House of Finarfin

Heraldic device of the House of Finarfin

The House of Finarfin was a noble house of the Ñoldorin Elves, which consisted descendants and followers of Finarfin, the youngest son of King Finwë. In Middle-earth, it was also sometimes referred to as the House of Finrod.

This House was chiefly recognizable by the golden hair of its dynasts due to their half-Vanyarin heritage from Finarfin's mother, Indis.

History

The House of Finarfin was a branch of the Ñoldorin royal house formed by Finarfin, the third son of King Finwë and his second wife Indis of the Vanyar. Finarfin alone of his siblings inherited the Vanyarin features of his mother, including golden hair, and many of his descendants shared this trait. The descendants of Finarfin were also notable for possessing the blood of all three Elven clans having inherited blood of the Ñoldor and Vanyar from Finarfin himself and Telerin blood from his wife Eärwen, daughter of King Olwë of Alqualondë. They married in YT 1280, while their four children were born between YT 1300 and 1362.

Finarfin bids farewell to his children and gives his ring to Finrod, by Elena Kukanova

During the Exile of the Ñoldor, Finarfin initially led a host of his people in seeking to leave Valinor for Middle-earth. However, Finarfin ultimately repented after hearing the Doom of Mandos and turned back in horror at his brother Fëanor's actions in leading the kinslaying of Eärwen’s people. Thereafter, Finarfin was reckoned the King of the Ñoldor who remained in Valinor.

However, all of Finarfin’s children, while also horrified by Fëanor, continued on because of their friendship with the House of Fingolfin and because their hearts desired realms to rule and order as they pleased in Middle-earth. For this reason, the House of Finarfin was sometimes referred to as the House of Finrod because it was Finarfin’s eldest son Finrod who led it in Middle-earth.

In the lands of Beleriand, the children of Finarfin and Eärwen, alone amongst the great lords of the Ñoldor, were permitted to enter the realm of Doriath in light of their kinship with King Elu Thingol through their mother, his niece.

During the Siege of Angband, Finrod constructed the realm of Nargothrond and reigned as King of that great city. After taking up the kingship of Nargothrond, Finrod appointed his nephew Orodreth as warden of his former seat on Tol Sirion. During those years, Finrod's younger brothers Angrod (father of Orodreth) and Aegnor held the highlands of Dorthonion against Angband. The youngest child of Finarfin, Galadriel, who were considered the greatest of elven women and greatest of the Ñoldor except perhaps for Fëanor, dwelt with her eldest brother, but eventually wed the Sindarin prince Celeborn and relocated to Doriath, where she was tutored by Queen Melian of the Maiar.

A Bannerman of the House of Finarfin, by Marya Filatova

Angrod and Aegnor were both killed at the Dagor Bragollach, and Orodreth was forced out of Tol Sirion by the forces of Morgoth and sought refuge with Finrod. In FA 465, Finrod passed on the regency of Nargothrond to Orodoreth in order to fulfil his oath to the House of Bëor. After Finrod’s death, Orodreth became King of Nargothrond, but was killed a few short years later at the Sack of Nargothrond along with his daughter Finduilas. However, his son Gil-galad survived thanks to that he was taken as a ward by Círdan at the Falas much earlier. After the Fall of Gondolin and death of its king Turgon, the High Kingship of the Ñoldor passed from the House of Fingolfin to Gil-galad of the House of Finarfin as the senior male line descendant of Finwë still living in Middle-earth. Later, during the War of Wrath at the very end of the First Age, King Finarfin led the Noldor as part of the Host of the West against Morgoth, but eventually returned to Valinor as the War was ended by the final defeat of the Dark Lord.

Gil-galad (right) and Elendil stand against Sauron, by Kip Rasmussen

After Morgoth's overthrow, Gil-galad led his people out of Beleriand and set up a realm in Lindon where he reigned longer than any previous King of the Ñoldor in Middle-earth. During the Second Age, the House of Finarfin continued through the birth of Galadriel's daughter Celebrían. However, Gil-galad himself never married and thus remained childless.

After the forging of the Rings of Power, Gil-galad was gifted Vilya and Galadriel was gifted Nenya because they were considered the mightiest of the Eldar and best placed to protect the rings from Sauron. While Gil-galad passed Vilya on to Elrond before his death at the end of the War of the Last Alliance, Galadriel continued to wield Nenya through the Third Age as the ruling Lady of Lothlórien. During this Age, the line of Finarfin continued with the births of Elrohir, Elladan and Arwen to Celebrían. At the same time, the House of Finarfin’s followers appeared be among the wandering companies of Eldar tarrying in Middle-earth given that Gildor Inglorion claimed to be of the House of Finrod.

Regardless, the House of Finarfin appeared to finally pass back over the Great Sea at the very beginning of the Fourth Age, when Galadriel was permitted to saile west. However, Arwen chose to become mortal, wedding King Elessar, and thus the noble blood of the House of Finarfin continued in Middle-earth through her son Eldarion and his descendants.

House of Finarfin

Finwë

Indis

Fingolfin

Finarfin

Eärwen

Finrod

Angrod

Eðellos

Aegnor

Galadriel

Celeborn

Orodreth

Celebrían

Finduilas

Gil-galad

Etymology

Finarfin did not come to Middle-earth, but his children were called collectively by the Sindar as "the children of Finarfin", in Sindarin Nost Finarfin ("the house/family of Finarfin").

Other versions

In earlier stage of Tolkien's legendarium, Finrod was the name for Finarfin, so his House was called Nos Finrod ("House of Finrod").

In the published Silmarillion, Orodreth and Gil-galad were mentioned as the second son of Finarfin and son of Fingon of the House of Fingolfin respectively. Christopher Tolkien recognized these statements as editorial mistakes from his part, and according to the final decision of J.R.R. Tolkien, Orodreth was actually the grandson of Finarfin through Angrod and his wife Eðellos, while Gil-galad was Orodreth's son instead of Fingon's and thus brother to Finduilas.

Behind the Scenes

Due to the Ñoldorin-Vanyarin intermarriages, it is suggested by some Tolkien fans that the golden-haired Ñoldo Glorfindel might be a distant dynast of the House of Finarfin.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Huis van Finarfin
Albanian	Shtëpia e Finarfinit
Alemannic German	Huus Finarfin
Arabic	بيت فينارفين
Armenian	Ֆինարֆինի տուն
Assamese	ফিনাৰফিন পৰিয়াল
Asturian	Casa de Finarfin
Azerbaijani	Finarfinın sülaləsi
Belarusian Cyrillic	Дом Фінарфіна
Bengali	ফিনারফিনের পরিবার
Bosnian	Kuća Finarfinova
Breton	Tiegezh Finarfin
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Дом Финарфин
Catalan	Casa de Finarfin
Cebuano	Balay ni Finarfin
Croatian	Dom Finarfinova
Czech	Dům Finarfinova
Danish	Huset Finarfin
Dutch	Huis Finarfin
Esperanto	Domo de Finarfin
Estonian	Finarfini maja
Faroese	Hús Finarfin
Filipino	Kabahay ng Finarfin
Finnish	Finarfinin huone
French	Maison de Finarfin
Galician	Casa de Finarfin
Georgian	ფინარფინის სახლი
German	Haus Finarfin
Greek	Οίκος του Φινάρφιν
Gujarati	ફિનરફિન વંશ
Hindi	फ़िनर्फ़िन राजवंश
Hebrew	בית פינארפין
Hungarian	Finarfin-ház
Icelandic	Hús Finarfin
Indonesian	Wangsa Finarfin
Irish Gaelic	Teaghlach na mFinarfin
Italian	Casa di Finarfin
Japanese	フィナルフィン王家
Kannada	ಫಿನಾರ್ಫಿನ್ ರಾಜವಂಶ
Kazakh	Финарфин әулеті (Cyrillic) Fïnarfïn äwleti (Latin)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Финарфин үйү
Latin	Domus Finarfin
Latvian	Finarfina māja
Lithuanian	Finarfino namai
Luxembourgish	Haus Finarfin
Macedonian Cyrillic	Династија Финарфин
Malayalam	ഫിനാർഫിൻ രാജവംശം
Malaysian	Wangsa Finarfin
Marathi	फिनारफिनचे घराणे
Nepalese	फिनारफिनको वंश
Norwegian	Huset Finarfin
Occitan	Ostal de Finarfin
Pashto	د فینارفین لړۍ
Persian	دودمان فینارفین
Portuguese	Casa de Finarfin
Punjabi	ਫਿਨਾਰਫਿਨ ਰਾਜਵੰਸ਼
Romanian	Casa de Finarfin
Russian	Дом Финарфина Род Финарфина
Sardinian	Càusa de Finarfin
Scots	Hoose o Finarfin
Scottish Gaelic	Taigh Finarfin
Serbian	Кућа Финарфину (Cyrillic) Kuća Finarfinu (Latin)
Sicilian	Casa di Finarfin
Sindhi	فائنرفين خاندان
Sinhalese	ෆිනාර්ෆින් රාජවංශය
Slovak	Dom Finarfina
Slovenian	Hiša Finarfina
Spanish	Casa de Finarfin
Swahili	Nasaba ya Finarfin
Swedish	Huset Finarfin
Tamil	ஃபினார்பின் வழி
Telugu	ఫినార్ఫిన్ రాజవంశం
Thai	ราชวงศ์'ฟินาร์ฟิน
Turkish	Finarfin Hanedanı
Turkmen	Finarfin maşgalasy
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Дім Фінарфіна
Urdu	خاندان فینارفین
Uzbek	Финарфин сулоласи (Cyrillic) Finarfin sulolasi (Latin)
Venetian	Casa de Finarfin
Vietnamese	Nhà Finarfin
Yiddish	פֿינאַרפֿינ הויז