In the episodes just released from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Galadriel’s brother, Finrod, plays a small but pivotal role in shaping the direction of the plot and the motivations behind her mission to find Sauron.

He appears as her mentor in the very first scene, and clearly takes part in the significant events of the First Age covered by the opening montage of Middle-earth history.

He also serves as the catalyst for Galadriel’s mission to hunt down Sauron, and his death at the hands of the Dark Lord marks the beginning of her quest for vengeance. But while he was remarkably important to the story, he was eliminated before the audience had a chance to find out much about him. So who was he, and what is his story?

The Difference Between Finrod’s TV and Book Arrival in Middle-earth

Galadriel’s brother is named Finrod (Will Fletcher), and he actually plays a remarkably important role in a number of the most significant stories of the First Age in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. As the series shows, he is her older brother, but canonically, she actually has three older brothers: Angrod, Aegnor, and Finrod, who is the oldest.

The establishing scenes at the beginning of the first episode indicate that Finrod joined in with Fëanor when he left Valinor. In the text, the exodus of numerous elves is due to conflicting desires and loyalties among Fëanor’s people, but in the case of Finrod and his close relatives, also partially due to a familial connection.

Fëanor was actually his uncle, the half-brother of his father, Finarfin. Part of his departure also seems to have been out of a desire not to abandon his people entirely to the rule of Fëanor, as well.

When he finally came to Middle-earth, he ended up accomplishing a number of works that would be extremely significant to the history of the Age, and even some of those that followed. For one thing, he established one of the greatest Elven kingdoms of the First Age: Nargothrond, where he ruled (almost) until his death.

He also worked closely with the Dwarves on a number of occasions, which may have had some impact on his sister’s opinion of Dwarves that stood out as distinctive among the Elves in The Lord of the Rings.

Part of this relationship with the Dwarves culminated in the creation of the Nauglamír, the elegant necklace that was the pinnacle of Dwarvish craftsmanship of the Age and was set with a number of Finrod’s gems from Valinor. Later on, it would also house the Silmaril that the man Beren and Elf Luthien took from the Iron Crown of Morgoth. At first, however, it was made for Finrod himself.

Finrod Was One of the First Elves to Have a Strong Alliance With Men

Finrod was also notable for being the first Elf in Middle-earth to encounter humans. He came across a band of men in the woods one night and played for them on a harp until they woke, later even teaching them some of the Elvish language of Sindarin and intervening in their favor on a number of occasions.

His generosity was later repaid by the family of the same people he first encountered, as he was cut off and surrounded in the Dagor Bragollach (a disastrous defeat of the Elves and their allies by Morgoth, and possibly Finrod’s battle scene depicted in the introduction).

While he was surrounded, the man Barahir saved his life and extracted him from the battle. In gratitude, Finrod gave Barahir his personal ring, which became a symbol of the house of Barahir, and was worn by his descendants for generation upon generation, all the way down to King Aragorn himself, and into the Fourth Age.

In the Dagor Bragollach, notably, his brothers Angrod and Aegnor were both killed, meaning that his eventual death would have devastated Galadriel, not only because he was her brother, but he was also her last surviving sibling.

Between the Nauglamír and the Ring of Barahir, Finrod has an interestingly strong connection with crafts and jewelry in the story of The Silmarillion, and it is a touch that is appreciated in the TV series: while the specific artifacts themselves are not yet mentioned, Finrod does carry an elegant dagger designed to look like the Two Trees of Valinor entwined together, which Galadriel takes with her on her mission of vengeance as a memory of her brother.

Finrod’s Eventual Death Came After Being Captured by Sauron

His death came about as a result of his ties with the family of Barahir, actually. Barahir’s son, Beren, came to Nargothrond on his Quest for the Silmaril. In recognition of the debt he owed to Barahir, he supported Beren, leaving behind his kingdom and traveling with Beren and a group of supporters.

He used his powers of enchantment to disguise them as orcs, but they were discovered by Sauron, and a fierce duel followed between Sauron and Finrod, with Finrod eventually falling. The company was imprisoned by Sauron, and one by one were killed by werewolves as Sauron tried to discover their identities and purpose.

When a wolf came at last for Beren himself, Finrod was able to break his chains and wrestle with the beast, killing it with his bare hands, but also dying himself in the process. Because of his sacrifice, Beren himself was eventually able to escape, but Finrod died in the prisons of Sauron.

Fortunately, however, his story at least had a happier ending than most of the tales of The Silmarillion. Now you might wonder how being mauled at the hands (or paws) of a werewolf constitutes a “happy ending,” but you must remember that for Elves, there remained the possibility of reincarnation after death, and Finrod became one of the few characters known to be granted reincarnation.

He was remade in Valinor, and remained there forever, returning to his wife Amarië, from whom he had been separated when he followed the people of Fëanor from Valinor in the first place.

As a final curiosity, a number of different versions of the genealogy of various characters exist in Tolkien’s drafts, but a number of interesting ancestral connections come from Finrod. According to at least one of the drafts, the eventual High King of the Elves, Gil-galad, is closely connected with the family of Finrod and Galadriel.

In the most established version, Gil-galad is the son of Orodreth, who becomes king of Nargothrond after the death of Finrod. This would make Finrod his great-uncle and Galadriel his great-aunt. In an early version, Gil-galad is actually the son of Finrod, which would make the family connection with Galadriel even stronger.

The way the relationship between Galadriel and Gil-galad seems to be working so far, though, I imagine the family reunions are probably a bit frosty at the moment.