Lindon
Ereinion Gil-Galad
(Scion of Kings, Star of
Radiance)
The only son of High-elven King Fingon, Gil-Galad was named Ereinion at his birth in FA 445. During Dagor Bragollach he was sent by his father to live with Círdan in Falas until it was safe to return. Fingon was slain by a balrog in the Nirnaeth Arnoedid FA 473 and the kingship passed to Gil-Galad's uncle Turgon. It is assumed that Gil-Galad was probably deemed too young to take on the kingship at the time. In FA 550 Turgon was slain at the fall of Gondolin and the kingship then passed to Gil-Galad. For the remainder of the First Age he lived in a city at the Mouths of Sirion with the exiles of Gondolin.
After the destruction of Beleriand at the end of the First Age, Gil-Galad founded a kingdom in Lindon, west of the Ered Luin (Blue Mountains). Elves prospered under his rule until Sauron came to Gil-Galad in the form of Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. Both Gil-Galad and Círdan rejected Sauron and thus started the time of the Dark Years when the One Ring was forged.
During this time, Gil-Galad received the rings Narya and Vilya from the
elven-craftsman Celebrimbor. Gil-Galad then gave the ring Narya to Círdan
and later, before the War of the Last Alliance, gave the ring Vilya to his
herald Elrond.
After the fall of Númenor,
when Elendil
and his sons
came to
live in
Middle-earth, Gil-Galad
formed an alliance with
them in SA 3430 to defeat Sauron.
In SA 3441
the great host of
men
and elves reached the slopes of Orodruin (Mount Doom). It is then that Sauron came forth and met face to
face with both Gil-Galad and Elendil. Gil-Galad was slain by the heat of
Sauron and his great spear Aeglos (also spelled Aiglos) was broken as he fell.
"Gil-Galad ech vaegannen matha,
Aith helegnín I orch gostatha;
Nin cíniel na nguruthos
Hon essnín istatha: Aiglos."
"Gil-Galad wields a well-made spear;
The Orc will fear my point of ice.
When he sees me, in fear of death
He will know my name: Aiglos."
Song of The Fall of Gil-Galad
Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.
His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.
But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.
by J.R.R. Tolkien
(Elvish tengwar on this page written using Tengwar Sindarin font in the Classical Mode)