Ecthelion of the Fountain (or "Lord of the Fountain") is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was a High Elf and one of the greatest warriors of the First Age.
One of the first of Tolkien's characters to be created, he first appears in "The Fall of Gondolin", part of The Book of Lost Tales, the earliest version of his "mythology" and histories. "The Fall of Gondolin" was, according to Tolkien's recollections, the first to be written — in 1916 or 1917. His name was then reused for the later The Lord of the Rings for different characters.
After Tolkien's death, his son Christopher edited and published The Silmarillion, where Ecthelion and a "much compressed" account of the Fall of Gondolin appears.
Ecthelion also appears in Unfinished Tales in Tolkien's unfinished rewritten version of "The Fall of Gondolin", called in the book "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" — written in the 1950s. In this version, his title becomes "Lord of the Fountains".
Since "The Fall of Gondolin" was completed long before Tolkien's aborted rewriting, not all details derived from it may reflect the author's final intent.
The name "Ecthelion" itself has the connotations of "spear", or "sharp-point". However, it does not accurately translate into anything.
Read more about Ecthelion Of The Fountain: Literature
Famous quotes containing the word fountain:
“In marble halls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal-clear,
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. In marble walls as white as milk (Riddle: An Egg)