Q: How Many Kings of the Noldor Were There?
ANSWER: Opinions have differed through the years over the number of the kings of the Noldor. J.R.R. Tolkien did not anticipate such a question would trouble his readers so he inconveniently neglected to leave behind any exhaustive, complete, thorough, inarguably correct lists of Noldorin kings. It doesn’t help matters that he revised and restarted the stories of the Noldor in the First Age many times.
That said, we know that Finwë was the first King of the Noldor. He led his people westward on the Great Journey and was made their King in Aman. Upon Finwë’s death Fëanor succeeded his father as King of the Noldor. However, when Fëanor renounced the grace of the Valar and led the majority of the Noldor away from Aman into exile, he essentially forsook or abdicated his Kingship within the boundaries of Aman. His younger half-brother Finarfin was then made King of the Noldor (in Aman). Fëanor became for all intents and purposes King of the Noldor-in-Exile.
Upon Fëanor’s death his eldest son Maedhros succeeded him as King of the Noldor-in-Exile. However, Fëanor had already abandoned his other brother Fingolfin in Aman, and Fingolfin had retained the loyalty and leadership of the majority of the Noldor. When Fingolfin and Maedhros were finally reconciled Maedhros fulfilled a prophecy of the Valar by stepping down as King of the Noldor-in-Exile and conferring the kingship upon Fingolfin. The sons of Fëanor were therafter known as the Dispossessed.
It is at this point that readers disagree over the number of the Kings of the Noldor. Fingolfin became King of Hithlum while retaining his regal authority over all the Exiles. But Turgon, his younger son, established the Kingdom of Nevrast (later abandoning it to establish the Kingdom of Gondolin); and Finrod, eldest son of Finarfin, established the Kingdom of Nargothrond.
Maedhros and his brother established themselves in eastern Beleriand. Maedhros’ name was applied to a region there called the March of Maedhros. It is on the basis of this regional name that some people argue that Maedhros was not a king. However, there is at least one passage in The Silmarillion where Maedhros is named one of the Kings of the Noldor who took Men of the Edain into their service; also, there are two precedents for Tolkien’s readers to look at with respect to kings ruling over marches (which are essentially border lands).
In Old English history the Mierce were the “border folk” who lived between the Saxons and the Welsh. The Mierce were Angles, perhaps an offshoot of the East Angles of East Anglia (although they had a tradition that their kings were descended from the original Kings of the Angles in Jutland). The land of the Mierce was named Merica, and the Kings of Mercia were no less royal than the other Anglo-Saxon (Old English) kings. Also, the Kings of the Mark (Rohan) were clearly kings ruling over a border land in The Lord of the Rings.
Finfgolfin thus became the first High King of the Noldor-in-Exile, and during his time there were three other Noldorin kings in Beleriand: Turgon, Finrod, and Maedhros. Fingolfin was succeeded as both King of Hithlum and High King of the Noldor-in-Exile by his elder son Fingon. When Fingon died Hithlum ceased to exist but the High Kingship passed to his brother Turgon.
Orodreth succeeded Finrod as King of Nargothrond when Finrod was slain in Minas Tirith on Tol Sirion. After Orodreth’s death the kingdom of Nargothrond ceased to exist. However, we now know from The Peoples of Middle-earth that Gil-galad was the son of Orodreth (and not of Fingon, as Christopher Tolkien had erroneously written in the published Silmarillion). Upon Turgon’s death the Kingdom of Gondolin came to an end but the High Kingship of the Noldor-in-Exile passed to Gil-galad.
Maedhros’ kingdom came to an end with the Nirnaeth Arnoediad when his fortress upon Himring and his brothers’ lands were overrun by Morgoth’s forces. It could be said that Maedhros continued to rule over the survivors of his people. His kingship, however, appears to have ended with the destruction of Beleriand. At that point only Maedhros and his brother Maglor among Fëanor’s sons and their followers appear to have abandoned them. Maedhros ultimately slew himself and Maglor wandered away, never to be seen among Elves again.
After this point Gil-galad was the last High King of the Noldor-in-Exile. Tolkien does not ever say in any published text that Celebrimbor (said to be “Lord of the Eregion” in a few places) ever took the title of King of Eregion. When Gil-galad died the line of the Kings of the Noldor in Middle-earth came to an end.
It is true there were still relatives of the Noldorin kings who survived Gil-galad: both Elrond and Galadriel remained, as well as Galadriel’s daughter Celebrian, whom Elrond married. But neither Elrond nor Galadriel could claim the High Kingship — or else they chose not to for reasons that Tolkien never shared with his readers. Gil-galad is definitively said to be the last of the Noldorin kings in Middle-earth.
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