Work through the turning point of the war: the Battle of Sudden Flame, the end of the Siege of Angband, and Fingolfin's heroic death in single combat with Morgoth; understand its meaning as the high point of the Noldor's tragic greatness.
Content guide
What the chapter is about
A chapter of catastrophe. For almost four centuries the Noldor have besieged Angband; now Morgoth strikes a crushing blow.
DAGOR BRAGOLLACH, the Battle of Sudden Flame. One winter night Morgoth suddenly pours out rivers of fire: Ard-galen, the green plain before Angband, burns and becomes forever the ashen waste of Anfauglith (“gasping dust”). Orcs follow, and dragons in full strength for the first time, led by Glaurung, “father of dragons.” The Siege is broken at one blow.
Angrod and Aegnor, who held Dorthonion, fall, as does Bregolas of the house of Bëor. Dorthonion becomes Taur-nu-Fuin, “the forest of dread.” Barahir (Beren's father!) survives and fights on hopelessly in the woods. Sauron seizes the tower on Tol Sirion (Finrod's Minas Tirith) and makes it Tol-in-Gaurhoth, “the isle of werewolves.”
THE CLIMAX: THE FALL OF FINGOLFIN. Seeing his people routed, Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor, rides alone in despair and wrath to Angband's gates and challenges Morgoth to single combat. Morgoth comes out in black armor, with his hammer Grond, “the Hammer of the Underworld.” Fingolfin wounds him seven times (Morgoth limps and is scarred forever) but is crushed. The eagle Thorondor saves his body and mars Morgoth's face. Fingolfin is buried in the mountains above Gondolin.
So ends the confident age of the Noldor; from here on, they decline.
Lesson notes
What the chapter is about
A chapter of catastrophe. For almost four centuries the Noldor have besieged Angband; now Morgoth strikes a crushing blow.
DAGOR BRAGOLLACH, the Battle of Sudden Flame. One winter night Morgoth suddenly pours out rivers of fire: Ard-galen, the green plain before Angband, burns and becomes forever the ashen waste of Anfauglith (“gasping dust”). Orcs follow, and dragons in full strength for the first time, led by Glaurung, “father of dragons.” The Siege is broken at one blow.
Angrod and Aegnor, who held Dorthonion, fall, as does Bregolas of the house of Bëor. Dorthonion becomes Taur-nu-Fuin, “the forest of dread.” Barahir (Beren's father!) survives and fights on hopelessly in the woods. Sauron seizes the tower on Tol Sirion (Finrod's Minas Tirith) and makes it Tol-in-Gaurhoth, “the isle of werewolves.”
THE CLIMAX: THE FALL OF FINGOLFIN. Seeing his people routed, Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor, rides alone in despair and wrath to Angband's gates and challenges Morgoth to single combat. Morgoth comes out in black armor, with his hammer Grond, “the Hammer of the Underworld.” Fingolfin wounds him seven times (Morgoth limps and is scarred forever) but is crushed. The eagle Thorondor saves his body and mars Morgoth's face. Fingolfin is buried in the mountains above Gondolin.
So ends the confident age of the Noldor; from here on, they decline.
Defeat as greatness
— HEROISM OF DESPAIR. Fingolfin knows he cannot beat Morgoth. His challenge is an act of despair yet of the highest nobility: one Elf against a dark god. For Tolkien this is the model of “Northern courage,” courage that needs no hope of success. Defeat does not cancel greatness; the spirit shines precisely in the doomed battle.
— THE DOOM OF THE NOLDOR COMES TRUE. Remember the Prophecy of the North (Mandos's curse), laid on the Noldor for the Kinslaying and their pride? Dagor Bragollach begins its fulfillment. From now on it is all downhill: whatever the Noldor do, the shadow of the Oath of Fëanor and the curse will turn their deeds to dust.
— A LINK TO THE FUTURE. Tol-in-Gaurhoth, taken by Sauron, is where Finrod will soon die saving Beren (chapter 19). Barahir, who survives here, is Beren's father; the ring of Barahir, a token of Finrod's friendship, will be handed down and, millennia later, reach Aragorn's hand. And Sauron, for now just Morgoth's fearsome lieutenant, is the future Dark Lord of “The Lord of the Rings.” The chapter is a knot tying the ages together.
— GROND. Morgoth's hammer is called Grond. In “The Lord of the Rings” the same name, Grond, is given to the monstrous battering ram with which Sauron's army breaks the gates of Minas Tirith. Tolkien deliberately makes the weapons of darkness echo across the ages.