Ingil

Ingil belonged to the Inwir, the royal clan of the Teleri, descendants and kin of Ingil's father Inwë, who perished leading the Elves of Kôr in the expedition to the Great Lands to free the enslaved Gnomes after the fall of Gondolin, against the wishes of the Valar. Due to this, the Elves were forbidden to return to Valinor, and instead relocated to Tol Eressëa, where Ingil (who also participated in the war against Melko) became their leader.

There, he founded the city of Koromas in the middle of the island, and built a great tower, from which the city's other name, Kortirion, came from. The island of Tol Eressëa also became known as Ingilnórë, in honour of Ingil.

His granddaughter, Meril-i-Turinqi, later became the Lady of Tol Eressëa, possibly after Ingil's eventual return to Valinor.

The name Ingil is in Qenya. It contains the earlier name of his father Inwë, Ing + the suffix -'il, possibly derived from the early primitive Elvish root GILI, meaning "shine (white)".

The Gnomish cognate of Ingil is Gilweth, with Githilma (changed from earlier Githlon) being the Gnomish equivalent of his other name Isilmo.

Other names for the character include: (Qenya) Ingilmo, Ilwir, Veril (a name which was afterwards applied to his granddaughter, Meril), and (Gnomish) Githlim (changed from Ithlim), Gwethil and Ithlin.

Ingil and Telimektar

In one of the outlines for the continuation of The Book of Lost Tales, there appears an entirely different conception of Ingil's fate.

There, it is said that, when Melko broke free of his second imprisonment (after Inwë's expedition to the Great Lands), he went to Tol Eressëa in order to sow dissension between the Gnomes and the Solosimpi, who sent for help to Valinor. However, the only aid that came from the Valar was that of Tulkas, who in secret has sent his son Telimektar to Tol Eressëa to aid them.

There, Telimektar, with the help of Ingil, surprised Melko and wounded him, and chased him up the Pine of Tavrobel all the way to Ilwë. However, Melko kept attacking the Sun and the stars, and in the end caused the death of Urwendi the steerer of the Sun-vessel.

Finally, the Valar decided to cut down the great Pine, which left Melko stranded out of the world.

However, Ingil and Telimektar had to remain in the sky, guarding ceaselessly until Melko's return in the Great End. There, Varda periodically gives Telimektar stars in order to replace the ones Melko destroys and to remind the world of the Valar's watch - and the constellation of Orion is afterwards seen as Telimektar's image in the sky.

After Ingil's "ascent into heaven, when in likeness of a great bee bearing honey of flame he followed Daimort", he acquired the (Gnomish) name Gil, which was also used as the name of the star Sirius. The image of Ingil in the sky, Sirius, was also known as Nielluin.

Later legendarium

In the later versions of the legendarium, the character evolved to become Ingwion, the son of Ingwë.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 26/05/2026.