WHAT? @__@
From III. B. Story Internal Questions: Creatures and Characters
"8. Who was Gil-galad's father?
The Silmarillion states many times that Gil-galad was the son of Fingon, son of Fingolfin. However, in The Peoples of Middle-earth (in comments on the essay "The Shibboleth of Feanor"), Christopher Tolkien explains that this was an editorial error due to the complexity of the source material: "Gil-galad as the son of Fingon... was an ephemeral idea."
Tolkien changed his mind about Gil-galad's ancestry several times, but it seems that his latest decision was to make Gil-galad the son of Orodreth, son of Angrod, son of Finarfin (making him the brother of Finduilas and nephew of Finrod). Christopher says that "There can be no doubt that this was my father's last word on the subject", but that because the change was never incorporated into other texts,
"it was obviously impossible to introduce it into the published Silmarillion. It would nonetheless have been very much better to have left Gil-galad's parentage obscure."
Whether one agrees with that assessment or not, it is at least clear that The Silmarillion is not entirely trustworthy here."
I can't imagine the dilema Haldir & Anarien will have on who is their Grandfather and Great-Grandfather when they get to Valinor. @__@
From III. B. Story Internal Questions: Creatures and Characters
"8. Who was Gil-galad's father?
The Silmarillion states many times that Gil-galad was the son of Fingon, son of Fingolfin. However, in The Peoples of Middle-earth (in comments on the essay "The Shibboleth of Feanor"), Christopher Tolkien explains that this was an editorial error due to the complexity of the source material: "Gil-galad as the son of Fingon... was an ephemeral idea."
Tolkien changed his mind about Gil-galad's ancestry several times, but it seems that his latest decision was to make Gil-galad the son of Orodreth, son of Angrod, son of Finarfin (making him the brother of Finduilas and nephew of Finrod). Christopher says that "There can be no doubt that this was my father's last word on the subject", but that because the change was never incorporated into other texts,
"it was obviously impossible to introduce it into the published Silmarillion. It would nonetheless have been very much better to have left Gil-galad's parentage obscure."
Whether one agrees with that assessment or not, it is at least clear that The Silmarillion is not entirely trustworthy here."
I can't imagine the dilema Haldir & Anarien will have on who is their Grandfather and Great-Grandfather when they get to Valinor. @__@
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