Yes, the change in Orodreth's descent does make one wonder about his being given stewardship of Minas Tirith. It might be slightly out of place, and quite possibly Tolkien would have changed it. But for our purposes I think the best choice is to make Orodreth the son of Angrod and let the Minas Tirith situation stand.
Nor do I see any reason that it necessarily would have been changed. True, he's the only fourth generation Finwean given a position of such power so early on. But we only have a total of five fourth generation Finweans at all, if I count correctly (Celebrimbor, Idril, Maeglin, Orodreth, and Celebrian). So it's hard to draw general conclusions about them. Also, Orodreth was probably among the oldest of them (Maeglin was certainly born later and I would think Celebrian also). And, most convincingly of all in my opinion, a mere few hundred years later (not very much to these Elves) he was the King of Nargothrond and his daughter was of approximately marriageable age.
Keep in mind also that Orodreth was not a King in Minas Tirith; that is, he was not granted a position coeval with his father and uncles. He was merely a warden, a commander of a single fortress in a greater realm.
Having the Kingship jump from Fingolfin's house to Finarfin's is also slightly problematic but not cripplingly so. This has been discussed (ad nauseum in my opinion) in various places - I think here, in one of the early threads, for one. But regardless of the exact meaning of "The Dispossessed" or the passage where neri and nissi are called equal in matters not pertaining to war, there are at the very least defendable arguments for why none of the other Noldorin candidates became the High King.
One other problem with the new genealogy is this: how did Gil-Galad at the fall of Nargothrond? This is, I think, the most serious problem. If he's the son of Fingon then he was simply sent to the havens earlier (after the Bragollach, I believe) and (obviously) had nothing to do with Nargothrond. If he was the son of Orodreth, though, one might expect him to have been in Nargothrond up to the end.
But to put him there would raise two problems: first, some explanation would be needed for how he left Nargothrond before (or during) the Battle of Tumhalad. Second, it would seem very strange that he was in Nargothrond during Turin's stay there, without a single mention in the Narn.
I think the best solution (albeit a deeply flawed one) is to have him still sent to the havens after the Bragollach. But there seems little reason for this to happen. Nonetheless, I still think that it would be preferrable to keep the new genealogy and either concoct some minimalist reason or simply leave his exact movements vague.
|