CONCERNING THE ANCESTRY OF CELEBORN AND OROPHER

I have tried to figure this out logically:

Tolkien had early on established that the Elves of Mirkwood were Woodelves who had never gone west, also called the Avari or Darkelves, in other words, "lesser" than those who did go: the Vanyar, Noldor and (some) Teleri, even lesser than those Teleri who stopped halfway, the Sindar of Doriath who with their king Elwë were content to behold the light of Valinor in Melian (cfr. The Silmarillion). Now Legolas could not very well be a 'lesser' elf altogether, so Tolkien added some 'nobler' blood into the Mirkwood line (I am simplifying).

Likewise for Celeborn: a Noldorin princess like Galadriel could not be married to anything less than a prince.

Now there were only four available Elvenkings with princely offspring: Ingwë, Finwë, Olwë and Elwë.

As Galadriel is granddaughter both to Olwë and Finwë, Celeborn had to be descendant of one of the others to avoid too much incestuous inbreeding. Descendancy from Ingwë would have been best (no bloodrelation) but he could not be Vanyar, because they would not return to Middle Earth (cfr. the wife of Finrod), so that left the Sindarin King. Unfortunately, Elwë only had a daughter, and if Celeborn had been brother to either Luthien or Dior that would cause problems for the next generation (Elwing-Elrond).

So into the genealogical equation comes Elmö, brother to Elwë and Olwë, and therefore a Prince though not a king. It is not explicitly said so, but it seems reasonable to assume that he took over the leadership when Elwë was lost and Olwë went west. There had to be two princes, sons or grandsons of Elmö : one for Mirkwood and one for Galadriel, hence Oropher, who could have been either uncle, cousin or brother. Since it is said that there was enmity between the two, uncle seems the likeliest option. Note than both Celeborn and Legolas refer to each other as 'kinsmen': by my reasoning the former would have been first cousin to Thranduil and the latter second cousin to Celebrian. As there is never mention of kinship between Legolas and the children of Celebrian, one would assume that Elves stop counting kinship after the third generation.

For someone who only had one daughter, Thingol is said to have an inordinate amount of kinsmen. Not only are there Celeborn and Oropher, but also Daeron the Minstrel. Since he can't be in the direct line nor Olwe's, nor in the female line (Melian, or Olwe's wife) once again he must be a descendant of Elmo, or his wife, but that last bit would be stretching kinship a bit far: let us presume that it is indirect blood-relation. I make it that Elmo has two daughters, one the mother of Celeborn and his brother Galathil, the other mother to Daeron. It is also possible that Daeron is even further removed, a son of Galathil and therefore brother to Nimloth who later married Dior, son of Luthien. But then there would have been some very fast breeding done in that line, and he would have been too junior an Elf to have made such a mark at Thingol's court (he did have the ear of the king, as we learn from Luthien's story!)

In one of the many versions of Celeborn's ancestry, his father is said to be Galadhon, son of Elmo. This I choose to disregard for the following reason.

If I have made Celeborn, Galathil and Daeron the sons of daughters rather than the sons of sons, it is because of the way the kingship is inherited in Elven society. Their ways are similar to Arabic custom: linear rather than vertical inheritance. This means than the crown goes to the eldest brother first, then the next brother, and when all of that generation are gone (women don't come into it), it goes to the eldest son of the first king. Thus, Gil-Galad only inherited his father Fingon's throne after the rule and death of his uncle Turgon, whereas his aunt Aredhel did not.

Now, following this logic, after the death of Elwë the crown of Doriath would have gone to the elder brother (presumably) Olwë who was in Valinor. Since Elmö didn't get it either, he was unavailable too. Then it would have gone to Elwë's eldest son, but he hasn't got one (had Celeborn been that son, he would have been king), therefore, skipping Olwë 's absent offspring (if he hàd sons) it would go to a son of Elmö.

Again, Celeborn did not get the crown, therefore could not be a son of Elmö. The crown instead goes to Dior, a daughter's son in the direct line (Elwë's). Had Celeborn been a son's son, even in the indirect (Elmö's) line, he would have inherited. Now maybe he stepped aside but how likely is that with an ambitious wife like Galadriel who came east to have her own kingdom (cfr. The Silmarillion)? Therefore, he had a lesser claim than Dior, therefore he was a daughter's son in the lesser line. Obviously, a daughter's son in the direct line will take precedence over a daughter's son in the indirect line. The same story goes for Galathil and Daeron.

Why then did the crown not go the better claim, Oropher, if he was a son of Elmö? It would be logical then to assume that he was in the same position as Celeborn. But that would make the kinship between Celeborn and Legolas rather distant, and there is that matter of enmity between them (cfr. The Unfinished Tales): twice does Oropher move northwards away from the Lothlorien influence of Celeborn and Galadriel. Nor does he truly acknowledge Gil-galad as Highking in the Last Alliance. Something definitely must have happened. My guess is he just upped and left, preferring a new kingdom for himself rather than a hand-me-down contested by Dior, who probably got backing from everyone else as grandson of Elwë and Melian the Maia (I suspect the hand of Galadriel in this who was so chummy with Melian). More of this in chapter 5.

Finally, there is also Eol, another 'kinsman' according to the Silamrillion. I make him Daeron's cousin, son of Ithilbor and elder brother to Saeros, as their characters are similar.

This wraps up the kinship and kingship matters rather nicely I think. Of course it is always possible that Elwe/Thingol had children before he met Melian! After all, they must have bred like rabbits in the early days…

I also disregard Tolkien's ultimate version of Celeborn being a Teleri prince. That would really be incest with Galadriel, and it does say in the Silmarillion that Elves do not marry their cousins (though Elrond comes rather close marrying his grandmother's cousin !)

I hope this all makes sense to you. Please keep in mind too that neither the Silmarillion nor The Unfinished Tales were edited by Tolkien himself, but collected by his son from sometimes unintelligible drafts. So who knows what Tolkien would have made of it had he lived to edit them?