Celeborn

Literature

Celeborn first appears in The Fellowship of the Ring. He also appears briefly in Tolkien's (at the time unpublished) existing legends of the First Age, The Silmarillion; in chapters 13, 22, 24 and also "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age". Tolkien felt that an Elf of Celeborn's importance should have noble ancestry, and spent several years trying to resolve his origins.

Most existing writings portray Celeborn as a Sindarin Elf from Doriath, the kingdom of Thingol. In one speculative text by Tolkien, published in Unfinished Tales, Celeborn is the grandson of Thingol's younger brother Elmo (who appears nowhere else). That Celeborn and Thingol are related is suggested by their silver hair, a colour associated with the House of Elwë and Olwë and rarely mentioned outside of the royal house of the Sindar. Míriel Serindë, mother of Fëanor, also has silver hair, as did Eärwen, daughter of Olwë and mother of Galadriel. This Sindarin origin for Celeborn was adopted by Christopher Tolkien for The Silmarillion, which describes Celeborn as "a kinsman of Thingol" and adds a paragraph about Celeborn's marriage to Galadriel.

Late in his life Tolkien proposed a different scenario (also described in Unfinished Tales): Celeborn was a Telerin Elf from Valinor, the grandson of Olwë, named Teleporno in Telerin. (This brings him closer to being a peer and equal of Galadriel and makes their partnership more balanced.) He met Galadriel when she was living in the Telerin city Alqualondë, before the rebellion of the Noldor. They decided to travel together to Middle-earth, without asking permission from the Valar to do so. They made their way to Middle-earth independently of Fëanor, and in some versions of the story Galadriel fell under the Ban of the Valar, in other versions not. Tolkien never mentions the Ban applying to Celeborn. According to this narrative, the name Teleporno was "Sindarized" as Celeborn: Telerin telpe ("silver") (Noldorin Quenya tyelpe) was translated to Sindarin keleb (or celeb).

This altered origin was not adopted in the published Silmarillion, primarily because it would have necessitated a major rewrite of the earlier parts to account for a separate departure of Galadriel. A further problem was that this descent would have made Celeborn Galadriel's first cousin, and Elves never married close kin.

Early in the Second Age, Celeborn apparently ruled over Elves in Lindon. Celeborn and Galadriel later rule over the Elves of Eregion (at least in some accounts), before settling in Lothlórien.

At the end of the Third Age Celeborn crossed the Anduin with many elves of Lothlórien to found "East Lórien". When Galadriel left Middle-earth shortly afterward, Celeborn settled in Rivendell to join his grandsons Elladan and Elrohir. The prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring states that "there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens, and with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth".

Portrayal in adaptations

In Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings, Celeborn was voiced by André Morell and his name was pronounced "seleborn" as opposed to "keleborn". In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Celeborn is played by New Zealand actor Marton Csokas. In Jackson's adaptation of The Return of the King, he joins Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel on the ship to Valinor, which does not occur in Tolkien's original novel.

In the video game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, Celeborn appears in both the Good and Evil Campaigns, being one of the many casualties of the forest of Lórien, along with Haldir, as it is burned to the ground and captured, while Galadriel flees to Rivendell, when the Mouth of Sauron attacks with his goblin forces.

Names and titles

The name Celeborn means "silver tree", combining two elements: "celeb" meaning "silver" and "orne" meaning "tree". Another interpretation reads this as "silver-tall" (referring to his silver hair and his height), where "orn" is originated from "orna" meaning "tall".

Celeborn is referred to by other names, including Teleporno (the Telerin version of Celeborn), "Prince of Doriath", "Celeborn the Wise" (a name given him by Galadriel, as she said he was the wisest of the Elves in Middle-earth), and "Lord of Lothlórien" or "Lord of the Wood".