When You Burn Too Brightly

The Five-Minute Silmarillion, part 14

*Author’s note: I realized yesterday that the count is off and I’ve written more segments for this series than I thought. I tried to fix the numbering and Substack started glitching, so whatever—I’ll fix it when I make them into videos.

Chapter 13 is called “Of the Return of the Noldor” and Chapter 14 is “Of Beleriand and its Realms.” The latter is insubstantial enough to merit the combination.

The Fire Fades

Fëanor and his boys pull up in Middle-earth, ready to hunt Morgoth and take back the Silmarils. They pursue him to Angband, not knowing that it’s his stronghold and armory.

…but even had he known it would not have deterred him.

Before long, it’s Fëanor and few others against Morgoth’s Balrogs, and the prince of the Noldor takes a pounding. His sons and their armies pull up to help and they save Fëanor, though he suffers heavy casualties and will eventually die from his wounds.

Fëanor vs Gothmog (the Balrog) by Gary S. Crosby

On his death bed he compels his sons to remember his oath of vengeance against Morgoth and to execute it. Then he yeets himself off the mortal coil and ends up in the Halls of Mandos, the keeper of the dead.

Thus ended the mightiest of the Noldor, of whose deeds came both their greatest renown and their most grievous woe.

After this fight, Morgoth sends an emissary to offer a truce to the Noldor, but they know it’s bogus. They send more than the agreed-upon number to meet with Morgoth’s troops, and Morgoth’s soldiers also lie about their numbers, so in the end it’s really another battle. Fëanor’s oldest son Maedhros (pronounced MAY-throse, with a soft th sound) is captured and Morgoth chains him by the wrist to the front of a cliff as a living trophy.

Uncle Fingolfin to the Rescue

When Morgoth and Ungoliant came to Middle-earth from Aman, they crossed the Grinding Ice, which is a frozen sea passage far to the north. It’s very dangerous, but doable. Without the Telerí ships available to him, Fingolfin—brother of Fëanor, and much more level-headed—took his troops to the Ice and crossed the same way. By the time he showed up in Middle-earth, Fëanor was dead and Maedhros was captured. Using different tactics, Fingolfin was able to send his son Fingon into Morgoth’s territory to rescue Maedhros.

Fingon rescues Maedhros, artist unknown

So Fingon, cousin and good friend to Maedhros, tries everything he can, and actually remembers to pray to the Valar when he’s out of options. He receives help in the form of a giant eagle who flies him up to the cliff where Maedhros is chained. Maedhros begs for death but Fingon doesn’t want to do that. The only way to free him is to cut off his sword hand, which he does, and they return to the friendly fold. Maedhros laments his sin with the Teleri, and defers to Fingolfin’s house, as the sons of Fëanor are not worthy to take up their grandfather’s legacy.

The Noldor Settle

Fingolfin’s sons slowly start to entrench themselves in Middle-earth. They get settled, build homes, explore, and so on. One son, Turgon, received a vision from Ulmo (the Vala of water) which led him to a secret place called Tumladen. Turgon will build a powerful secret city there.

Fingolfin’s brother Finarfin is also there and he has a daughter you’ll know from the trilogy: Galadriel. So Fingon and Maedhros are her cousins, and Finarfin and Fëanor are her uncles. During this chapter she meets Celeborn, her husband, who is the son of Thingol and Melian. (That’s the couple who are an Elf and a Maia, respectively.) because of their long lives and their interconnected genealogy, most of these people know each other.

You’ll also note that Elrond is Galadriel’s first cousin thrice removed (he’s the great-grandson of her cousin Turgon). Elrond will marry Galadriel’s daughter, making his cousin his mother-in-law, and now it makes sense why Larry Correia’s elves live in a trailer park.

The Devil’s Only Virtue

Whatever his flaws, Morgoth has one strength: perseverance. Despite his victories he hasn’t utterly defeated the Noldor, so he sends out spies to keep an eye on what they’re doing, all while preparing his own forces for open warfare down the road. He also captures and tortures Elves for information, which he then uses to cause trust issues among them. Anything to keep them too weak for his attack.

Here there be Dragons…

Fingon v Glaurung by gresetdavid

The chapter closes with a quick glimpse of a young dragon who escapes from Angband and flies over Beleriand, only to be harassed by Elves on horseback, who repel the dragon with their arrows. Morgoth is mad that the dragon revealed himself to the Noldor; he wanted to keep that a secret for later…

The Lay of the Land

Chapter 14 is perhaps the most boring to read in the whole book, because its entire purpose is to explain a map. That’s fine as long as you have the map to read along with the text, and the book includes it, but then there’s a lot of flipping back and forth as you read so that you know what’s where and who was in which land at what time to go whenceforth and so on…it’s a reference piece and we’ll leave it at that.

The main takeaway is that Beleriand is the name of an area on the farthest western portion of Middle-Earth. It’s directly west of The Shire, and to the north and west of Gondor and Rohan. Look at the image and where it reads “Eriador” and “Arnor,” that’s basically Beleriand. Such was the name of the place during the First Age, though I think it changes later. The Elves settled there when they came across from Valinor, and they left from there when it was time to leave Middle-earth to Men. Most of the ME portion of the Quenta Silmarillion happens in Beleriand.

This is an affiliate link, if you purchase through there I will get a small commission.