Contents of this entry
Eregion and the knowledge of a benefactorResistance after the deception is uncoveredPrimary referencesRelated encyclopedia entries
Eregion and the knowledge of a benefactor
The friendship between the Elven-smiths of Eregion and the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm is preserved in the Doors of Durin. Celebrimbor supplies the lettering while Narvi makes the doors. The collaboration is an important counterweight to accounts that treat relations between the two peoples as unbroken hostility.
Sauron, approaching under a beneficent appearance, gains influence among the smiths. Their desire to preserve and enhance the world becomes vulnerable to knowledge offered with a hidden purpose. Celebrimbor makes the Three without Sauron’s direct participation, but their relationship to the wider Ring-making project still exposes them to the One.
Resistance after the deception is uncovered
When Sauron reveals his purpose, the Three must be hidden rather than used openly. The war that destroys Eregion ends with Celebrimbor’s capture and death. His refusal to reveal the Three’s whereabouts stands beside the disastrous consequences of trusting the apparent teacher.
Unfinished Tales preserves changing accounts of Galadriel, Celeborn and Celebrimbor, including variant family backgrounds and versions of the Elessar’s making. These should be identified as alternatives. A late manuscript cannot be made to fit a different genealogy merely by omitting the conflict.
Screen and game adaptations greatly expand his personal history and relationships. Those additions belong to their own production histories. For Tolkien’s character, distinguish the principal published account, the inscription on the West-gate and the explicitly named variants rather than treating every modern portrayal as supplementary biography.
Primary references
The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”; The Lord of the Rings, Book II, “A Journey in the Dark”; Unfinished Tales, “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn”.
