Q: Was Vidugavia the Ancestor of Girion and Bard?
ANSWER: Many of J.R.R. Tolkien’s readers have noted that his stories “follow the bloodlines” of a very small number of families. All the major Elven kings, for example, are descended from Ingwë, Finwë, Elwë, and Olwë. All the Kings of Numenor, Arnor, and Gondor are descended from Elros, who in turn was descended from the first named leaders of the three Houses of the Edain. So are there supposed to be connections between all the “good” dynasties among Elves and Men in Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories?
Since J.R.R. Tolkien never finished writing all the background essays and notes he might have included in a final set of books about Middle-earth (presumably The Silmarillion and a companion book he briefly mentioned), one can only speculate on how many connections he might have made between the various leading families. However, given only what has been published, we can be sure that there was no direct canonical connection between Vidugavia and the Kings of Numenor, except through the marriage of his daughter Vidumavi to Valacar of the Line of Anarion of Gondor.
We do not know if the later Kings of Rhovanion and their successors, the Lords of the Eotheod, were the direct male-line descendants of Vidugavia. Nor do we know if there was a line of descent from Vidugavia to Girion of Dale. There is, however, a note published in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth in the section “Cirion and Eorl” which reads:
5 The escape of the army of Gondor from total destruction was in part due to the courage and loyalty of the horsemen of the North¬men under Marhari (a descendant of Vidugavia “King of Rhovanion”) who acted as rearguard. But the forces of Gondor had inflicted such losses on the Wainriders that they had not strength enough to press their invasion, until reinforced from the East, and were content for the time to compete their conquest of Rhovanion. [Author’s note.] – It is told in Appendix A (I, iv) to The Lord of the Rings that Vidugavia, who called himself King of Rhovanion, was the most powerful of the princes of the Northmen; he was shown favour by Rómendacil II King of Gondor (died 1366), whom he had aided in war against the Easterlings, and the marriage of Rómendacil’s son Valacar to Vidugavia’s daughter Vidumavi led to the destructive Kin-strife in Gondor in the fifteenth century.
On the basis of this passage it is generally assumed that Marhari and his heirs were indeed the male-line descendants of Vidugavia, and therefore represented a very ancient lineage of mortal kings among Men in Middle-earth.
But having provided a connection to Vidugavia for the later Kings of the Mark (Rohan), Tolkien unfortunately never established any such ancient lineage for Girion’s family. Girion is thus the most ancient member of his dynasty in Dale, of whom four successors were named in The Lord of the Rings: Bard I the Bowman, Bain son of Bard, Brand son of Bain, and Bard II son of Brand.
Among the Elven kings there were three dynasties that appeared in the stories which Tolkien did not associate with the most ancient Elven lords. The first of these was the dynasty founded by the Telerin elf Lenwë, who was the leader of the Nandor, those Teleri who forsook the Great Journey and departed from Olwë’s host in the Vales of Anduin. Although Lenwë’s fate is unknown his son Denethor gathered many Nandor (and Avari) and led them to Beleriand, where he became King of Ossiriand. Denethor “and all his near kin” died in the first Great Battle of the Wars of Beleriand, and therefore he left no heirs in Middle-earth.
The second named dynasty is the family of Thranduil, the elvenking of The Hobbit and father of Legolas of the Fellowship of the Ring. We learned in Unfinished Tales that Thranduil was the son of Oropher, who apparently was one of Thingol’s followers in Doriath. Oropher is described as one of those adventurers among the Sindar who migrated east early in the Second Age to establish a kingdom among the Silvan Elves. We do not know if either Oropher or Thranduil had other children, or if Legolas himself had any children.
The third dynasty is the family of the rulers of Lothlorien. This is the most incomplete family for in The Lord of the Rings Celeborn is presented as an Elven prince who has always lived in the Vales of Anduin. Christopher Tolkien notes in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth:
…at the outset, it is certain that the earlier conception was that Galadriel went east over the mountains from Beleriand alone, before the end of the First Age, and met Celeborn in his own land of Lórien; this is explicitly stated in unpublished writing, and the same idea underlies Galadriel’s words to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring II 7, where she says of Celeborn that “He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” In all probability Celeborn was in this conception a Nandorin Elf (that is, one of the Teleri who refused to cross the Misty Mountains on the Great Journey from Cuiviénen).
When Celeborn greets Legolas, for example, he says “Too seldom do my kindred journey hither from the North.” And yet, Christopher Tolkien points out that his father subsequently changed Celeborn’s character, transforming him into a relative of Elwë Thingol who lived in Doriath and subsequently settled in Harlindon at the beginning of the Second Age. Near the end of his life J.R.R. Tolkien began to think of Celeborn as a grandson of Olwë.
Further complicating matters is the relationship of Galadriel and Celeborn to Amroth, the legendary King of Lorien who forsook his realm for the love of Nimrodel, and for whom the Princes of Dol Amroth in Gondor were named. Tolkien originally imagined Amroth to be the son of Galadriel and Celeborn but eventually the author decided that Amroth would have been the son of a Sindarin prince (named “Malgalad” in one text and “Amdir” elsewhere). It is still plausible that Celeborn could have shared kinship with Oropher and possibly Amdir/Malgalad through marriages among the Sindar of Doriath regardless of whether Celeborn was born in Beleriand (a descendant of Elmo, youngest brother of Elwë and Olwë) or Aman (grandson of Olwë).
Could Oropher and Amdir have been brethren or cousins? Perhaps, but Tolkien does not say or suggest this. Hence, it is impossible to rationalize a family connection between them. We must therefore conclude that the dynasty of Amdir ended with Amroth.
We do not know of any other Elven kings in Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories. It may be that if Dorwinion was an Elven realm that it had a king. It is also plausible to guess that Edhellond, the mysterious Elvish haven in the south, may have had its own king. Tolkien could have imagined other Elvish kingdoms scattered across Middle-earth early in the Second Age. These kings would have presumably died out or simply had not relevance to the stories.
As for Vidugavia’s possible relationship to Girion and Bard, you are free to assume whatever you wish. There is simply no definitive answer to the question.
See also:
- Did Vidugavia Live in a Fortified Town or Burg?
- How Many Gothic Names Did Tolkien Use in Middle-earth?
- Did Girion Survive Smaug’s Attack on Erebor and Dale?
- What Does the Name of Girion Mean?
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