenya?
To the best of my knowledge (and I have not kept up with all the Tolkien linguistic studies that occasionally reveal small pieces of in-story information), the story of how Galadriel obtained Nenya from Celebrimbor is one of two alternate traditions given in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, and they in turn are a subset of the complicated experimental narratives that Tolkien composed about Galadriel.
Before we get into all of that, I think it’s important to establish that there were several literary experiments that we think of as “Galadriel”. Her story, that is, changed. Some people argue there is no true “Tolkien canon”; some, like me, feel that whatever the author chose to publish in his lifetime overrides (in terms of canonical authority) anything that was subsequently published ex post mortis or posthumously. The question of canon may be too burdened by fan debates to be helpful in these kinds of discussions. What we really should focus on is Tolkien as quid auctor vidit, “the author of what he saw”.
His vision of Galadriel changed and with that change in vision there came changes in her tale. Which Galadriel do you really ask about? There is no collective character, no amalgam we can point to. The Galadriel of The Lord of the Rings is as mysterious as she is ancient. We only know that she was Finrod’s sister and mighty among the Eldar of Middle-earth. There is no hint in The Lord of the Rings that she was one of the rebellious Noldor who fled Aman. In fact, that part of her story had yet to be composed. In the appendices Tolkien wrote:
Throughout the Third Age the guardianship of the Three Rings was known only to those who possessed them. But at the end it became known that they had been held at first by the three greatest of the Eldar: Gil-galad. Galadriel and Círdan. Gil-galad before he died gave his ring to Elrond; Círdan later surrendered his to Mithrandir. For Círdan saw further and deeper than any other in Middle-earth, and he welcomed Mithrandir at the Grey Havens, knowing whence he came and whither he would return.
Celebrimbor, we are told, made the Three and in Second Age year 1693 “the Three Rings are hidden”. The obvious inference is that Celebrimbor gave Nenya to Galadriel at this time.
This version of Galadriel had said of herself, in her welcome of the Fellowship to Lothlorien, “…the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings. He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” Of this version of Galadriel I imagined for many years that Tolkien had in mind some story by which Galadriel left the ancient realms of the Noldor and passed deeper into Middle-earth. But he never wrote down this story. He did, however, add something to Galadriel’s history in The Road Goes Ever On, which was published in 1962. There Tolkien wrote of Galadriel: “…She was the last survivor of the princes and queens who had led the revolting Noldor to exile in Middle-earth. After the overthrow of Morgoth at the end of the First Age a ban was set upon her return, and she had replied proudly that she had no wish to do so. She passed over the Mountains of Eredluin with her husband Celeborn (one of the Sindar) and went to Eregion…”
This additional information, unfortunately, is somewhat inconsistent with what had been given in The Lord of the Rings, and so we are brought back to a questioning of the canonical status of either entry. Celeborn, we are told in the LoTR appendices, dwelt for a time in Harlindon where, presumably, he was lord of the remaining Sindar. Eregion was not founded until Second Age 700. The only way to resolve these differences is to assume that Galadriel was conflating details for her guests because the history was not entirely relevant. But the “Lothlorien” chapter was composed in the 1940s and the appendices were written sometime between 1950 and 1954 (allowing for revisions all the way up to publication time). And in none of these scant texts does Tolkien explain how she obtained one of the Three Rings or if Celebrimbor gave it to her directly or via messenger.
To find any details at all we must now turn to Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, to the chapter “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn [and of Amroth King of Lorien]”. And Christopher Tolkien opened this chapter by writing: “There is no part of the history of Middle-earth more full of problems than the story of Galadriel and Celeborn, and it must be admitted that there are severe inconsistencies ’embedded in the traditions’; or, to look at the matter from another point of view, that the role and importance of Galadriel only emerged slowly, and that her story underwent continual refashionings.”
We must not ignore or diminish the significance of this introduction to Galadriel’s history. It debunks every definitive assertion ever written by anyone other than J.R.R. or Christopher Tolkien about the characters of Galadriel and Celeborn. I will now cite from the beginning of the chapter a much longer text:
Thus, at the outset, it is certain that the earlier conception was that Galadriel went east over the mountains from Beleriand alone, before the end of the First Age, and met Celeborn in his own land of Lórien; this is explicitly stated in unpublished writing, and the same idea underlies Galadriel’s words to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring II 7, where she says of Celeborn that “He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” In all probability Celeborn was in this conception a Nandorin Elf (that is, one of the Teleri who refused to cross the Misty Mountains on the Great Journey from Cuiviénen).
On the other hand, in Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings appears a later version of the story; for it is stated there that at the beginning of the Second Age “In Lindon south of the Lune dwelt for a time Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol; his wife was Galadriel, greatest of Elven women.” And in the notes to The Road Goes Ever On (1968, p. 60) it is said that Galadriel “passed over the Mountains of Eredluin with her husband Celeborn (one of the Sindar) and went to Eregion.”
In The Silmarillion there is mention of the meeting of Galadriel and Celeborn in Doriath, and of his kinship with Thingol (p. 115); and of their being among the Eldar who remained in Middle-earth after the end of the First Age (p. 254).
The reasons and motives given for Galadriel’s remaining in Middle-earth are various. The passage just cited from The Road Goes Ever On says explicitly: “After the overthrow of Morgoth at the end of the First Age a ban was set upon her return, and she had replied proudly that she had no wish to do so.” There is no such explicit statement in The Lord of the Rings; but in a letter written in 1967 my father declared:
The Exiles were allowed to return – save for a few chief actors in the rebellion, of whom at the time of The Lord of the Rings only Galadriel remained. At the time of her Lament in Lórien she believed this to be perennial, as long as the Earth endured. Hence she concludes her lament with a wish or prayer that Frodo may as a special grace be granted a purgatorial (but not penal) sojourn in Eressëa, the solitary isle in sight of Aman, though for her the way is closed. Her prayer was granted – but also her personal ban was lifted, in reward for her services against Sauron, and above all for her rejection of the temptation to take the Ring when offered to her. So at the end we see her taking ship.
This statement, very positive in itself, does not however demonstrate that the conception of a ban on Galadriel’s return into the West was present when the chapter “Farewell to Lórien” was composed, many years before; and I am inclined to think that it was not (see p. 245).
I should note here that Christopher gives a different date (1968) for The Road Goes Ever On than the one I cite above (1962). The book was first published in 1967 or 1968. The copy I have includes a copyright notice for the text with a year date of 1962. I’m not sure if any bibliographies explain these apparent discrepancies and I don’t have access to all my research materials to look this up. Sorry for the confusion.
Up to this point I will loosely designate everything cited as describing Galadriel, Version I. And there are a couple of sub-versions but I’m just grouping them together as a single “vision” or “image” of the character. Now I will cite one more long passage from Unfinished Tales but that is all I will take from the chapter, which is quite long.
In a very late and primarily philological essay, certainly written after the publication of The Road Goes Ever On, the story is distinctively different:
Galadriel and her brother Finrod were the children of Finarfin, the second son of Indis. Finarfin was of his mother’s kind in mind and body, having the golden hair of the Vanyar, their noble and gentle temper, and their love of the Valar. As well as he could he kept aloof from the strife of his brothers and their estrangement from the Valar, and he often sought peace among the Teleri, whose language he learned. He wedded Eärwen, the daughter of King Olwë of Alqualondë, and his children were thus the kin of King Elu Thingol of Doriath in Beleriand, for he was the brother of Olwë; and this kinship influenced their decision to join in the Exile, and proved of great importance later in Beleriand. Finrod was like his father in his fair face and golden hair, and also in noble and generous heart, though he bad the high courage of the Noldor and in his youth their eagerness and unrest; and he had also from his Telerin mother a love of the sea and dreams of far lands that he had never seen. Galadriel was the greatest of the Noldor, except Fëanor maybe, though she was wiser than he, and her wisdom increased with the long years.
Her mother-name was Nerwen (“man-maiden”), 1 and she grew to be tall beyond the measure even of the women of the Noldor; she was strong of body, mind, and will, a match for both the loremasters and the athletes of the Eldar in the days of their youth. Even among the Eldar she was accounted beautiful, and her hair was held a marvel unmatched. It was golden like the hair of her father and of her foremother Indis, but richer and more radiant, for its gold was touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, had been snared in her tresses. Many thought that this saying first gave to Fëanor the thought of imprisoning and blending the light of the Trees that later took shape in his hands as the Silmarils. For Fëanor beheld the hair of Galadriel with wonder and delight. He begged three times for a tress, but Galadriel would not give him even one hair. These two kinsfolk, the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, were unfriends for ever.
Galadriel was born in the bliss of Valinor, but it was not long, in the reckoning of the Blessed Realm, before that was dimmed; and thereafter she had no peace within. For in that testing time amid the strife of the Noldor she was drawn this way and that. She was proud, strong, and selfwilled, as were all the descendants of Finwë save Finarfin; and like her brother Finrod, of all her kin the nearest to her heart, she had dreams of far lands and dominions that might be her own to order as she would without tutelage. Yet deeper still there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit of the Vanyar, and a reverence for the Valar that she could not forget. From her earliest years she had a marvellous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding, and she withheld her goodwill from none save only Fëanor. In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldor, and upon her own.
So it came to pass that when the light of Valinor failed, for ever as the Noldor thought, she joined the rebellion against the Valar who commanded them to stay; and once she had set foot upon that road of exile she would not relent, but rejected the last message of the Valar, and came under the Doom of Mandos. Even after the merciless assault upon the Teleri and the rape of their ships, though she fought fiercely against Fëanor in defence of her mother’s kin, she did not turn back. Her pride was unwilling to return, a defeated suppliant for pardon; but now she burned with desire to follow Fëanor with her anger to whatever lands he might come, and to thwart him in all ways that she could. Pride still moved her when, at the end of the Elder Days after the final overthrow of Morgoth, she refused the pardon of the Valar for all who had fought against him, and remained in Middle-earth. It was not until two long ages more had passed, when at last all that she had desired in her youth came to her hand, the Ring of Power and the dominion of Middle-earth which she had dreamed, that her wisdom was full grown and she rejected it, and passing the last test departed from Middle-earth for ever.This last sentence relates closely to the scene in Lothlórien when Frodo offered the One Ring to Galadriel (The Fellowship of the Ring II 7): “And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen.”
In this citation Christopher finishes recapping everything that can be remotely associated with what I shall designate as Galadriel, Version II. Further on in the chapter, after sharing other versions of Galadriel’s early history (which did not exist in pre-LoTR writings), Christopher introduces what I shall designate as Galadriel, Version III. This Galadriel interacts with Celebrimbor, who himself has more than one history. Galadriel, Version III emerges from the same period of writing that introduced Galadriel, Version II, so I don’t want to give the impression that these three versions are chronological progressions in development of the character. Rather, the versioning events introduce significant new details to the character’s story.
Galadriel, Version III receives Nenya directly from Celebrimbor in Lorinand (Lothlorien) in the earliest conception of their relationship. In a later text, Celebrimbor sends Nenya to Galadriel in Lorinand rather than giving it directly to her. Tolkien wrote that Celebrimbor gave the other two Rings (Vilya and Narya) to Gil-galad. In one text Gil-galad immediately gave Narya to Cirdan; in a later text Tolkien wrote that Gil-galad gave the ring to Cirdan when they attacked Mordor in the War of the Last Alliance. We only need remember that the Elves decided not to use the Three after Sauron made the One Ring, so they were idle during the rest of the Second Age.
I revisited Galadriel’s history this way, rather than dwelling at length on all the canonical questions, because to answer your question about when she received the Ring we only need to look at a few details. Whether Galadriel was Amroth’s mother or overthrown by Celebrimbor or whether Celeborn was born in Middle-earth or Valinor really don’t matter as far as this question is concerned. I think we can say that Tolkien intended for Galadriel to receive Nenya directly from Celebrimbor soon after Sauron made the One, and that she received the Ring in Lorinand (Lothlorien), but Tolkien never fully worked out the details in his mind or his notes.
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Thanks, this was an enjoyable read on a quiet afternoon!
As usual, we’re left to ponder JRRT’s intent as his tales evolved. I won’t presume to guess what his reply might have been, had someone posed this question to him directly.
I have my own feelings, based on a variety of precedents. In short, a gift of this magnitude is not delivered by a mere messenger. Whether the gift comes with pomp and ceremony, such as at the crowning of King Elessar, or on a deathbed (Vilya from Gil-galad to Elrond), or intimately, such as when Elrond delivered the shards of Narsil to Aragorn or when Cirdan presented Narya to Gandalf… the stature of the gift is signified by the stature of the giver, as well as the recipient.
On that basis, there are few “messengers” with the stature to present Nenya to Galadriel. Gil-galad, perhaps? What occasion would warrant anything less than a direct presentation from the hand of Celebrimbor?
According to the Tale of Years (LotR, Appendix B), ten years elapsed between the making of the Three (SA 1590) and the forging of the One (SA 1600). 93 more pass before the Three are hidden (SA 1693) and the Fall of Eregion/death of Celebrimbor don’t come for another four (SA 1697). I can imagine a scenario where a messenger of Glorfindel’s stature might convey Nenya in secrecy to Galadriel just prior to Eregion’s fall, but…
I find it hard to believe that the rings were not bestowed within the first ten years of their existence, considering the intent of their making. If so, there would seem to have been no serious impediment to a direct meeting of Celebrimbor and Galadriel. If not directly, perhaps in a ceremony where Celebrimbor first presents all three to Gil-galad, who then bestows two of the other three as he sees fit.
These speculations bog down in a normal problem of ceremony/diplomacy – the recognition of the stature of each participant. Was Celebrimbor subordinate to Gil-galad and Galadriel, or co-equal? Were Gil-glad and Galadriel universally recognized as the greatest of the Eldar of Middle-earth?
Regardless, from the rings’ conception, wouldn’t Celebrimbor have had some idea of whose hands should wield such power? If Sauron knew (“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky…”), then it seems unlikely the rings were sitting un-bestowed in a vault, or that Gil-galad was meant to have more than one. Perhaps Celebrimbor kept one, which then made its way to Gil-galad afterwards? Ah, if only Saruman, most learned in Ring Lore, was present!