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Galdor of the Havens

Meaning: possibly 'tree lord'

Race/Species: Elf

Type/Kind: N/A

Dates: ? - known to III 3018

Parents: N/A

Siblings: N/A

Spouse: N/A

Children: N/A

Description:
[...] and with him was Galdor, an Elf from the Grey Havens who had come on an errand from Círdan the Shipwright.
-The Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring


1. It may be noted that Galdor is another name of similar sort and period of origin, but he appears as a messenger from Cirdan and is called Galdor of the Havens. Galdor also appeared in The Fall of Gondolin, but the name is of a more simple and usual form [than Glorfindel] and might be repeated. But unless he is said in The Fall of Gondolin to have been slain, he can reasonably be supposed to be the same person, one of the Noldor who escaped from the siege and destruction, but fled west to the Havens, and not southwards to the mouths of Sirion, as did most of the remnant of the people of Gondolin together with Tuor, Idril, and Earendil. He is represented in The Council of Elrond as less powerful and much less wise than Glorfindel; and so evidently had not returned to Valinor, and been purged, and reincarnated.

3. Galdor in contrast, even in the brief glimpses we have in the Council, is seen clearly as an inferior person, and much less wise. He, whether he appears in The Silmarillion or not, must be either (as his name suggests) a Sindarin Elf who had never left Middle- earth and seen the Blessed Realm, or one of the Noldor who had been exiled for rebellion, and had also remained in Middle-earth, and had not, or not yet, accepted the pardon of the Valar and returned to the home prepared for them in the West, in reward for their valour against Melkor. [The view of Galdor expressed in this note and in note 1 seems hardly justified by the report of his contributions to the Council of Elrond; and if he were indeed Galdor of Gondolin he had had long ages in which to acquire wisdom in the hard world of Middle-earth. But there is no reason to suppose that when my father wrote the chapter The Council of Elrond he associated Galdor of the Havens with Galdor of Gondolin.]
-Last Writings, Peoples of Middle-earth

Contributors:
Kitt of Lindon 11.2.04.

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