#inglor

Of the Sons of Curufin and Finrod

          Curufin, fifth son of Fëanor, was the second of his name. His father and son also bore the ataressë of Curufinwë, but Curufin was accounted as the least of his line, for he had no ‘Great Works’ recorded into the annals of history as his father had with the Silmarils, and his son with the Elven Rings. Yet in his letters from his later years before his disgrace and death, he often made mention of his children in a way that provided the answer; should anything of his creation be considered his ‘Great Works’, it would be the three sons he bore.

          All three of them were fathered by Finrod Felagund of the House of Finarfin, later King of Nargothrond, Curufin’s sometime lover and rival, though the two never considered themselves wedded to the other. There was not an absence of affection or love between the two, but nonetheless, more reasons were found against the hypothetical union than in support of it, the majority of which culminated in Curufin’s betrayal of Finrod during Beren’s Quest for the Silmaril.

          Celebrimbor, Lord of Ost-In-Edhil, was the eldest son, and the only born in Valinor. He was also the only who carried on Curufin and Fëanor’s legacies as smiths and craftsmen. Though like his brothers, he repudiated Curufin in Nargothrond, Celebrimbor remained steadfastly a member of the House of Fëanor, marking all his works with their family’s eight-pointed star, such as seen on the engravings of the Doors of Khazad-dûm. Sadly, as with all those of the House of Fëanor, he would meet an ill end after being deceived by Sauron under the fair guise of Annatar.

          Inglor, originally father-named Laurefinwë for his golden coloring, was his second son, born after the Mereth Aderthad, in the days when Finrod still dwelled in the North of Beleriand. While still in his childhood, Inglor was brought to the newly-founded Nargothrond, where he was raised as Finrod’s son. In this, he opposed his elder brother, something that would later cause their sundering, for he could not forgive Curufin for his betrayal of Finrod, nor did he wish to claim descent from the House of Fëanor. He passed down his pride in the House of Finrod to his son, Gildor Inglorion.

J.R.R Tolkien → Finrod Felagund

Oh it's absolutely ok to ask! I'm always up for a ramble!

So as you may be aware, I am a fair bit interested in the Curufin-Finrod dynamic, which is why Inglor is listed. He's an elf who's parents were under Curufin and who got orphaned by the Dagor Bragollach, and he also has a little sister by the name Ilistadis.

So Ilistadis and Inglor get taken in by Curufin and his wife, and a few weeks later, Finrod when they arrive at Nargothrond.

Before this, they were called Lalanen (laughing-water) and Lalaeron (laughing-summer): but Curufin gives Lalanen the name Illistandë, which translates into the Sindarin Ilistadis meaning All-Knowing, for she is a very quiet elfling with a tendancy to stare at people as if she's reading their deepest, darkest secrets; and Finrod gives Lalaeron the name Ingalaurë, which translate to the Sindarin Inglor, for he has golden hair which is a rarely among Elves this side of the sea (and also he wants to continue the tradition of calling a child after you).

It's only ten years between Dagor Bragollach and the Silmaril quest but that's enough time for Curufin and Finrod and Rinwendë (Curufin's wife) to have solidified themselves as Family in the two little Elflings.

After the quest and Curufin and Celegorm (Rinwendë had left prior to inform Maedhros in person if what was going on) leaving, Ilistadis and Inglor are left in the care of Celebrimbor (and I actually kinda wanna bring the two of them into my Gil-Galad son of Curufinrod AU) who raises them with the help of Orodreth, who is mostly just trying to be king at this point and not let everything fall to shit; Finduilas, who likes the adoring shadow that Inglor becomes; Carvadis, Orodreth's wife who's a little less stressed; and Edhellos, who comes and goes from Nargothrond as the winds take her.

They are always being told good things about their parents - not so much Curufin, the only one who says actually good things is Celebrimbor who is not above yearning for his childhood on occasion. But the rest of them have buckets of good things to say about Finrod, and a fair bit to say about Rinwendë who is friendly with pretty much everyone.

They both go to Sirion with the rest of the refugees when Nargothrond is sacked and gets to be there for the Great Fëanorian Cousin reunion at the end of the First age (the only ones not there are Ivárë and Niphredilien, for they aren't born yet; Feredir and Eirien, for they are dead; and Rávassë and Doron, for they had gone East).

Inglor stays as part of Gil-Galad's court, for he enjoys the politics and affair of it all, and he ends up marrying and having a son - that son being Gildor. Ilistadis, on the other hand, goes to work for Celebrimbor as an unofficial spymaster of sorts who ends up getting killed by Sauron personally when he attacks attacks Eregion, partly in an attempt to get Celebrimbor to speak, and partly as revenge on her for constantly snooping.

I'm not entirely sure what happens to Inglor past this, but he either dies or sails before the mid-third age (it's more likely to be late second age).

In Valinor, they reunite with both their biological parents - who Inglor can remember quite well but Istaldis has almost no recollection of - and also their foster family.

Inglor is a kind of complicated issue, in that I think Inglor wouldn't exist if Tolkien had a chance to revise Lord of the Rings after developing the Silmarillion more.

Inglor was the name Tolkien used for Finrod early on in his career. It wasn't until after the first edition of Lord of the Rings was written that he switched to using Finrod, and Inglor as a character ceased to exist.

It get's tricky, though, because in Fellowship of the Ring we meed the Noldorin elf Gildor, who introduces himself as Gildor Inglorion (the "ion" suffix is used to denote "son of", so he's basically Gildor son of Inglor.) Some fans believe, therefore, that Gildor is actually supposed to be Finrod's son - it doesn't help that Gildor literally says that he's of the House of Finrod. But Tolkien was very clear in The Silmarillion in saying that Finrod never had any children. So is there another elf out there called Inglor? Who knows. 

((EDIT: "Of the House of Finrod" could have also referred to a loyalty not based on blood relation. It's possible that Inglor served Finrod, either literally - like as a guard or a healer - or was just a vassal living under Finrod's rule.))

Anyway, to conclude: I can't tell you about Inglor's ancestry, because technically he doesn't exist - except as the theoretical father of Gildor (in which case I can tell you that he's Noldorin, and probably distantly related to Finrod, but that's it.)