The woodland realm of the Elves that was later known as Lórien had roots in the depths of history, dating back to its settlement by Nandorin Elves during the time of the Great Journey, long before the making of the Sun. We know nothing of whatever lords these early Silvan Elves might have taken for themselves, but we do know that they had rulers at a later time, during the Second Age. These were peoples of a different kind, Sindar travelling eastward out of Lindon who took up the leadership of the Silvan peoples of the land then known as Lórinand.
The earliest of these lords is little known, and indeed different sources give him different names (in some he is called Amdír, in others Malgalad). We do have one solid fact about this early lord: he went with many of his people to fight in the War of the Last Alliance, and was slain in the great Battle of Dagorlad. After his time his son Amroth took over the Lordship of the Galadhrim of Lórien, and continued to rule for nearly two millennia. After a Balrog was released in neighbouring Moria, many of Amroth's people fled into the south, and he was among them. Amroth was lost at sea in the distant south, and never returned to the woodlands of his realm.
Some time after the loss of Amroth, the people of Lórien gained a new Lord, or more properly a Lord and Lady, with the coming of Celeborn and Galadriel. These two had, it seems, visited the land during Amroth's Lordship, but after his loss they took on the mantle of its rule. Indeed the name Lothlórien originated with these two, and so strictly Celeborn was the only Elf to be known as 'Lord of Lothlórien' during his own time. The Lord and Lady of Lothlórien continued to rule until the close of the Third Age, but ultimately both left the land. We do not know the fate of the final Lord of Lothlórien in detail, but at some point Celeborn presumably followed Galadriel across the Great Sea into the West.
For a list of Elves accounted Lord of this region, before and after it acquired the name Lothlórien, see the entry for Lord of Lórien.
Notes
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We know for sure that there was a lord in this region during the Second Age, but the land itself was older than even that, and so presumably had lords back into its earlier history. This land would not have been known as Lothlórien in those earlier times; before the coming of Celeborn and Galadriel, it was commonly known as Lórinand, and many other names besides.
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- Updated 16 March 2019
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