Editing Fingolfin (section)

== Artefacts ==

=== Heraldic device ===

{{further|Heraldry of Middle-earth}}

[[File:Fingolfin_heraldic_device.jpg|thumb|upright|Tolkien's design of heraldic device for Fingolfin. It has some similarity both with his father [[Finwë and Míriel|Finwë]]'s and his brother Finarfin's devices, but in Elvish heraldry, the device is unique to the person. The eight points that reach the border indicate a High King.]]

Fingolfin is among those major characters such as [[Gil-galad]] whom Tolkien, who illustrated his own writings, supplied with a distinct [[heraldry|heraldic device]]. Like his brother Finarfin's device, it has eight points that reach the edge of its lozenge, denoting a High King, and a central circle; it differs from Finarfin's in having a second concentric circle. Its colours are like those for his father Finwë's device, but as the Tolkien scholars [[Wayne G. Hammond]] and [[Christina Scull]] note, its eight curling points are more like those of Fëanor's. They write that the device's motif of small silver stars on a blue field is presumably related to his shield, which Tolkien described as "with field of heaven's blue and star / of crystal shining pale afar".<ref>{{cite book |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator |first1=Wayne G. |last1=Hammond |first2=Christina |last2=Scull |authorlink1=Wayne G. Hammond |authorlink2=Christina Scull |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-395-74816-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780618083619 |pages=190, 192, 195}}</ref> [[Catherine McIlwaine]], who curated the [[Bodleian Library]] exhibition of his artwork, wrote that Tolkien liked to [[Tolkien's artwork|create decorative patterns]], leading up to pattern-based designs such as a carpet from [[Númenor]]. In her view, his creation of heraldic devices for characters in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' was a more deliberate form of the same impulse. Among "the loveliest of these kaleidoscopic patterns", wrote McIlwaine, were the devices for Fingolfin and his brother Finarfin.<ref>{{cite book |last=McIlwaine |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine McIlwaine |title=[[Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth]] |publisher=[[Bodleian Library]] |year=2018 |pages=79–81 |isbn=978-1851244850}}</ref>

=== Family tree ===

The family tree shows that Fingolfin is half Noldor, from his father Finwë, and half Vanyar, from his mother Indis. Among his descendants are Gil-galad, [[Eärendil and Elwing|Eärendil]], and [[Elrond]]. His half-brother Fëanor is pure Noldor, by Finwë's other wife Miriel.<ref name="Temp Silm I" group=T/><ref name="Temp Silm II" group=T/><ref name="Temp RotK" group=T/><!--refs are defined in family tree template--> The Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] writes that in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', as in Norse tradition and sagas, people are defined by their ancestry. The Vanyar are the senior [[Sundering of the Elves|division of the Elves]]; so Fëanor's fourth son Caranthir is quite wrong to treat his father's half-brothers Finarfin and Fingolfin with contempt, something that was both dangerous and ill-founded. Shippey states that Caranthir's scornful words could be said to have set in motion the events which led to the ruin of [[Doriath (Middle-earth)|Doriath]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[The Road to Middle-Earth]] |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261102750 |pages=282–283}}</ref>

{{House of Finwë family tree}}