<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Newly Deceased
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Nested implications
I don't see a Valinorean birth for Celeborn being at odds with what is said about him in LotR, RGEO, or Sil. I see more difficulties arising from Galadriel's separate voyage, whether or not she is accompanied by Teleporno/Celeborn.
This is a listing of the variants in the stories of Celeborn's origin and Galadriel's passage to Middle-earth with their dependencies as I see them, giving Tolkien's latest thoughts first, where these can be determined:
1. Where was Celeborn's birthplace?
*****A. Celeborn was born in Valinor. He accompanied Galadriel to
*********Middle-earth (however she came there).
*********There is some tension with the accounts in LotR, RGEO, and Sil.
*********but nothing that I believe Tolkien could not easily have
*********glossed over with some such words as: "Celeborn was reckoned as
*********one of the Sindar of Doriath, though in fact he came from
*********Valinor, for ...". An Elf of Teleran descent who took Thingol as
*********his lord and dwelt in Doriath could certainly be counted as
*********Sindar.
*********Was Celeborn grandson of Olwë and first-cousin to his wife
*********Galadriel?
**********I. Yes. Tolkien intended this fully.
*************Was this first-cousin marriage according to Eldarin custom?
***************a. Yes. Tolkien had modified his earlier ideas. The
******************sentence near the end of the chapter "Of Maeglin" would
******************have been dropped.
***************b. No. Tolkien's intended story would have dealt with the love
******************of Celeborn and Galadriel as one against custom. The
******************sentence near the end of the chapter "Of Maeglin" might
******************have been rewritten something like this: "The Eldar
******************wedded not with kin so close, save for Celeborn and
******************Galadriel, nor ever before, save for those two, had any
*****************desired to do so."
*********II. No. This is a careless error that Tolkien would have corrected.
*************What then can now be done now in way of correction?
***************a. Teleporno/Celeborn is to be identified only as "Olwë's
******************kinsman".
***************b. Teleporno/Celeborn is to be identified as "son of Galadhon
******************son of Elmo" as in the version which places his birth in
******************Beleriand; but it must now be understood that Elmo went to
******************Valinor with Olwë.
*****B. Celeborn is born in Beleriand.
*********This does not conflict in any way with LotR, RGEO, or Sil. He is
*********son*of Galadhon son of Olwë.
2. How did Galadriel come to Middle-earth?
*****A. She made a crossing separately from the rest of the Noldor in a ship
*********accompanied by four Teleri (possibly Teleporno/Celeborn, Galathil his
*********brother, Celebrimbor and one other). They arrived at the Havens where
*********Círdan received them a little before the arrival of Fëanor in
*********Middle-earth.
*********This requires the removal of the words "and Galadriel" from the last
*********paragraph in "Of the Flight of the Noldor" in Sil.
*********It almost certainly also requires modification on when and how tidings********
*********of the theft of the silmarils and the slaughter at Alqualondë
*********first became known. I discuss this separately later.
*****B. Galadriel accompanied her brother Finrod as in current Sil. (She may have
*********been accompanied by Teleporno/Celeborn [who may have been accompanied by
*********Galathil].) This requires no change from Sil.
If Galadriel and four Teleri arrived in Círdan's haven some time before the arrival of Fëanor in Middle-earth, what story would they have told Círdan? Would they have been silent about the silmarils and the slaughter at Alqualondë? Why should they? In Sil. there are no Teleri among those who return, Fëanor is dead before any of the Noldor meet any other Elves except for those still dwelling in Hithlum, peace has been made between the Fëanor's sons and those who passed the Helcaraxë, and so the shameful story of the kinslaying is long kept quiet, even by Galadriel.
But in the circumstances of a separate crossing with four Teleri while Fëanor still lives I cannot believe Galadriel or the Teleri with her would have been silent about these deeds. Tolkien would have much revised the material in the account of Angrod's first meeting with Thingol, the account of Melian's dialogue with Galadriel in which Galadriel reveals the truth of the Silmarils but will not talk about the kinslaying, and in his account of the tales that eventually began to circulate of which Círdan informed Thingol which led Thingol to accuse Finrod and Angrod of deception and so extracted from them the whole truth.
An appropriate revision could be attempted by omitting some of this material and moving some to an earlier position. The material to be moved would be from Galadriel's dialogue with Melian with most of the story of how Thingol learned the truth and extracted a confirmation from Angrod and Finrod. For example, the revised account might relate that at the time of Thingol's first meeting with Angrod Thingol is already informed through Círdan of the tales Círdan has heard from Galadriel and the Teleri, Angrod (with Finrod?} speaks nothing of either silmaril or kinslaying, then Thingol's accusation of deception immediately follows.
The result would be a tighter and more dramatic story than provided by the current Sil., giving better justification for Thingol's immediate distrust of the Noldor, particularly his distrust of the sons of Fëanor, and for his refusal from the beginning to allay himself with them against Morgoth.
But it may be impossible to extract such an account from the current materials by simple cut and paste without also adding some bridging words.
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