Círdan

Origins

Círdan was one of the Teleri who set out from Cuiviénen on the Great Journey, a kinsman of Olwë and of Elwë, who became Thingol. He was among those who searched longest for Elwë when he was lost in Nan Elmoth, and by the time the search was given up the island of the Valar had carried Olwë's people away. Círdan and his followers stayed on the western coast of Beleriand, where Ossë taught them the craft of the sea, and they became the Falathrim, the Elves of the Falas. Círdan built the first ships of Middle-earth, and the name by which he is known, the Shipwright, describes the work of his whole life. He acknowledged Thingol as his overlord but ruled the havens of Brithombar and Eglarest in his own right.

Lord of the Falas

When Morgoth returned to Middle-earth, his Orcs besieged the havens in the First Battle of Beleriand, and Círdan was cut off from Doriath until the coming of the Noldor broke the siege. He became a friend of Finrod, who helped him rebuild the havens with walls of stone and raised the tower of Barad Nimras on the cape between them, and he lived on good terms with the exiles while keeping his independence. During the Dagor Bragollach and its aftermath he sent ships up the Firth of Drengist to relieve Fingon in Hithlum, and the Falathrim fought at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. In the year after that defeat Morgoth's armies came down on the Falas, took Brithombar and Eglarest by siege, and destroyed them. Círdan led those he could save to the Isle of Balar and the Mouths of Sirion, and there kept a refuge alive for the survivors of every fallen realm.

Balar and the Havens of Sirion

From Balar Círdan built ships at Turgon's request to seek Valinor, and it was his mariner Voronwë, the sole survivor of those voyages, whom Ulmo sent to guide Tuor to Gondolin. He fostered Gil-galad in the Havens, and when Eärendil wished to sail West it was with Círdan's help that Vingilot was built. He and Gil-galad came with ships to the aid of the Havens when the sons of Fëanor attacked them, but arrived too late. After the War of Wrath he did not go West with the Eldar who returned; he remained, as Ulmo had once foretold he would, until the last ship should leave.

The Grey Havens and the Ring of Fire

In the Second Age Círdan built the Grey Havens at Mithlond on the Gulf of Lune in Lindon, the port from which the Elves of Middle-earth sailed to the Undying Lands ever after. He was the closest counsellor of Gil-galad, and when the Three Rings were sent away from Eregion to keep them from Sauron, Gil-galad gave Narya, the Ring of Fire, into his keeping. He fought in the Last Alliance, and with Elrond stood beside Isildur at the Cracks of Doom and urged him to destroy the One Ring. In the Third Age he was a member of the White Council, and his ships and mariners came to the aid of Arnor against Angmar; he sent a ship north to Forochel to rescue Arvedui, which was lost with the King in the ice, and his forces joined Eärnur of Gondor at the Battle of Fornost in T.A. 1975 that ended the Witch-king's realm. When the Istari landed at the Havens around T.A. 1000, Círdan perceived that Gandalf, the last to arrive and the one who seemed least, was the greatest, and gave him Narya in secret, telling him he would need it against the weariness of the long task ahead.

The last ships

Círdan built the ship that carried the Ring-bearers into the West in T.A. 3021, and he stood on the quay to greet Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo as they came to the Havens. Frodo saw him then, very tall, with a long grey beard, which was strange among the Elves, and eyes as keen as stars. He is said to have remained at the Havens into the Fourth Age, building ships for those who still wished to sail, until the last of them was gone.

Legacy

Círdan is the constant of Elvish history in Middle-earth, present from the Great Journey to the end of the Third Age and beyond. He was never a king and never sought to be one, but every haven from which the Eldar escaped ruin was his work, and every voyage West began at his quays. His gift of Narya to Gandalf, unasked and unrecorded until the end, was one of the quiet decisions on which the outcome of the War of the Ring turned.

Remained at the Grey Havens into the Fourth Age, and is said to have sailed only with the last ship of the Elves.