Chapter 18
Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
Fingolfin realized that although Angband was under siege, it wasn't destroyed. However, the Noldor weren't too keen on the idea of marching into the dark lord's fortress, especially since Morgoth hadn't bothered them in four hundred years, and they decided that an attack could wait. Surprisingly, the sons of Feanor were the most in favor of waiting, even though they were the only ones under an oath to retrieve the Silmarils. (Perhaps it is because most of them suck.)
Morgoth, of course, had not been idle during these four hundred years. When the time was ripe, he opened the gates of Angband and sent out his Balrogs, his Orcs, and a new horror: a wingless dragon named Glaurung. Morgoth was still working on adding wings to dragons, but the flightless ones were still very dangerous.
In the fighting, Finrod became separated from his forces. Things were looking grim for him, but suddenly Barahir, one of the descendants of the chieftain of Men, rushed in and rescued him. As thanks, Finrod swore an oath to Barahir that he would help the Man whenever he needed it, and he gave Barahir his ring as a token of his vow.
The sons of Feanor fared less well. Curufin and Celegorm were driven from their lands, and Finrod invited them to move their people into his city of Narogthrond. Of the sons of Feanor, Maedhros and Maglor were the only ones to actually stay and fight rather than run away, further cementing them as the most decent of their brothers.
Fingolfin, surrounded by ill tidings and believing that this was the end of the Noldor, was filled with fury and despair. He marched alone to the gates of Angband and demanded that Morgoth fight him in single combat. He knew that Morgoth wouldn't dare risk looking like a coward in front of all his high-ranking servants, and he was right, for soon Morgoth opened the gates and came out himself.
Every time Morgoth's hammer struck the ground, it made a crater, but he could not land a hit on Fingolfin. The Elf skirted around the giant dark lord, wounding him seven times.
The ground, however, had become uneven from all the places Morgoth had hit, and Fingolfin was running out of energy. He lost his balance, and suddenly he was on the ground with Morgoth's foot on his neck. With one final, desperate stroke, Fingolfin stabbed his sword into Morgoth's foot. Although that was the end of the valiant Fingolfin, Morgoth never fully recovered from his wounds and walked with a limp for the rest of his days. The eagles recovered Fingolfin's body, preventing his enemies from defiling it.
Middle-earth was once again coming under the grip of Morgoth. With his father dead, Fingon now became king of the Noldor, and he sent his young son Gil-galad to live with Cirdan the Shipwright where it might be safer.
Barahir, the Man who had saved Finrod, was faring more poorly. He wanted to stay and defend his land, and his wife wished to fight as well, but at last they decided that it would be better if she left to lead the women and children to try to find safety. Barahir stayed with the rest of the men, but they were hunted down and killed until there were only a handful of people left, including Barahir and his son Beren. With no knowledge of what had become of their wives and children and with the servants of Morgoth constantly searching for them, their situation became more and more dire.
Two brothers, Hurin and Huor, joined in the fighting with the rest of the Men of their tribe, even though Huor was only a child. They were separated from the rest of their group and would have met a bad end, but some of the Eagles picked them up and flew them to Gondolin. Turgon, having been informed of this in a dream from Ulmo, greeted them kindly and took them in. Although it was the law of Gondolin than any strangers had to stay there forever or be killed in order to preserve its secrecy, Hurin reasoned with him, reminding him that since they had been brought through the clouds by the Eagles they didn't actually know the way to Gondolin. Turgon, having grown rather fond of the two young men, asked some Eagles to return them to their tribe, and thus they left knowing of Gondolin's existence but not its exact location.
Turgon, however, had been troubled by the news that Hurin and Huor had brought of Morgoth's conquests. He realized that unless they got help, the Noldor would surely be doomed to a world ruled by the dark lord. Knowing that that help could only come from one source, Turgon sent messengers to Valinor asking for forgiveness and aid. But due to the enchantments that the Valar had set around their sea, none of the messengers reached their destination.
Morgoth was always in need of more slaves, so many of the Noldor were captured rather than killed. Upon being brought to Angband, one look into Morgoth's eyes was often all it took to bind them to his will so they no longer needed chains for him to be sure of their servitude. Thus the rare Elf who did manage to escape was met with suspicion, as the other Elves didn't know if the person had truly escaped or if they were just a broken slave being sent out as a spy.
By the end of the fighting, things were looking pretty grim for the people of Beleriand. The only major forces left standing against Morgoth were Nargothrond (Finrod's kingdom), Doriath (Thingol's kingdom), and Gondolin (Turgon's kingdom). The main reason why these were still standing was because they were hidden, but Morgoth was focusing most of his energy on looking for them. There were a few other pockets of resistance, like Cirdan and his fleet of ships, the sons of Feanor (most of whom had just been driven from their lands), and Barahir's band of a dozen Men, but none of these were strong enough to contest Morgoth's armies.