<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Pile o' Bones
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Re: The Parentage of Orodreth and Gil-galad: A Hi
One problem that Tolkien would eventually have had to address if he finished the Silmarillion: why does Gil-Galad get the high kingship over both Celebrimbor and Galadriel?
If he were the son of Fingon, this would make more sense (the question then would be why it went Fingon -Turgon - Gil-Galad instead of just Fingon - Gil-Galad.) However, Tolkien seems to have pretty firmly rejected that genealogy. Do you think Tolkien had a reason for wanting to make him a Finarfinian?
A canon Silm. will have to explain why neither Celebrimbor nor Galadriel got a chance. Some have suggested that Galadriel could have been high queen, but did not wish it; this I find hard to reconcile with her portrayal elsewhere. The (perhaps more obvious) explanation that the High Kingship could only pass to a male is defeated by Tolkien's statement about the Neri and Nissi of the Eldar being equal.
Further, why didn't it go to Celebrimbor? When Maedhros gave up the kingship to Fingolfin, there was no suggestion that this barred the Feanorians from ever regaining it. The kingship remained in the House of Fingolfin only because it was then passing to the closest descendant or relative; but with all the descendants of Fingolfin dead (except Elrond and Elros), it seems that Celebrimbor would have had just as good a claim as Gil-Galad, if not better (he was of an elder generation from from an elder branch of the family.)
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