So no doubt my
legions of devoted fans
devoted fans
devoted fan
mother was beside herself with worry when there wasn’t a post on Monday. For the remainder of the Silmarillion read-along, it’s going to be one post a week on Fridays. Doing twice a week was easy enough when it was chapters like “Of Thingol and Melian” or “Of Beleriand and its Realms.” Stuff like the Dagor Bragollach, Beren & Luthien, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the children of Hurin, the fall of Gondolin, the voyage of Earandil - that’s all rather more substantial. I’m not going to try to summarize and comment on two of these a week.
Summary
Fingolfin was wary over whatever Morgoth was up to beneath Thangorodrim, and wanted to at least consider a new offensive, but with their realms in Beleriand flourishing safe behind the lines of the Siege of Angband, there was little interest in renewing the war. But some 450 years after the Noldor returned to Middle-earth, and something over a century after the arrival of Men, Morgoth launched a sudden attack. He sent torrents of lava streaming from Thangorodrim, which were only stopped by the Mountains of Shadow and the highlands of Dorthonion. With the lava came Orcs in huge numbers, and Balrogs, and Glaurang now in full strength. The Noldor were routed: the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands, the younger sons of Finarfin were slain, and Finrod was forced back into Nargothrond. Fingolfin in Hithlum, Maedhros at Himring, and Thingol in Doriath all held, but they were cut off from each other. The house of Bëor was largely destroyed, though they fought valiantly and their lord was killed. His son Barahir took the lead and was able to rescue Finrod from certain death, in gratitude for which Finrod gave Barahir his ring.
Fingolfin, hearing all of this, thought the utter defeat of the Noldor was at hand. In wrath and despair he rode to Angband, and declared a challenge to Morgoth to come and face him in single combat. And Morgoth came. They fought a long time, and Fingolfin wounded Morgoth eight times, but was ultimately overpowered and killed. Thorondor retrieved his body before Morgoth could defile it and brought it to Gondolin, where Turgon built his father a cairn. Fingon now took up the High Kingship of the Noldor, and for safety sent his young son Ereinion (later known as Gil-galad) south to the Cirdan at the Havens.
Most of the house of Bëor that survived the assault fled, either to the folk of Haleth in Berthil, or to the folk of Hador in Dor-lómin. Barahir, his son Beren, and eleven other companions remained in Dorthonion as outlaws.
The pass near to the sources of the River Sirion was held for two years after the Dagor Bragollach, thanks to the power of Ulmo and the tower of Minas Tirith on Tol Sirion. But eventually Sauron came to lead an assault on the fortress, and it was taken. This meant Morgoth’s forces could move freely throughout Beleriand, and many Elves and Men were slain, and many others brought as captives to Angband.
Around this time the Swarthy Men came into Beleriand. Maedhros welcomed them, unaware that some of them were already serving Morgoth in secret. The survivors among the Edain were not friendly to these other Men, but they met seldom.
The folk of Haleth in the forest of Brethil were facing great numbers of Orcs, and had the aid of the Elves of Doriath under the chief March-warden Beleg Strongbow. Húrin and Huor, the sons of the lord of the folk of Hador, were being fostered in Brethil and fought valiantly in the battle. But they were cut off and became lost, until Thorondor spotted them and brought them to Gondolin. Turgon welcomed them, because he had dreams from Ulmo telling him of their coming. Húrin and Huor eventually talked Turgon into letting them leave Gondolin, despite the law, on the basis that having been brought there by the Eagles they had no idea how to get to Gondolin, and only a rough idea of where it was at all. The Eagles brought them back to their father in Dor-lómin, and there was much rejoicing. People naturally asked where they’d been, because they believed them dead and here they show up dressed as princes. But Húrin and Huor said they’d sworn not to tell, and so people stopped asking, but many made some shrewd guesses as to where they’d been.
Turgon, meanwhile, held back the folk of Gondolin from coming to the aid of the rest of the Noldor, thinking it wasn’t time to reveal Gondolin yet. Instead he began sending people West to try and reach Valinor and beg for aid, but none succeeded.
Morgoth, though largely victorious, was nonetheless troubled, especially by his lack of knowledge of where Finrod and Turgon were. He had heard of Nargothrond, but didn’t know where it was or anything about it, and he knew absolutely nothing of Gondolin or where Turgon had disappeared to. He therefore drew back much of his strength, and sent spies all throughout Beleriand. The Elves and Men were able to regain some of what had been lost, and a fragile stalemate was established for a few brief years.
Commentary
Things had been going so well for the Noldor. Emphasis on “had.” The Battle of Sudden Flame is a complete and total rout for the good guys. It’s also the beginning of the end - the security of Beleriand is broken beyond retrieval here.
The Fall of Fingolfin. This is quite possibly the most bad-ass moment in all of fantasy literature:
Now news came to Hithlum that Dorthonion was lost and the sons of Finarfin overthrown, and that the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands. Then Fingolfin beheld (as it seemed to him) the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him. He passed over Dor-nu-Fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking that Oromë himself was come: for a great madness of rage was upon him, so that his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar. Thus he came alone to Angband’s gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came.
It’s hard to imagine anywhere else where three little words (“And Morgoth came”) can have the weight and import that happens here. The craft of writing here is stellar. In particular look at how Tolkien structures his sentences - long, many-claused, high language. And then that last sentence. It hits like a blow from Grond (this is the "hammer of the underworld" that the battering ram at the Pelennor Fields was named for, btw).
Speaking of LotR references. That ring that Finrod gives to Barahir in gratitude? Aragorn wears that. It even made its way into the movies, though I think only in the extended editions. Wormtongue describes a "strange ring" that one of Gandalf's companions was wearing, and Saruman recognizes the Ring of Barahir and infers that Aragorn must be the heir of Isildur.
We meet a number of characters who will be super important for the rest of the Sil. Húrin and Huor (sons of the lord of the house of Hador), Barahir and Beren (of the house of Bëor), Morwen (also of the house of Bëor, though fled to join people of Hador), and Beleg Strongbow (chief March-warden of Doriath) are all names to remember. Húrin and Huor’s sojourn in Gondolin will be super significant later on.
Barahir’s wife is another bad-ass lady, who would prefer to fight rather than flee. It’s unfortunate that Tolkien decided to name her “Emeldir the Manhearted.” Given the frequent accusations leveled at me that I will ban anyone who criticizes Tolkien, I’m going to go ahead and presume that the whole “Manhearted” thing is in reference to Emeldir having a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and not some dated and sexist notions of gender roles. (/s, in deference to Poe’s Law.)
The “Swarthy Men” are another problematic thing here. I do not think Tolkien was racist, even before one throws in “by the standards of an Englishman born in the 19th century.” I do think he had outdated notions of race, though. More on this later when the Swarthy Men play more of a role than they do here. Worth noting that “swarthy” would have referred more to someone with more of a Mediterranean appearance than sub-Saharan African. Think Italian or Greek.
This is Sauron’s first real appearance too. He’s mentioned earlier, but doesn’t really do anything much. This sentence jumped out at me:
He took Minas Tirith by assault, for a dark cloud of fear fell upon those that defended it
I can’t help but wonder if he had a feeling of déjà vu when sending his Nazgûl (whose power of fear and despair ultimately came from Sauron) against Third Age Minas Tirith. At least he pulled that off once.
Overall, reading this chapter feels a little strange to me. On the one hand, everything that happens (and there is a LOT that happens) is important and epic. And yet, as one who has read this before, it all feels like setup. Kind of like if one is at a feast of some kind, you finish the third course and declare it to be the best you’ve ever eaten, and the host says main course hasn’t been served yet.
Any comments welcome. I’d love to hear what the newbies in particular thought about all of this.
Next Friday we get the entree that is Beren and Lúthien.
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