Celebrimbor
the Elven-smith; maker of the Three Rings
Name and Lineage
Celebrimbor — “silver-fist” — the son (per the genealogies) of Curufin, and so the grandson of Fëanor: the last and greatest of the Fëanorian line, “the greatest of the smiths in the later days of Middle-earth”. In the annals he is recorded as hating his father’s part in the Kinslayings and the Oath — he “remained in the West, for he felt the shadow of the deeds of his fathers” — he is the Fëanorian who redeemed the craft.
The Three Rings
His work belongs to the Second Age:
- Eregion: After Númenor’s founding — he dwelt in Eregion (Hollin) near the West-gate of Moria, “the friend of the Dwarves” — with the Elven-smiths he raised the realm “under the shadow of the Hithaeglir”; Galadriel counselled him, and he made many Rings.
- The elven-rings: Taught in secret by Sauron (in his fair Annatar-guise), the smiths were deceived by the secret of the One; but Celebrimbor alone — when Sauron forged the One Ring to govern them — conceived the Three Rings of the Elves (“Narya, Nenya, Vilya”), made without the knowledge of the Dark Lord’s secret to rule, “forged… for the healing and the preserving of the world” — the Three escaped the One’s dominion (Sauron had not touched them).
- The war and the death: When the One was made known, Sauron descended upon Eregion; Celebrimbor — the account: the smith was taken and tortured for the Three, he died unyielding, his death and the fall of Eregion closed the second great smith’s story; the Three were given to Galadriel, Gil-galad and Círdan (later Gandalf), and carried the age’s hope.
Significance
Celebrimbor is the tragic heir of Fëanor’s craft — the son who repudiated his father but inherited the genius and the doom of the artisan: “the greatest smith after Fëanor”, and the maker whose Rings — like the Silmarils — both enabled and endangered the Powers of the world. His story is the bridge between the First and Third Ages’ forging.