Editing Fingolfin (section)

== Analysis ==

The Tolkien scholar Megan Fontenot, on [[Tor.com]], writes that mental images of Fingolfin are "unforgettable": his ride across Dor-nu-Fauglith to the gates of Morgoth's fortress of [[Angband (Middle-earth)|Angband]], or the image of him "pounding upon the great gates of the dark fortress, blowing great blasts upon a silver horn, demanding that Morgoth show his face and join him in single combat."<ref name="Fontenot 2020">{{cite web |last=Fontenot |first=Megan |title=Exploring the People of Middle-earth: Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor |url=https://www.tor.com/2020/11/19/exploring-the-people-of-middle-earth-fingolfin-high-king-of-the-noldor/ |website=[[Tor.com]] |access-date=17 February 2022 |date=19 November 2020}}</ref> She notes that Fingolfin's origins are hard to trace through the complex history of [[Tolkien's legendarium]]. He is absent from the earliest Fëanor stories in ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'', and that in Tolkien's many drafts, such as in ''[[The Lays of Beleriand]]'', Fingolfin has several different fathers and siblings; further, his name is temporarily assigned to various other characters. Fontenot traces him to a character named Golfin, a prince of the "Gnomes" (Elves) in ''[[The Shaping of Middle-earth]]'', created before 1926. Not long afterwards, in ''[[The Lay of the Fall of Gondolin]]'' and ''[[The Lay of the Children of Húrin]]'', he becomes the son of Finwë/Finn and the father of Turgon. It was not until the 1950s, however, that Tolkien finally made Fingolfin the half-brother of Fëanor.<ref name="Fontenot 2020"/> 

Gregory Hartley, in ''Christianity & Literature'', notes that Fingolfin gleams below Morgoth's shadow "as a star", and avoids Morgoth's strikes "as a lightning shoots from under a dark cloud". Hartley interprets the [[Christians|Christian]] Tolkien to mean by this an increase in power equivalent to what the [[New Testament]] calls being filled with the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]]. In his view, the imagery and the increase in Fingolfin's strength "suggest that the Secret Fire has taken possession of him; that perhaps he is no longer merely the King of the Noldor but a chosen instrument of the Valar", the gods of [[Arda (Middle-earth)|Arda]].<ref name="Hartley 2012">{{cite journal |last=Hartley |first=Gregory |title=A wind from the West: the role of the holy spirit in Tolkien's Middle-earth |journal=Christianity & Literature |volume=62 |issue=1 |year=2012 |pages=95–120 |jstor=44315248|doi=10.1177/014833311206200106}}</ref>

The Tolkien scholar B. S. W. Barootes writes that in Tolkien's mythology, [[oath]]s are "a powerful form of performative language in Middle-earth"<!--citing John R. Holmes, pp251-253-->. He states that they consistently lead to "trouble, pain, and sorrow", giving as prime example the oath of Fëanor, but also mentioning Finrod's oath of service to Barahir's kin, Beren's oath to Thingol, and the broken oath of the Dead of Dunharrow, who are ultimately redeemed when they choose to serve Aragorn as he returns to claim his kingdom. Fingolfin's oath to follow Fëanor back to Middle-earth means his own exile from the blessed realm of Valinor, and his own death.<ref name="Barootes 2014">{{cite book |last=Barootes |first=B. S. W. |chapter=He Chanted a Song of Wizardry": Words with Power in Middle-Earth |editor1=Houghton, John Wm. |editor2=Croft, Janet Brennan |editor2-link=Janet Brennan Croft |editor3=Martsch, Nancy |title=Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey |year=2014 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |pages=115–131 |isbn=9780786474387 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_U7AAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Fingolfin%22&pg=PA115}}</ref>