Silmarillion - Chapter 18 - Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin

[Aiwendil]

There have been hints in previous chapters that the peace of the Siege of Angband would come to an end, and here we see how this comes about. For the first time, the battle is an unmitigated loss for the Noldor and their allies; in the central and eastern theatres of the war, the lands of the Noldor are overrun and in the west the people of Fingolfin are only able to hold Hithlum with heavy losses. By the end of the chapter, a number of important characters are dead (most notably Fingolfin) and Beleriand has ceased to be a place of peace and safety.

Several important threads in the battle are given particular attention and may be seen as the germs of some of the later stories. Chief among these are the rescue of Finrod by Barahir and his men and the sojourn of Hurin and Huor in Gondolin; the former is really the beginning of the tale of Beren and Luthien and the latter can be seen as the beginning of both the Turin and the Tuor sagas.

The other incident that recieves particular attention in this chapter is the duel of Fingolfin and Morgoth. This is surely one of the most dramatic and vivid scenes in the Silmarillion. I’ve noticed that there seem to be two common reactions to the scene; some readers are surprised that Fingolfin’s prowess is such that he is able to wound Morgoth at all, while others are surprised that Morgoth has become so weak as to be vulnerable to the attack of a lone Elvish warrior. But either way you look at it, it is no surprise that Morgoth is the victor and that, like the Leaguer of Angband itself, the king who presided over it is dead.

Several of the events in this chapter are recounted with greater detail elsewhere, and I would urge anyone who has only read the somewhat dry, annalistic text found here to seek these out. The second canto of the Geste of Beren and Luthien (both pre- and post-LotR versions) begins with a short but poetically vivid account of the sudden onset of Morgoth’s forces and (in the later version) the rescue of Felagund by Barahir and his men. Another excursus on these events is found as a sort of retrospective in canto VI. Similarly, canto XII begins with a retrospective account of the battle between Fingolfin and Morgoth. Further material concerning the episode of Hurin and Huor exists in connection with the Turin saga (cf. the first few pages of the published Children of Hurin), though little is found there that is not present here.

Additional Readings

HoMe III – Contains the ‘Geste of Beren and Luthien’, which includes the passages mentioned above.
HoMe IV, V – ‘Sketch of the Mythology’, ‘Quenta Noldorinwa’, and ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ all contain early versions of this chapter.
HoMe XI – Post-LotR ‘Grey Annals’ and ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ versions.
The Children of Hurin – The first few pages of chapter 1 cover the sojourn of Hurin and Huor in Gondolin.