Setting-wide: Peoples and Races, Sauron The Silmarillion: Eru and the Ainur, Enemies, First-Generation Elven Royalty, the House of Fëanor, the House of Fingolfin The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Free Men, the Elves, the Forces of Sauron, Other Characters
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The House of Fingolfin
Fingolfin
The oldest son of Finwë and Indis, half-brother of Fëanor, and full brother of Finarfin. Husband of Anairë and father of Fingon, Turgon, Aredhel, and Argon. When Fëanor rebelled against the Valar, he joined so as not to leave the Noldor solely to his leadership, but took no part in the Kinslaying. He and his host were betrayed by Fëanor, who stranded them on the shores of Valinor; Fingolfin led them on foot across the Grinding Ice in the utter north to enter Middle-earth. After Fëanor's death, Maedhros waived his right to kingship in gratitude to Fingon, and Fingolfin became High King of the Noldor. He ruled Hithlum to the north of Beleriand, to maintain the Siege of Angband. When it broke, Fingolfin went to Angband and challenged Morgoth to single combat, where he perished.
- Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Had this dynamic with Fëanor, although Fingolfin was no fool and Fëanor was no weakling.
- Cain and Abel: He was the Abel to Fëanor's Cain. Unlike Finarfin, he did get caught up in the feud at least to some extent, but he still tried to reconcile with Fëanor and readily forgave him for threatening to murder him.
- Cool Horse: Rochallor, who refuses to leave his master during his duel with Morgoth, even though they are surrounded by the host of Angband.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: While he was heavily outmatched and never stood a chance against the God of Evil Morgoth, he did manage to wound him a few times.
- David Versus Goliath: His duel with Morgoth.
- Deadly Dodging: He wounded Morgoth seven times in their duel because of his speed and cunning in the face of Morgoth's lumbering strength.
- Determinator: His duel with Morgoth. He was struck down three times, but he stood up and continued the fight each time, although it would be in vain.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: His duel with Morgoth is remembered and honored in the legends of the Noldor as a moment of pure awesome, though inevitably he died.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Maiming Morgoth's foot in the duel.
- Due to the Dead: After killing him, Morgoth was going to tear Fingolfin's body apart and feed it to his werewolves if Thorondor hadn't swooped in at the last second.
- The Dutiful Son: Usually regarded as the best of Finwë's sons.
- Fragile Speedster: To Melkor's Mighty Glacier in their duel. Each hammer stroke of Melkor sent fire into the sky, though Fingolfin darted around him like a bolt of lightning.
- Freudian Trio: With his brothers. He is the Ego, less hot-headed than Fëanor and less patient than Finarfin. No wonder most of the Noldor want him to be their High King.
- I Shall Taunt You: Morgoth was not rushing to answer the door when Fingolfin came knocking at the gates of Angband. Fingolfin had to call him craven (a coward), knowing Morgoth's minions would hear, to force the Evil Overlord to battle him personally rather than just commanding his Orcs and Balrogs to Zerg Rush the Elf-King.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Always did his duty, but always hated the necessity of fighting Morgoth.
- Last Stand: His duel with Morgoth.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He outlived both his son Argon, who died in the battle of Lammoth, and daughter Aredhel, who was killed by her husband Eöl.
- The Power of Hate: After Morgoth broke the siege of Angband, killing thousands of his people, Fingolfin got so angry and desperate that he decided to challenge Morgoth to single combat, and rode to Angband alone. His anger was so great that none even considered challenging him until he taunted Morgoth out of Angband.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Seen as calm-headed, legitimate, and reasonable by the majority of the Noldor, which was why they much preferred him over Maedhros as High King.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Morgoth, leading to the challenge of single combat.
- Sibling Rivalry: Over the love and the crown of their father. Guess with whom?
- World's Strongest Man: Of the house of Finwë, Fingolfin was counted as "the strongest, most steadfast and most valiant". Supported by his being the only member of the Eldar to ever wound Morgoth in single combat.
Fingon
The oldest son of Fingolfin and Anairë, brother to Turgon, Aredhel, and Argon, and cousin to the Sons of Fëanor. He joined his father in exile. Upon arriving in Middle-earth and learning of his friend Maedhros's capture, Fingon climbed Thangorodrim and rescued him, partially healing the rift caused by Fëanor's betrayal. He served as a vassal of Fingolfin in Hithlum and later led the Noldor after his father's death. Fingon himself was killed in battle by Gothmog only a few years later.
- Braids of Action: He wore his long dark hair in braids.
- Cool Helmet: Maedhros gave him the Dragon-helm of Dor-Lomin as a gift... but it turned out to be too heavy for him to wear, so he passed it along to Fingolfin's liegeman Hador.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Because of his and his best friend's Feuding Families. Against all odds, they managed to avoid falling apart.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Went down in a duel with Gothmog the balrog, our resident Hero Killer. He was actually holding his own against Gothmog and went down only after another Balrog tied him up with his whip, after which Gothmog sliced his helmeted head open with his axe; the axe cutting the helmet produced white sparkles like fire.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Has the dubious distinction of one of the most violent deaths in the story. First, he gets his head sliced open, and then his body gets squished by Gothmog and several other balrogs.
- The Good King: Although he only reigned as High King for sixteen years before dying in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the book has all kinds of nice things to say about him even considering his involvement in the First Kinslaying."Of all the children of Finwë he is justly most renowned: for his valour was as a fire and yet as steadfast as the hills of stone; wise he was and skilled in voice and hand; troth and justice he loved and bore good will to all, both Elves and Men, hating Morgoth only; he sought not his own, neither power nor glory, and death was his reward."
- Hot-Blooded: He had a tendency to follow his gut and dive right into terrible situations—see below. His recklessness shows up again, though it comes to a better end when he takes off alone to rescue Maedhros from Angband without letting anyone reason with him.
- Leeroy Jenkins: A minor example: while less hot-blooded than some of his kin, Fingon had some tendency to recklessness. He ended up joining the Kinslaying at Alqualondë when he arrived in the midst of the fighting, found the Noldor and Teleri killing each other, and jumped in without trying to find out the cause.
- The Magnificent: Maedhros at one point calls him "Fingon the Valiant".
- Real Men Wear Pink: He "wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold". That did not prevent him to be a badass elf Warrior Prince, who died facing several Balrogs in battle.
- Undying Loyalty: Despite believing that Maedhros had betrayed him, he still resolved to go on a hopeless mission to find and save him.
Argon
The fourth and youngest child of Fingolfin and Anairë, brother of Fingon, Turgon, and Aredhel. He dies in the Battle of the Lammoth, shortly after arriving in Middle-earth. Neither he nor the battle he died in are mentioned in the published Silmarillion, as both were later additions to the Legendarium.
- The Big Guy: He's said to be the tallest of Fingolfin's sons.
- Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He was the tallest of Fingolfin's sons, and the first one to die, long before even his own father and brothers.
- Big Little Brother: He was the youngest of Fingolfin's children, but also the tallest.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: During the Battle of the Lammoth he hews a path through the Orcs to kill their captain.
- Hot-Blooded: Like his brother Fingon, he's impetuous. Like his brother Fingon, it gets him killed.
- Out of Focus: Of all his siblings, he's the one the least known about.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: He survives the Helcaraxë only to die less than a year after reaching Middle-earth.
Ereinion Gil-galad
The son of Fingon* and the High King of the Noldorin Exiles after Turgon's death. Gil-galad remained king throughout the Second Age, ruling from Lindon, and befriended the Men of Númenor and, later, Arnor and Gondor. He received two of the Three Rings of the Elves, but gave Vilya to his herald, Elrond, and Narya to his friend, Círdan. He was killed in Mordor in the War of the Last Alliance.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: In a world full of violent deaths, he had it extra nasty: Sauron Killed Him With Fire.
- The Good King: He ruled the Noldor for around 3,000 years, there were no further Kinslayings or strife that we know of after the Third. He also had a good relationship with several Numenorean kings.
- Last of His Kind: The last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth. Elrond and Galadriel were his closest living relatives that still remained there, but neither claimed the title.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Everybody calls him Gil-galad, which is an epithet that means "star of radiance". Out-of-Universe, Tolkien always called him Gil-galad while constantly changing his mind about the guy's real name. In The Silmarillion his real name (or rather the Sindarin form of it) was Ereinion, "Son of Kings". In the final traceable version, Tolkien gave his real name as Rodnor (Artanáro in Quenya) which admittedly doesn't sound as nice as Ereinion.
- Sacrificial Lion: After surviving the war with Morgoth and the first war with Sauron, he finally died fighting Sauron at the end of the Second Age.
- Shrouded in Myth: Gil-galad was an Elven king, of him the harpers sadly sing...
