Ask a hardcore Middle-earth devotee to name their favorite Elf characters and chances are they’ll mention Glorfindel – a name some have never even heard before. So, if you fall into that camp, read on to learn about Glorfindel and how he fits into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings lore.
Who is Glorfindel in Lord of the Rings Canon?
Glorfindel is one of the Noldor (or High Elves) and is named for his blond hair, which is an uncommon trait among his people. He first arrives in Middle-earth way back in the First Age and fights in the war against Sauron’s boss – and the Lord of the Rings cosmology’s Devil – Morgoth. Even by Elven standards, Glorfindel is a pretty powerful guy, and when he finally falls in battle, it’s while squaring up to a freakin’ Balrog fire demon in a one-on-one contest that ends with both combatants’ deaths.
Fortunately for the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, death is only a temporary setback for Glorfindel. After a brief stint in purgatory, he’s resurrected in a new copy of his old body by the Valar, the demi-gods of Tolkien’s universe. Glorfindel doesn’t return to Middle-earth, though. Instead, he sits out what remains of the First Age in Valinor – the home of the Valar, and, for all intents and purposes, Elf Heaven. Don’t be too hard on Glorfindel, though; most Elves are re-embodied after they die, and most of them opt to stay put in Valinor (and wouldn’t you want some time to chill if you’d just been killed?).
Besides, Glorfindel’s downtime isn’t all that long, at least as Elves measure time. Fast forward to a bit over 1,500 years into the Second Age and the Valar’s leader, Manwë, sends the High Elf to help the Elves (and by extension, everyone else) deal with the rapidly escalating Sauron situation. Before Glorfindel leaves, Manwë gives him a major XP boost, bumping him up to just below angelic Maiar beings such as Sauron, Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast on the overall Lord of the Rings power ranking chart.
Related: What We Know About Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria’s Fourth Age
While Tolkien doesn’t tell us much about what Glorfindel gets up to during the remainder of the Second Age, we do know that he puts his supercharged abilities to good use in the age that followed. Notably, Glorfindel drives off Sauron’s right-hand man, the Witch-King of Angmar, during the Battle of Fornost (relatively) early in the Third Age, before accurately – albeit cryptically – prophesizing the Witch-King’s eventual defeat at the hands of Éowyn and Merry in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Glorfindel’s next big moment comes much later in the Third Age, but it’s a doozy: he rescues none other than Lord of the Rings protagonist Frodo Baggins himself! This happens in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, after Frodo is stabbed during a confrontation with the Witch-King and four of his fellow Ringwraiths on Weathertop. Glorfindel shows up, plops Frodo on his horse, Asfaloth, and sends the wounded Hobbit towards Rivendell. He later catches up with Frodo just as the Ringwraiths are closing in on the pint-sized hero once again, and the mere sight of him is enough to make Sauron’s servants backpedal into a raging, magic-infused flood.
After this, Glorfindel’s role in The Lord of the Rings begins to taper off. He sits in on the Council of Elrond and helps spitball the plan to destroy the One Ring, but that’s the last we see of him until fairly late in The Return of the King, where he makes a brief cameo at the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen. Tolkien doesn’t even bother to tell us what’s next for Glorfindel after The Lord of the Rings‘ main narrative wraps up, although it’s reasonable to assume that he – like most of the Elves still in Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age – eventually sets sail for Valinor.
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Is Glorfindel in the Lord of the Rings Movies?
Funnily enough, Glorfindel’s legendary status in The Lord of the Rings canon is yet to translate to the big screen. Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated adaptation omits the High Elf entirely, transferring his actions in the story to Elven archer (and future Fellowship of the Ring member) Legolas. Glorfindel gets slightly more screentime in Peter Jackson’s early 2000s Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he’s portrayed by extra Jarl Benzon for a couple of brief, non-speaking appearances. As in Bakshi’s film, Glorfindel’s part in saving Frodo is filled by another Elven character, Arwen, who is handed Asfaloth’s reins, as well!
That said, Glorfindel fares better within the wider Lord of the Rings multimedia franchise. He’s included in the BBC’s 1981 Lord of the Rings radio drama, as well as in unrelated productions mounted in Germany and Slovakia in 1992 and 2001-2003, respectively. He’s also featured as either a playable character or NPC in a number of video games, such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s War in Middle Earth (1988), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (2006), The Lord of the Rings Online (2007), and Lego The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game (2012).
Looking to the franchise’s future, it’s possible Glorfindel could play at least a minor role in an upcoming season of Amazon MGM Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Cast member Morfydd Clark even namechecked the High Elf in a May 2023 interview, although we should note that there’s currently no official indication that Glorfindel will indeed factor into The Rings of Power‘s forthcoming episodes. But there’s still a chance that this could happen – and, thanks to this explainer, you’ll be fully up to speed on Glorfindel if it does!
If you’re looking for more, here’s our explanation of all the Lord of the Rings movies.
