Celebrimbor (Sindarin pronunciation:[ˌkɛlɛˈbrimbɔr]) is a fictional character inJ. R. R. Tolkien'slegendarium. In Tolkien's stories, Celebrimbor was anelven-smith who was manipulated into forging theRings of Power by the Dark LordSauron, in fair disguise and namedAnnatar ("Lord of Gifts"). Sauron then secretly made theOne Ring to gain control overall the other Rings and dominateMiddle-earth, setting in motion the events ofThe Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien, as a professionalphilologist, had been asked to translate an inscription at the late Roman temple ofNodens atLydney Park inGloucestershire.^[1] The inscription recorded a curse upon a ring; the place was named "Dwarf's Hill"; and he traced Nodens to an Irish hero,Nuada Airgetlám, "Nuada of the Silver-Hand".^[2][3] This combination inspired him to create Celebrimbor (whose name means "Silver-Hand" in Tolkien'sinvented language ofSindarin^{[T 1]}), dangerous Rings, andDwarves skilled in craftsmanship and friendly to Celebrimbor as elements in his fantasy.^[1][3]

Celebrimbor appears in the 2014 video gameMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its2017 sequel, where he is voiced byAlastair Duncan. In the 2022 television showThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, he is played byCharles Edwards.

Celebrimbor was the son of Curufin, one of the sons ofFëanor and Nerdanel; he was Fëanor's only known grandchild. Fëanor was the most skilful craftsman of theFirst Age, forging the threeSilmarils tocapture some of the light of theTwo Trees of Valinor. Celebrimbor followed his father and grandfather to Middle-earth, leaving his mother behind in Aman withFinarfin's people. He repudiated his father when Celegorm and Curufin were driven out ofNargothrond.^{[T 2]} During theSecond Age, Celebrimbor lived in theElvish realm ofEregion and founded a brotherhood of jewel-smiths.^{[T 3]}

From the early days of Eregion, Celebrimbor fostered the relationship withKhazad-dûm (Moria), the neighbouringDwarf-kingdom. He became friends with Narvi,^{[T 4]} a great Dwarf-craftsman, and together they made the West-gate of Khazad-dûm. Celebrimbor's special contribution was the inscriptions on the gateway.^{[T 3]}

Later, someone naming himselfAnnatar arrived inEregion. He appeared to be an Elf, and claimed he has been sent by theValar to share his wisdom and skills in ring-craft and jewelry for the benefit of all Middle-earth; but in fact he was the Dark LordSauron in disguise. Annatar provided valuable and seemingly benevolent guidance and instruction to Celebrimbor and the smiths of Eregion, and they began making theRings of Power for the rulers of Middle-earth—seven for theDwarf-lords andnine for Men. Secretly, without Sauron's knowledge, Celebrimbor also forgedthree Rings for the Elves, the greatest and fairest of the Rings of Power. The three Rings were thus free of Sauron's corrupting influence.^{[T 5]}

At the same time, Sauron secretly forged a ring: theOne Ring which would enable him to rule Middle-earth. Later Sauron reassumed his role as the Dark Lord and placed the One Ring on his finger, claiming dominion over all the Rings of Power and their bearers. Before this, Celebrimbor believed Sauron to be what he had claimed to be, but realising the truth he and the Elves of Eregion defied Sauron by withholding the other rings from him. He had already sent the three Rings away for safekeeping.^{[T 5]}

With his scheme exposed to the Elves, Sauron retaliated by attacking Eregion, initiating the War of the Elves and Sauron, and laying waste to the realm. Celebrimbor was captured in the sack of Eregion, and was forced under torture to disclose where the Nine and the Seven were held, but he would not reveal the whereabouts of the three Elvish Rings. Sauron captured the lesser rings and used them as instruments of evil in later years, particularly against Men. Celebrimbor died from his torment; his body, shot with arrows, was then hung upon a pole and used by Sauron's forces like a banner on the battlefield.^{[T 4]}

LikeGaladriel and Gil-galad, Celebrimbor first appeared as a character inThe Lord of the Rings and then had to be inserted intoThe Silmarillion, leading to multiple changes to his descent. In a c. 1968 version of the story, included in the essayEldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals,^{[T 6]} Celebrimbor was one of theTeleri of Aman, one of the three companions of Galadriel andCeleborn (here made into a Telerin princeTeleporno orTelporno).Christopher Tolkien noted that his father had mentioned Celebrimbor's descent from Fëanor in the appendices toThe Lord of the Rings, and had underlined it in one of his personal copies, writing in the margin a note stating that Celebrimbor was Curufin's son, and that if he had remembered this he would have felt bound to retain that version. A different version, in the late essayOf Dwarves and Men, has Celebrimbor as one of theSindar who claimed descent from Daeron,^{[T 2]} and at one point, Celebrimbor was also one of theNoldor ofGondolin.^{[T 4]}

Celebrimbor was of the royal line ofFinwë, high king of theNoldor, the elves especially skilled in craftwork who migrated toValinor and lived in the blessed realm.^{[T 2][4]}

In 1928, a 4th-century pagan cult temple wasexcavated atLydney Park, Gloucestershire.^[5] Tolkien was asked to investigate aLatin inscription there: "For the godNodens.Silvianus has lost a ring and has donated one-half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens."^[6] An old name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien, a professionalphilologist, traced Nodens to the Irish heroNuada Airgetlám, "Nuada of the Silver-Hand".^{[T 8][2]}

The Tolkien scholarTom Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand.^[1]The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia states that Mathew Lyons noted the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was, according to the Lydney curator Sylvia Jones, extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there.^[1][7] It adds that Helen Armstrong commented that the place inspired "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms ofMoria andEregion".^[1][3] The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers notes that Celebrimbor is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand", and that "because the place was known locally as Dwarf's Hill and honeycombed with abandoned mines, it naturally suggested itself as background for theLonely Mountain and the Mines of Moria."^[8]

Celebrimbor appears in the 2014 video gameMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor where he is voiced byAlastair Duncan.^[10][11] In order not simply to copy Peter Jackson's films, the game's makersMonolith Productions decided to combine a minor but significant Middle-earth character fromThe Silmarillion, Celebrimbor, with an original character of their own invention, Talion.^[12][13] The game takes place sometime between the action ofThe Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings at which time Celebrimbor survives as an amnesiac wraith. After being bonded with Talion (aranger ofGondor) the two become an immortal fighting team unable to leaveMordor. Over the game, Celebrimbor lends his abilities as a wraith to Talion, and the two recover Celebrimbor's lost memories of Sauron and the forging of the Rings of Power: Sauron comes to Celebrimbor to give him a powerful hammer to forge the rings. Then Celebrimbor is betrayed by Sauron, forced to inscribe the incantation in the One Ring, and tortured and beaten to death by Sauron after an attempted coup. After the defeat of Sauron's captains, Celebrimbor describes defeating Sauron himself as futile and wishes to depart forValinor, but is convinced to stay by Talion; he then mentions his desire to forge a new Ring of Power immune to Sauron's influence. This leads to the events of the 2017 sequelMiddle-earth: Shadow of War, which reviewers described as "fun, inventive, exciting—and totally non-canonical".^[9][14][15] InShadow of War, Celebrimbor and Talion successfully forge a new Ring of Power that appears to be free of Sauron's influence and is stated to be equal in power to the nine Rings of theNazgûl without their corrupting influence. They use their new Ring to take the fight to Sauron with an army of Uruks, with Talion noticing Celebrimbor becoming more aggressive and worn out. Eventually revealed to fully intend to overthrow Sauron rather than destroy him, Celebrimbor ends his bond with Talion and possesses Eltariel (an Elven assassin who is a major character in the game) to use her to defeat Sauron. Talion survives by becoming a Nazgûl, and Celebrimbor is defeated when forced out of Eltariel and is quickly absorbed by Sauron trapping both of them in the form of a large flaming eye on top ofBarad-dûr. Celebrimbor remains trapped as part of the Dark Lord until the One Ring is destroyed, freeing the spirit as Sauron dies.^{[12][16][17][18]}

Celebrimbor's Secret is the title of an expansion, part of "The Ring-maker Cycle" series, forThe Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, anon-collectible customizable card game produced byFantasy Flight Games from 2011.^[19]

Celebrimbor is played by the English actorCharles Edwards in the television seriesThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, from 2022.^[20]

• Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982].The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology (Third ed.).HarperCollins.ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1932). "'The Name Nodens', Appendix to 'Report on the excavation of the prehistoric, Roman and post-Roman site inLydney Park, Gloucestershire'".Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London. also inTolkien Studies, Vol. 4, 2007
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a).The Fellowship of the Ring.The Lord of the Rings. Boston:Houghton Mifflin.OCLC 9552942.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977).Christopher Tolkien (ed.).The Silmarillion. Boston:Houghton Mifflin.ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980).Christopher Tolkien (ed.).Unfinished Tales. Boston:Houghton Mifflin.ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1996).Christopher Tolkien (ed.).The Peoples of Middle-earth. Boston:Houghton Mifflin.ISBN 978-0-395-82760-4.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (2005).Hostetter, Carl F. (ed.). "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals and Related Writings, Part one".Vinyar Tengwar.47. TheElvish Linguistic Fellowship.ISSN 1054-7606.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (2007). Gilson, Christopher (ed.). "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings".Parma Eldalamberon (17).

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• Literary characters introduced in 1977
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