Finarfin

Lineage

Finarfin was the third son of Finwë, the younger child of his marriage to Indis of the Vanyar, and the full brother of Fingolfin. Of all Finwë's sons he most resembled his mother's people: golden-haired, gentle, and inclined to wisdom over pride. He married Eärwen, daughter of Olwë, king of the Falmari at Alqualondë, so that his house alone was bound by kinship to the Teleri as well as to the Vanyar. Their children were Finrod, Orodreth, Angrod, Aegnor and Galadriel, the golden house of the Noldor.

The rebellion

Finarfin took no part in the quarrel between Fëanor and Fingolfin and tried to calm both. When Fëanor called the Noldor out of Aman, Finarfin argued against haste and asked his people to wait and think; but when Fingolfin marched, Finarfin followed with his household rather than be separated from his brother and his children. His host was the last on the road. The Kinslaying at Alqualondë, where his wife's people were slaughtered, was already done when he arrived.

At the borders of Aman Mandos pronounced the Doom of the Noldor, and Finarfin, hearing it, turned back. He grieved for the Teleri, he had no love for Fëanor, and he had not sworn any oath. He led those who would follow him back to Tirion, and there he asked and received the pardon of the Valar. His children would not turn with him; they went on with Fingolfin and crossed the Ice.

King in Tirion

Finarfin became king of the Noldor who remained in Aman, a diminished people in a city under the darkness of the dead Trees and afterwards under the new light of the Sun. He ruled them through all the years of the war in Beleriand. When at last Eärendil came to Valinor and the Valar resolved to overthrow Morgoth, Finarfin led the Noldor of Aman in the host of the West. He fought in the War of Wrath beside the Vanyar under Eönwë, the only one of Finwë's sons to face Morgoth's armies at their overthrow and survive it. Afterwards he returned to Tirion, where he rules still.

Legacy

Finarfin's house in Middle-earth was the most beloved of the Noldor: Finrod, the friend of Men, who died for Beren; Angrod and Aegnor, who fell in the Bragollach; Orodreth, king of Nargothrond; and Galadriel, who outlasted them all and carried her father's line into the Third Age. His marriage to Eärwen made his children kin to Thingol, which won them entry into Doriath when other Noldor were barred. His name in later usage is the Sindarin form; in Aman he was Arafinwë.

Lives in Aman as King of the Noldor of Tirion; the only one of Finwë's sons never to die.