Summary
Beren and Lúthien were returned to their bodies in Doriath, but Melian understood her daughter’s choice, and mourned for their parting until the ending of the world. Beren and Lúthien left to dwell alone in southern Beleriand, and no one saw either of them again, though eventually their son Dior did come to Doriath.
Maedhros, enheartened by Beren and Lúthien’s deeds, set about building an alliance for a renewed assault on Angband. But because of the evil deeds done to keep their Oath, both Nargothrond and Doriath refused to join a league led by the Sons of Fëanor. Moreover, there were harsh words between Thingol and Maedhros’ messengers, who had been sent to demand the surrender of the rescued Silmaril. But all the forces of the Sons of Fëanor, of Fingon, of the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost, the Men of House Hador, and others answered the call. The alliance had early success, but all was undermined by Morgoth, especially by way of the Easterlings that secretly served him but were as yet trusted by Maedhros.
The plan was to have Maedhros lead an assault on Angband from the east, draw out Morgoth’s forces, then have Fingon lead an assault from the west to trap the enemy between them. Fingon was with his gathered army, awaiting the signal, but filled with doubt (though with hopes raised by the surprise appearance of Turgon with ten thousand Elves of Gondolin). Morgoth sent a (seemingly) large force against Fingon, though in truth only a feint to draw him out too early. Húrin saw the danger, but Morgoth’s armies brought forth a captive Noldor and brutally murdered him to draw the Elves out in anger. It worked, better than Morgoth expected - their fury was such that some of them actually breached the gates of Angband and killed the guards inside the entrance. But Morgoth unleashed his reserve, and Fingon’s forces were beaten back. Before they could reach safety they were surrounded.
Hope was rekindled briefly, when Turgon (having restrained the Elves of Gondolin from the reckless advance) came to Fingon’s relief, and Turgon had a brief happy reunion with Fingon and Húrin. And at this time also Maedhros (having been delayed and slowed by his “allies” the Easterlings) came to their aid. But then Morgoth unleashed the rest of his armies, and his balrogs, and Glaurang. Even so the Elves might have managed a win, except for the Easterlings and Ulfang the Black. Maedhros’ forces were routed, though Maedhros himself and his brothers were able to flee. The last force to stand fast were the Dwarves of Belegost, who fought wearing steel masks that gave them some protection from Glaurang’s fires. Glaurang struck down their king Azaghâl, who was still able to give Glaurang a severe enough wound that he fled the field. The Dwarves raised up the body of their king and left the field, and none challenged them.
The attack on Fingon’s forces was led by Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs. Gothmog fought his way to Fingon, who didn’t retreat from him, and was only killed when a second Balrog ensnared him from behind. The battle was lost, but the Men of Hador and the Elves of Gondolin still held the Pass of Sirion. Húrin and Húor told Turgon to flee, because Gondolin was now the last hope of the Elves. Turgon knew it couldn’t stay hidden forever, but Húor foresaw that from himself and Turgon would come the only hope for Elves and Men. Maeglin was nearby and heard this also, and was suspicious.
The Elves of Gondolin retreated, and the Men of Hador held the ground behind them. They fought long and hard, but were eventually overwhelmed. Húrin was the last man standing, killing seventy of the troll-guard of Gothmog before he was captured and taken captive to Angband.
Morgoth’s victory was near-total. Gondolin, Nargothrond, and Doriath still stood, but the Edain were all but wiped out, and the Havens were sacked (though Círdan was able to escape with some refugees to the island of Balar). Turgon got in touch with him there, and Círdan built seven ships that sailed West in hope of reaching Valinor. Only one sailor ever made it back, saved by Ulmo from a storm of Ossë.
Morgoth was nervous about Turgon, because he’d always had a premonition that trouble would come from him, so he questioned the captive Húrin about where Turgon’s realm was hidden. Húrin refused to speak, and mocked Morgoth, so Morgoth put a curse of misery and misfortune on all of Húrin’s family, gave him the power to watch their fates, and chained him to Thangorodrim.
All the dead were piled into a great hill, and tall lush grass grew there - the only green place amidst the Gasping Dust.
Commentary
“Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him.” “In all the long wars with the Dark Tower treason has ever been our greatest foe.”
This is something of a theme with Tolkien, and the Unnumbered Tears (as in “tears unnumbered ye shall shed” from the prophecy of Mandos) hits that point home. Both directly in the treachery of Ulfang, and less directly in the changed relationship between Men and Elves. When the Edain arrived in Beleriand, they were welcomed by Finrod. When the Easterlings followed, they too were readily welcomed by Maedhros. Those days are gone.
I said earlier that I would talk about the racially problematic aspects of the Easterlings, also known as the “Swarthy Men.” So here goes: there really aren’t any. They are referred to as “swarthy” precisely once in the entire Silmarillion. Mostly they’re referred to as Easterlings. And even calling them “swarthy” doesn’t actually mean much: replace the word “swarthy” with “olive-skinned” (which is how Tolkien would have used the term) and it suddenly doesn’t seem all that bad. Furthermore, they’re not presented as monolithic. Emphasis is placed on it being just one tribe of them that betrayed the good guys. As always, I maintain that those who accuse Tolkien of being racist are only taking the most superficial of looks at his work (to say nothing of the alt-righters Nazis who try to claim Tolkien as one of their own).
Moving on. Fingon always seemed like kind of an afterthought among the High Kings of the Noldor to me, which isn’t really fair. Objectively, the rescue of Maedhros was pretty bad ass, and he held his own against Gothmog well enough. But still. He took over during the Battle of Sudden Flame when Fingolfin fought his duel with Morgoth, and then died during the Unnumbered Tears. I can’t help but feel he’s distinctly overshadowed by Fingolfin and by Turgon, even though I really can’t point to any feats of valor on Turgon’s part to match Fingon’s.
Speaking of Gothmog - the good guys aren’t the only ones to reuse names (we’ve seen mention of the original Boromir and Denethor if you’re paying attention). Gothmog shows up in LotR as the “lieutenant of Morgul” who takes over command of the baddies at the Pelennor Fields after the Witch-king contracts a fatal case of sword-in-the-face. We don’t really get much about him in the books, besides knowing he’s not one of the Nine. It’s not even specified if he’s an Orc or a Man or whatever. In the movies, the name is given to the character of Pinky McTumorface in the third movie.
Mention needs to be made of Húrin, the ultimate badass. He kills seventy trolls before he’s brought down, in large part because he’s weighted down by all the severed limbs still clinging to him. I’ve said it before, but if you want to get a Tolkien tattoo that isn’t super cliched, go with “Aure entuluva.” And then he has the guts to mock Morgoth to his face. Bad things will come of that curse Morgoth laid upon Húrin’s loved ones, naturally, but still gotta admire the guy.
Things continue on. Events in Beleriand are swiftly drawing to their conclusion, good and bad.
Next time we learn all about Túrin Turambar. I can’t 100% promise it’ll go up on Friday, because of the whole “needing to find a new car” thing. But I’ll do my best. Hopefully I won’t have the experience with this one of a white flame springing up from the hood as it is cloven.
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